By Bill Barnwell
Bill@patriotsdaily.com
At Football Outsiders, our analysis of the game goes in two different directions. The former, and the one we’re more known for, is our statistical analysis of the game using new methodologies. What we also do, though, is something else you don’t see in many other places on the net: Breakdowns of X’s [...]

by Scott Benson
scott@patriotsdaily.com
Today, I’m glad I have a “real” job. That usually only happens on payday.
But if I didn’t have a “real” job, I would have assuredly spent all day here at my laptop blogging about a restraining order. My only regret is that my late mother didn’t live long enough to see me achieve [...]

by Dan Snapp
dan@patriotsdaily.com
So now the Patriots are lucky? Lucky they don’t have to face the big, bad Colts again in their path to the Super Bowl?
Luck certainly didn’t help the Colts much. Ninety lucky horseshoes (one for each side of the helmet) didn’t work. Their lucky ref’s feet, the ones imbedded deep into Bill Polian’s [...]

by Christopher Price
chris@patriotsdaily.com
Both wear No. 55. Both went to USC, and call the West Coast home. Both took up residence in the same corner locker at Gillette Stadium. And during their time as Patriots, both quickly became important pieces in Bill Belichick’s defensive scheme.
But Willie McGinest and Junior Seau have both taken far different routes [...]

by Scott Benson
scott@patriotsdaily.com
This just in: the Indianapolis Colts won’t be in Foxborough for the AFC Championship game next Sunday.
The San Diego Chargers overcame the loss of LaDainian Tomlinson and Phillip Rivers to stun the defending champion Colts in the RCA Dome and advance to a rematch of their own with the Patriots.
It will be the [...]

by Scott Benson
scott@patriotsdaily.com
The Patriots have advanced to their second straight AFC championship game (and their fifth of this decade), and here’s all the links for last night’s 31-20 divisional round win over the Jacksonville Jaguars.
The following thoughts are also humbly offered:
*Tough week for pundits of all stripes. The physical Jaguars were supposed to be able [...]

by Scott Benson
scott@patriotsdaily.com
The papers took the occasion of their Friday editions to put out much of their pre-game material this week, but there’s still plenty awaiting us this morning as the sun rises on the Patriots’ 2007-2008 playoff debut. Let’s get started.
Over at the Globe, Christopher Gasper has some discomforting early news – Ellis Hobbs [...]

by the Patriots Daily Staff
feedback@patriotsdaily.com
There’s only 36 hours (or so) to go before New England fans see their undefeated Patriots take the field for the first playoff game in what could be the greatest season in NFL history.
Their opponent will be the 12-5 Jacksonville Jaguars, runners of the football, punchers of the mouth, thought to [...]

By Bill Barnwell
bill@patriotsdaily.com
Last year’s Patriots-Jaguars game is best remembered by two things; first, the 74-yard Maurice Jones-Drew “He was never down” run, a run actually sprung by Kyle Brady, who “tackled” MJD when Ty Warren blew up the play and pushed Brady into him. The other memorable play of the game was the gorgeous diving [...]

By Bruce Allen
bruce@patriotsdaily.com
If you haven’t heard it already, you will at some point this week. It’s been building for weeks now, and has gained great momentum as of late. The Jaguars are built to beat the Patriots. The Jaguars are a blue collar, hard working team that is made to play in cold weather, playoff [...]

by Christopher Price
chris@patriotsdaily.com
Yesterday at Gillette Stadium, Rodney Harrison was poking fun at rookie defensive back Brandon Meriweather, calling him “my favorite young safety … other than Jacksonville’s Reggie Nelson.” Heath Evans was laughing about his first playoff experience with the Seahawks in chilly Green Bay in 2003. “It was cold.”
And Tom Brady was smiling and [...]

by Scott Benson
scott@patriotsdaily.com
It’s the Jaguars, with head coach Arthur Fonzarelli.
The Pats have their divisional playoff opponent now, and doesn’t it figure that it should be the last of those who gleefully jumped aboard the hi-tech lynching known as “Spygate”?
It could be that having their ears boxed by the team they once sought to diminish from [...]