The win in itself was not so stunning, but the way the Patriots went about doing it was. They took away the big play, which has been so effective for the Colts this season. By jamming their receivers and knocking them off their routes, they kept quarterback Peyton Manning from getting into a rhythm. New England held Edgerrin James to just 39 yards on the ground, and successfully kept the ball out of Manning’s hands, controlling the ball for nearly 38 minutes.
On the offensive side of the ball, Corey Dillon had a big day, racking up 144 yards in the first playoff game of his eight-year career. New England quarterback Tom Brady raised his record in the playoffs to 7-0, completing 18-of-27 passes for just 115 yards, but he avoided the critical mistakes that cost the Colts.
New England led at the half 6-3, and they put together 15 and 14-play touchdown drives to put the Colts away in the second half. They will travel to Pittsburgh for the AFC Championship game Sunday against the Steelers.
Earlier in the day, the Philadelphia Eagles proved that life does go on without Terrell Owens as they ended the Minnesota Vikings season with a 27-14 victory. Head coach Andy Reid was vindicated also after being criticized earlier in the week for resting key players for an extended period. And the Eagles came out ready to play, grabbing a 7-0 lead early in the first quarter on a 2-yard pass from Donovan McNabb to Freddie Mitchell.
Mitchell was a pivotal performer on offense for the Eagles, recording five catches for 65 yards. And he scored another TD in the second quarter when he caught a fumble by tight end L.J. Smith in the end zone. The beneficiary of being in the right place at the right time, Mitchell suddenly found himself in the path of the sailing football, which had been dislodged by cornerback Antoine Winfield, and he pulled it in as if the play were designed to be tossed his way.
The fortuitous flight of that football put the Eagles ahead 21-7 with more than 10 minutes left in the half, and the score would remain the same through the intermission. Philadelphia managed to tack on a couple field goals, spreading the score to 27-7, before the Vikings finally got back on the board just before the two-minute warning when Daunte Culpepper connected with Marcus Robinson on a 32-yard TD pass that was challenged by the Eagles, but upheld by the officials.
Culpepper, who had a terrific season with 39 touchdown passes and just 11 interceptions, ended his season on a bit of a down note, throwing a couple critical interceptions to just one touchdown. The Vikings also killed themselves with penalties, including three pass interference calls for 78 yards.
The Eagles will host the Atlanta Falcons Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field in the NFC Championship game.
