Before making it to the Super Bowl last season, the Patriots defeated the Jaguars 24-20 in a come-from-behind victory that spoiled Jacksonville’s first winning season since 2007.
Patriots vs. Jaguars AFC Championship game rematch headlines Week 2 in the NFL
A big Sunday afternoon full of NFL action is on deck.
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Blake Bortles played a pretty decent game (293 yards, 1 touchdown, 63% completion percentage), but the Patriots did what the Patriots usually do and figured out a way to win and make it to the Super Bowl. There’s less on the line today, but that doesn’t mean it’s not an important game. It will surely teach us a lot about these two teams as they face off at 4:25 p.m. ET on CBS.
Questions about the Patriots
- Are the Patriots among the NFL’s top five teams (as we think)?
- How much of an impact will the Patriots’ tumultuous offseason have on the regular season?
- How successfully can the Patriots’ defense defend against top running backs?
Questions about the Jaguars
- Will Leonard Fournette actually play through his hamstring injury, and are the Jaguars relying on him too much?
- Are the Jaguars as good this season as they were last season?
- Can Jalen Ramsey consistently back up his trash talk?
- Does it matter that Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone hasn’t watched the Super Bowl in many decades? OK, we probably won’t learn the answer to that one, but the others are all in play.
Elsewhere this afternoon, we’ll see the Chiefs take on the Steelers in a matchup that’s always pretty heated. Chiefs head coach Andy Reid knows as well as anyone.
“We’ll go play aggressive football. When you play Pittsburgh, that’s how you have to play,” he said this week. ”You got to be ready for a fistfight when you go in there and play that football team.”
Ben Roethlisberger is questionable to play but after being a full participant at practice on Friday, I’d expect him to take the field with his elbow injury. That’s especially true after Antonio Brown called him extraordinary on Friday, while saying his ability to play through injuries shows ”he’s not average,” among other things.
This could be a shootout between a young quarterback on the rise in Patrick Mahomes and a veteran nearing the end of his career, as neither team fields an impressive defense.
In the NFC, the Packers host the Vikings for what’s sure to be a heated in-division game. The last time Aaron Rodgers played against the Vikings, the quarterback suffered a broken collarbone on a vicious hit from Minnesota linebacker Anthony Barr. Now Rodgers enters today’s game already questionable with a knee injury. He’ll certainly be hoping to play through it as he did in the second half of last Sunday’s win over the Bears. The Vikings defense is no joke, and maybe even better than last year. If Rodgers doesn’t play, the Packers would turn to DeShone Kizer. The winner of this game will take a temporary hold of first place in the NFC North.
‘Sunday Night Football’ is an annual SNF game (or so it seems) with the Giants and Cowboys facing off in Dallas. The Giants seem better than last year, that’s for sure; but how much better are they? Meanwhile, the Cowboys struggled through a Week 1 loss to the Panthers and have issues from the top to bottom of their roster. I’d have to imagine this will be one of the less entertaining Sunday night games this year, save for a crazy Odell Beckham Jr. catch. It was on ‘Sunday Night Football’ in a Giants vs. Cowboys game in OBJ’s rookie year that the star receiver made himself a household name with that remarkable one-handed grab.
Here’s the full slate of Sunday’s NFL action:
Chiefs at Steelers, 1:00 p.m. ET
Dolphins at Jets, 1:00 p.m. ET
Eagles at Buccaneers, 1:00 p.m. ET
Browns at Saints, 1:00 p.m. ET
Colts at Washington, 1:00 p.m. ET
Chargers at Bills 1:00 p.m. ET
Vikings at Packers, 1:00 p.m. ET
Panthers at Falcons, 1:00 p.m. ET
Texans at Titans, 1:00 p.m. ET
Cardinals at Rams, 4:05 p.m. ET
Lions at 49ers, 4:05 p.m. ET
Raiders at Broncos, 4:25 p.m. ET
Patriots at Jaguars 4:25 p.m. ET
Giants at Cowboys 8:20 p.m. ET
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Tweet of the Day
Singer-songwriter Melissa Ethridge joined SB Nation’s Chiefs site, Arrowhead Pride to offer her Steelers vs. Chiefs prediction. Everything about this is awesome.
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