The road to the Super Bowl in the AFC travels through New England.
After getting off to a slow start today against the Bills, the Patriots stormed back to win easily, locking up home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs.
For New England fans, the Patriots’ second straight slow start has to be something of a concern. They fell behind 17-0 to the Dolphins in the first half last week, then fell behind 21-0 to the Bills in the first quarter this week. That’s not good.
But what is good is how the Patriots have been playing late in games. Today the Patriots scored a whopping 49 straight points after falling behind early to win 49-21.
For the Bills, the story of this game will be that wide receiver Stevie Johnson selfishly decided to call attention to himself by lifting up his jersey to display a “Happy New Year” message on his T-shirt, costing his team 15 yards with a celebration penalty. Johnson has been repeatedly warned by Bills coach Chan Gailey to knock off the nonsense, and today Gailey finally decided he had seen enough and benched Johnson for the rest of the game after the penalty. Johnson becomes a free agent this offseason, and that display may have cost him even more in free agency than it will in an NFL fine.
As for the Patriots, their defense is suspect, but the Tom Brady-led offense is as good as it gets. The Patriots are the favorites to represent the AFC in the Super Bowl.
