Patriots-Jaguars Quasi Live Blog: Second Quarter

Bad things happen for MoJo on the kickoff. 2 for Fred, then another easy first down throw for Lewis, who gets hurt and fumbles, but Mojo scoops it up. Huge potential loss, but Garrard just hits some guy named Smolko for 8, because he's a TE and the TE is always open against the Pats. Jags just seem to want to throw a lot, and Mojo finally gets a nice burst for 10 up the middle. Mojo for 18 on a screen, and the Patriots LBs are not liking this game at all. From the Patriots 48, Fred goes for 15 and almost went for 48; another very bad play for the LBs. Taylor for another 5 plus a face mask, and the Jags are threatening to tie this one up. MoJo off a tipped ball gets 5. Taylor right down the gut, gloriously, for 7. Taylor for a hard yard to the one, but on second down, a false start pushes them back to the 6. Garrard then throws an absolutely gorgeous ball to Ernest Wilford, and it's 14-all. Wow. Who knew Garrard could play this well? That's just your basic 95 yard drive on the road, down a touchdown, with the world going against you. Never even got to a third down. Wow. If the Jags defense can show up on this drive, this could get, um, interesting.

QBs are 18 of 19 for 225 yards at this point, with 3 TDs. Yeesh. Brady starts from the 19, and hits Maroney for 7 on a screen with yet another missed tackle. Faulk for 4 and the first. Maroney finally gets met and tackled in the backfield for a one yard loss, which is followed by an easy 9 yard outlet to Welker. On 3rd and 2 from a place in the field that even Belilchick might punt from, a 4 yard out to Gaffney for the first. New England fans react with a waving of their programs, and a call for more white Zin.

Brady to Brady for a dozen, and the Zin is now being sniffed with approval. Maroney for 6 is applauded by the beer drinkers up high, but it's not a touchdown, so the sigh is palpable. Maroney gets another six, and the crowd is antsy -- there hasn't been a New England touchdown for, like, minutes. Patriots go for trickery, and Welker gets 12; the Jags miss the opportunity to beat Brady senseless while it's legal and he's blocking. At the two minute warning, we still have seen almost no evidence of defense in this game, and despite it being a tight game, that kind of thing does eventually rankle a body.

Faulk for 3 as the Patriots want to run clock before scoring. Brady dances and then sits as he sees a flag go down; it's a 15 yard chop block, an obvious and awful play that should make a defender livid. The yards could impact even the Juggernaut, as they curiously run a draw. Maroney gets 9, and it's 3rd and 14 from the 25. Big play here... and the Pats go underneath to Welker, who almost gets his helmet ripped off as he goes to the ground. 57 seconds left, and the Jags call time, anticipating a NE figgie try. Conservative for Brady and Belichick to not try the end zone on the last two plays, but they are the Jugernaut and We're Not... and it seems ever worse when Gostkowski misses from 35. Wow. He didn't miss by much, but he missed. That's another break the Juggernaut did not get, and the Patriot Fans are so mad, they might just send the Zinfandel back. With prejudice.

From the 25, Lewis fights for 8 but does not get the call of getting out of bounds. A bad overthrow to Northcutt hurts, and we've got 26 seconds left and a third and 3. Might want to think about running it here... and they do with MoJo, who doesn't get it. The Pats call time with 19 seconds left; they've got two left. We will have a punt tonight! Welker gets it back to the 31 with 9 seconds left, and it'll be curious here to see if the Pats go with the Chuck It High To Randy Ploy, or just sit on it. They sit, and we're tied at the half.

Highly interesting.