Unsere Gaeste - Ecke » Stabler, the shaggy-haired former

Give `em a hand: Tom Brady and the New England Patriots are heading back to the Super Bowl.

Brady shook off a hand injury and threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to Danny Amendola with 2:48 remaining Robbie Gould Jersey , rallying the Patriots to a 24-20 comeback victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars in the AFC championship Sunday.

Brady, wearing a black bandage on his right hand after needing stitches to close a cut that happened on a play during practice earlier in the week, showed no signs of being hampered.

And, with the game – and the season – possibly on the line, the Patriots star came up big again.

”I’ve had a lot worse,” Brady said. ”I didn’t know that on Wednesday. It was a crazy injury. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday was a little scary. Then I started getting some confidence and today we did just enough to win.”

Brady finished 26 of 38 for 290 yards and two touchdowns to Amendola for the Patriots (15-3), who’ll play Philadelphia in Minneapolis on Feb. 4.

It’s the eighth Super Bowl appearance for Brady and coach Bill Belichick, who have won five times – including last year’s 34-28 overtime rally against the Atlanta Falcons.

”It’s pretty amazing. Just to be on a team that wins these kinds of games, it’s just a great accomplishment,” Brady said. ”I’m just so proud of everyone on our team, we made so many great plays. Defense played so great when they needed to.”

Blake Bortles and the Jaguars (12-7) led 20-10 early in the fourth quarter, but couldn’t hold against the defending champions. The NFL’s second-ranked defense kept Brady and the Patriots at bay for most of the game, but lost linebacker Myles Jack and defensive tackle Marcell Dareus on consecutive plays on New England’s winning drive.

”It’s a locker room obviously with a lot of pain,” Jaguars coach Doug Marrone said. ”I’m sure they’re hurting inside. I’m hurting. The players are hurting.”

With New England trailing 20-17, Amendola returned a punt 20 yards to put the ball at the Jaguars 30. Brady hit James White for 15 yards Jake Rudock Jersey , Amendola for 8 and then the quarterback ran up the middle for 2 yards and a first down.

On first-and-goal from the 5, White ran for a yard to set up the go-ahead score from Brady to Amendola.

Jacksonville – looking to reach the Super Bowl for the first time in franchise history – had one more shot, but Bortles’ throw on fourth-and-15 to Dede Westbrook was knocked away by Stephon Gilmore.

”Guys are upset,” Bortles said. ”It’s not what anybody expects – contrary to popular belief. Those guys fully expected to win that game.”

The Patriots ran out the clock, with Dion Lewis’ 18-yard scamper with 90 seconds remaining sealing the victory. And they played most of the game without tight end Rob Gronkowski, who left late in the first half and didn’t return.

Brady’s hand was the most-scrutinized body part in Boston since his ankle before the 2008 Super Bowl, and Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling’s right ankle tendon – the bloody sock – in the 2004 playoffs.

Brady hurt his right hand during practice earlier in the week.

”Of all the plays, my season wasn’t going to end on a handoff in practice,” Brady said.

”Mentally, it probably stressed him out a bit,” Amendola said. ”It’s hard to throw a football with stitches in your thumb. Everybody knows how tough he is.”

Some Patriots fans were worried, but not Belichick.

”He’s a tough guy, we all know that,” Belichick said. ”But we’re not talking about open heart surgery here.”

Brady warmed up without a glove on his hand, and he came out throwing. He completed his first six passes for 57 yards to march the Patriots down the field. The drive stalled when Brady was sacked by Dante Fowler Jr., and New England settled for Stephen Gostkowski’s 31-yard field goal.

A wide-open Marcedes Lewis gave the Jaguars a 7-3 lead 45 seconds into the second quarter with a 4-yard touchdown catch from Bortles .

Leonard Fournette gave Jacksonville a 14-3 lead midway through the second quarter with a 4-yard TD run, hushing the crowd at Gillette Stadium.

The Jaguars made some big mistakes just before halftime. Bortles completed a 12-yard pass to Lewis on third-and-7 from the Patriots 44 Bills Elite Jerseys , but Jacksonville was called for delay of game.

That wiped out a first down, and Bortles was sacked by Adam Butler on the next play to force a punt. Jacksonville was called for six penalties that cost the Jaguars 98 yards, while New England was penalized just once.

With just over two minutes left before halftime, New England’s offense took over and the fans chanted ”Braa-dy! Braa-dy!”

And their quarterback delivered – with some help from two big penalties.

On first-and-10 from the Patriots 40, Brady threw a long pass for Gronkowski, who was injured when he got popped by Barry Church. Church was called for unnecessary roughness, putting the ball at Jacksonville’s 45.

”It was a tough call,” Church said, ”but you’ve got to go with what they call.”

A.J. Bouye was called for pass interference on the next play. The 32-yard penalty gave the Patriots the ball at the Jaguars 13. After a 12-yard catch by Cooks, White ran it in from the 1 to make it 14-10.

Josh Lambo gave Jacksonville a 17-10 lead 4:37 into the third quarter with a 54-yard field goal. He added a 43-yarder 8 seconds into the fourth quarter to make it In a story Jan. 14 about the Immaculate Reception game in 1972, The Associated Press erroneously said in the publishable Editor’s Note at the end of the story that the touchdown came on the final play of the Raiders-Steelers game. There were 5 seconds left when Harris scored, it was not the final play.

A corrected version of the story is below:

AP Was There: Harris’ miracle TD gave Steelers playoff win

AP Was There: The Immaculate Reception led Steelers to playoff win over Raiders on Dec. 23, 1972

By HUBERT MIZELL

AP Sports Writer

PITTSBURGH (AP) – It may not happen again for a thousand Christmases the way it happened Saturday for Franco Harris and the Pittsburgh Steelers against the Oakland Raiders under the dark skies in Three Rivers Stadium.

Harris, the Steelers’ own black Italian Santa Claus, caught a fluttering Steeler pass that Oakland defender Jack Tatum had batted away and danced 42 yards for a touchdown to give Pittsburgh an incredible 13-7 National Football League playoff victory.

The last-gasp effort by Pittsburgh’s Central Division champions to leapfrog the Steelers into the American Conference finals came on fourth down play with five seconds left on the clock.

Oakland, king of the West Division, had seemingly been rescued after a miserable offensive afternoon when backup quarterback Kenny Stabler scrambled 30 yards to the goal with 1:13 remaining to give the Raiders a 7-6 edge.

When Pittsburgh lined up for its last shot at glory Andrew Luck Jersey , the clock showed 51 seconds and the end zone was 80 yards away.

Quarterback Terry Bradshaw hoped to pass for quick gains, charging within range for a third Roy Gerela field goal that could win it.

The blond from Louisiana Tech rifled a nine-yard pass to Harris. An 11-yarder to John Fuqua pushed the ball to the Steeler 40, but the clock was down to 0:37.

And then: Incomplete. Incomplete. Incomplete. That led to fourth down and Oakland was 22 seconds away from bringing tears to the eyes of most of the 50.350 in the big circular stadium.

Bradshaw tried one last time, evading a rush by Oakland’s Tony Clines and Horace Jones. He threw up the middle toward Fuqua near the Raider 30.

Tatum slammed into Fuqua just as the ball arrived, sending the lootball sailing back toward the Pittsburgh goal. Harris, trailing the play, grabbed the ball and dashed toward the left sideline.

The left side began to open. Jimmy Warren, a veteran Oakland defensive back, had the last shot at the 230-pound rookie from Penn State , He missed and the Steeler faithful exploded from their seats.

Pittsburgh not only won, but sewed up the homefield advantage for the Dec. 31 steppingstone to Super Bowl VII against the winner of today’s other American Conference playoff between Cleveland and Miami.

”Fourth down, fourth down,” muttered John Madden, the losing coach from Oakland. ”It’s really unfair to lose like that. It wouldn’t happen that way again in a million years.”

Excited fans had to be hustled off the field by police as the Raiders protested that Tatum had not touched the ball, making it an illegal pass with two offensive men touching it in succession.

”He went up for the ball,” Tatum said later. ”I believe it bounced off Fuqua. He was in front of me and I just hit him, not the ball.”

Fred Swearingen Vontae Davis Jersey , the referee, talked with Art McNally, NFL supervisor of officials, in the press box by telephone. McNally had seen the replay on television.

After the discussion, the touchdown was allowed, although NFL officials later said the conversation between Swearingen and McNally had no actual bearing on the ruling.

The stadium almost cracked at the seams when the touchdown was signaled.

Finally authorities harnessed the bedlam so the final five seconds could be played.

All that happened was a kickoff return and one incomplete pass before time ran out for Oakland. Pittsburgh had waited 40 years to win even a division crown and now Chuck Noll, in his fourth season as the Steelers’ head coach, had them one step away from the Super Bowl.

For most of the game it seemed that Gerela’s field goals of 18 and 29 yards would stand up for a 6-0 victory in what had been a bitter battle of defenses.

Then came Stabler, a substitute near-hero. Then came Harris, the man who is half Italian, half black and all football player.

”I couldn’t even see what was happening because somebody rapped me,” said Bradshaw. ”But I’ll watch it all day Sunday on television reruns and enjoy it every time.”

Saturday’s first half was scoreless as the two man-handling defenses played to a standstill.

Noll passed up a shot at a 38-yard field goal and it appeared a crucial move when the Steelers ran short on a fourth-and-one situation.

Bradshaw came out firing in the second half, hitting five times for 55 yards as Pittsburgh moved 67 yards to the Oakland 11. The march stalled there and Gerela’s 18-yard field goal made it 3-0 with 9:52 left in the third quarter.

Oakland’s offense continually sputtered under No. 1 quarterback Daryle Lamonica and the onrushing Pittsburgh defense held him to 6-of-18 passing for 44 yards.

Stabler, the shaggy-haired former Alabama star, trotted onto the field with 11:2 to go in the game. He seemed to ignite Oakland a bit, but then fumbled when rapped by Steeler defensive end Dwight White at the Raider 35 with 5:50 on the clock.

Mike Wagner covered Stabler’s fumble and it led to Gerela’s three-pointer from 29 yards that made it 6-0 with 3:50 remaining. It seemed enough at Los Angeles Chargers Customized Jerseys