New England’s 60-Minute Men

When the New England Patriots last lost a game, in last year's AFC Championship at Indianapolis, the team blew a huge first-half lead to the eventual Super Bowl champion Colts. The Pats wasted little time in the off-season seeking remedies, adding Pro Bowl linebacker Adalius Thomas to chase Colts receivers across the middle of the field and a totally new receiving corps, led by Randy Moss, that finally gave Tom Brady targets to rival those of Colts QB Peyton Manning.

But the Pats were aware that payback would require more than just adjustments in the lineup. Recalling how the team couldn't finish off Indy (and how the players were sucking wind in the fourth quarter in the steamy RCA Dome), coach and team talked a lot about being prepared to play a full 60-minute game.

In the first half of this season, when the Patriots were routing opponents in unprecedented fashion, writers kept chiding Bill Belichick for keeping his starters on the field too long and for running up the score. It was more fun to attribute his motives to a desire for revenge in the wake of "Videogate" than to accept that his approach might be consistent with a renewed emphasis on conditioning and focus for the complete 60-minute game. That approach appears to have paid off in the second half of the season, when the Pats came from behind four times in the final quarter—including from being 10 points down in the RCA Dome against the Colts—to salvage victories.

Those who are looking for the chink in the Pats' armor point to how tough their last three contests have been—the New York Giants in the final game of the regular season and first Jacksonville and then San Diego in the playoffs. There are parallels between all three games, the most striking of which is that in each a relatively inexperienced quarterback—Eli Manning, David Garrard and Philip Rivers—was able to move the ball effectively through the air.

But they were mostly successful early in those games, throwing against defenses that were primarily geared toward shutting down the run and that featured a soft zone in the secondary. Take a look what happened late, when the Pats were in control and those quarterbacks had to throw against a more aggressive pass defense. Manning was 15-21 and three touchdowns for 216 yards, or more than 10 yards a pass attempt through three quarters. In the fourth quarter, Eli was 8-12 for just 46 yards, or less than five yards per attempt, with a fumble and an interception.

It was the same story in the playoffs. Garrard was absolutely brilliant through three quarters, 14-18 (a 78 percent completion rate) for 191 yards. But in the fourth quarter he was just 8-15 and couldn't get the ball into the end zone. Same for Rivers a week later. With three minutes to go in the third quarter he was 16-24 for 181 yards. But the Chargers' quarterback was just three for 10 after that, including three straight incomplete passes from the Patriots' 36-yard-line in what turned out to be San Diego's last gasp. The Patriots then punctuated the 60-minute message by steamrolling the ball down the field for the final 9:13 of the game, until Tom Brady's last knee to the ground.