Though the New England Patriots may consistently be one of the league’s best franchises, there is one team that historically terrified the defending Super Bowl champions this time of the year. The team who put pressure on Tom Brady and kept control of the ball. The team that relied on discipline that matched New England’s robotic expertise, writes The Wall Street Journal. That team was the New York Giants. They used these skills to beat the Patriots in two Super Bowls. The Giants are why the Patriots should be afraid of their upcoming game: Their opponent for Sundays AFC Championship game is basically the Giants, except they hail from a different city. The Jacksonville Jaguars play by the same formula as the Giants. Until last weekend, most signs pointed to — and most people thought — Sunday’s game would be between the Patriots and the Steelers, but Pittsburgh didn’t make the cut. The Jaguars upset the Steelers last weekend and might actually be the team that has a better chance of at upsetting the Patriots. Few expected the Jaguars to make it to the postseason at all, let alone this far, but here they are. WSJ writes that the key to beating New England is pretty straightforward: find a way to contain Brady. Few teams can do it, but the Giants have. The Jaguars are probably the one team that is uniquely capable of making Brady’s afternoon difficult. They have the best pass defense in the league and they have Tom Coughlin, the former head coach for the Jaguars and Giants who was brought back to Jacksonville before this season as the team’s executive vice president.
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