It started in the early evening down in Foxboro. The Pats trailed the New Orleans Saints 27-23 when they gained possession of the ball at their own 30-yard line with 1:13 left in the fourth quarter. A sizable portion of the crowd had already left Gillette Stadium. Tom Brady had completed a total of 20 passes for 199 yards at that point. It looked bleak.
But then, Brady did what he's done so many times before. He completed a 23-yard pass to Julian Edelman. He completed a 15-yard pass to Austin Collie. He completed a six-yard pass to Aaron Dobson. Two incompletions later, Brady finds Collie for nine yards and a first down. Then with five seconds left, Brady connects with Kenbrell Thompkins for the go-ahead 17-yard touchdown. Pats win 30-27.
New Englanders would have been happy with just that comeback. But a few hours later at Fenway Park, they witnessed another miracle.
Trailing the Detroit Tigers 5-1 in the bottom of the eighth inning, the Red Sox were facing an 0-2 deficit in the American League Championship Series. They had been dominated by Max Scherzer, who limited them to one run on two hits and struck out 13 batters in seven innings. That came on the heels of Game 1, when four Tigers pitchers combined on a one-hit 1-0 shutout. Again, it looked bleak for a New England team.
Will Middlebrooks got a one-out double to get the Sox in business. A walk to Jacoby Ellsbury put two runners on, but then Shane Victorino struck out. Would the Sox let a scoring chance slip away?
Dustin Pedroia laced a single to right field to load the bases for David Ortiz, a player who seems to live for big moments. And wouldn't you know it? Big Papi went yard for the tying grand slam and took Torii Hunter along for the ride (Hunter fell into the Sox bullpen trying to haul the ball in). The next inning, Jarrod Saltalamacchia singled home Jonny Gomes to give the Sox a 6-5 win.
Two comeback wins less than five hours apart from each other in the Boston metro area. Unbelievable.
Admittedly, the Sox win was more important in the grander scheme of things. If they had gone to Detroit down 0-2 in the ALCS, they might not have gotten another game at Fenway. Being tied at one game apiece isn't great, but it's a lot better than being two losses away from the golf course.
However, give credit to Brady and the Pats. They've had a tough off-season where they lost practically every receiver they relied on last season, and it's taken a while for Brady to get used to this new group. Yet, the Pats are 5-1 and in first place in the AFC East. The more things change, the more they stay the same with the Pats.
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