Bledsoe Knows Key to Title

When Drew Bledsoe rewrote the record books in his second year, Patriots coach Bill Parcells warned his players not to get too dependent on their quarterback’s arm.

Defense wins championships, the coach told them. And if there were any doubters left in the New England locker room, they’re gone now.

On the strength of their defense, the Patriots overcame a forgettable performance by Bledsoe on Sunday in Foxboro, Mass. to beat the Jacksonville Jaguars 20-6 and advance to the Super Bowl.

“‘Defense wins championships.’ That’s been Bill’s statement for a long time, and it’s been proven through all the years of the NFL,” Bledsoe said. “You have to have a complete football team. You can’t be one-dimensional.”

Bledsoe completed 20 of 33 passes for 178 yards and, unlike the team’s performance, his day was marked more by failures than successes. He threw one interception and had two fumbles, though one was recovered by New England.

In all, the Patriots offense gained just 234 yards -- fewer than the Jaguars’ 289.

“We just never did get into a rhythm offensively,” Bledsoe said. “I didn’t think we got conservative. We just didn’t execute well.”

That wasn’t a problem two years ago, when Bledsoe threw for 4,555 yards and set an NFL record more most pass attempts in a season. But New England lost in the opening round of the playoffs and he got saddled with a “can’t win the big game” label.

He passed for a more mortal 4,086 yards this season, but Parcells said he was a far better player. And, with victories in consecutive playoff games, he needs just one more win to ditch the “big game” tag for good.

One reason for the improvement, the 24-year-old quarterback said, is that he no longer feels like he has to win the games by himself.

“We can make a mistake or two offensively, and it doesn’t kill us,” he said.

And Bledsoe made his share of mistakes on Sunday.

There was the tipped ball that was picked off by Aaron Beasley at the Jacksonville 8, costing New England a chance to go up 14-0 in the first quarter. There was the fumble in the third quarter that helped put Jacksonville within a touchdown, 13-6.

And with the Patriots trying to run out the clock in the final three minutes, Bledsoe overthrew Keith Byars to force New England to punt.

“We had a chance to really ice the ball game,” Bledsoe admitted. “I missed the throw to Keith, who was so wide open. I just rushed it.”

But the Patriots survived when Chris Slade forced a fumble on Jacksonville’s first play and Otis Smith caught it and ran it in for a touchdown.

“Offensively, we struggled. We didn’t play as well as we’re capable of,” Parcells said. “We’re going to have to do a lot better than that if we’re going to beat Green Bay.”