Coming off their fifth Super Bowl title, the New England Patriots had another highly successful regular season. Led by league MVP Tom Brady, the team went 13-3 and secured another AFC East title as well as the conference’s top playoff seed. Along the way, however, the team suffered multiple losses due to injury: from Julian Edelman to Marcus Cannon to Dont’a Hightower to Shea McClellin to Nate Ebner.
Despite the injury bug biting hard, New England first defeated the Tennessee Titans in the divisional playoff round before winning a thriller against the Jacksonville Jaguars in the AFC title game — one that would not be the last close game the Patriots would find themselves in during the postseason.