Here's a look at the most important drive of New England’s 2007 season, their monstrous Csonka-esque masterpiece to choke off any hope for San Diego at the end of the AFC championship game.

 

 

 

 

The Patriots offense stepped on the field for 12 different possessions in their 21-12 AFC championship game victory over San Diego: 11 drives in the first three quarters and one drive to Super Bowl XLII in the fourth quarter.

 

That final drive stretched beyond the others … literally. It was the very last drive of the AFC title game and it was a drive that stands in sharp contrast to everything the Patriots were known for in their record-setting 589-point season of 2007.

 

New England’s ultimate drive to Super Bowl XLII featured the backfield tandem of Kevin Faulk and Laurence Maroney. Afterthoughts in the Patriots offense for much of the year, they handled the ball on 14 of the game’s final 15 plays as the Patriots snuffed out the final signs of life in San Diego and chewed up up the final 9:13 of the biggest game of the year. Their all-star collection of wideouts, meanwhile, touched the ball just once for 6 yards when the season mattered most.

 

San Diego, down by nine, punted the ball away with just over nine minutes left in the fourth quarter, fully expecting to get the ball back at least two more times. Instead, it was the last time Phillip Rivers and the Chargers offense would see the field in the 2007 season.

 

The Patriots started from their own 13 yard line and, if any one drive could display their dominance in 2007, it was this one: 15 plays, 9:13 of game time, five first downs, two San Diego timeouts ... game over.

 

New England converted all four third downs. Tom Brady completed all four of his passes. Three of those passes went to Faulk, including an improbable diving catch on 3rd-and-11 after which Faulk rolled over the first-down marker. It was not Moss or Stallworth or Welker who put the Chargers away in New England’s drive to Super Bowl XLII. It was Faulk’s three catches for 32 yards and Maroney’s eight carries for 37 yards that did in San Diego.

 

To put New England’s game-choking 15-play final drive into perspective, consider that the Chargers boasted just 21 plays in the entire second half. It was also the second-longest drive of the entire postseason, and the longest in a winning effort: the Cowboys pieced together a 20-play, 10:28-minute monster against the Giants in the divisional playoffs, but couldn't eke out a single first down when it mattered most late in the game.

 

1st and 10 at NE 13 – Maroney carries for 12 yard

1st and 10 at NE 25 – Brady sacked for -8 yards

2nd and 18 at NE 17 – Brady to Faulk for 7

3rd and 11 at NE 24 – Brady to Faulk for 11

1st and 10 at NE 35 – Maroney carries for 1

2nd and 9 at NE 36 – Brady to Stallworth for 6

3rd and 3 at NE 42 – Brady to Faulk for 14 yards

1st and 10 at SD 44 – Maroney carries for 2

2nd and 8 at SD 42 – Maroney carries for 6

3rd and 2 at SD 36 – Maroney carries for 5

1st and 10 at SD 31 – Maroney carries for 4

2nd and 6 at SD 27 – Maroney carries for 2

3rd and 4 at SD 25 – Maroney carries for 5

1st and 10 at SD 20 – Brady kneels for -1

2nd and 11 at SD 21 – Brady kneels for -1