The New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles have advanced to the National Football League’s Super Bowl after winning their respective conference championship games Sunday.
In the American Football Conference championship, the underdog Jacksonville Jaguars led for much of the game, including holding a 20-10 advantage with nine minutes left to play.
But New England quarterback Tom Brady responded with two touchdown passes, both to receiver Danny Amendola, to bring the Patriots back for the 24-20 win.
“Yeah, we played a lot better in the second half,” Brady said. “We just couldn’t get the drives going, and obviously weren’t very good on third down and just got into a little tempo stuff in the second half and played a little bit better. So, it was a great win. Happy for our team and just a great, great game.”
There was far less drama in the National Football Conference championship with the Eagles soundly defeating the Minnesota Vikings 38-7.
The Vikings scored their lone touchdown on the first drive of the game, but were outmatched from there as Eagles quarterback Nick Foles threw three touchdown passes to deny Minnesota the chance of playing essentially a home game in the Super Bowl.
The game will be played February 4 in Minneapolis.
Oddsmakers have put New England as the favorite to win its second consecutive Super Bowl and its third in a span of four years. Philadelphia has never won a Super Bowl, losing twice, including to New England in 2005.
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