The Jacksonville Jaguars are attempting to accomplish a rare feat in Sunday's AFC Championship Game -- win in New England.
Since Tom Brady became the starting quarterback in 2001, the Patriots are 17-3 in the playoffs at Gillette Stadium. The only team to beat Brady multiple times in Foxborough, Massachusetts, is the Baltimore Ravens.
What did the Ravens do better than anyone else? Take the ball away from Brady.
Baltimore forced Brady into six turnovers (five interceptions and one forced fumble) in two postseason wins at Gillette Stadium. Brady has totaled just 12 turnovers (all interceptions) in 17 playoff victories at home.
In the 2009 wild-card game, the Ravens got interceptions from Ed Reed, Chris Carr and Dawan Landry in addition to a strip-sack by Terrell Suggs. Baltimore converted 20 points off turnovers in a 33-14 win.
In the 2012 AFC Championship Game -- the last time the Patriots lost a postseason game at home -- Dannell Ellerbe and Cary Williams picked off Brady passes inside the Ravens' own 20-yard line. Those turnovers came on New England's final two possessions to seal a 28-13 win for Baltimore, which advanced to play San Francisco in the Super Bowl.
Pressure on Brady was a critical element of the Ravens’ game plan. Baltimore sacked Brady three times in the 2009 wild-card win, and the Ravens hit Brady seven times in the 2012 AFC Championship Game victory.
The impressive part is that the Ravens didn't have to blitz to get to Brady. All five interceptions came when Baltimore rushed only four defenders.
"If you had an opportunity to take him to the ground hard, you go ahead and do that," linebacker Ray Lewis said after the wild-card triumph.
The Jaguars have the potential to wreak the same amount of havoc. In the regular season, Jacksonville ranked second in sacks (55) and second in takeaways (33).
Brady will have to elude pressure from Calais Campbell (14.5 sacks) and Yannick Ngakoue (12). He'll also have to avoid getting picked off by A.J. Bouye (six interceptions) and Jalen Ramsey (four).
"There's just not a lot of time for the quarterback for the throw, and I think the whole secondary knows it, the linebackers know it," Brady said of the Jaguars. "They're aggressive, they take chances, they get a lot of turnovers. They've got a really good scheme. I mean, the quarterback's just under pressure all day."
If the Jaguars upset the Patriots, Jacksonville will match another impressive feat by the Ravens. The Jaguars would've beaten the top two seeds in their own conference in the the same postseason. The last team to do that was the 2012 Ravens, who upended the second-seeded Denver Broncos in the AFC divisional playoff game and the top-seeded Patriots in the AFC Championship Game.