1. Danny Amendola has been a member of the Patriots for five years and he's earned the nickname Danny "Playoff" Amendola, as he always seems to take his game to another level when it means the most. This was on full display in the divisional round win over the Titans last weekend. The 32-year-old caught 11 balls on 13 targets for 112 yards. The 11 catches were the most in Patriots divisional round history. In his 11 career postseason games, he's hauled in 42 passes for 473 yards and four touchdowns. Not only has he produced in the biggest games, he's also come up big in big situations. It seems whenever Tom Brady needs a big play on third down, he always goes to Amendola. The wide out was coming up big long before he came to New England, as he was doing the same in college at Texas Tech. "When you needed it the most, you could always go to Danny," said his college quarterback Graham Harrell, who is currently the offensive coordinator at North Texas. "You knew he was going to make the play for you. Fortunately for me, I had Danny and [Michael] Crabtree for awhile together. … In tight moments, [Danny] was the guy to go to and you knew he was going to make the play. You knew he was going to be exactly where you expected him to be. He was going to do it as hard as he could do it and he was going to make the catch. He was a special player. He was crazy on and off the field. He was awesome. Again, he just had a knack for the big moment. If you needed him, he made the play for you. Third or fourth down, whatever it was, Danny was going to be where he was supposed to be and he was going to make the play."
2. Amendola played four years at Texas Tech and finished his career with 204 catches for 2,246 yards and 15 touchdowns. His best year came in his senior year when he caught 109 passes for 1,245 yards and six touchdowns. The thing that has always stuck with Harrell was how tough Amendola was. "The thing that separated Danny was how tough he was," he said. "He isn't the biggest guy in the world, but he's one of the toughest guys I have ever been around. That is what made him great — how tough he was and how hard he played. He was a great guy to play with on the field, and even a greater guy to hang out with off the field. He was a special guy. Again, we had a crew of good receivers. He played as hard as anyone I have ever been around and he's tough as nails. He would come off the field every drive, and it would look like he was falling apart, and then we'd go out for the next drive and he would be ready to go. That's just who he is."
3. When it comes to Brady and his injured right hand, one thing which stood out was how loose the locker room was Friday afternoon after practice. From this viewpoint, it indicates the players themselves aren't too worried about Brady and his status for the AFC championship game. There wasn't any hint of players being concerned. "[Brady] looked pretty good to me, throwing pretty good, laughing and joking like he always does," said cornerback Malcolm Butler.
4. From reading the quote sheets and speaking with a few people who cover the Jaguars this week, they are a very confident team, and region for that matter. Even the fans are feeling relatively confident heading into the AFC championship game at Gillette Stadium. The feeling is if they can beat Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, why can't they beat the Patriots in New England?
5. A couple of leftover stats from this week. A.) According to NFL Research, Sunday will mark the fourth meeting between the No. 1 pass offense and the No. 1 pass defense in a playoff game since 1990. The pass defense is 3-0 in those games. B.) The Jaguars are 8-0 when rushing on 55 percent of their offensive plays this year.
6. Drew Bledsoe and Fred Taylor will be the honorary captains for the AFC title game. It's worth noting Taylor spent 10 years with the Jaguars, but then 2009 and 2010 in New England. As for what he's doing now, Taylor is the vice president of sales for FSV Tech, a certified minority owned business founded by former NFL Players. The CEO is also a familiar name to Patriots fans — Adalius Thomas.
7. It's worth passing along a great feature story on the friendship between Bill Belichick and Nick Saban by SI's Jenny Vrentas. She spoke with both coaches for the story and it is well worth the time. Click here to read the piece.
