Patriots: Days 3 and 4: 25 days of celebrating the 25th anniversary of the 1996 AFC title

By Kevin Stone
Alright, so things are backed up a bit with us having site issues, but the 25-day celebration for the 25th anniversary of the Patriots winning the 1996 AFC championship must go on.

This is our third and fourth installment of the 25-day project and today we’ll be taking a look at one of the most important stretches during the season from October 20th through November 10th in two sections. During that time, the Pats rattled off four straight wins to go from 3-3 to 7-3. Two of the victories were critically important against Buffalo and Miami which was no easy task back in 96. 

The stretch started on October 20th with a 27-9 win over Indianapolis following an ugly home loss to the Redskins that dropped the Pats to 3-3 and ended their first three-game winning streak of the year. That day, the Patriots entered the old RCA Dome as three-point underdogs. The Colts dropped to 5-2 with the loss despite out-gaining the Pats 364-222. The New England defense forced five fumbles in the game and recovered four of them while Curtis Martin had 75 yards on 25 carries and two rushing touchdowns. Terry Glenn hauled in an 8-yard TD from Bledsoe (14/24, 142, 1 TD) and Adam Vinatieri chipped in with a 36-yard field goal. 

Arguably one of the biggest wins of the season followed on October 27th when the Patriots beat the Bills in Foxboro Stadium 28-25 to get to 5-3 on the year. 

A Curtis Martin 4-yard TD catch and a Vinatieri field goals from 40 and 32-yards out gave New England a 13-0 halftime lead while the defense shut down Jim Kelly, Eric Moulds and Thurman Thomas. 

Buffalo eventually cut it to 13-10 before Jim Kelly was called for intentional grounding in the end zone and the safety made it 15-10 Pats heading to the fourth. A 1-yard run for Thomas and ensuing two-point conversion put the Bills ahead 18-15 with 8:50 to go in the third. With 1:25 left Martin capped an 8-play drive with a 10-yard TD run but Vinatieri missed the extra point, keeping it a 21-18 game. 

Four plays later, Willie McGinest picked off a screen pass and ran it back for a 46-yard touchdown and Vinatieri made it 28-18 with less than a minute left. Jim Kelly hit Andre Reed for a 48-yard TD one play after the kick off to make it 28-25, but Keith Byars recovered the onside kick to wrap up the thrilling win.

Day 4 - 25 days celebrating the 25th anniversary of the 1996 AFC title

The good times kept rolling against Dan Marino and the Dolphins a week later when the fish got squished to the tune of a 42-23 blowout in Foxboro on November 3rd. The win moved the Pats to 6-3 while Miami was starting to crumble at 4-5. 

The game was actually tied 14-14 at the half and Miami led 17-14 early in the third on a Joe Nedney 39-yard field goal, but it soon turned into the Ben Coates Show soon thereafter though as the big tight end had touchdown catches of 23 and 84 yards to put New England up 28-17 in the fourth. Sam Gash added a 5-yard TD catch and Martin (18 carries, 53 yards, 3 TD’s) punched in his third from two-yards out to cap the 28-point second half. OJ McDuffie added a late TD for the Dolphins.

Bledsoe was 3/41 that day for 419 yards and the three touchdowns while Coates racked up 135 yards on five catches. 

The final victory in the important all AFC East stretch on the schedule came on November 10th when the Pats took down the Jets in the Meadowlands, 31-27.

The 1-8 Jets gave the 6-3 Patriots all they could handle in a surprisingly close game, but after two emotional wins over the Bills and Dolphins the let down was far from a surprise. New England found itself in a 21-0 hole before a late Terry Glenn touchdown catch on a 26-yard throw from Bledsoe cut it to 21-7 at the half. 

Martin cut it to 21-14 with a 1-yard TD in the third and a 30-yard field goal from Vinatieri made it  21-17, but a Nick Lowery field goal in the third put the Pats in a 24-17 deficit heading to the fourth. Bledsoe hit Coates from 17-yards out with 11:25 to play, tying the game at 24-24. Another Jets’ field goal gave them the lead again with 8:17 left. About four minutes later, Bledsoe found Byars for a 2-yard TD and a 31-27 lead. 

Jets QB Frank Reich (yes, that Frank Reich) led New York from its own 24 down to the Patriots’ 11 in the final moments but the Patriots’ D stood tall for their fourth straight win and seventh of the season.

Don’t forget to continue following along tomorrow (Sunday) for our fifth day of 25 celebrating the 25th anniversary of the 1996 AFC champion New England Patriots.