What Went Right in ’01,’04 and Wrong in ’06,’13,’15?

There might not be two more impressive wins of the Patriots Dynasty than taking down the Pittsburgh Steelers on the road in both the 2001 and 2004 AFC Championships. Since then, the Pats are 0-3 on the road in the conference championship, a trend they’ll want to reverse against the Chiefs on Sunday.

It got me wondering, what did those two teams have that the latter three did not? What enabled them to win the second-biggest game of the season in a hostile environment? What might we draw to this year’s Patriots squad?

In 2001, the Patriots “despite prognostications of doom” got sparked by special teams and a feel-good contribution from Drew Bledsoe in his final appearance as a Patriots QB. Special teams was the difference with an early punt return TD by Troy Brown gave the Pats the jump and a blocked FG returned for TD that gave the Pats a 21-3 lead in the third quarter. The defense picked off Kordell Stewart three times and the Pats were on their way to Super Bowl 36. SPECIAL TEAMS. TAKEAWAYS.

In 2004, the Pats were in a very similar situation to 2018’s. Though these Pats didn’t lose to Kansas City, the 2004 team had to play on the road where they had already lost. The defense started the game forcing a Jerome Bettis fumble on their second possesion that would open up a 10 points. A Rodney Harrison pick six made it 24-3 just before the half. The offense rolled with a near-perfect offensive performance. Deion Branch 4/116 and David Givens 5/59 were the only two players with more than one catch. TAKEAWAYS.

They had the storybook chance to finish a chapter in Pittsburgh just like the 2018 team could do on the road in Kansas City. 2004 was avenging a prior loss, but 2018 is about proving a perceived critical flaw wrong.

In 2006, the losses began though the first half started off great with a pick six and leading 21-6 at halftime. Then sickness and a lack of depth caught up with the Pats in the second half. Big plays haunted the defense in the second half as Manning unleashed on them. BIG PLAYS AGAINST, 1 TAKEAWAY

The Patriots are significantly healthier right now than they were entering any of the last five AFC Championship Games. I'd forgotten just how much of a disaster 2015 was. pic.twitter.com/N8kvejkLS7
— Zack Cox (@ZackCoxNESN) January 17, 2019

In 2013, injuries and turnover had dominated the season. When they had to travel to Denver after pulling off a miraculous comeback win in Foxboro during the season, they were starting Joe Vellano and Chris Jones (not the good one) at defensive tackle. A critical flaw was exposed once Aqib Talib went down and the Pats had no answer for Demaryius Thomas. Still, they hung tough and made it closer than it probably should’ve been. MATCHUP PROBLEMS, OFFENSIVE FLAWS W/O GRONK

2015 was another season-ended in Denver, with the Pats featuring a banged-up Julian Edelman and Rob Gronkowski. James White had five catches on 16 targets while the rest of the offensive backfield was off the scrap heap. It came down to the end and would’ve gone to overtime if not for a Gostkowski extra point miss. This was an epic Gronk game and maybe the most disappointing loss of the three.

TURNOVERS — In two wins the Patriots forced four turnovers in both the 2001 and 2004 AFC Championships. In the three losses they’re net -1, getting just two takeaways. Remember the Asante pick six in Indy? It’s been a long time since then. Winning the turnover battle is critical.
SPECIAL TEAMS — The forgotten unit could have a huge impact as it did against the Chargers with Albert McClellan forcing a huge turnover that sprung the Pats loose. Likewise, a special teams snafu like Gostkowski’s miss in
PREVENT BIG PLAYS — Manning went off in ’06 as the Pats defense gave up five 20-plus plays in the second half. Mahomes will make some big plays but the Pats must do their best to tackle asap. Shine a light on any Sony Michel big runs, they could be as devastating as Corey Dillon’s 35-yarder vs Pittsburgh in 2004.
INJURIES/SICKNESS — Good news, no one is on the injury report heading into this one and there were no critical injury losses. This bolds as well for the Pats chances as anything.
NO PEYTON — Say what you will but only Peyton Manning has ever beaten the Pats on the road in the AFC Championship so at least he’s not playing.