Tom Brady admits officials made wrong call in 2017 AFC Championship Game

Early in the fourth quarter of the 2017 AFC Championship Game, the Jaguars were 20-10 against the Patriots' vaunted dynasty.

The Patriots, desperate for a big play after scoring just 10 points throughout the game, tried a trick play in which wide receiver Danny Amendola threw a double pass to running back Dion Lewis. Lewis had the ball stripped by Jaguars linebacker Myles Jack, who then began to take off down the sideline with no one in front of him.

The play was called dead, and Jack was not allowed to attempt to score. After review, the officials determined that there was a turnover, but because the whistle was blown prematurely, there was no chance for Jack to score.

The Jaguars got the ball, but the officials prevented Jack from putting them up by three scores with under a quarter to go. Jacksonville proceeded to go three-and-out before allowing the Patriots to march down the field and score a touchdown. Now, instead of being up 27-10, the Jaguars were up 20-17. New England scored again, leading to a 24-20 win and an advancement to the Super Bowl.

The play, controversial from the moment it happened, has lived on in Jaguars history for six years.

Now, Brady admitted that the officials made the wrong call. Brady acknowledged that he didn’t think Jack was down and that there was likely no chance anybody from the Patriots was catching him, as described in an article from Sports Illustrated.

“Oh no, I don’t think he was down. Oh god I don’t think we were catching him either,” Brady said, settling the debate.

Even if Jack was down, the officials called the play improperly. Officials are supposed to let plays of that nature play out as they can always overturn the touchdown and take the play back, but they can’t allow a player another chance to run the ball and attempt to score a touchdown.

After reaching the conference championship for the first time this century, the Jaguars had a promising future, and they had one of the scariest pass rushes in the NFL.

Deemed “Sacksonville,” the Jaguars looked like they may be competitors in the AFC for years to come. In Doug Marrone’s first full years as head coach, he led them to 10 wins for the first time since 2007.

A formidable quarterback in Blake Bortles paired with a promising young running back in Leonard Fournette was just good enough to be carried by one of the league’s most elite defenses. A young Jalen Ramsey and A.J. Bouye locked the outside while a prime Calais Campbell and Paul Posluszny locked down the interior.

Young athletes such as Telvin Smith, Myles Jack and Yannick Ngakoue outlined one of the most fearsome pass rushes in the NFL. Four players on the Jaguars defense accounted for 42.5 sacks in 2017.

After the loss, the organization struggled to recover. They have yet to win as many games as they did in 2017 and they have only made the playoffs one time.

It took until 2022 for the Jaguars to win more than six games a season. The poor stretch included a 2020 season, which was Marrone’s last, in which they won just one game.

Now, the Jaguars are showing promise with one of the best young quarterbacks in the league in Trevor Lawrence. They made the playoffs in 2022 and even won a playoff game in one of the biggest comebacks in NFL history. With head coach Doug Pederson, Jacksonville won nine games in 2022 and 2023.

While they look like they are in a better position than they were for the four years after the crushing AFC Championship Game loss to Brady and the Patriots, Jaguars fans still feel the effect of one of the most controversial calls in recent NFL history.