2017 AFC Championship: Patriots Get Opponent

FOXBOROUGH, MA — The Patriots now know who's coming up to Foxborough for Sunday's AFC Championship Game. The Jacksonville Jaguars upset the Pittsburgh Steelers, 45-42, Sunday afternoon at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh. Kickoff for the Jan. 21 game at Gillette Stadium is scheduled for 3:05 p.m.

The Jaguars this year qualified for the playoffs for the first time since 2007, when they posted an 11-5 record and lost to the Patriots in the divisional round. This season's team was 10-6 record and advanced out of the wild card round with an ugly 10-3 win over the Buffalo Bills, but they shocked many by putting up 45 points in Pittsburgh.

Quarterback Blake Bortles leads an inconsistent offense, but the team's calling card is defense. The Jaguars ranked second in interceptions (21), second in points given up (268), second in yards given up (4,578) and second in sacks (55). The team has a tendency to bend but not break with the league's second-best points against average of 16.8.

Jacksonville's last game in Foxborough was 2015, when they lost, 51-17. This will be the second time Jacksonville has faced New England in the conference title game, last facing them in 1996. The 20-6 win by the Patriots was more memorable for the fact that the power at the old Foxboro Stadium went out just before halftime. No need to worry about that this time, the stadium has duplicate power lines to Wrentham, as well as Foxborough.

The game will be New England's seventh straight appearance. Jacksonville will play in the conference championship game for the first time since the 1999 season.

The winner will face the NFC champion Feb. 4 in Super Bowl LII at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. It will be either Minnesota or Philadelphia.