Patriots 24, Jaguars 21

Sunday, December 24th 2006, 3:25 pm

By: News On 6

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) Tom Brady and the New England Patriots may have knocked Jacksonville out of the playoffs for the second consecutive season, while clinching their own division title.

Brady directed 3 long touchdown drives, capped one of them with a perfect touch pass to David Thomas, and helped the Patriots clinch their fourth consecutive AFC East crown with a 24-21 victory against the Jaguars on a rainy Sunday.

New England (11-4), returning to the site of its last Super Bowl victory, also crippled Jacksonville's postseason chances. The Jaguars now need to win at Kansas City next week and get lots of help to earn a wild-card spot.

The Jaguars (8-7) made the playoffs last season, but promptly lost 28-3 at New England. That game was decided early in the 2nd half when the Pats scored 21 unanswered points.

New England put Jacksonville away much later Sunday.

Laurence Maroney, who missed the last two games with torn rib cartilage, had a 27-yard touchdown run with 4:36 remaining to put the Patriots ahead 24-14.

But Jacksonville answered when David Garrard hooked up with Matt Jones for a 33-yard score about a minute later. The defense then forced its first 3-and-out of the game, giving the offense the ball near midfield. Garrard, though, started to scramble out of the pocket and fumbled after getting hit by Jarvis Green.

Rodney Harrison, back in the lineup after missing six weeks with a broken shoulder blade, recovered to seal the victory.