Here’s how you can stream the AFC Championship game 2018 between the New England Patriots and the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Tom Brady leads the New England Patriots to yet another AFC Championship game against the upstart Jacksonville Jaguars. Will the Patriots’ ageless quarterback solve Jacksonville’s dominating defense? Or can Blake Bortles take the Jaguars to their first ever Super Bowl? These questions will be answered on Sunday. Here’s how you can watch the game if you don’t have cable.
Date: Sunday, Jan. 21
Time: 3:05 p.m. ET
Location: Gillette Stadium – Foxborough, Massachusetts
Channel: CBS (check local listings)
Live Stream: FuboTV Free trial
Streaming options
To watch the AFC Championship game, you’ll need to to find a streaming service that not only offers CBS, but a live feed of CBS and not just on-demand content. In many markets, you can watch on-demand but not live content from CBS and the other local networks.
FuboTV
FuboTV is a sports-centric streaming service. It offers a seven-day free trial and costs $19.99 for the first month before jumping up to $44.99 a month. It includes a live feed of CBS in dozens of markets.
PlayStation Vue
PlayStation Vue’s $40 Access plan includes CBS. Channel lineups vary by region, so check out which live, local networks you get on the PlayStation Vue Plans page.
DirecTV Now
DirecTV Now’s basic, $35-a-month Live a Little package includes CBS. You can use its channel lookup tool to see if you get a live feed of CBS and the other local networks in your zip code.
Hulu with Live TV
Hulu with Live TV costs $40 a month and includes CBS, but check to see which live channels Hulu offers in your area.
YouTube TV
YouTube TV costs $35 a month and includes CBS. It’s available in dozens of major metro markets, with more being added all the time.
CBS All Access
CBS’s online streaming service has added live NFL games for this season. CBS All Access costs $5.99 a month and will let you stream the AFC Championship game. (Full disclosure: CNET is a division of CBS.)
Verizon Wireless
Verizon Wireless subscribers can stream the local broadcasts of all of the NFL playoff games via the NFL Mobile app (on iOS and Android) without any data charges.
Free over-the-air TV
If you live in an area with good reception, you can watch for free on over-the-air broadcast channels just by attaching an affordable indoor antenna to nearly any TV to watch games on the major networks, including CBS.
AFC Championship 2018 game preview
The New England Patriots enter their seventh straight AFC Championship Game 2018 as the overwhelming favorite to knock off the Jacksonville Jaguars and earn a return trip to the Super Bowl.
Although their spot in Minneapolis has been penciled in by some, the Patriots aren’t underestimating the AFC South champion ahead of Sunday’s clash at Gillette Stadium.
The game still has to be won on the field, and with little pressure on the Jaguars as the underdog, the Patriots must deliver their best performance of the season in order to fulfill their dreams of becoming back-to-back Super Bowl champion.
Will The Jaguars Struggle Against Tight Ends Again?
One of the unexpected top performers in Jacksonville’s divisional-round victory over Pittsburgh was Steelers tight end Vance McDonald, who made 10 receptions for 112 yards.
McDonald wasn’t seen as a threat to the Jaguars defense going into the contest, but he was able to exploit the gaps in the middle of the field between the pass-rushers and the secondary.
If Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski thrives in a similar fashion on Sunday, the Jaguars could be in for a disastrous end to their season.
The New England star poses much more of a physical threat than McDonald did a week ago.
The eighth-year pro out of Arizona caught six of his nine targets for 81 yards and a touchdown in the win over the Tennessee Titans on Saturday, and he has only been targeted fewer than five times once by quarterback Tom Brady in games he’s played in this season.
Although the Jags boast a solid collection of linebackers, they may not be enough to contain Gronkowski, who recorded all three of his 100-yard receiving games in the regular season against teams that qualified for the postseason.
Even if Jacksonville’s defensive backs shut down the New England wide receivers, or the front four gets a strong pass rush on Brady, there’s still a good chance the ball will end up in Gronkowski’s hands at some point.
What the visitors must do on Sunday is limit how many touches Gronkowski gets and where his targets occur. If the Jaguars can keep Brady from finding him on third down or in the red zone, they stand a chance of containing the beast.
New England Enters with Respect for Bortles
Jacksonville quarterback Blake Bortles hasn’t seen his name and respect in the same sentence much this season, but his AFC Championship Game opposition has plenty of that for him.
“I’ve seen some of his interviews, and it seems like he has a great attitude, laughing about it, cracking jokes. I think you see that on the field. The guy is a winner,” Patriots defensive back Devin McCourty said, per ESPN’s Rich Cimini.
Fellow defensive back Eric Rowe chimed in with a similar sentiment, one that some opponents have not had throughout the 2017 season.
“You can’t be trash and be in the championship game,” he said, per Cimini.
Since they are a well-prepared organization, you expect to hear these kind words from the Patriots about Bortles heading into their seventh consecutive conference championship game.
New England isn’t going to underestimate anyone on the other side of the field no matter what the perception of him is in other locker rooms.
Bortles’ divisional-round performance wasn’t the best by anyone’s standard, as he completed 14 of his 26 passes for 214 yards and a touchdown, but he didn’t turn the ball over to put the Jaguars in significant danger.
If the Jaguars quarterback is able to match his production from the victory over the Steelers, he should be able to at least keep his team in the game heading into the second half.
Patriots Defense Looking to Prove Itself Once Again
Many perceived New England’s defense to be its biggest weakness entering the postseason because of its porous stats.
The Patriots came into the playoffs with the 29th-ranked total defense that conceded 366 total yards per game, with 251.3 of that average coming in the passing game.
In their first playoff game, the Patriots held the Titans to 267 total yards and contained the threat of quarterback Marcus Mariota.
Although the numbers may not have represented progression throughout the season, the Patriots knew they were capable of a performance such as the one they produced on Saturday.
Per Rich Garven of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, McCourty said:
“I think for us it was all about just progressing and getting better. I thought guys locked in on that, and I think the key part of our season is not getting away from that. We’ve continued to have that mentality and mindset week after week, fixing whatever we didn’t do well the game before or the games before and try to get those things better.”
The key for the Patriots on Sunday will be limiting the production of Jaguars running back Leonard Fournette, which should put more pressure on Bortles to make plays. Even though they have respect for the Jacksonville quarterback, the Patriots would much rather have him try to beat them than Fournette.
Prediction
As foolish as it would be to undersell a supremely talented Jaguars defense capable of destroying the pocket and wreaking havoc in the secondary, it’s equally as short-sighted to overlook the most powerful head coach-quarterback-tight end triad in NFL history, bolstered by the hottest running back in the league over the past month.
New England’s hallmark under Belichick is the reliable ability to distill an intricate plan designed to exploit the specific strengths and weaknesses of that week’s opponent. Jacksonville, on the other hand, is the quintessential frontrunner, in dire need of an early lead to hide their quarterback, maximize their ground attack, pin their pass rusher’s ears back and unleash their ballhawking defensive backs.
When the lights shine brightest in January and early February, I’ve learned not to doubt the lethal combination of Belichick’s beautiful mind enhanced by Brady’s cold-blooded assassin tendencies.
Patriots 27, Jaguars 16
