Pats’ linebacker continues to make key plays

FOXBORO, Mass. (AP) – Even as a part-timer, Willie McGinest comes up with the big-time plays. Of course, the Indianapolis Colts already knew that.

The Patriots linebacker had the key tackle of New England’s playoff victory over the Tennessee Titans on Saturday night when he knocked Frank Wycheck for a 10-yard loss at the end of the third quarter. The play stalled the Titans’ comeback, and the Patriots won 17-14 on Adam Vinatieri’s 46-yard field goal with 4:06 left.

It was reminiscent of the goal-line tackle McGinest made against the Colts on Nov. 30 to preserve New England’s 38-34 regular-season victory. With Indianapolis coming to Foxboro for the AFC title game, the Patriots are glad that McGinest is back in the form that first earned him a trip to the Pro Bowl in 1997.

“It was really a great play by McGinest,” New England’s Bill Belichick said after McGinest stopped the Titans’ momentum after they tied the game late in the third quarter. “It made me look like a good coach.”

The Titans tied it 14-all late and then forced a fumble near midfield. On first down, Steve McNair threw the ball backward to Wycheck, and he was supposed to throw the ball downfield.

He never got a chance.

Instead of heading for the quarterback, McGinest went right for Wycheck and knocked him back for a 10-yard loss. Instead of being near midfield, the Titans were at their own 37 and they were forced to punt; when they got the ball back it was at their own 7 yard-line.

“You could see trouble coming there,” Belichick said. “It was 14-14, they have the ball at midfield and McGinest makes the play on the double pass that Wycheck was going to throw. Willie made a great read on the play.

“Normally, he would be rushing the passer. But he read it on his first step and then flattened out, and by the time Wycheck got the ball, he was right on top of him.”

McGinest was a star of the Patriots team that made it to the 1997 Super Bowl, but missed half of the next season with a groin injury and in the 2001-02 seasons he wasn’t a regular starter.

He has been in and out of the lineup again this season, but that didn’t keep him from being named to the Pro Bowl roster as a substitute for injured Raven Peter Boulware. It will his first time at the game since 1997.

McGinest had 79 total tackles and 51/2 sacks this season. He was the AFC’s defensive player of the week in Week 16 after recording nine tackles and 11/2 sacks in a 21-16 victory over the New York Jets.

Sunday’s AFC title game gives Indianapolis another chance at McGinest, who stopped Edgerrin James at the goal line on a fourth-and-1. The play preserved New England’s 38-34 victory over the Colts.

McGinest said he sensed it was going to be a run when quarterback Peyton Manning tapped his side.

“I was coming the whole time. I was just disguising,” McGinest, who wasn’t available for comment on Monday, said after the first Colts game. “It’s like a chess game. … Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t.”

McGinest wasn’t picked up by a blocker.

“That was their bad,” he said. “That was a mistake.”

AP-ES-01-12-04 1759EST