Dan Shaughnessy
Patriots showing they may be best in NFL
It’s been popular to question the Patriots. But maybe it’s time to start thinking they are the best team in the NFL. The 45-10 win was pretty darned impressive.
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Tom Brady tied the record for touchdowns in a playoff game with six against the Broncos, as the Patriots advanced to the AFC Championship game.
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Tight end Rob Gronkowski spiked the ball after scoring his third touchdown of the night against the Broncos.
Matthew J. Lee/Globe Staff
Wes Welker and Tiquan Underwood (#10) joined the celebration.
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Rob Gronkowski caught a 10-yard pass from Tom Brady as the Patriots took a 14-0 lead in the first quarter.
The Boston Globe
Patriots fans held signs spelling "Gronk" for star tight end Rob Gronkowski.
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Tom Brady celebrated with Deion Branch after his 61-yard touchdown reception in the second quarter.
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Sterling Moore tackled Broncos wide receiver Demaryius Thomas to cause an incompletion.
Matthew J. Lee/Globe Staff
Patriots defensive lineman Gerard Warren sacked Tim Tebow in the first half.
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The Patriots' sustained their defensive pressure throughout the game.
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Tight end Aaron Hernandez was brought down by Broncos safety David Bruton in the first quarter.
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These fans at Gillette Stadium were looking for the Patriots to put an end to Tim Tebow's hot streak, and they did.
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It was another big night for Rob Gronkowski and the Patriots as they advanced to next Sunday's AFC title game.
Bob Ryan
Hard to judge Patriots’ defense vs. inept Broncos
Let’s table the defense concerns for another week, OK? Beating up on Denver’s offense clearly doesn’t count.
Special Section: the Gardner Grows
Mystery achievement
By changing with the times, will the Gardner lose some of its poetry?
Clash hastened Opera Boston’s demise
Nobody knows what Opera Boston general director Lesley Koenig did to upset millionaire opera aficionado Randolph Fuller, but his lack of financial support helped doom the company.
2 more bodies found on Italian cruise ship
Coast guard divers searching the submerged part of the Costa Concordia today found the bodies of two elderly people, raising the death toll to five.
Evangelical divide lifts Mitt Romney in S.C.
Unlike Iowa, where evangelical Christians coalesced around Rick Santorum, South Carolina’s religious right remains divided as the Jan. 21 primary nears.
Absenteeism rife at Boston high schools
More than a third of the students in the city's public high schools were chronically absent last year, even as the city undertook additional efforts to lure students to school.
Backyard skating enthusiasts bemoan warm winter
Rink builders are powerless without winter, and even with occasional stabs of cold like this weekend’s, the parade of balmy days has meant one disaster after another.
“You have to create a climate for kids so they want to go to school. Chronic absenteeism is a leading indicator of whether a school is on track.’’
Hedy Chang, director of Attendance Works
Inside The Boston Globe
Columnists
Special section
The Gardner Grows
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum looks to the future with its new wing. A special section gives you the complete tour, with interactive graphics, 360 degree panoramas, videos, galleries, and more.
Metro
Braintree siblings escape Italian cruise disaster
Three Braintree siblings were among the roughly 4,200 people aboard the Costa Concordia, a cruise ship that ran aground and nearly capsized off the Tuscan coast.
Politics
Political notebook
Christian leaders back Santorum at Texas meeting
A group of about 150 conservative Christian leaders and political activists endorsed Santorum for president after a two-day meeting in Texas.
Business
Expert networks give investors an edge
For years, these networks operated — legally — in the shadows of the financial industry, but have recently been thrust into the spotlight by a series of insider trading scandals.
Sports
Hurricanes 4, Bruins 2
Hurricanes take down the Bruins
With 1:30 remaining in regulation, Jay Harrison snuck the game-winner past Tim Thomas on a shot from the point as Carolina rallied to beat the Bruins, 4-2.
Travel
Australia
Ambition and the arts grow due south
MONA, the Museum of Old and New Art, helped transform Hobart, Australia. These days, the country’s poorest state prompts fewer jokes and more envious glances among mainland Australians.
Books
book review
‘How It All Began’ by Penelope Lively
The mugging of an elderly mother triggers a surprising chain of events in Penelope Lively’s sparkling and illuminating snapshot of us in our times.
Arts
Theater Review
‘Sugar’ offers the stories, shocks of life with diabetes
Emerson College professor Robbie McCauley’s one-woman show touches on slavery, racism, and living with type 1 diabetes.
Opinion
“At this point, I’d be happy to pay whalers to do the right thing, and I am sure that I’m not alone.”
Gareth Cook
Ideas
“The problem, as Shoup and his allies see it, is that parking on the street is simply too desirable. Because spaces are so cheap, drivers have a powerful incentive to spend time hunting for them.”
Leon Neyfakh on the case for the $6 parking meter