FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — The New England Patriots just took the “next man up” mantra and made it look ludicrously simple. They just served -– even by their own profuse standards — a fresh dish of impromptu hope and magic to their loyal, locked-in fans. They are AFC champions again and on to Super Bowl 52 because they beat the Jacksonville Jaguars, 24-20, here on Sunday at Gillette Stadium.

It was predictable Patriots — with a twist.

Last season tight end Rob Gronkowski was injured, and receiver Julian Edelman surfaced in Super Bowl 51 with that juggling, winning catch. This season Edelman was injured, and Gronk returned and rose. But Gronk was knocked out before halftime of this AFC title game.

Who would be the next man up?

These Patriots in recent times have offensively led with quarterback Tom Brady piercing teams with Gronk and Edelman. Receiver Brandin Cooks has come along, and running backs Dion Lewis and James White have stuck. Receiver Chris Hogan has flashed big-play shrewdness.

NFL defenses do not panic over Danny Amendola. Sure he is a respected receiver, but any of the aforementioned Patriots offensive weapons, minus Hogan, struck much more trepidation from the Jaguars defenders before kickoff. It is not a knock on Amendola. Nice player. Undrafted from Texas Tech in 2008, cut by Dallas, cut by Philadelphia, four seasons with the Rams and then here at New England since 2013. He is 32.

He has been contributing big plays for a while, but he has been swallowed up in the Patriots machine. That was until this championship game where he was next man up and became the offensive spark, the go-to-guy; the player who rose above all boundaries. The guy who made spell-bounding contributions on the way to New England’s bid for a second consecutive Super Bowl title.

“Before you even talk about the play, you have to talk about the person,” Patriots cornerback Malcolm Butler said. “This is a guy I’ve been watching ever since I was in my bed in high school and he was a player for the Rams. He’s somebody who when he runs a route against you in practice and he drops a pass, he’s pissed. And he gets fixated on getting it right.”

Down 20-10 in the fourth quarter, Amendola caught a third-and-18 pass for 21 yards that precluded his 9-yard touchdown grab that pushed the score to 20-17 with 8:44 left. He returned a punt 20 yards to the Jacksonville 30 with 4:58 left. There was 2:48 left when he made a splendid 4-yard catch near the back of the end zone, twisting and toe-tapping and holding onto the ball, for the game’s final points.

Amendola fourth-quarter third-down conversion, touchdown, punt return, touchdown.

He did even more in this Patriots comeback, but this was the next-man-up stuff that lifts him to a new place in the Patriots legacy.

“No, I didn’t,” Amendola told me as he left the stadium when asked if he knew the final scoring pass was coming his way. “But I was ready. I’ve always tried to be a part of the team. But I think tonight the way things were going that I knew I needed to do more. And it all came down to if and when the ball came my way, being ready to do that.”

Patriots coach Bill Belichick has always summed up this Patriots fruitful knack for numbers being called. Amendola wears No. 80, even though this all goes beyond the actual number.

Belichick has given many variations to the question about what makes the Patriots so mentally tough and resilient, but this answer on Sunday night was close to his constant core message: “That’s what makes a good football team. That’s what a team is — everybody pulling their weight, everybody doing their job. When your number comes up, stepping out there and doing what’s right for the team, making the plays that the team needs you to make.”

Next man up.

Defensive end Trey Flowers did it all night, playing in the trenches against the run, rushing the quarterback and flaring into the flat in pass coverage. He helped ignite a Patriots defense that continually tightened its noose on the Jaguars offense, an offense that produced two first-half touchdowns but only two second-half field goals. An offense that in its final four possessions ended punt, punt, punt, downs, gained only two total first downs and only once advanced into New England territory.

Receiver Phillip Dorsett did it, snatching a flea-flicker pass for 31 yards to the Jacksonville 23 on New England’s first fourth-quarter touchdown drive. A tough, over-the-shoulder, tightly contested grab that was his only catch of the game.

Cooks did it with 100 receiving yards and by forcing huge Jaguars pass defense penalties.

Cornerback Stephon Gilmore did it with fourth-down pass defense where he leaped high into the air and swatted the ball while in single coverage on Jacksonville’s final offensive play of the game.

And Lewis did it, rushing for 18 yards around left end on third-and-9 at the New England 44 with 1:38 left. That sealed it. Patriots kneel-downs followed that.

“Everyone in that locker room is thinking what could we have done a better job of including me,” Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone said. “We have to deal with it and it hurts. It stays with you for a long time.”

It will stay even more for Jaguars cornerback Jalen Ramsey, who guaranteed victory and a Jaguars Super Bowl trip. It stings for other AFC coaches, especially Pittsburgh’s Mike Tomlin, who had visions of this game dancing in his head weeks ago only to be nowhere in sight.

You talk, talk, talk. The Patriots prick, prick, prick. They are sizing you up before cutting you down.

They found Jaguars linebacker Telvin Smith a weak link in pass coverage and went after him all game long. They started to create knockbacks in the Jaguars run game in the second half, and the Jaguars did not answer.

As the Patriots fourth quarter crescendo built, the fans began to sway and the stadium began to swell. There is nothing like hope in the NFL. The Patriots and their fans could sense it, this next man up sequel bubbling.

These fans began the night worried about Brady’s hand injury, and that soon morphed into fret over Gronk’s head injury. But along came Amendola, the crucial next man up, who made the types of plays and contribution that a big star makes, a No. 1 wide receiver makes. The Eagles enter Super 52 aware that Amendola is no longer a blended drop in the Patriots mix.

He’s clutch.

“We can all take a punch in the mouth,” Patriots fullback James Devlin said. “And then put our right foot forward.”

And then punch, even harder, back.