Team beats talent: New England Patriots edge San Diego Chargers 24-21
New England Patriots used an all-out team effort to defeat San Diego Chargers 24-21 and advance to the AFC Championship game wehere they will play against the Indianapolis Colts.
The Patriots earned their victory by fighting and giving it everything they had on every down. They never quit. They never gave up and they were never cowed by Chargers athletically superior players.
The Patriots were down 11 points in the second quarter and 8 points in the fourth quarter but they kept chugging along, kept looking for ways to stop the Chargers powerful offense and crack its tough, hard-charging defense. Patriots pretty much abandoned the running game from the get go, clearly figuring they’d have a much better chance attacking San Diego’s secondary than its front seven. Probably to New England’s surprise, San Diego’s secondary proved a tough match. Even when New England’s offensive line provided quarterback Tom Brady with an obscene amount of time in the pocket, the receivers were unable to get open for much of the game. When they did get open, occasionally wide open, Brady was frequently off target with his passes.
While New England’s offense sputtered its defense kept the game reasonably close throughout the game. A number of players turned in monster performances. Inside linebacker Mike Vrabel had a great game, as did all three of the starters on the defensive line. Practically all of the players in the seondary - Asante Samuel, Artrell Hawkins, James Sanders, Ellis Hobbs, Chad Scott et al - had a great game. The secondary’s performance was all the more impressive as the front-seven focused exclusively on stopping San Diego’s runningback and League MVP LaDanian Tomlinson. San Diego’s quarterback Philip Rivers routinely was able to throw with no defender close to him.
The Patriots strung together an amazing series of plays to win the game:
- Tightend Dave Thomas glommed on to the ball at the bottom of a scrum after Chargers’ Eric Parker muffed a punt.
- Troy Brown forced a fumble that was recovered by wide receiver Reche Caldwell after San Diego’s free safety Marlon McCree intercepted a Brady pass on 4th & 5 with 6:25 remaining in the fourth quarter. If McCree had simply kncoed the ball to the ground the Chargers would have taken a big step towards winning the game. Instead the Patriots went on to score on a touchdown pass to Caldwell.
- The Chargers scored their second touchdown on a drive where Richard Seymour was on the sideline and back up Jarvis Green was on the field.
- San Diego’s cornerback Drayton Florcence head butted tightend Daniel Graham after the Chargers had sacked Brady on third and long, resulting in a personal foul for unnecessary roughness that prolonged New England’s drive. Patriots came away with a field goal.
- Rosevelt Colvin, who otherwise had a pretty rough outing made a great over-the-shoulders interception of a Rivers pass intended for Tomlinson on 1st and 10 at New England’s 36 yard line at the end of the third quarter.
- Brady hit Caldwell for 49 yard deep pass along the right sidelines on 3rd and 10 to set up Gostkowski’s game-winning field goal. Brady’s second longest completion of the game went for 19 yards to Graham.
- Third string runningback Kevin Faulk scored the game-tying two-point conversion on a direct snap that surprised no more than 12 people: The 11 Chargers on the field and their head coach Marty Schottenheimer.
- James Sanders made a sack on third and long that pushed the Chargers out of field goal range half way through the third quarter.
As is often the case, Brady’s statistics weren’t all that impressive: 27 of 51 for 280 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions. Only six different Patriots had catches - with Jabar Gaffney leading in both catches and yards with 10 for 103 and one touchdown - which is an unusually low number for the Patriots, but I guess the Chargers took away some of the things they normally do, like throwing to the runningbacks who typically had to stay home and pass protect today.
The running game was practically non-existent, as mentioned above. Faulk had six carries for 25 yards, Corey Dillon eight carries for 18 yards, Laurence Maroney 5 carries for five yards and then Brady added three yards on two carries. There’s no doubt the Patriots were right in using spread sotgun formations to attack the Chargers, it just didn’t work quite as well as one could have hoped. Although, in the end, it worked just enough.
The Patiots offensive line, which often struggles against strong pass rushes, had an incredibly good game, giving Brady and the receivers a chance to make the offensive game plan to work. Hats off to Matt Light, Logan Mankins, Dan Koppen, Stephen Neal, and Nick Kaczur for drawing even with the Chargers pass rushers. Light in particular deserves credit as is his often criticized for not holidng the ground against speed rushers. The Power-I formation that I normally go on and on about played virtually no role in this game.
With not much to do on offense, fullback Heath Evans filled in with outstanding speacial teams play, including three solid tackles on kick-return coverage. Eric Alexander, a promising linebacker who’s yet to earn a spot on defense, also chipped in with fine efforts on special teams.
The one starter who had a hard time throughout the game was right outside linebacker Tully Banta-Cain who’s really a tad undersized to play against a team like the Chargers. But like his teammates he kept fighting and kept playing his role. Nonetheless, I think it’s fair to say things would have been a little bit easier for the Patriots if Junior Seau had been healthy and manning his inside linebacker spot, allowing Vrabel to stay outside. But as Belichick would no doubt retort, it is what is and every player on the field is there because he has confidence in them.
And then there’s coaching… New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick once again schooled us doubters and, more importantly, his opponents. Belichick had his team prepared for every phase of the game, and then he, his assistants and the players made all the required in-game adjustments. Against the Tennessee Titans a couple of weeks ago the Patriots allowed themselves to get caught up in the moment and draw several personal foul penalties, but against the Chargers they stayed cool and focused. They stayed in play-offs mode. The Chargers played as if they were still in the regular season, as if they could make any number of mistakes and still get another chance next week.
While the Patriots kept looking for weaknesses in San Diego the Chargers drifted away from their best player, Tomlinson.
To slow down San Diego’s rushing game they Patriots defensive line gave almost a full yard of cushionto the line of scrimmage, giving the linebackers a better chance to read the blocks and the line a better chance to react. That approached hamstrung New England’s pass rush and perhaps that tricked the Chargers into throwing the ball as much as they did in the second half instead of feeding the League MVP the ball.
Belichick’s coaching was virtually flawless while Schottenheimer made two enormous mistakes. First he had his offense go for it on fourth and eleven in the first half, then he mindlessly challenged Brown’s strip of McCree’s interception (according to Boston sports reporter Michael Felger after Rivers had run up to the coach and exhorted him to request the review). The pointless challenged cost the Chargers a time out that they sorely could have used on their final desperation drive.
Like so many of New England’s vanquished foes, Chargers linebacker Shaun Phillips just couldn’t handle the bitter sight of Patriots celebrating another victory and vowed to not forget:
I promise, this is something I won’t forget. Every time I play New England, it’s a personal grudge.
He’s not learning the right lesson.
To be honest, I’m not all that comfortable with the way some of the Patriots carry themselves in victory, and Colvin’s trash talking is particularly grating since he’s the only Patriot whose deeds don’t match his words, but at least they confine their antics to game day, and, when it matters, to after the game. Besides, does anybody think the Chargers didn’t spew verbal garbage at the Patriots during the game? Not to mention Shawn Merriman’s IQ-free sack dance, that awful San Diego Super Chargers song, and Merriman’s promise to “turn the lights out” on the Patriots during the run-up to the game.
League MVP Tomlinson threw a nutty at the end of the game and seemingly tried to challenge some of the Patriots to some kind of confrontation. During the press conference after the game he described himself that he’s “a very classy person” and complained about the Patriots lack of the same and insinuated that it starts with belichick. Then he reiterated the point in post-game interviews. “I’m a very classy person” is a moniker that’s likely to stick to Tomlinson for the rest of his career. By the way, a belated Merry Christmas to you, Tomlinson!
On the blogs:
Minor-League Town in San Diego is happy to not have to hear “San Diego Super Chargers” anymore and adds:
[M]ost importantly, there’s the Pro Bowl! The Chargers have nine — nine! — guys going to Hawaii for the Pro Bowl. The Patriots have only one Pro Bowl player, defensive lineman Richard Seymour. And Philip Rivers will be at quarterback for the AFC in the Pro Bowl.
Take that, Tom Brady.
San Diego has nine Pro Bowl players? I wonder if all nine are very classy persons?
SoCal Sports Observed rides to Schottemheimers defense:
Yes, he’s lost six consecutive playoff games. Yes, he made some mistakes in this one that, in retrospect, could have changed the outcome. But to blame Marty for this 24-21 loss — that’s like blaming a guy in a rubber suit for being killed by lightning.
I think it was Steve DeOssie or Fred Smerlas on a post-game show on Boston sports-talk radio station WEEI who said that if Belichick had been Chargers head coach they would have mopped the floor with the Patriots. I think that’s correct. Schottenheimer wasn’t able to turn all that talent into a sound team.
Ed Valentine at Valentine’s Views agrees with SoCal Sports:
It seems incredibly unfair. Schottenheimer is a good coach who seems to have bad things happen to his playoff teams. San Diego management is not fond of Schottenheimer, and has reportedly been looking for an excuse to replace him.
Patriots-fan BunkoSquad has a merry laugh at Schottenheimer’s expense:
It’s been said before, but I think Marty Schottenheimer could botch a two-car funeral. What a bad job managing the second half.
I’m guessing Schottenheimer’s coaching career in San Diego now is a two-car funeral.
Strong As An Ox And Nearly As Smart marvels at the Chargers inability to close out the game:
The San Diego Chargers seemed to be far superior physically. During the early part of the game I thought that the Chargers would really have to mess up to lose the game. As the game progressed it became obvious that they were capable, even more than willing, to do just that.
Planet Killer has a very good post on the game in which he notes:
The Patriots won this game because they just kept plugging. Chargers’ fans and players are likely to join the ranks of those that always feel, “The Patriots got lucky,” or “We should’ve won.” Yeah, well, you should’ve won, but you didn’t. You just got beat by a team that understands playoff football better than you
LyfLines identifies the Chargers fatal weakness:
Even when the Patriots lost in Denver last year, I thought that the Patriots were the better team. Not yesterday. The Chargers were big, tough, physical, fast, highly-skilled - basically everything that you’re looking for. Luckily for New England, yesterday, they were also dumb.
Seth Gitell notes that the whole is greater than the parts on a team:
The Patriots success over the last six years transcends sports. In an era where ESPN celebrates individual achievement, such as endlessly broadcasting Shawne Merriman’s grotesque victory dance, the Patriots put the spotlight on teamwork, an apt lesson for everyone.
The Patriots have been teaching that lesson for six years now, but very few teams in the NFL care to take notice. Instead they load up on Pro Bowlers, sack-dancers and stats hogs. The basic problem is the lack of quality in the NFL: There’s a lack of quality owners, quality managers, quality coaches, and quality players. So many players just don’t get it, like McCree who is quoted in today’s Boston Herald talking about the play where Brown stripped him after he made an interception:
“I was trying to make a play, and anytime I get the ball I’m going to try and score. I didn’t see (Brown) behind me and he stripped it. The receiver made a great play. I have no regrets for trying to make a play, and that is what I was trying to do.â€
Trying to make a play? He had already made the play! He lost the play he had already made and by doing that he helped lose the entire game. And he has no regrets. What is wrong with these players?
Thank you, Mr. Gitell, for linking to this post!
UniversalHub has links to several Boston bloggers commenting on the game. Thanks for the link, Adam!
