Chargers can't get out of their own way, hand game to the Patriots

You'll never see a more bizarre display of NFL football than the Patriots-Chargers game yesterday afternoon at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego.

The Chargers (2-5) gave up four turnovers in the first half: an interception, a fumble and then two crazy plays that are more likely to be seen on a Pee Wee field.

Still, the Patriots (5-1) played well when they had to (namely on a 79-yard touchdown drive to start the second half) and most importantly, the defense continues to improve by leaps and bounds from earlier in the season. No doubt about it, this was a game that the 2009 Patriots would have found a way to lose.

Sure it took a missed 50-yard field goal by Kris Brown with 22 seconds left (after a 5-yard false start penalty by San Diego) to escape with a 23-20 win but this looked like the type of unlikely victory that the Patriots were famous for during their Super Bowl days. They outcoached (for the most part) and their players didn't make the myriad mental mistakes that the Chargers did.

Brown gave San Diego a 3-0 lead in first quarter on a 32-yard field goal. From there, it was one fatal mistake after another for the home team. With Malcolm Floyd and Legedu Naanee out with injuries and Antonio Gates hobbled with turf toe, the Chargers were forced to give playing time to scrubs and it cost them.

Kris Wilson fumbled (recovered by Jerod Mayo), giving the Pats a short field which they took advantage of when Tom Brady (159 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT) hit rookie tight end Rob Gronkowski with 1-yard touchdown pass. It was 7-3 New England after one quarter.

In the second quarter, Chargers rookie wide receiver Richard Goodman made his first NFL catch then put the ball on the field without being touched. Patriots safety James Sanders alertly fell on it. Later, Philip Rivers (336 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT) threw a deep pass which was picked off by rookie cornerback Devin McCourty. There was also a backward pass from Rivers to Jacob Hester that the fullback missed and then walked away from. Patriots linebacker Rob Ninkovich picked it up and raced down to the San Diego 8-yard line.

Even with those two gifts, New England was only able to add six points on a 40-yard kick by Stephen Gostkowski and a 35-yard field goal by Gostkowski, who has regained his touch after early season struggles. The Pats offense only had 38 yards in the first half and they were 0 for 6 on third down.

The Patriots seemingly put the game away with a drive which covered 79-yards in 8:25 to start the third quarter. BenJarvus Green-Ellis dove in from a yard out to give New England a 20-3 lead over lifeless San Diego.

Things went haywire in the fourth quarter as Brown started the rally with a 28-yard field goal to start the fourth quarter. Gostkowski answered with another 35-yard kick which proved to the final points for the Patriots.

Gates (50 yards receiving) woke up in the fourth quarter and caught a 4-yard touchdown pass from Rivers. After recovering an onside kick, Mike Tolbert plunged in from 1-yard out to make it 23-20 New England.

On the next drive, Bill Belichick opted to go for it on fourth and 1 at midfield but Green-Ellis was dropped for a one-yard loss. Images of the soul-crushing defeat to the Colts last season were front and center as it looked like San Diego might get the comeback triumph that turns around their season.

Well almost. They got in field goal range but the 45-yard field goal turned into 50 yards and that was enough to make Brown squeeze it to the right.

Aaron Hernandez (5 catches, 54 yards) was the only Patriots receiver to have a decent day while Patrick Crayton (7 catches, 82 yards) and Darren Sproles (9 catches, 70 yards) took advantage of way more touches than they're used to.

Mayo (11 tackles, 10 solo) had his third straight game with double-digit tackles as he continues to show the beast mode he had his rookie season two years ago. McCourty is also looking like a very solid first round pick and just maybe, the Pats have the No. 1 corner they've been sorely lacking since they didn't pay Asante Samuel.

Brett Favre & Randy Moss limp into Gillette Stadium on Halloween as the Vikings (2-4) can't afford another loss this early into the season. They choked in Lambeau Field last night and it should be nothing short of a circus atmosphere with Moss' return and all the drama surrounding the ol' gunslinger.

Well that was painful: Super Chargers smoke Pats, 30-10

So this is how the other half lives, huh? With Matt Cassel as quarterback of the 2008 New England Patriots, the team is wildly inconsistent and I guess at this point we have to accept that it'll be like that all season. The Patriots were in San Diego last night and got absolutely destroyed, 30-10 by a Chargers team that's not even that good.

Probably the most worrisome thing about the Patriots (3-2) is that not one part of the team is playing well. The offensive line has been terrible since the Super Bowl and they look worse when Cassel takes about 10 seconds to make a decision downfield (even Drew Bledsoe thinks he should get rid of it sooner). Laurence Maroney and LaMont Jordan both sat out and as a result, the duo of Kevin Faulk and Sammy Morris while likeable is woefully average. The running back situation needs a playmaker and Maroney is the only guy that has that ability, not saying he'll ever stop dancing and run hard downhill. The receivers are fine but they're nullified since Cassel can't get them the ball (other than short dumps to Welker).

The defensive line has been terrible, there's been no pressure on quarterbacks. The linebackers other than promising rookie Jerod Mayo have shown their age. The worst group on the team is the cornerbacks. Oh man, if you thought Ellis Hobbs is bad (he is), Deltha O'Neal is looking like a poor man's Duane Starks from a few years ago. Ugh. The Chargers repeatedly picked on O'Neal and he couldn't do anything to stop it. Finally, punter Chris Hanson is a complete bum. You wouldn't notice or care about that but with the current state of the Patriots, we need a good punter.

The Chargers (3-3) were coming off a loss at the Dolphins but you wouldn't know it as they stepped on the gas immediately. Philip Rivers had a Peyton Manning/Tom Brady-esque performance, 18 for 27, 303 yards and three touchdowns. The only reason I didn't vomit on the keyboard while typing that is because Rivers helped lead one of my fantasy teams to a win.

Nate Kaeding opened the scoring with a 25-yard kick in the first quarter. A sign of things to come was when Patriots kicker Stephen Gostkowski missed his first kick of the season.

Even without Chris Chambers, the San Diego passing game was unstoppable. Malcolm Floyd caught a 49-yard TD pass from Rivers in the first quarter. Gostkowski finally got New England on the board with a 47-yard kick in the second quarter. Vincent Jackson (5 catches, 134 yards) put the Chargers up 17-7 with a four-yard catch with 1:07 left in the half.

New England could be best summed up by their first drive of the second half. They moved it down to the 1-yard line and with four cracks at the end zone, they failed to score. It went incomplete play action pass, Morris stuffed, incomplete pass and Cassel was sacked when he tried to scramble in. Shoot me now. At that point, I think Brady turned off the TV. I wouldn't blame him either.

To nobody's surprise, San Diego made the Patriots pay by marching down the field and scoring on a 1-yard toss from Rivers to Gates. A 35-yard Kaeding kick made it 27-3 going into the fourth.

Kaeding's 23-yard kick made it 30-3 Chargers before Morris' 1-yard TD plunge hopefully helped a fantasy football player somewhere. Didn't mean anything to the real game.

After two weeks in California, the Patriots finally come home. They host a good Broncos (4-2) team next Monday. It can't get much worse than two out of the last three games (Dolphins and Chargers).

It Never Gets Old

For as long as you live, when your favorite team in any sport wins a big game, it gives you an incredible rush that simply cannot be duplicated (sex, drugs and rock and roll not withstanding). When said team advances to the Super Bowl for the fourth time in the last seven years and is now just win away from an unprecedented 19-0 campaign, what can you say? You've been there every step of the way but now that it's so close, you almost can't believe it. Such is the situation facing my New England Patriots, 21-12 winners over the spirited but ultimately undermanned San Diego Chargers yesterday in the AFC Championship game at Gillette Stadium. A week from Sunday, the Patriots face the New York Giants in Arizona for Super Bowl 42.

The story of the game was the Patriots red zone defense and the clutch play of the running back duo of Laurence Maroney (25 carries, 122 yards, 1 TD; 1 catch, 9 yards) and Kevin Faulk (8 catches, 82 yards; 1 carry, 8 yards).

Without LaDainian Tomlinson (2 carries, 5 yards; 1 catch, 1 yard) for most of the game and with Antonio Gates (2 catches, 17 yards) and Philip Rivers (19 of 37, 211 yards, 2 INT's) hobbled, nobody in the world was picking the Chargers to knock off the Patriots. Then again, nobody expected San Diego to go into Indy last weekend and knock off the Colts.

Nate Kaeding (4 field goals) was San Diego's best offensive player and when that's the case, odds are you're not going to beat the Patriots. You have to match them touchdown for touchdown, something that nobody has done so far this season.

Tom Brady (22 of 33, 209 yards, 2 TD's, 3 INT's) had his worst game of the season, Randy Moss (1 catch, 18 yards; 1 carry, 14 yards) was a complete non-factor for the second straight playoff contest and yet the Pats still found a way to win.

San Diego corner Quentin Jammer made a leaping interception of Brady in the first quarter, leading to the first Kaeding kick, putting San Diego up 3-0.

New England finally started to move the ball at the end of the first quarter and into the second as Maroney dove in from a yard out, giving New England a 7-3 lead.

Vincent Jackson (6 catches, 93 yards) killed the Pats on the next drive with three catches but once again, the Chargers offense was stuffed inside the red zone. Ellis Hobbs made a big tackle on third down as he tackled Chris Chambers (7 catches, 90 yards) on an underneath route. Kaeding's kick cut it to 7-6.

After a punt, the Pats capitalized on a Rivers mistake as Asante Samuel stepped in front of a pass intended for Chambers and returned it 10 yards to the San Diego 24-yard line. Two plays later, Brady found Jabar Gaffney over the middle with a 12-yard catch and run for a score.

Ellis Hobbs (8 tackles) picked off Rivers on the next San Diego possession but the Pats couldn't do anything and were forced to punt it back to the Chargers.

Going into yesterday, Kaeding had been 2 for 6 in his postseason career so it was surprising when he nailed his third field goal of the day (from 40 yards) just before halftime. The Pats held a 14-9 lead.

The third quarter was a nightmare for Brady as he was intercepted twice. The first one was on New England's opening drive of the second half. Brady's pass for Donte' Stallworth went off the receiver's hands and into Chargers cornerback Drayton Florence's waiting arms. Taking over at the New England 49-yard line, the Chargers settled for another red zone field goal (24 yards). Junior Seau (6 tackles, 1 sack) made the defensive play of the game for the Pats on third-and-1 from the Pats 4. He shot through the line and tackled Michael Turner (17 carries, 65 yards) for a two-yard loss.

The game was effectively sealed early in the fourth as Brady found Wes Welker (7 catches, 56 yards, 1 TD) with a six-yard touchdown strike. The o-line gave Brady plenty of time and he looked at Moss, Ben Watson and finally Welker before throwing the ball.

Not to state the obvious but there are many reasons why Norv Turner is the coach he is and Bill Belichick is a three-time Super Bowl winner (currently 14-2 in the playoffs with New England). Exhibit A: San Diego choose to punt the ball away facing a fourth-and-10 at the Pats 36 with 9:21 left in the fourth quarter and down two scores (21-12). The Chargers never got the ball back as New England grinded the clock away. Faulk made three catches for 32 yards and two first downs on the drive, proving once again that he is the most underrated Patriot. Maroney was a bull, rushing eight times for 37 yards and three first downs. It was his fourth 100-yard performance in the last five games as he matched his impressive rushing total from last week. The guy is a stud, plain and simple. Any questions about his ability have been put to rest weeks ago.

Now the Pats face the Giants, a team that they barely beat 38-35 in the last week of the regular season. The G-Men have certainly peaked in the playoffs, winning all three of their games on the road against favored opponents. New York is for real, no question about it. Eli Manning is playing the best ball of his career, they have a solid running game and outstanding defense. If the Patriots win the Super Bowl, they will have earned 19-0 and the label of greatest team of all-time. Let the two weeks of relentless hype commence.