That was an absolutely incredible win yesterday in San Diego. It looked like the Patriots had lost the game quite a few times (down 11 in the first half with no offense, down 8 midway through the 4^th quarter, throwing an INT on 4^th down in the 4^th quarter). But the Patriots persevered and fought and came through with the win. There were quite a few exceptional plays.

The defense was incredible! In the first half, the Patriots kept going 3 and out and giving the Chargers great field position, but the defense did a good job of stopping the Chargers. During the game, the Chargers average start was at their 37 yard line and the Patriots’ offense had 6 three and out’s plus a 2 play drive that ended in an interception. Even with the bad field position and being on the field for so long, the Patriots D only gave up 21 points the league’s best offense and the best player in the game. One great example of this was in the third quarter when Brady threw an interception at his own 34 yard line. The Patriots defense actually pushed the Chargers back, they lost 6 yards in three plays and were knocked out of field goal range.

The offense of the Patriots struggled. As I said, they had seven drives of 4 plays or fewer. But they came through when it was needed. At the end of the first half they put together a good touchdown drive and at the end of the game they scored when it was needed. Brady was really off, throwing passes low, high, wide, short, etc. He threw three picks and missed quite a few open receivers. But when it came down the crunch time, he succeeded and the Patriots won the game.

Another reason the Patriots won this game was their fight. The ball was on the ground 4 times in this game and all four times the Patriots players were the ones on the bottom of the pile that got the ball. One fumble (on the goal line) was overturned, and another by Philip Rivers was on 4^th down and was not that key to the game. But in the second half the Patriots recovered a muffed punt as well as a fumble after an interception. I think the Patriots effort to jump on the ball first and fight for it on the bottom of the pile epitomizes this team and the reason they won this game. Troy Brown’s effort and instincts to strip the ball from the defender after the interception was incredible.

Players:

There were a number of great efforts by individual players in this game. The Patriots players really took their play to another level for this game and showed why they’ve been so good these last 6 years

• Troy Brown – The instincts and effort of Troy Brown to strip the ball from the defender after that interception were just incredible. The game was virtually over for the Patriots at that point until Troy reached in there and stripped the ball from Marlon McCree.
• Jabar Gaffney – Gaffney has really excelled in the playoffs. For a guy who was signed to the team in October and only had 11 catches in the regular season to have 8 and then 10 catches in key playoff games is really stepping it up.
• Reche Caldwell – Caldwell had 8 catches for 80 yards, including a touchdown and a key 3^rd down conversion on the winning field goal drive that he caught for 49 yards. And he recovered the fumble that Troy Brown forced on the interception.
• Matt Light and Nick Kascur – These two tackles did a great job of blocking the Chargers outside linebacking duo of Shawn Merriman and Shaun Philips. Early in the game, the Patriots were leaving extra tight ends to help block and couldn’t get anything done. In the last two minutes of the first half, the Patriots put in 3 WR’s, let Light and Kazcur block on their own and did great. The Chargers D, which had the most sacks in the league during the regular season, were held to two sacks in this game.
• Stephen Gostowski – Beaver, as his cousin calls him, did great in this game, hitting a 50 yarder early in addition to the 31 yard game winner. Gostowski has gone 3 for 3 in both playoff games, including a Patriots postseason record long 50 yarder and a game winner. Not bad at all.