USA TODAY International Edition
Still rolling: Patriots dominate Chargers
Solid effort leads to AFC title game
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – All season long, we’ve looked for the signs. We’ve parsed words, trying to decipher body languages and off-kilter performances.
There are cracks in the foundation, we’ve said, referring to the Patriots. After nearly two decades of dominance, with young, flashy stars working their way into the spotlight and with Father Time undefeated, how could we not sense the end?
Bill Belichick’s group seldom has offseason drama. There are never hiccups throughout the season, and certainly not in the month of December. But this season has featured all of the above, and we’ve interpreted such as vulnerability. We’ve imagined scenarios where the dynasty at last meets its end.
And then Sunday happens. Hosting the Chargers in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs, the Patriots roared out to a fast start and never looked back, posting an authoritative 41-28 victory.
With said victory, not only did they remind us of how silly we are to doubt them, but they also clinched their eighth consecutive AFC Championship Game appearance, extending their own record.
Belichick always maintains an emotionless, unflinching demeanor, and his players often follow suit. But there was indeed an air of vindication and amusement after their dominant performance.
“You know, we’re not a very talented team — aging team — so, you know, we have to play with a lot of effort,” longtime receiver/special teams ace Matthew Slater said after the game, letting slip a sheepish grin. “I try to avoid that noise as much as I can, but it does creep in obviously. We know how people feel about us, and that’s OK. We’ve had our struggles this year. You can’t really take offense to that. You just have to work hard, put yourself in position to be effective and take advantage of your opportunities.
“We’ve still got a little left in the tank,” Slater added with another smile.
Indeed, the Patriots do. A testament of that: a first half that featured as many points (35), yards (347) and first downs (24) that some teams accumulate in an entire game, and a complementary defensive effort that limited the previously red-hot Chargers to seven points and six first downs.
If the Patriots wanted to run, they ran, gaining gobs of yardage with apparent ease.
If they wanted to attack through the air, they did that too, with Brady shredding Los Angeles’ defense at will.
The defense harassed Philip Rivers early and often, and the veteran quarterback had trouble hiding his frustrations.
At one point, the Patriots, who after giving up an early touchdown reeled off 31 unanswered points, had more first downs (21) than the Chargers had offensive plays (20).
“We got plays from everybody,” Belichick said dryly at his news conference, turning every question about an individual performance — even running back Sony Michel’s 129-yard, threetouchdown output or wide receiver Julian Edelman’s nine-catch, 151-yard day — into an overall team statement.
“Everybody did a good job,” the coach continued. “We threw the ball, we ran it, we played well in the kicking game, played well on defense.”
Sunday reminded us that Belichick remains the master of preparation. The bye week earned by finishing as the AFC’s second seed afforded the Patriots’ ailing players to heal up and recharge mentally. But it also gave the coaching staff additional time to assess and correct their own weaknesses while dissecting those of the Chargers.
In turn, the Patriots came out and made it look easy while their visitors looked like a squad that didn’t even belong in the postseason.
“Everybody was just locked in,” defensive end Trey Flowers said. “The way this organization is ran as far as one game at a time, don’t look ahead, we understand what we had to do. Yeah, we had adversity, but naw, never worried. We know the type of guys we have in this locker room.
“You could say a lot of guys understand that we are doubted out and counted out, and you get a sense of motivation and you’d like to prove people wrong, but we don’t rely on that because whatever happens, if we do well, now they’re going to count us in, and we can’t ride that roller coaster. We have to stay level headed. … I get a few laughs out of it.”
Now the Patriots must leave the comforts of Gillette Stadium, where they went 9-0 this season. They’ll travel to a hostile Arrowhead Stadium to take on the high-flying Chiefs, who they already conquered in a 43-40 victory in Week 4.
Despite the convincing win over the Chargers, however, the Patriots already anticipate additional doubt about their capabilities of playing as well in a top opponent’s stadium (they were 3-5 on the road this season).
“You know I know everyone thinks we suck and, you know, can’t win any games,” Tom Brady told the CBS cameras as he came off the field after the victory. “So we’ll see. That’ll be fun.”
So keep on doubting, the Patriots say. We’re probably making a mistake if we do, but that’s just fine with them.