Patriots-Chargers Review

Sunday's AFC Championship Game was by far one of the strangest games I've seen all year. The Patriots definitely didn't bring their A game and it showed, especially on offense. They scored the second fewest number of points all year and never looked comfortable as a unit. We may have dodged a bullet by facing the Chargers instead of the Colts. I'm not even sure we could have beaten the Jacksonville Jaguars with the way they played Sunday. Heck, they may have only beaten the Miami Dolphins by 35 with the way they played. You want to know something strange, though? I never once felt like San Diego was going to win this game. Even when we were up 14-9 and San Diego was driving in the red zone for a possible lead I wasn't worried. As it was, the Patriots held the Chargers to a field goal on that drive, thanks to another huge play by Junior Seau, and the Chargers never seriously threatened again.

Here are my thoughts on Sunday's game that catapulted the Patriots into Super Bowl XLII for the fourth time in six years:

∙ Even before the game started, Tom Brady didn't look like himself. I actually thought he looked a little disinterested for most of the game. I'm not sure if it was the weather or a fight with Gisele but he's got to play better if we want to win the Super Bowl. For the game, Brady was 22-33 for 209 yards, two TDs and three picks. Yes, he threw three interceptions and the first interception in the red zone in his last 62 TD passes. I wonder how many other quarterbacks in the league would love to have what most people would call a bad game after completing 66 percent of your passes.

∙ By comparison, Chargers QB Philip Rivers finished 19-37 for 211 yards, no TDs and two INTs. I was prepared to write that Rivers also didn't have a great game but his numbers actually seem to be quite normal for him, which isn't a good thing. I've heard the media reports that Rivers had some type of procedure on his knee earlier in the week in order to get him ready to play but he's no Curt Schilling and I didn't see any bloody knee brace. In fact, some would argue that the Chargers would have been better off if he didn't play. Can we all admit that he's just not that good?

∙ With Sunday's win, the Patriots are now 22-3 under Bill Belicheat in games played after Christmas. That's pretty unbelievable to have your team playing at such a high level so late into the season on a consistent basis.

∙ What's up with Dan Marino's cell phone going off twice during the half time show? And what is going on with Shannon Sharpe's head? It looks like it might pop at any second. And why are his ears so small?

∙ After losing to the Patriots in last year's playoffs, LaDainian Tomlinson vowed revenge on the Patriots. He's got an odd sense of humor if he thinks rushing for five yards is revenge.

∙ Where's Randy Moss? He had one catch for 18 yards and one run for another 14 yards. Does his restraining order that Rachelle Washington took out on him also tell him to stay out of the end zone? For someone who had 23 TDs in the regular season, he's come up empty the last two games.

∙ Junior Seau turned 39 on Saturday. He's the NFL's oldest linebacker. He had six tackles and the only Patriots sack of the game and was constantly forcing Rivers out of the pocket. I'm not sure how much more he can possibly have in the tank but I hope he has another game like this in two weeks.

∙ I loved the Priceless Pep Talks MasterCard commercial with Peyton Manning saying how sad he was that his NFL season was over. Can you imagine Tom Brady doing a commercial like that? The answer is no and here's why- Tom Brady would never film a commercial in which he has to play the part of a loser. I think it's funny because the commercial was filmed while the season was still going on. I wonder how many times Manning was at practice going over his lines. Here's a real life lesson: if you act like a loser, you probably are a loser. That commercial was priceless.

∙ Rodney HGHarrison played a good game. Hey, like I said, this was a strange game. He had seven tackles, four of which were solo. I didn't see him get burned too many times on coverage and only once saw him come flying into the end of a play after the whistle had blown and the referee let that one slide. In fact, I think HGHarrison gets one free late hit penalty per game. It may even be in his contract.

∙ These are words that I never thought I'd write: the key to this win were the Patriots running backs. For the day, Laurence Maroney had 25 carries for 122 yards and a TD. In addition, Kevin Faulk had eight catches for 82 yards and it seems as though every one of those catches went for a first down.

∙ On a day when the Patriots offense sputtered to get things going, the defense kicked into high gear. San Diego was only 3-12 on third down and only scored three second-half points. By comparison, the Patriots were 7-13 on third downs.

∙ I'm not sure what the rule is regarding a false start but there was an awful lot of movement on San Diego's offensive line that was never called.

∙ Kudos to Norv Turner for not wearing a hat in the first half when the temperature was 20 with a wind chill that made it feel like four degrees. However, I wonder if the cold froze his brain. With the Chargers trailing 21-12 Turner's team was in New England territory with nine minutes to play. The Chargers need a touchdown and a field goal to win the game. Turner punted the ball away and the Chargers offense never took the field again. Maybe there's a reason Turner is a career 69-87-1 head coach.

∙ I wonder what Belicheat is thinking as he's hoisting another Lamar Hunt AFC Trophy above his head. He is the master of making sure that his players keep their eyes on the ultimate goal and not letting meaningless games take on more importance than the one that is still to come. I mean, do the Patriots even bother keeping the AFC Championship trophies anymore when you also have three Vince Lombardi Trohpies?

Up next is a rematch of the week 16 regular season finale against the New York Giants, who somehow managed to squeak into the Super Bowl by going on the road and beating Tampa Bay, Dallas and Green Bay. And if you think the Giants are going to keep the New England Patriots from going 19-0, you're either crazy, drunk, stupid or some kind of insane combination of all three, which we'll now refer to as crunkid.

Much more to come in the days ahead as we endure media hype on top of media hype as people break down and analyze every possible story angle heading into the Super Bowl. Stay tuned.