'Survive and advance'; Pats in Super Bowl
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By Johnette Howard Newsday - Published: January 21, 2008
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — The New England Patriots moved into their fourth Super Bowl in seven years Sunday and their record is still perfect at 18-0. But they aren't the invincible bogeymen of the NFL anymore. Maybe the Pats can use these next two weeks to recapture their infallible selves. But right now, they're not the same juggernaut that steamrollered opponents most of the season or found wideout Randy Moss streaking into the open no matter how many guys were covering him or who was blitzing Tom Brady.
The Patriots are giving opponents hope where there used to be none.
Now granted, it's a slender thread for the Giants, a 23-20 overtime winner over the Packers in Sunday night's NFC title game, to hold on to. But still, the hope is there, and it's been building ever since the Giants threw a scare into the Patriots in their regular-season finale, and Jacksonville extended the Patriots for three quarters before sputtering and dying late in last week's AFC divisional playoff game.
That shimmer of vulnerability — if not the final score — was the upset news that came out of the Patriots' workmanlike 21-12 win over San Diego Chargers in Sunday's AFC Championship game. It doesn't mean New England will lose the Super Bowl. It just means all those words the Patriots were using Sunday to describe their win pale next to the raves and fear, even downright dread, they inspired earlier this season.
New England was resourceful and determined and tough and versatile — all impressive things. Unlike San Diego, the Patriots also proved with some late-arriving but ruthless efficiency that they can gouge out a win even on a day when they're not at their best. Nobody's better at closing out games.
Still, nothing that happened Sunday will make anyone sure the Patriots' march to the title is inexorable anymore. The Chargers, a team that features 10 Pro Bowl players, troubled the Pats' so much the Patriots' record-setting offense was a shadow of itself until San Diego twice gave Brady a short field to work with — once on a short kickoff, once on an interception — and the Patriots cashed in touchdowns both times.
"That was a big part of the game," Chargers coach Norv Turner lamented. "I'm sure I'm going to look at the tape and say we could've done this, could've done that there."
The Chargers also dragged themselves home knowing with a little more luck or better circumstances — like not having their starting quarterback, Philip Rivers, gutting out the game on two bad knees, or their NFL leading rusher, LaDainian Tomlinson, on the sideline with a sprained knee after just two carries — they could've toppled the Patriots' historic season despite entering the game as two-touchdown underdogs.
The Chargers led the league with 48 takeaways (30 of them interceptions) and they nicked Brady for three picks Sunday. He had coughed up only eight interceptions all year, and directed an attack that set NFL records for points scored and touchdowns.
San Diego also smothered Moss, who set an NFL single-season record of 23 touchdown catches, so effectively he didn't make his first catch until nearly 44 minutes were gone in the game. It was only Moss's second catch of the postseason.
But what ultimately killed San Diego is something that will gall them for years: Four times the Chargers had the ball in scoring range at the Patriots' 8, 5, 22 and 4-yard lines. And all four times, the Chargers managed only field goals.
"Time and time again we just kept saying, 'Not today, not on us," Patriots cornerback Ellis Hobbs said. That show of will was one familiar thing that didn't abandon the Patriots. Their defense won this game. Their opportunistic offense did just enough.
Now, don't be surprised if the Patriots come to realize that playing in the Super Bowl was far easier than the grind of getting there.
"It's just a relief," Hobbs admitted, "just that you're a champion, that you did it. You didn't choke."
"Survive and advance," Patriots linebacker Mike Vrabel nodded.
It's not as impressive as those seek-and-destroy, shock-and-awe games New England played earlier this season. But if they can win one more game, it will do.
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