FLOW! FLOW!:

Pats' bolt of inspiration: Chargers are electric but Brady & Co. aim to zing in return (Michael Felger, 1/14/07, Boston Herald)

All it took was listening to Tom Brady for about five seconds last week to deduce the tone of the Patriots' preparations for today's AFC divisional round playoff game at top-seeded San Diego.

"I guess they have nine Pro Bowlers or something like that, nine All-Pros," Brady said at one point during his weekly briefing. "Like half their team is All-Pros."

It was a slight, purposeful bit of exaggeration straight from the Bill Belichick school of tweaking. [...]

It was an indirect way of articulating the same sarcastic mantra the Patriots have been espousing since they first burst onto the big stage during their Super Bowl run in January of 2002:

How in the world can we beat (insert opponent here)? Look at all their talent. Look at all their Pro Bowlers. Look at all their All-Pros. We'd be lucky just to compete.

Said Brady: "You try to find matchups that work in your favor, but when you have All-Pros on the other side of the ball, you just have to try to do your best to hang in there."

Just hang in there.

Call it reverse trash-talking.