SUPER GENIUS:

Brady rallies Pats into AFC title game (Associated Press, January 14, 2007)

Brady overcame three interceptions, his career playoff high, to lead the Patriots to 11 points in 3:26 late in the game. He now has a 12-1 postseason record heading to Indianapolis for the AFC championship game next Sunday.

The winning points came on a 31-yard field goal by Stephen Gostkowski with 1:10 left. That capped a 72-yard drive highlighted by a 49-yard pass to Reche Caldwell, who left the Chargers as a free agent after last season.

With the Patriots trailing 21-13, Brady threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to the wide-open Caldwell with 4:36 to play. The Patriots tied it on a tricky 2-point conversion, snapping the ball directly to running back Kevin Faulk [stats], who was standing next to Brady and ran through the middle of the line.

Folks are reluctant to give Bill Belichick his props, but only a genius could have drawn up that fumble-recovery-after-the-interception play.

MORE:
More Brady lore: QB comes through yet again (Steve Buckley, 1/15/07, Boston Herald)

If Tom Brady has the ball in his hands late in the game with a chance to win, it'll be a sure sign that it's time to get ready for another Padres baseball season.

And so it came to pass yesterday, because Tom Brady came to pass. Did he ever. And it all happened in a predictable, fourth-quarter blur, with Brady delivering the latest of the great throws for which he will be forever remembered.

This time, it was a bomb - yes, kids, a deep ball - to Reche Caldwell for 49 yards, a play that put the Patriots in position for rookie Stephen Gostkowski to kick the 31-yard field goal that lifted the Patriots to their 24-21 playoff victory at Qualcomm Stadium. [...]

"Even when we're down," said Caldwell, "if you were in our huddle you'd think we were winning. Because of how calm, how cool, how collected (Brady) is in the huddle, and the confidence he shows in us. In the pressure situations, that's when he's at his best."

Pats kick it up a notch: Comeback win adds to legacy (John Tomase, January 15, 2007, Boston Herald)

There was really only one question worth asking as yesterday's AFC divisional playoff ticked down: How the heck are the Patriots still in this game?

From a talent standpoint, they had no business sharing the field with the Chargers.

They were older, slower, less athletic, less talented, less everything, almost across the board.

But they're the Patriots. And it's the playoffs.

And that's the great equalizer.

Patriots flying high: N.E. stuns Chargers, 24-21; AFC title game next (Dan Shaughnessy, January 15, 2007, Boston Globe)

Chargers fans did not see their Bolts lose a game at Qualcomm Stadium in 2006. But this is January, and that is when the Patriots steal your lunch money. The Patriots exposed and exploited a talented but inexperienced Chargers team that had nine Pro Bowlers, including league MVP LaDainian Tomlinson.

Clutch performances? Brady (12-1 in the playoffs) threw a whopping 51 passes and orchestrated tying and winning drives in the final six minutes. It was the Full Montana. Fourteen-year veteran Troy Brown saved the game when he caused a Chargers fumble seconds after Brady was intercepted. Meanwhile, mad genius Belichick overwhelmed counterpart Marty Schottenheimer (5-13 in the playoffs), calling a trick play (direct snap to Kevin Faulk) for a 2-point conversion when the Patriots needed a deuce for the tie with 4:36 left. Poor Marty was ignored as he tried to call timeout when the Patriots were setting up the play.

The Chargers fell hard in a hail of turnovers, dropped passes, bad decisions (Marty went for it on fourth and 11 from the Patriots 30 in the first quarter) and immature penalties. They led by 8 points with less than five minutes to play, but repeatedly shot themselves in the cleats down the stretch. In popular sports parlance, they choked. New England players don't know the meaning of that word. They simply did what they have been doing since Brady took over the team in 2001. They played smart, strong, blood & thunder football when it mattered most.

In Brady they trust (Bob Ryan, January 15, 2007, Boston Globe)

In Tom They Trust.

Fallow stretches, uncharacteristic bad picks, whatever. Doesn't matter. Remember Magic Johnson's celebrated "Winnin' Time?" Mr. Tom Brady has one, too.

"That's Tom Brady," said Heath Evans, spare back and special teamer extraordinaire. "He's the one guy we don't ever worry about."

Tom Brady was not Tom Brady for long stretches of this memorable game, and a lot of that had to do with the San Diego Chargers. "That was as tough a game as I ever remember playing," said Brady, who had to air it out 51 times yesterday in order to produce a 24-21 triumph. "We were doing everything we could to gain 5 yards out of them."

Brady's final numbers weren't that dazzling (27 of 51, 280 yards, 2 touchdowns, 3 interceptions, and a pedestrian 57.6 rating), but when has Tom Brady ever been about the numbers? Tom Brady is about one thing, period.

He's about winning the game.

It was quite a display (Ron Borges, January 15, 2007, Boston Globe)

Chargers front office representatives met last week with city officials in San Diego to plan the logistics of their victory parade after the Super Bowl. Memo to the Chargers: There's no parade for one and done. [...]

While the top-seeded Chargers were planning parades and beating their chests about their 14-2 record, the Patriots were back in Foxborough, Mass., fully aware there was only one thing to be preparing for. For this game, and nothing else.

That preparation led New England to play much of the first half in a two-tight end set designed to provide Tom Brady maximum protection. It didn't work. It not only didn't stop him from being hit and harassed, but it also limited what the Patriots could run offensively. That led to a 14-3 deficit, and only 67 yards of total offense when they got the ball back with 1:58 to play in the second period. It was then that coach Bill Belichick and offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels went to the more dangerous three-wide receiver set that left them with only Daniel Graham in as an extra blocker, which in theory put Brady at risk. But in reality it put the Chargers there instead.

New England went 72 yards in 11 plays, covering that ground in less than two minutes to score its first touchdown, just before halftime, and amass more yards than they'd gained the entire half in one series. For much of the rest of the day New England stuck with that, seldom running the ball (21 carries for 51 yards, a 2.4 yards average), and instead beating the Chargers at a game that seemed unlikely -- challenging the secondary of a defense that had produced 61 sacks and a lot of migraines for quarterbacks. This wide-open passing game meant Brady threw 51 times, often without the max protection most people felt necessary to contain the pass rush of Shawne Merriman, Shaun Phillips, and Luis Castillo. What New England did was believe in itself instead of the Chargers' reputation, and seek out a matchup that, while perhaps risky for them, was equally risky for the Chargers.

Posted by Orrin Judd at January 14, 2007 9:17 PM