Here's what the Chargers SHOULD be upset about

[skaIownsIyou]

LT's facemask was a 5 yarder i think, it wasnt intentional, from watching the replays, he was just going for the ball, and he didnt pull him down with the facemask

 

[Armen Da Pats Fan]

we might as well add gates going out of bounds with no one within 20 yards of him. thank you mr. pro bowl te.

I TOTALLY missed that one in my list!

What was he thinking?

There was no one within 10-15 yards of him...

 

[pats1]

LT's facemask was a 5 yarder i think, it wasnt intentional, from watching the replays, he was just going for the ball, and he didnt pull him down with the facemask

They didn't call any penalty on LT on that play. I checked the play-by-play.

The side angle showed a clear grab 'n' drag by LT. Missed call.

 

[PatsFanInVa]

They interviewed the DB that got the int. and then got stripped... they asked him why he didn't knock it down, and he got all pouty.

"Why was I gonna knock it down? He threw it right to me."

He also talked about if he had just gotten past that one man, he would have been off to the races.

I think that kind of speaks for the SD mindset, to an extent. Even if you believe that, you don't say it to justify what, in reality, turned out to be a bad risk/reward analysis.

He wanted glory, and was not prepared for that specific situation. Well, you can't prepare for every situation, but you can extrapolate from information such as down and distance.

If your attitude is "me-driven" you extrapolate one way. If it is "we-driven" you extrapolate another way.

In recent years it has become increasingly apparent that a "we-driven" attitude tends to lead to decisions that benefit the team as a whole. Unfortunately, the ultimate goal for most fans is the Super Bowl, not the Pro Bowl, which is the showcase for the individual's achievements.

That being the case, this symptomatic mistake should not be explained away, but examined as an opportunity for improvement.

This will not happen... and therefore, for SD to win big, they will need to far exceed other teams in terms of talent (and they already have a leg up,) because in terms of these other aspects of the game, they are still immature.

PFnV

 

[TomBrady'sGoat]

They didn't call any penalty on LT on that play. I checked the play-by-play.

The side angle showed a clear grab 'n' drag by LT. Missed call.

yeah, i was completely confused by that flag being picked up. there was clearly contact with the facemask, and the ref clearly saw it. isn't the purpose of the 5 yarder that any facemask contact, even the most innocent and incidental, gets a 5 yard penalty? even is they had questions about whether there was any grab and drag shouldn't it have been 5 yards regardless?

 

[TomBrady'sGoat]

I have to say in hindsight, the San Diego player should have knocked the ball down rather than intercepting. But, at the time what do you do? There are over six minutes left and you're only ahead by one score. You still are going to need to get yards and points. If he'd have knocked it down, and the Patriots had come baack and won, everyone would have said "You could have had the interception and run it back".

The result turned out bad, but I don't think it's a no brainer that you just knock it down.

every defensive player, on 4th down, should be mindful of the fact that he's often better off knocking the ball down than catching it.

that said, i have no issue with him catching it. so you lose 10 yards, big deal. by catching it you make sure that some freaky bounce of the ball doesn't end up giving NE possession. what is inexcusable is trying to run the ball rather than falling to the ground when you're up by 7 with 6 minutes left. you don't need the points and you can let your offense kill the clock.

 

[1BoltFan Here4Fun]

They interviewed the DB that got the int. and then got stripped... they asked him why he didn't knock it down, and he got all pouty.

"Why was I gonna knock it down? He threw it right to me."

He also talked about if he had just gotten past that one man, he would have been off to the races.

I think that kind of speaks for the SD mindset, to an extent. Even if you believe that, you don't say it to justify what, in reality, turned out to be a bad risk/reward analysis.

He wanted glory, and was not prepared for that specific situation. Well, you can't prepare for every situation, but you can extrapolate from information such as down and distance.

If your attitude is "me-driven" you extrapolate one way. If it is "we-driven" you extrapolate another way.

In recent years it has become increasingly apparent that a "we-driven" attitude tends to lead to decisions that benefit the team as a whole. Unfortunately, the ultimate goal for most fans is the Super Bowl, not the Pro Bowl, which is the showcase for the individual's achievements.

That being the case, this symptomatic mistake should not be explained away, but examined as an opportunity for improvement.

This will not happen... and therefore, for SD to win big, they will need to far exceed other teams in terms of talent (and they already have a leg up,) because in terms of these other aspects of the game, they are still immature.

PFnV

Garbage opinion. Sorry, but this team didn't win 14 games with a "Me" attitude.

For the record, congratulations Pats fans. Your team made the plays, the Chargers did not. For this Chargers fan, the toughest part of the loss was Caldwell's play in the game. To see him beat us was tough since we vividly remember his fumble at the end of the game that cost us a chance to win against the Jets two years ago.

The Chargers simply gave this game away. You can't give the opponent 4 extra chances to extend drives that had ended (all in the second half no less!) and expect to win.

Scoreboard says Pats. A great win for them.

BTW, as for the trash talk and poor manners, I think it was clear evidence that the Pat players knew they'd could have easily lost and got away with one. I guess if you have to lose control of your emotions, its best to do it AFTER the game rather than during it.

I'm hurting today...

 

[PatsFanInVa]

Yeah, 1Bolt? Why isn't there a signature Colvin or Vrabel sack dance? What are the famous nicknames carved into Pats' players hair cuts?

Q: I may have this confused with another turnover, and I am going by memory... but when Brown stripped that INT from your DB, wasn't there a "fall on it" moment... didn't he try to pick it up and run with it? Again, this is in question form, because I know I saw that at least once, but cannot remember whether it was on the INT or not. I believe it was.

Thanks for your gracious attitude, and condolences... we've been there too. Hopefully we won't again at least for another year. But hey, if games were locks, they wouldn't play 'em... and we have 2 more to go.

PFnV

 

[1BoltFan Here4Fun]

Yeah, 1Bolt? Why isn't there a signature Colvin or Vrabel sack dance? What are the famous nicknames carved into Pats' players hair cuts?

Q: I may have this confused with another turnover, and I am going by memory... but when Brown stripped that INT from your DB, wasn't there a "fall on it" moment... didn't he try to pick it up and run with it? Again, this is in question form, because I know I saw that at least once, but cannot remember whether it was on the INT or not. I believe it was.

Thanks for your gracious attitude, and condolences... we've been there too. Hopefully we won't again at least for another year. But hey, if games were locks, they wouldn't play 'em... and we have 2 more to go.

PFnV

I suspect you are thinking of the muffed punt. On the Int/Fumble, Caldwell dove on a free ball. Game over.

For what it is worth... I don't think the Chargers we 'out coached' at all. In terms of game plan, what the Chargers did was fairly solid. The fact of the matter is that the Pats have valuable (winning) playoff experience. The Chargers choked on their own inexperience. Nuff said.

 

[PatsFanInVa]

I suspect you are thinking of the muffed punt. On the Int/Fumble, Caldwell dove on a free ball. Game over.

For what it is worth... I don't think the Chargers we 'out coached' at all. In terms of game plan, what the Chargers did was fairly solid. The fact of the matter is that the Pats have valuable (winning) playoff experience. The Chargers choked on their own inexperience. Nuff said.

Yeah we can agree on that. Beyond that our "micro" examination of how you slice that inexperience is going to diverge but why belabor it... Once again, classy posts other than the "garbage opinion" part, and here's hoping I don't have to feel like you're feeling now, next week. Losing is like death.

PFnV

 

[Armen Da Pats Fan]

They didn't call any penalty on LT on that play. I checked the play-by-play.

The side angle showed a clear grab 'n' drag by LT. Missed call.

If I recall, what they did was throw the flag and the quarter ended...

When they came back from the break, I am expecting another 15 tacked on and the official said something like "There was no penalty on the play because the conatct was not intentional" or something along those lines...

At the time, I didn't even really care because we had the ball and the momentum...

But there definitely was a flag thrown...

 

[zippo59]

For what it is worth... I don't think the Chargers we 'out coached' at all. In terms of game plan, what the Chargers did was fairly solid. The fact of the matter is that the Pats have valuable (winning) playoff experience. The Chargers choked on their own inexperience. Nuff said.

I don't agree with this. They only handed the ball off to Tomlinson 9 times in the second half. We could not stop him. He should have had over 35 carries. If he did you guys probably would have been able to run the clock down and we wouldn't have even had a chance for the comeback. And then the wasted timeout could have been used to move you guys closer into field goal range to tie the game. Instead Marty challenges a play that had no chance of being overturned. I think the coaches made some big mistakes.

 

[groundgame]

Nice list, and add the fumbled punt where the Chargers guy should have just scooped the ball in instead of trying to pick it up and run. He was sprawled on the ground fer chrissakes, and in no position to get up and run. I was all thank you, thank you, thank you!

Great play by Spann to hit the player first (as opposed to going to the ball) to further jar the ball loose.