Secondary makes Brady look human

By: REEVES WIEDEMAN - For the North County Times
Three interceptions of Patriots' star not enough for upset | Sunday, January 20, 2008 11:29 PM PST ∞

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. ---- It took Tom Brady just three minutes to match his incompletion count of two from last week's near-flawless performance against the Jaguars. And at the end of the day, he had thrown three interceptions against one team for the first time in 372 days.

Yes, that game 372 days ago was a playoff game between the Chargers and New England. And yes, Sunday's game ended with the same result: an end to the Chargers' season in a 21-12 Patriots' win.

But while there were plenty of reasons for this loss, the Chargers' secondary was not one of them. Quentin Jammer, Antonio Cromartie, and Drayton Florence each picked off a Brady pass (Florence, Donnie Edwards, and Marlon McCree had the interceptions last year), as the Chargers held Randy Moss and company to just 198 yards through the air.

"It's a difficult 'D' to play against, because they challenge you in so many ways," said Brady. "Everything was a struggle today."

The game was an especially big struggle for Moss, who caught just one pass for 18 yards as the Patriots never got downfield for a pass of more than 20 yards.

Jammer and Cromartie combined on the task of covering Moss, rather than having one or the other switch fields to cover the record-setting receiver.

"We didn't want Randy to get the big one, we knew we had to pressure Tom and we had to control the running game," said Chargers defensive coordinator Ted Cottrell. "We did most of that until right there at the end when their running game got away from us a little bit."

The Patriots had been the league's most prolific passing offense all season, averaging 403 yards and setting no shortage of NFL season records: most touchdown passes for Brady (50), most touchdown receptions for Moss (23), and most points scored in a season (589).

"You've got to give credit to our corners, and we had a little bit of a pass rush so they couldn't go deep a lot," said Cottrell.

Brady did connect on two touchdowns ---- one to former Charger Wes Welker ---- but both were set up by short fields and the running game. It was instead the mistakes that stood out more for Brady on the day. The NFL MVP said he lost track of Cromartie on one interception, credited Florence with awareness on the second pick, a tipped pass, and was downright impressed with Jammer's leaping first-quarter interception that set up the Chargers' first score.

"I don't even know what that guy's vertical is, but he got up there," said Brady.

The Chargers can take some solace in knowing they are the only team to squeeze more than two mistakes out of Brady in the past year ---- not to mention eight interceptions in two games against Peyton Manning this season. But for a second straight year, forcing mistakes wasn't enough.

"The defensive backs did a good job today containing a passing game that usually has been off the charts," said Florence. "We just didn't capitalize off those turnovers like we should have."

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