What they're saying

| Sunday, January 20, 2008 11:30 PM PST ∞

Compiled by the North County Times

Pats might be best team ever
Tom Brady's hair was perfect, even if his game wasn't. The New England Patriots are perfect, too, and if this was as bad as they'll ever be, the only mystique left in Arizona will be finding a crown big enough to fit Bill Belichick's head.

This magical season wasn't going to come to an abrupt end Sunday in chilly Foxborough, even with Brady throwing to the wrong guys and Randy Moss running routes like his thoughts were elsewhere. The New England Patriots easily beat Spygate and 17 other opponents, and the gimpy and mostly L.T.-less Chargers weren't going to ruin this celebration no matter how many field goals they kicked.

Perfection doesn't come along often, and it never comes easy. If it did, the 1972 Miami Dolphins would have cracked open far fewer bottles of champagne over the years to celebrate the demise of yet another unbeaten pretender to their record.

These Patriots might just be the best football team ever assembled, and if the ease at which they stormed to wins most of the season didn't prove that, the way they won when they weren't at their best might have. They're now in uncharted territory, the only team in NFL history to win 18 games in a season without a loss, and the Super Bowl seems to shape up as more of a coronation than a contest.

---- Tim Dahlberg, The Associated Press

Nobody better than Belichick
With all due respect to Paul Brown, Vince Lombardi, Tom Landry and Bill Walsh, Bill Belichick is the genius coach of all time.

His New England Patriots have taken on all comers and triumphed over all styles. In this salary-cap era, when players move from team to team, Belichick has managed to stay one step ahead of the competition.

On Sunday, for the 18th time this season, Belichick entered the interview room and gave a monologue about another game his team had won. The victories have come in all shapes and sizes: late-game runaways, out and out routs, flaw-ridden nail-biters.

On Sunday, New England tripped, stumbled and willed itself to its fourth AFC championship under Belichick.

In two weeks, his Patriots will play the surprising Giants in the Super Bowl, a rematch of Week 17, when New England edged the Giants 38-35.

The Patriots have been a marvel to watch. During the course of the season, they have answered every question but one: Can they finish the season 19-0?

The consistent thread through the season has been Belichick's single-minded focused on the here and now: on this moment, this day, this game.

His mantra ---- maddening to a news media that thrives on speculation ---- has been a novel variation on Satchel Paige's sage advice: Don't look back. Belichick tells his players to focus on what's in front of them.

We want to talk about posterity ---- where this squad ranks in history. Not Belichick.

---- William Rhoden, New York Times

Pats not just passing fancy
Anyone else left out there who thinks the Patriots are just a cutesy aerial circus?

The fact is they've been playing trench warfare football for the past eight weeks. An additional fact is that in the last two weeks they have been a classic playoff team; i.e. one that wins with defense and smashmouth offense.

"We're prepared," explained safety Rodney Harrison. "That's what we do. We have the talent, the personnel, and the smarts to do whatever you want us to do."

Last week the Jaguars took away Randy Moss. Today a combination of Mother Nature and an excellent Chargers defense made Tom Brady look ordinary. (Well, kinda, sorta, at least until it really mattered). Yeah, well, bravo. The Patriots are still going to the Super Bowl.

They were 21-12 victors over the game Chargers because the Patriots have now established themselves as a multidimensional offensive team and because the defense did not permit San Diego to enter the end zone, stopping the visitors three times on first and goal inside the 10 and a fourth time on first and 10 at the 31. You don't have to be very smart to know that four Nate Kaeding field goals aren't going to beat the New England Patriots.

---- Bob Ryan, Boston Globe

Big guys get job done for Pats
All season, the New England Patriots mocked their opponents, the league's record book and football convention with a blistering passing game.

Tom Brady and his three new receivers broke nearly every significant NFL passing record, helping usher in an era in the league where the passing game has come to the forefront like never before.

But in Sunday's AFC Championship Game, the Patriots turned back the clock to help churn out their 21-12 victory against the Chargers. After a season dominated by their four-wide-receiver set and a deft passing game, the Patriots won by using a radically different formula.

Brady threw three interceptions and Randy Moss caught only one pass, but Brady described the biggest difference in helping the Patriots outlast the Chargers.

"We put the big guys on the field," he said.

By the big guys, Brady was referring to the two-tight-end and three-tight-end sets the Patriots used to run out the clock. Tight ends Ben Watson, Kyle Brady and Stephen Spach helped New England dominate the line of scrimmage in the second half.

They paved holes to help Laurence Maroney run for 106 of his 122 yards in the second half. The big groups were particularly helpful on the final drive of the game, as the Patriots picked up four first downs to run the final 9 minutes 13 seconds off the clock in the fourth quarter.

---- Pete Thamel, New York Times

Reserves key to Pats' victory
Randy Moss had one catch and a 14-yard run on a reverse in Sunday's AFC Championship Game. Tom Brady threw three interceptions for the first time this season.

The New England Patriots won 21-12 because subpar games by their stars are rarely a problem.

They won because the Laurence Maroneys, Kevin Faulks, Jabar Gaffneys and a few other guys showed up against San Diego and helped send the Patriots to the Super Bowl.

It's also why they are now the first team in NFL history to go 18-0 in a single season.

This was the second straight game Moss was shut down. After one reception for 14 yards in the win over Jacksonville a week ago, he had one catch for 18 yards as well as that run on which he used his athletic ability to turn what easily could have been a loss into a good gain.

This one was even harder because Brady was nearly perfect a week ago when he was 26-of-28. He was a lot less than that Sunday. With three minutes left in the first quarter, he was 2-of-5 for 20 yards with an interception and an almost invisible passer rating of 4.2

Then he went on to throw two more picks, one of them on a third-and-goal from the San Diego 2 with the Patriots holding a 16-12 lead in the third quarter.

"I've played with Tom for eight years," Faulk said. "I've seen him throw three interceptions before. He's done it a few times."

---- Dave Goldberg, The Associated Press

First name only. Comments including last names, contact addresses, e-mail addresses or phone numbers will be deleted. Attempts to misrepresent your identity or impersonate any person will not be approved. All comments are screened before they appear online, so please keep them brief. Comments reflect the views of those commenting and not necessarily those of the North County Times or its staff writers. Click here to view additional comment policies.