Just like they drew it up in the old playbook.

The Snow Bowl game was more atmospheric and more classically dramatic. The wins over the Colts were more convincing. The 2001 win over the Steelers was more stunning. The 2004 win over the Steelers was more fun. The Super Bowl victories were, by definition, more important.
But has there been a win over these past five glorious years that was more fulfilling? That made you prouder to be a Patriots fan? That better represented what this whole crazy ride has really been all about?
I don't think so.
The Patriots won because they're tougher, smarter, more disciplined, more focused than their opponent. And that's why they always win. How many times have the Pats been overmatched "on paper"? How many times has the opponent been unstoppable, unbeatable, immovable, All Pro, All Star, All World?
And how many games is it going to take for people to realize that none of that matters?
Let's get one thing straight: I've already read a couple of columns and quotes stating that "the better team lost." We have heard that one before around here (Kordell Stewart, where are you now?), and I'm here to state, again, that that is preposterous. The better team always wins. That's what "better" means, and it's funny how it's always the losing team that makes this pathetic statement. If you win the game, then you're better. You won. Period.
It doesn't matter if one team has nine Pro Bowlers and the other has one. It doesn't matter if one team won 14 games and the other won12. It doesn't matter if Shannon Sharpe and Dan Marino say you're better. None of that stuff matters one iota once the game begins. All that matters is what happens on the field for those 60 minutes of game time. It always boggles my mind trying to understand how the "experts" haven't figured this out yet. Team play wins games. Making plays when plays need to be made wins games. Playing smart wins games. Pro Bowl votes, 40-yard dash times, and creative touchdown dances do not win games.
The Pats beat the Rams when they had the Best Offensive of All Time, the Steelers when they were the Most Talented Team in the League, the Colts (twice) when they had the Best Quarterback Ever, and now the Chargers and all the awards and superlatives they brought to the table. These aren't flukes, o.k., people? This isn't luck, although luck is certainly involved, just as it is almost always involved every time a team wins (and loses).
I know I'm preaching to the converted here, but the Patriots are pretty special, folks.

A few random thoughts:

• It's been 24 hours since the end of the game and I'm still exhausted and in a daze. At least my headache is gone and my throat is no longer hoarse from yelling.
• This game was in many ways the opposite of last year Pats-Broncos playoff game. If I was a Chargers fan, I'd be CRUSHED by this loss. The Chargers quite simply controlled play on both sides of the ball for much of the game. It looked like LTom could have run for 300 yards if they had kept feeding him the ball. For long stretches the Pats offense did their best Raiders imitation. The Bolts controlled the field position battle, especially in the first half. The game was there for the taking, but...the Pats made the plays when they needed to be made, and the Chargers screwed up the plays they needed to make. Just like the Pats kept screwing up last year against Denver when the game was completely winnable. There's no worse feeling as a fan than when your team loses in such a fashion.
• Certainly one of the key plays of the game was Marlon "Oops" McCree's fumble following his interception of Brady's 4th-down pass with about 6:30 left in the game and the Pats down by eight. After the game, McCree said, "I was trying to make a play and anytime I get the ball I am going to try and score. I saw there was an (offensive) lineman in front of me, and I knew if I could make him miss I was off and running...(In) hindsight I don't regret it because I would never try and just go down on the (ground). I want to score." Memo to Marlon McCree: YOU ALREADY MADE THE PLAY! THE INTERCEPTION WAS THE PLAY! Seriously, this is why the Chargers are going home: because they have guys who are more concerned about scoring a touchdown (good SportsCenter opportunity!) then protecting the ball in a crucial situation. And, just as tellingly, he still doesn't see the error of his thinking, even after he potentially cost his team the game. And doesn't it create a nice bit of symmetry to point out the player who stripped the ball from McCree was Troy Brown, who just might have the greatest understanding of what it means to be a winner and a team player of anyone in the league--the anti-McCree, if you will.
• I'm glad to find out that Matt Light reads this site and used my pregame comments about him as motivation to play one of the best games of his life.
• Do you think a San Diego TV station hired Bob Lobel to come in and show Reche Caldwell highlights while saying "Why can't we get players like that...?"
• One of the more underrated parts of the game was the Chargers first four possessions: they got to the Pats 43 and were forced to punt, started at the 50 and didn't get a yard, got to the Pats 30 and turned it over on downs, and got to the Pats 41 and were again forced to punt. Kudos to the Pats defense--this one could have gotten out of control early.
• LTom should have gotten the ball more, but Maroney should have, too.