San Diego-

Nearly all of Southern California (hey, there are some transplanted New Englanders that I have run into) are confident that their Chargers are going to the Super Bowl, but will they?

The Bad news for Patriots fans is that the San Diego Chargers ARE definitely the most talented team left in the playoffs.

The Good news is that the Patriots have beaten the most talented team in the playoffs before, and it is going to again take the kind of performance that allowed the Patriots to beat the St Louis Rams in Super Bowl 36 for the Pats to win this game. Beating the Chargers is that big of a task. Those Rams may been bigger favorites than the Chargers this week (14 pts to 5) but back in 2001 no one knew exactly how good Tom Brady and the Patriots really were. Since that game they have figured it out. But, then again, the Pats winning 3 Super bowls also give “the experts” a tendency to overestimate the present Patriots, who are not as good as their previous Super Bowl wining teams as a number of key players from those championship teams have gone elswhere.

The bottom line is that the Patriots are definitely overmatched talent wise by the Chargers from an MVP running back who his own coach is comparing to the immortal Jim Brown, to a linebacker who brings back memories of Andre Tippett and Lawrence Taylor. Can Bill Bellichick and Tom Brady pull this one out too? Will the smarts of Bill Belichick possibly win out over LaDainian Tomlinson and QB Philip Rivers?

Look for the first few series to be the key. San Diego will start the game running the ball, and running it often. If the Pats can somehow prevent LT from getting off to fast start- this is going to be a game, and in a close game- I like the Patriots chances to win. If Tomlinson gets off fast, it could be a long afternoon for the Patriots and their fans. We'll soon see if Belichick can come up with enough to confuse San Diego QB Philip Rivers.