Advanced search

Coverage of professional football featuring teams from the National Football League airing on Monday nights during the NFL's regular season.

NFL Top 10 is a high-octane perspective that provides analysis of some of the most intriguing subjects in the NFL, creating and debating a top ten list for each category. Each episode counts down from No. 10 to the top ranking in each category.

The 2006 AFC Divisional Playoffs came to Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego in January 2007 as the New England Patriots, champions of the AFC's Eastern Division, took on the AFC West champion Chargers. Both original members of the American Football League, the two teams had met in the playoffs once before - the 1963 AFL Title game won by the Chargers 51-10. This was the fourth meeting of the 2000 decade for both teams; in 2001 the Patriots, in Tom Brady's third career start, rallied from a 26-16 gap in the final minutes and won 29-26 in overtime, while the Chargers turned two Brady INTs into a 21-14 win in 2002 and ran roughshod over the Patriots in Foxboro in 2005 in a 41-17 rout. For this playoff matchup the two teams probed each other, feeling out the exact physical nature of each other's defenses. For much of the first quarter neither team could move the ball consistently, but the Patriots broke the scoring ice with a 50-yard Stephen Gostkowski field goal. The Chargers then got momentum and handed the ball to LaDanian Tomlinson, the league Most Valuable Player, and he rushed the ball to set up two Charger touchdowns. The Patriots for their part struggled to move the ball and Tom Brady in particular found San Diego's defense extremely tough, but in the final two minutes of the first half Brady began connecting with his receivers and in the final seconds found Jabar Gaffney, the unsung hero of the Pats' playoff rout of the NY Jets the week before, in the endzone. The Patriots crawled closer to the Chargers in a grinding third quarter, eventually kicking another field goal. But in the fourth the Chargers got a run behind Tomlinson and found the endzone for a 21-13 lead. The Patriots clawed to the 50, but on 4th and 5 Tom Brady threw a pass that was picked off by Marlon McCree of the Chargers. It was here, however, that the game changed entirely, for Troy Brown caught McCree and yanked the ball out of his hands; Reche Caldwell, a former Charger, grabbed the fumble and suddenly the Patriots had possession and a new set of downs despite the sideline harangues of the Chargers and their coach Marty Schottenheimer. Brady kept throwing, finding Gaffney for first downs, then finding Ben Watson for a first down at the Chargers 5 (Watson's only catch of the game), and finding Caldwell for a touchdown. The Patriots now had to try a two-point conversion, and a direct snap to Kevin Faulk was rushed in successfully; Schottenheimer had tried to call time-out as he saw the play developing but it was to no avail. The Chargers were forced to punt after a 3-and-out and the Patriots were pinned at their 34. On third and ten Brady huddled with his receivers - "Who's the f(lanker) on this play?" he asked; "I am," Caldwell replied; "Shady, I want you to run a Go." Brady then launched a long strike caught by Caldwell; Caldwell tried to score with the catch but as he tightroped the sideline lost his footing and fell out of bounds at the Charger 14. This now set up a time-consuming series of runs ending in a Gostkowski field goal and a 24-21 Patriots lead with 54 seconds to go.