New England Patriots Links 10/25/10 - Patriots Bolt San Diego With A Win

Ian Rapoport notes Rob Ninkovich's explanation on how he knew to pounce on that lateral.

"I think Bill (Belichick) is always preaching to us to play smart situational football, knowing what’s going on in the game," Ninkovich said. "To be honest, on that play, from where I was, I thought it was a forward pass, but I heard them (on the sideline), screaming it was a lateral. So I slid on it. And everyone was yelling, ‘get up and run."

"I would have loved to have taken it to the house, but I’m not a world class sprinter," Ninkovich, said with a laugh. "I wanted to make a move on him, but my running back days are awhile ago."

Steve Silva offers some post game reactions from Bill Belichick, Tom Brady and more.

Bill Belichick: Nice to come out here and win. Tough game, just like it always is with the Chargers. A real good football team. You got 'em down but you just can't relax against these guys. You've got too many talented players. Norv [Turner] does a good job. Give them a lot of credit for battling back. They had an opportunity to win there on the last play but I got to give our guys a lot of credit, they really hung in there, fought hard, made some plays when we had to and that's the kind of game it was. We've been in some close games with the Chargers, we're just fortunate to come out on top here today.

Vince Wilfork: That's the one thing this team does is they keep their poise. They play to the whistle. At times, when we don't do that, we have problems. For the most part, we always play, keep our poise and stay positive out there on the field if anything happens. Just looking at these guys on film, the situations that came up, we knew when they were down what they were going to do. We just had to do a better job on defense at defending those types of situations. Overall, we came out and played well. We played how we wanted to play. We were physical. We were aggressive. We caused turnovers, created turnovers, and kept our offense in good field position for the most part. This was another team win. We'll just chalk this one up and go back and prepare for Minnesota this week.

TEAM TALK

• Game Notes: Patriots at Chargers. Team and player milestones reached, records set and streaks continued.
• Post Game Pressers: Bill Belichick (6.46 min. audio) and Tom Brady (3.57 min. audio).
• Erik Scalavino reports that for the second straight week, New England wins 23-20 ... this time clinging for dear life.
• Locker Room Uncut - Post game reaction. (3.47 min. video)

LOCAL LINKS

• Shalise Manza Young recaps the 'cross-your-fingers, cover-your-eyes, say-a-quick-prayer, hope-it-works' moment for the Patriots in their win over the Chargers.
• Karen Guregian details how the defense tightened up for the Chargers, final drive of the game, beginning with the failed 4th and 1.
• Mike Reiss posts his quick-hit thoughts after each quarter: First quarter, Second quarter, Third quarter and Finish in the Patriots win over the Chargers 23-20.
• Mary Poaletti notes Jerod Mayo remains quietly consistent for the Patriots D.
• Ian Rapoport reviews the game and the "clanged kick" that saved the day in San Diego.
• Mike Reiss revisits the key false start on the field goal.
• Mike Reiss details rookie safety Sergio Brown's matchup against All-Pro tight end Antonio Gates on the crucial Chargers' final drive.
• Chris Gasper calls the Patriots both lucky and good in their win over the Chargers.
• Bob Ryan writes yesterday was a day where you get the W and then sprint for the plane before someone asks for a recount.
• Ron Borges talks about Sergio Brown's tackle that made the rookie look like Ray Lewis, and credits toughness and smarts for the Pats win.
• Monique Walker focuses on the Patriots offense that struggled against the Chargers No. 1 defense in the NFL.
• Karen Guregian gives her play of the game.
• Dan Hayes focuses on the giveaways by the Chargers that they couldn't recover from.
• Alex Spier talks 4th and 1.
• Ian Rapoport collects some player reactions to the missed field goal. "It was just one of those lifetime experiences."
• Mike Reiss looks at the snaps played by the Patriots skill-position players on offense in the team's win over the Chargers.
• Mike Reiss breaks down the offensive positional groupings from yesterday's game.
• Christopher Price offers ten things we learned Sunday. One is this: Different year, different players, different mentality.
• Tom E. Curran has five thoughts from Patriots, Chargers.
• Art Martone feels the only thing the Pats can feel good about from yesterday is the score.
• Christopher Price lists what went right and what went wrong in the Patriots win over the Chargers.
• Tom E. Curran and Mary Paoletti award the Best and Worst from Sunday's game.
• Ron Borges offers the best and worst from yesterday's game.
• Chris Gasper tells us who is up and who is down following the Patriots exciting 23-20 win in San Diego.
• Michael Felger makes four points following the Patriots' "near-collapse" in San Diego.
• Ian Rapoport Patriots Notebook: Pats offense couldn't take advantage of Bolts turnovers and put the game away; Antonio Gates played, but wasn't 100 percent; Green-Ellis coudn't capitalize a second time on the same 4th and 1 play that worked earlier in the game; Sergio Brown replaced Pat Chung and made a key tackle on Gates; Brandon Meriweather lowered his hit zone and remained aggressive.

NATIONAL NEWS

• NFL Game Center New England Patriots at San Diego Chargers. Recap, analysis, stats and plenty of highlight videos.
• Tim Graham (ESPN) Math shows Bill Belichick made a bad choice.
• Michael Silver (Yahoo! Sports) Odds were in Patriots' favor against Chargers.
• Bill Williamson (ESPN) Chargers left to wonder when it will change.
• Clark Judge (CBS Sports) Embarrassing Chargers great... at sabotaging themselves.
• Peter King (SI) MMQB: Week 7 storylines include Favre-Childress feud, Pittsburgh fumble.
• Sean Leahy (USA Today) Week 7 bests & worsts: Patriots lucky to escape in San Diego after Bill Belichick's gamble.
• Don Banks (SI) Inside the NFL: Simply no givens this season.
• Vinnie Iyer (Sporting News) Week 7 checkdown: Luck goes to these victors.
• Matt Bowen (Nat'l Football Post) Week 7 winners and losers.
• Matt Bowen (Nat'l Football Post) Sunday post game notes: late kickoffs.
• Mike Florio (ProFootballTalk) No new deal for Peyton Manning during the 2010 season.

VIEW FROM SAN DIEGO

• Staff (San Diego Union-Tribune) Sloppy Chargers fall to Patriots.
• Kevin Acee (San Diego Union-Tribune) Charitable Chargers err it out again.
• Chris Jenkins (San Diego Union-Tribune) Brady had a bunch of problems with Bolts.
• Tod Leonard (San Diego Union-Tribune) Belichick escapes 'big gamble.'
• Nick Canepa (San Diego Union-Tribune) Go ahead and assume Chargers' season dead.
• Tod Leonard (San Diego Union-Tribune) New kicker, same woeful story for Bolts' special teams.