COMMENTARY
Five takeaways from the Patriots’ eye-opening obliteration of the Chargers, a 41-28 win that gives Tom Brady his 28th career playoff win and punches New England’s ticket to an eighth-straight AFC championship…
Setting a tone from the start
Before the AFC championship game three years ago, the Patriots won the coin toss and broke from their own tradition. Typically a team that defers its kickoff reception to the second half when the heads or tails go its way, New England took the ball at the start of the game in an effort to set the tone immediately — and it backfired.