The MMQB's Jenny Vrentas answers reader mail while on the road to Houston and Super Bowl LI.
HOUSTON — Thomas Dimitroff’s awakening happened at the end of the 2006 season, when the Patriots beat the Chargers in the divisional round of the playoffs. Dimitroff, now the Falcons GM, was at the time New England’s college scouting director. By most measures San Diego had more talent and was the better team, having gone 14-2 despite resting its starters in Week 17.
Yet the Patriots won. And they won because, across the board, they had it together.
The Chargers didn’t.