[Sports] The Patriot Drive

For Tom Brady and the Patriots it was familiar territory…a little too familiar if you are a San Diego Chargers fan: divisional playoffs, on the road, fourth quarter, down by eight. And for all the season-long pontificating about how the Patriots are not the same team that won three Super Bowls, they sure looked like it…and no one should’ve been surprised by the outcome.

For a split second it looked like the San Diego Chargers may have ended any semblance of the all-too-familiar Patriot comeback when Charger’s safety Marlon McCree intercepted a Tom Brady pass in San Diego territory with just over three minutes to play. But in Patriot playoff games split seconds, and the decisions made during them, have a funny way of bringing in the tides of victory. Instead of falling on his interception, or simply knocking the ball to the ground, McCree made a move and stayed on his feet, leaving fourteen-year-Patriot-veteran receiver Troy Brown just enough room to reach his arm into McCree’s and strip the ball away. And just to put a bit of ironic icing on the cake, it was former Charger Reche Caldwell that recovered the fumble at the San Diego 32, breathing new life into the Patriot’s drive. Caldwell then caught the touchdown pass that put the Patriots within just a two-point conversion from tying the game – a two-point conversion that only Zeus's lightning bolt could have stopped, when the snap went directly to seven-year-veteran back Kevin Faulk who ran it easily into the endzone.

After the defense's three-and-out crushed any chance the Chargers’ had to answer the Pats magic, Tom Brady proved to be the only Houdini in the house when he found Caldwell, yet again, on a go route down the right sideline for a 49-yard gain to set-up Patriot kicker, and rookie, Stephen Gostkowski for the game-winning 31-yard field goal.

For those who thought the Patriots had squandered away their chances at a fourth Super Bowl title by trading away stars like Deion Branch, David Givens and the most-clutch kicker in the game, Adam Vinatieri, think again. The Patriots may not have the title yet, but they have rightfully silenced all critics with an offense of names still new to many sportscasters.

But the one name they all stand behind has quickly become tattooed on every coach’s and analyst’s brain: Bill Belichick. Two questions now dawn upon the league:

First, can a fourth Patriot appearance in the Super Bowl in six seasons be good for the NFL?

The answer is a most resounding yes. In fact, nothing could be better for the game than another Patriot appearance. To all non-Patriot fans this sounds like insanity, until you examine how the Patriots have won their titles.

When in his first Super Bowl victory Tom Brady was awarded the MVP, he would only accept the award with his entire team present. It was that move that set the tone for the first NFL dynasty in ten years. Brady may still be with the team, but, by trading away star players like Deion Branch and Adam Vinatieri soon after those championship seasons, the Patriots did the unthinkable: put their team above the demands of the star athletes that got them those titles. They say hindsight is 20/20, but, for the Patriots, there is no need to look behind them, they have 20/20 foresight. Their decisions have paid dividends…and not just for them, but for the league too.

For one thing, the Patriots may have single-handedly proven that big egos are obsolete character affects of great players. In fact, egotistical players may easily be the Achilles heal to many otherwise great teams. The Patriots say “No,” to talent that comes with heavy-baggage. And they win because of it. Their teams are built on character and class. If I were a head coach, I’d be taking notes. And if I wereTerrell Owens, I’d be worried about my job.

Belichick describes his search for role players (not stars): “If you put them in one particular spot, you may have a guy that’s better at that one thing than they are, but when you look at the players versatility, his intelligence, his physical skills, his ability to understand concepts and adapt to different situations, that he just has so much value on a broad base, that that’s really more valuable to your team even than a guy whose better at one.” It is this attitude that has brought in the subtle-but-significant playmakers in Kevin Faulk, Reche Caldwell and Jabar Gaffney.

Beyond building for character and role, the Patriots build for morale – a morale that actually shares its wealth all over the league. Even to Patriot fans, not resigning Adam Vinatieri to whatever contract he asked for seemed, at the beginning of the season, like a colossal error. But that’s Patriot policy: winning is not rewarded with money; winning is its own reward. And the beneficiaries of that policy are all the teams in the league. It has certainly benefited the Indianapolis Colts, who signed Adam Vinatieri in the off-season, and who now have him to thank for a victory over the Baltimore Ravens on Saturday. The Patriots faired pretty well in that exchange too with the drafting of Stephen Gostkowski, who, though it maybe too early to say, displayed his own Vinatieri-esque poise with the game-winning field goal on Sunday.

And so the second question: Can clutch play be coached?

If the answer is yes, then only the Patriots have proven it with Belichick’s coaching genius – genius that has now achieved the status of pure mystique. One thing is for sure: There has been no more clutch a team in all of sports over the past decade than the New England Patriots. So, if clutch play cannot be taught, it is certainly then learned by osmosis.

Most astonishing in that fact is that, while Tom Brady has already been crowned the king of clutch, the clutch play in Sunday’s game actually came from others. The most notable was Troy Brown’s strip of what would have otherwise been a game-ending interception in the fourth quarter. This has to be one of the most heads-up plays all season. It would be easy to say it was McCree’s fault for not falling on the ball or batting it down, but it is hard to blame an athlete for trying to make a great play even greater.

No, the credit should go entirely to Brown, who, when others would have been witnessing the end of their season in that interception, instead saw an opportunity (though certainly playing as a defensive back on occasion helped). Seeing opportunity when the prospects look otherwise dismal is the foundation of clutch playing, and it is the reason other teams feel imminent defeat coming against the Patriots, even, or perhaps especially, with a lead in the fourth quarter. For the Patriots, a fourth quarter deficit is the backwards equivalent of “We got ‘em right where wewant ‘em.”

The other clutch players of the day were Reche Caldwell, Jabar Gaffney, and rookie-kicker Stephen Gostkowski, none of who came to New England with a reputation for such performances. Caldwell, the former Charger, picked up the McCree fumble, caught the touchdown pass that would tie the game, and made the 49-yard catch to put the Pats in position for the game-winning field goal. Within four minutes of play, Caldwell defined clutch three different times (and all the while probably made Marty Shottenheimer sick to his stomach).

Jabar Gaffney may not have made headlines for his plays, but, under the radar, he gave another 100-yard receiving performance for the second consecutive playoff game, something totally unexpected from a man who began the season without a team at all. In six seasons with the Houston Texans he had only had one such 100-yard performance. Gaffney has 18 receptions so far in this post-season, which is seven more than he had all season long after the Pats signed him, essentially off the street. The Patriots are quickly gaining a reputation for taking the players others don't want, and then beating them with those players (as with their Texan squashing earlier this year, where Gaffney scored his first touchdown of the season).

Finally, there is Stephen Gostkowski. Now, hitting a 31-yard field goal may seem less like clutch play and more like simply doing your job, but better players have screwed up easier plays (just ask Tony Romo). And the other thing that defines clutch is not wincing in the face of pressure. For a rookie, nervousness under pressure is practically a give-in. For a clutch player, it is not an option. Gostkowski may not have hit a very long or very difficult field goal, but he looked as cool as Adam Vinatieri doing it. Something tells me that grace under pressure is simply a Patriot specialty, and it is something every team in the league should be looking to coach next season.