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Coach Turner expected the same thing to happen towards the end of the game as I did. He figured that the Chargers would start to manhandle the Pats sometime in the third quarter and continue to do so throughout the rest of the game.
Aside from decisions on the field that left the Chargers with FGs instead of TDs, Norv made the same mistake that all the other teams that have lost to the Patriots after giving them a fight have made. He forgot who it is he was playing.
Bellichick knew, just like I did, just like Coach Turner did, that his team was more than likely going to start to show some discernable weakness in the latter part of the game. And so, Coach Bellichick made the adjustment with that three tight end formation that threw San Diego for a loop.
More than anything else, it's what lost the game for the Chargers; their inability to adapt to that Pats offensive formation did them in and sealed victory for the Patriots. However, I do think that a valid point of criticism is the 3rd and 10 pass that the espn.com writer cites. I really think they should have tried some sort of screen or run with a tried-and-true blocking scheme. It seems to me that a pair of play-action runs would have done it and have possibly given the Chargers some life at the end.
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