After a fairly even first half of football, San Diego batters New England on both sides of the ball the rest of the way.

01:00 AM EDT on Monday, October 3, 2005

BY TOM E. CURRAN
Journal Sports Writer

FOXBORO -- One after the other, sweaty, smiling members of the San Diego Chargers walked through the massive concrete artery that leads to the visitors locker room in Gillette Stadium.

As they walked, tearing grass-stained tape from their hands, they gloated aloud about their just-finished, 41-17 hammering of the New England Patriots.

"That's a [butt]-whipping," said defensive coordinator Wade Phillips.

"21-1, now," tackle Leander Jordan announced, referring to the Patriots' punctured 21-game home winning streak.

"[Bleep] New England and their team," suggested cornerback Drayton Florence. Florence then said to the collection of onlookers in the hallway. "Get the look of shock off your faces. Don't be shocked. We beat your [butt]."

The Patriots (2-2) could not disagree.

"They pretty much did what they wanted to do with the ball," said Pats linebacker Rosevelt Colvin. "We got beat down."

The Patriots would never admit it, but it's not a leap to say that the combined losses of Rodney Harrison, Tedy Bruschi, Ted Johnson and Ty Law over the past 11 months finally hit critical mass yesterday afternoon.

New England's battered defense was overrun by a perfect storm of offensive weapons. And the Patriots offense went into a peculiar post-halftime funk. It's one thing to lose. It's another thing entirely for the two-time defending Super Bowl champions to get outscored 24-0 after halftime in their own abode.

New England might be able to survive the loss of Harrison and the others in the long term. But against San Diego, yesterday it was apparent that they had neither the swagger nor the scheme to make the Chargers think twice.

San Diego (2-2) busted loose from a 17-17 halftime tie with 24 straight points in the second half. San Diego ran 36 offensive plays in the second half to 19 for New England. The Chargers were 6-for-7 on third downs while the game was still competitive. New England was 1-for-4. San Diego had the ball for 21 minutes in the second half. The Pats had it for nine. San Diego generated 243 yards of second-half offense. New England had 61.

The Pats offense wasn't blameless. But the defense showed all the resistance of tissue-paper.

Last Sunday evening in Pittsburgh, the Patriots were on top of the NFL, having gone upside the head of the Steelers with a late-game flurry. And yesterday, the Pats were snake-belly low after having been cuffed around Gillette in unprecedented fashion.

"When you're successful like they are, you have a lot of chemistry," said Keenan McCardell, the Chargers veteran receiver who caught an 11-yard scoring pass. "Right now their chemistry is a little off. Guys are maybe not sure if that guy next to him is going to do his job. You have to give those guys some time to get their chemistry.

"Obviously, they missed Rodney Harrison," added McCardell. "Anytime a leader goes down like him, it's hard to come back and be the same defense. I know what type of player Rodney is and what type of leader he is. You miss that presence. That guy sets the tempo and tone. Now they're looking for a guy to set that tone. He was a big part of that team. Those other guys just have to step up."

"Rodney ain't coming back this year," said Pats linebacker Mike Vrabel. "Obviously, we're gonna miss him. But we gotta move forward. Other guys have to make plays and pick it up. It [stinks] and it's an awful injury, but Rodney ain't coming back."

The Chargers felt the key to the game might be blocking Patriots nose tackle Vince Wilfork. If they could seal Wilfork, that would give the strong and slippery LaDainian Tomlinson the chance to cut back against the grain on the weak side and make big yards.

It worked. The Patriots' defensive line was overpowered by the Chargers' blockers at the point of attack and the New England linebackers couldn't cope with the cutback running of Tomlinson (25 carries for 134 yards and two scores).

"We just kept the intensity up," said Chargers center Nick Hartwick. "They don't like when you keep pushing and shoving and keep coming after them."

On another day, maybe Harrison would have been up in the box for run support. But the Patriots couldn't afford to expose their secondary to Chargers quarterback Drew Brees, not with tight end Antonio Gates out there.

As it was, Gates caught six passes for 106 yards, including a 38-yarder in the third quarter where he simply posted up Harrison's replacement, Guss Scott, at the 1. On the next play, Tomlinson bulled through inside linebacker Monty Beisel on a touchdown run for the second time in the game. Even though it was just 24-17, the rout was on.

New England went three-and-out, and San Diego used an eight-play, 75-yard drive to go up 31-17 at the end of the third thanks to a perfectly thrown ball by Brees (19-for-24 for 248 yards and two scores) to Reche Caldwell on third-and-8 from the Pats 28. Duane Starks had the coverage. On that play and so many others, the Patriots weren't able to get any pressure at all on Brees, who never was sacked and was barely bothered.

The Chargers tacked on a 34-yard Nate Kaeding field goal to cap a knife-twisting, 15-play drive that ate more than half the fourth quarter to make it 34-17. Charger safety Clinton Hart threw a dash of salt in the wound by returning an interception of third-string mopup man Matt Cassel for a score with 46 seconds left.

The first 30 minutes gave every indication yesterday would be a competitive, high-scoring game. After a Kaeding field goal in the first, Corey Dillon (held down again for 63 yards on 14 carries) scored from one yard out to make it 7-3, Pats. McCardell scored his touchdown on Starks, who really looked poor on coverage. But New England got it back with a nicely thrown 30-yard toss by Brady to diving wide receiver Tim Dwight.

A 44-yard pass interference penalty on Eugene Wilson on the next Chargers drive set up consecutive eight-yard runs by Tomlinson that made it 17-14, San Diego.

But New England squeezed out a fairly remarkable 14-play, 77-yard drive in just 2 minutes and 26 seconds to tie it at the break on a 24-yard Vinatieri field goal.

The stage was set for a Sunday afternoon barnburner. But only one team got the memo.

"We played bad football," said Wilfork. "We didn't show up today. 4-3 defense, 3-4 it don't matter. We got beat up in both today."