FOXBORO -- It's clear the coach knows how to break things down: his game plan from Super Bowl XXXVI is on display at the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

But all the game-planning in the world is no good if the players on the field aren't properly prepared to execute it.

Patriots players not being ready for nearly everything that happens in a game doesn't happen too often, however. The most recent example of that was in New England's second regular-season game against the Jets; after the loss, several players indicated that New York threw some things at them on defense, in particular, that they hadn't really prepared for.

That, however, was rectified by last Sunday. The Patriots seemed to have all the answers, and ended the Jets' season with a 37-16 AFC wild-card victory.

Head coach Bill Belichick and his staff have been studying and deconstructing the Chargers full-tilt since early Monday morning, and when the coaches met with the players on Wednesday to begin putting their plans into action, the real preparation began for the players.

They already had a DVD highlighting San Diego to view on Monday and Tuesday, their days off, and on Wednesday they had a black-and-white plan.

On a team where the players often say that a big key to their success is the feeling that players one through 53 know their roles explicitly, being ready takes on even greater importance this week.

"All the time we have, we use to prepare," linebacker Tully Banta-Cain said. "It's key now because this game is win or go home.

"You get out of it what you put into it, so preparation is a big key this week."

While Belichick and his staff come up with the majority of the plan for each game, they also get input from the players during the week. Belichick said this team does a "pretty good job" of preparing game by game.

"They try to focus on the areas that we identify for them. I think, generally speaking, they do a good job of trying to do what we want them to do and play the way we want them to play," he said. "There have been some weeks where I think it's been better than others, and I've told them that. They try to take the information that we give them and apply it as best they can. That's part of the challenge -- when you have a lot of coaches and a lot of players all trying to get on the same page in a short amount of time for a new opponent, a lot has to come together."

On Monday, Belichick said he felt his team was behind in its work getting ready for the Chargers. By today, however, nearly every facet of the game plan will have been put into place.

He counts on the captains and veterans to lead the way in preparation, and indeed, younger players have noted how guys such as Rodney Harrison have told them to look at something one more time -- whether it's for the fifth time or the 12th.

"We have a lot of players on our team that are exemplary in their work ethic, their preparation, their attention to detail, and their determination to get it right -- whether it's a play, a technique, a call, (or) an adjustment," Belichick said.

And once all of the preparation -- with adjustments being made up until Sunday and then again at halftime -- has been done, "come Sunday, it's going to all boil down to execution," Rosevelt Colvin said.

smanza@projo.com / (401) 277-7340