Three observations on the Patriots:

•THE PATRIOTS

Should we really be surprised?

Should we really be surprised that the Pats went into San Diego on Sunday and beat the team that was supposed to be the best team in all of football?

Should we really be surprised that, once again, like they have done so many times in the past, they won a playoff game that many people thought they could not win?

Should we really be surprised that here are the Pats in the conference final when just a few weeks weeks ago on the road against the Dolphins, the day when they got shut out, their flaws all but imbedded in stone. No, we should not.

This is what this team has done on this marvelous ride toward immortality that started back in 2001, this sense that somehow, someway, they will find a way to win games when it appears they are not going to win. Call it will. Call it coaching. Call it heart. Call it luck. Call it smart. Call it anything you want. Other teams make key mistakes? The Patriots don’t. Other teams make brain-dead plays? The Patriots don’t. Other teams seem to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory? The Patriots don’t.

Sunday was just the latest example.

For there they were on an afternoon in sunny San Diego when nothing seemed to be going right. Poor field position much of the day. Behind much of the game. LaDainian Tomlinson doing a Walter Payton imitation. Tom Brady less than great. The sense that this season was going to end on Sunday, end in a loss to the Chargers. Until, of course, the Chargers self-destructed and gave the Pats a chance to do what they’ve done so many times before. Until Troy Brown makes the play that gave them a chance, and there was Brady doing what we’ve come to expect, taking an NFL playoff game and turning it into some personal flag football game, his ball, his show, his game, the Brady of legend.

Should we be surprised?

No.

Not anymore.

•LaDAINIAN TOMLINSON

So now we have Tomlinson saying that the Patriots showed no class after winning Sunday’s game.

Please.

Maybe LT should spend a little more attention on his team, the one that self-destructed like some 12-year-old brat having a temper tantrum.

The only problem is where to begin?

Is it with the dropped passes? Is it with the time Marty Schottenheimer went for it on fourth-and-11 on the Pats’ 30 instead of attempting a field goal? Is it with the incredibly moronic Charger cornerback Drayton Florence who tried to head-butt Daniel Graham after Brady was sacked, and gave the Pats a big first down? Is it when Charger cornerback Marlon McCree fumbled after he intercepted a Brady pass with about six minutes left and his team up eight, when all he had to do was bat the ball down and the game probably would have been over?

And whatever happened to Shawne Merriman anyway, the nearly invisible pass rusher? You would think that these would be Tomlinson’s concerns, not some gibberish about the Patriots showing no class. Enough, already.

•THE COLTS

Somehow you knew it would come down to this.

The Pats and the Colts.

Brady and Manning.

Belichick and Tony Dungy.

These two teams that seem like each other’s alter-egos, the pass-happy Colts against the blue-collar Pats, the team that wins all the regular-season games and the team that wins the playoff games.

That’s the story line anyway, and if we all know it’s more complicated than that, that’s the perception. Once again, the Colts are going to have to prove they can play smash-mouth football with the team that seems to have invented it. Once again, Manning is going to have to prove that he can beat a Belichick defense, no matter that the Colts have won the last two regular-season games against the Pats, including this year. Once again, Manning and the Colts are going to have to prove they can beat the Pats in a game that counts. So here we go again. Brady and Manning.

Manning and Belichick’s defense.

A skill team versus a physical team.

The Pats and the Colts.

Again.