Final Thought on LaDainian Tomlinson

People have said that the Patriots win because they do the "little things" that win championships. I think people are reading too much into it. Its not the little things - its the big things - the fundamentals.

First among the fundamentals is win the game. That's the primary goal. I'm still shocked and amused that LaDainian Tomlinson's biggest issue after the game was not the fact that the team lost even though it had the better team - his issue was that a teammates dance was being disrespected. If the shoe was on the other foot you can be sure that the Patriots first and foremost would be pissed at themselves for losing the game.

Second among the fundamentals is protect the football. The Chargers did a very poor job of protecting the football especially on that punt return and on the interception that Troy Brown stripped back to the Patriots.

Third among the fundamentals is play to your strength and your opponents weakness. Its not rocket science. If you can run the ball and your opponent can't stop you from running the ball - then you run the ball. Yet on Sunday LaDainian Tomlinson only had 7 second half carries even though the Patriots had shown no capability whatsoever of stopping Tomlinson in the first half.

Tomlinson is right when he said that these things come from the top down. Belichick makes sure that the Patriots play according to the fundamentals whereas the Chargers will be watching on TV because they disregarded the fundamentals. If Tomlinson wants to upset at anything - he should be upset at that.