Chargers must believe they can win in New England

Before I go into next Sunday's championship matchups, Norv Turner has to be commended for the job San Diego has done. Remember, there was a lot of pressure on Turner to win that first playoff game because the Chargers hadn't won a playoff game in quite a while and he was replacing a coach — Marty Schottenheimer — who got fired because he couldn't win a playoff game.

First, the Chargers beat a very good Tennessee team. But to go to Indianapolis and win, well, that's special. There were a lot of people in the league that thought the Colts might still be the best team in the NFL. These people were saying the Colts were the one team that could beat New England. But it was the Chargers who beat the Colts — with a backup quarterback and a couple of backup running backs, no less. They won without last year's MVP (LaDainian Tomlinson) playing in the second half. Also, their great tight end Antonio Gates wasn't a factor. I mean, Turner won with a crippled football team on the road in one the league's most difficult stadiums to play.

You can't say enough about what the Chargers did. But having said that, and after throwing all those accolades their way, the Chargers now must go to New England. We all know that the Patriots are a different animal. Bill Belichick knows what he's going to face, and he knows he may be facing San Diego's backups or injured starters who definitely won't be at full speed. The task for San Diego is monumental.

I have talked to Norv about his team's early season loss in New England. He said that a lot of teams have been blown out by the Patriots. We all know that, but unfortunately San Diego knows it all too well. So that's in their head. That 38-14 loss the second week of the season will play in their minds.

What Turner has got to try to fight this week with his players is that they have accomplished more than what people expected of them. It's almost like the job is done, so it may make no difference how much Turner hollers and screams. But these players must understand what they have out in front of them — they are one game from the Super Bowl. Yes, it is understandable for players to think they can't go to New England and win. I mean, no one else has done it, so why should they be able to do it?

It's human nature for the Chargers to believe they can't beat New England. But they must find a way to prepare and overcome those thoughts. People don't try (to win) because they don't want to be hurt and they don't want to be disappointed. That's why a lot of people don't try in life. A lot of people don't try to attain things because the mental process is too much for them. They don't want to be hurt by failure and disappointment. So rather than put out the effort to prepare, they give themselves an excuse and don't prepare, believing that they can't win anyway.

Well, I think Turner has to really explain this to his players. He has to say, 'How do you know you can't win?' Maybe there is only one chance in a 100, but if you don't try and if you don't prepare, that one chance won't come into play. That approach is a hell of a lot better than not trying.

The Chargers can do this because they went into Indianapolis believing they could win. I mean, this victory over Peyton Manning and the defending champions should mean a lot to them.

Maybe I'm biased. I know Marty Schottenheimer is an outstanding football coach. But Marty is also the next cliché.

Norv is just a guy, but he's a guy who is sincere. It probably is a fresh approach to this San Diego group. I have to think that Turner's approach has worked with his players. I think a lot of times he didn't win in the past because he didn't have good teams or the best of players. I have to think that maybe Norv Truner has grown as a head coach, and maybe he finally deserves a little credit.

Now with New England, the Patriots seem to keep their season on cruise control. I know Belichick won't like that description — cruise control — because this coach will have the pedal to the metal even if it is San Diego with Billy Volek at quarterback. Bill Belichick has been around the game long enough to know that anything can happen. So he won't put it on cruise control. He knows the only way his team will get better is if it plays better against San Diego, even if it means winning by 30 points. We all know that he will prepare his team that way.

It would be difficult for most teams in New England's situation not to be a little over-confident going into an AFC Championship game, but Belichick won't allow them to be. That's how they've approached this season. I mean, New England is one game away from where they want to be — the Super Bowl. I would expect that they will play better next Sunday than they did against Jacksonville last Saturday night.


A Giant effort
In the NFC, I must say that Tom Coughlin and his New York Giants have to be commended. New York defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo did a great job after New York opened the season 0-2. There was no reason why the Giants should have controlled the second half against the Cowboys, but they did.
I was impressed with how the Giants started getting better pressure on Tony Romo while also getting better coverage from a secondary that lost one its better players in Aaron Ross in the second half.

But Dallas simply didn't run its routes in the second half. Terrell Owens had four catches and a touchdown in the first half and zero in the second half. He was taken out of the game. Patrick Crayton had one catch and dropped one potential big catch. And then Marion Barber, who was running like a demon in the first half with over 100 yards, ended up with only 27 in the second half. When they did have the ball, the Cowboys didn't make any big plays.

I don't know if it was adjustments by New York's defense or if Dallas just became average. I mean, the last month or so of the season the Cowboys really slipped on offense. Tony Romo made some poor decisions in this game — he had that one grounding call. He also scrambled around a couple times and should have thrown the ball away and instead got sacked twice. The Cowboys also had a couple penalties go their way and still couldn't score the touchdown to win the game.

For the third straight game, Eli Manning played well. It will be interesting to see the Giants go to Green Bay now. But even before Dallas lost, I said Green Bay was the best team in the NFC. The Packers' defense has been consistent all year long. They have a super running back now in Ryan Grant and coach Mike McCarthy said on our show that his offensive line has really come on strong. They have opened up holes for Grant while also giving Brett Favre plenty of protection.

Favre has been something special this season. In my opinion, he was really coming off of two subpar seasons. He's adjusted his game to what McCarthy wants and has also protected the ball. He's utilizing the running game and underneath receivers and throwing those check downs — he's doing what is necessary to control the clock and ultimately the game. He's no longer forcing passes down the field.

I think Favre is playing smarter now than he's ever played, and it has shown up on the stats pages — Favre has had one of his best seasons ever. Right now, playing at home and in those wintry conditions, I don't see any holes in the Packers.

OK, I have praised the Packers and Favre, but the Giants continue to surprise me. They surprised me by playing so efficiently in Tampa, and they definitely surprised me in the second half against Dallas. Maybe they will surprise me again. They did give New England a great game before losing.

But I don't really think they will beat Green Bay because the Packers are really the better team.

Through this whole season, I know I got hot on some teams. I got hot on the Cowboys there for awhile, but week in and week out, the Packers got better and better. We thought they were really fortunate early in the season when they were winning without a running game. Now all of sudden they have Grant, they have that 1-2 punch — Grant and Favre. I always wondered if Favre would return to his old bad habits, but it never happened.

Finally, I want to say that I'm not really sure what happened to the Cowboys over the last month of the season. I don't know if they simply got caught up believing what people were saying about them. I mean, we were all saying they were really good.

But they were not efficient in the end. It is only human nature to pull back from your preparation and effort when you are having success. This is why I say that being a head coach is so hard. It is such a difficult job because you are dealing with highly paid athletes who are constantly being told how great they are. When that happens, the players don't work as hard. I don't know if that's the reason or not for the Dallas collapse. For some reason, the Cowboys did not get better as the season went along, and that's shocking to me because they do have so many great players.

The Cowboys obviously got to thinking they were pretty great and they weren't. Obviously, they weren't as good as the Giants. And I also know they aren't as good as Green Bay.