Is there hope for the Patriots this Sunday?

The Patriots are the team of the decade, and will be until the end of the decade even if they don't win another Super Bowl (the chances of anyone catching their 3 Super Bowls are pretty slim). However, they are not the same Patriots that beat the Rams, Panthers and Eagles. They are older and slower, they've lost some key guys and replaced them with lesser quality players. The Chargers, on the other hand, are the team on the rise. They have an impressive young quarterback (Philip Rivers), a steroid abusing stud linebacker (Shawne Merriman), one of the best tight ends in football (Antonio Gates) and the best player in the game (LaDainian Tomlinson).

Some of the things to worry about for the Patriots:

1- they have a lot of trouble with speed rushers, and Merriman is as fast as he is strong, which is saying a lot considering he's a steroid user (and no, this isn't a baseless accusation, for those who don't know he served a 4-game suspension already this year for failing the drug test);

2- they have no one to cover Gates, unless Harrison comes back but even then he'll be injured;

3- Harrison is hurt, he's their best tackler in the secondary (if not the whole team) and a great leader;

4- I'm worried about the Pats ability to stop the run on the outside, while they have the best defensive line in the league and I think they'll do okay against the run up the middle, their outside linebackers (Colvin and Banta Cain), while very fast, are not exactly the world's best run stoppers, and middle linebacker Bruschi has slowed down a ton;

5- Tomlinson is awesome. Whether he's running or receiving, he cannot be stopped. The Patriots have no one who will be able to keep up with him. He is hands down the best player in football, a player I love to watch, just not when he's playing my team.

Way back on Jan 3, on this very blog, I wrote that the Pats would get bounced in the second round. But I'm going optimistic these days, it's time to find the silver lining in the dark cloud, to note the half-fulledness of the cup, to ignore the dog poop on my shoe and keep walking in the sunshine. Here are some reasons why we Patriots fans can have hope that we'll pull off the upset this Sunday:

1- Belicheck is a proven winner in the post season, while San Diego head coach Marty Shottenheimer has proven himself to be a bust in the playoffs time and time again, big advantage to the Patriots;

2- we have Tom Brady, who stopped doing Gap ads and broke up with his movie star girlfriend for such a time as this;

3- Rivers is playing his first game as starting QB in the playoffs, I figure we'll have about 2 quarters to take advantage of this before he finally settles down;

4- as noted, our defensive line is the best in the league, which means if our corners play up enough to slow down the outside speed of San Diego we might be able to quasi-contain their running game (but not stop it), it'll help if Harrison is back;

5- Merriman is a steroid user who has been given a free pass by the media, but my mom always said "cheaters never prosper" and my mom is never wrong;

6- my playoff beard worked well for us this past Sunday, I'm not afraid to skip shaving or trimming it as long as I feel it'll help, remember, I'm the guy who wore the same shirt through the Red Sox historic run in 2004.

So there you have it, I'm sure your outlook on this game is as rosey as mine now that you've seen my airtight case for Patriots superiority. Am I a homer? Absolutely and unashamedly. If I were to step back into the shoes of a non-Pats fan would I pick them to win? Probably not, though I do think they have a better shot than some think. So here is my prediction, bravely written in stone (or on a blog that can be changed or deleted at any time, whatever):

Chargers- 27
Patriots- 30