Through the years, Patriots-Chargers has almost always been interesting

The Patriots and Chargers aren’t traditional rivals, but there have been plenty of memorable moments between these two teams. In no particular order, here are our favorite moments of the Belichick-Brady Era.
1. The 2006 AFC divisional playoffs. Maybe the most underrated playoff win of this century for New England. The Patriots were a wildcard that had to travel west to face a Chargers team that finished the year 14-2 and held the top seed in the AFC. Brady finished 27-for-51 for 280 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions, but the game wasn’t over until Stephen Gostkowski delivered a 31-yard field goal with 1:10 left to lift New England to a 24-21 win. (Troy Brown came away with a big turnover at the expense of San Diego's Marlon McCree to help seal it.)

The postgame scene was wild

— Rosevelt Colvin was doing Shawne Merriman’s sack dance at midfield afterward, Philip Rivers was calling Ellis Hobbs the “sorriest corner in the league,” and LaDainian Tomlinson blasted the Patriots, saying they had no class at all.

“I would never, ever, react in that way,” Tomlinson said when asked about Colvin mocking Merriman. “You guys know me — I’m a very classy person. I wouldn’t have reacted like that. So yes, I was upset, very upset. Because when you go to the middle of our field and you start doing the dance that Shawne Merriman is known for, that’s disrespectful to me, and I can’t sit there and watch that. So yeah, I was very upset — just the fact that they showed no class at all. Absolutely no class. And maybe that comes from their head coach. So you know, there you have it.”

Tomlinson and Merriman talked about it a few years ago here.

2. The 2007 regular-season meeting in Foxborough. San Diego was the first team to face New England the week after the Spygate penalties were announced, which left the Chargers as the unfortunate group standing on the tracks as the train rolled through the station. The 38-14 win over San Diego kickstarted a vengeful tour of the NFL that season for the Patriots, one that started that wild Sunday night at Gillette. I remember a group of reporters around Chargers fullback Lorenzo Neal asking him what happened. "They just jumped on us like a spider monkey," he recalled.

3. The 2007 AFC title game. This game was much closer than many remembered — New England held a 14-12 lead into the fourth quarter — and one that left Chargers’ fans wondering what might have been if Rivers and Tomlinson didn’t have to deal with serious knee issues. The Patriots ended up pulling away for a 21-12 win, but along the way, the Chargers earned plenty of respect for pushing New England to the limit. (San Diego would end up getting a measure of revenge for those two playoff losses in 2008, when the Chargers would crush a Brady-less Patriots’ team by a 30-10 score in San Diego.)

4. Brady’s first comeback. It’s easy to forget now that the Chargers were fundamentally set pieces in the first come-from-behind win of Tom Brady’s career, with the victory coming on Oct. 14, 2001 at Foxboro Stadium. Doug Flutie powered San Diego to a 26-16 lead midway through the fourth, but Brady (who went 33-for-54 for 364 yards and a pair of touchdowns) hit Jermaine Wiggins for a 3-yard scoring strike with 36 seconds left in regulation to tie the game, and punctuated the afternoon with a drive at the start of overtime that ended with a 44-yarder from Adam Vinatieri to win it.

5. The Chargers have had their share of wins as well, with maybe their most dramatic coming at Gillette Stadium on Oct. 2, 2005. San Diego crushed the Patriots, 41-17. Drew Brees threw for 248 yards and a pair of touchdowns and Tomlinson added 134 rushing yards in what turned out to be one of the worst home losses in recent New England history. In my experience, this game was unique because it was the first time we heard speculation as to whether or not the Patriots’ dynasty was really dead. It also led to an interesting back-and-forth between Chargers coach Marty Schottenheimer and Brady. After the game, Schottenheimer respectfully wondered just how long New England’s run could conceivably continue, especially with a rash of injuries the Patriots had endured to that point in the season. Brady took it as a shot at his team.

"You don't talk about our team. He has no business talking about our team," Brady said of Schottenheimer a few days later. "He's not our coach. We'll let our coach talk about our team. We'll let our players talk about our team. The only thing that we ever do is give respect to the other teams, because that's what they deserve. They played a good game. They beat us. That's what it is. No more, no less. One game."

6. Vince Wilfork’s first career interception. Let's end this on a lighter note with one of the great moments of Wilfork’s career — the big man picking off Rivers in at 2011 win over the Chargers at Gillette. Poetry in motion there from No. 75.