Playoff thoughts 1: Loss

• Don't you get the feeling Marty went overboard trying to prove he wasn't going to be conservative? Going for it on 4th-and-11 in the first quarter? I don't care how good you are, there is not play in your book you can realistically hope to get a first down with from that spot.
• Tony Dungy thought the Chargers tried to do too much. Maybe he's right. My feeling is that you have to take a few chances in a playoff game but they should be in the flow of the action and be strategically sound.
• My long-held theory on playoffs is that teams struggle when it's their first time there in awhile. This might explain the lapses in the Chargers part but who do you account for their playoff game 2 years ago? That should have given them much-needed experience. Perhaps this team has changed so much in 2 years.... Or perhaps the Patriots are just such a solid team that they make you have to play your best to beat them.
• The Chargers obviously did a lot of things wrong in this game, both players and coaches. But they did a lot of things right. Tom Brady really had a poor playoff game. So you could say that Wade Phillips did a great job game-planning him. But then you can make the argument that even though Brady had a poor game, the Chargers still lost. Which is it?