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(SportsNetwork.com) - Tom Brady and the New England Patriots will attempt to bounce back from a rare loss by doing what they usually do, beat the San Diego Chargers and Philip Rivers. The Patriots have never lost to Rivers and the Chargers with Brady under center, winning five consecutive when the two veteran Pro-Bowlers duel. Both clubs are currently in the thick of the AFC playoff race. The 9-3 Patriots had their seven-game winning streak snapped last weekend at Green Bay but are still in good position heading into December. By winning out, New England will clinch the No. 1 seed in the AFC and secure a first-round bye for the fifth consecutive season. The 8-4 Chargers, meanwhile, are currently the top wild-card team in the AFC and sit just one game behind Denver for the top spot in the West thanks to answering a three-game mid-season skid with an equally long winning streak, which extended to three with a heart-stopping 34-33 win in Baltimore in Week 13. Trailing by 10 points with just over six minutes remaining, Rivers led San Diego back and capped the rally with a 1-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Eddie Royal with 38 seconds left in the game. Rivers completed 34-of-45 passes for 383 yards, three touchdowns and an interception for the Chargers, who outscored Baltimore by a 21-10 margin in the fourth quarter. These are the kind of games you have to win to get into the postseason, said Rivers. And these are the kind of games youve got to win if you do get in. Keenan Allen caught 11 passes for 121 yards and two touchdowns for San Diego while Royal hauled in nine passes for 81 yards. The players never gave up and we just kept plugging away, said Chargers coach Mike McCoy said. Thats what good teams do. The character of our team once again showed up, and when youve got a great quarterback like Philip Rivers, you got a chance to win every game just as long as theres time left on the clock. Brady, on the other hand lost his Week 13 battle against one of the few people on the planet who are actually his peer, Aaron Rodgers. A-Rod threw for 368 yards and two touchdowns and kept two NFL-record streaks alive in a 26-21 win last Sunday at Lambeau Field as the Packers remained perfect (6-0) at home this season. Rodgers has now thrown 360 consecutive passed and 31 touchdown passes at Lambeau since his last interception on the field over two years ago, both NFL bests. Brady was 22-of-35 for 245 yards with two touchdown passes to Brandon LaFell. Rob Gronkowski had seven catches for 98 yards and Brandon Bolden added a 6-yard touchdown run in the loss, New Englands first since falling 41-14 in Kansas City on Sept. 29. I just wish we would have won this one, Brady said. We put a lot into this one, and this was a great test for us. I think the guys knew how important this was for our season. The Pats are 20-14-2 all-time against San Diego and have won five of six overall. The lone Chargers win in that span came when Matt Cassel was filling in for an injured Brady in 2008. The two teams havent met since 2011, a 35-21 New England win when Brady tossed for 423 yards and three scores. The Patriots havent been to San Diego since 2010, a 23-20 Pats win fueled by a Gronkowski TD and three Stephen Gostkowski field goals. WHAT TO WATCH FOR Much like last week with Brady versus Rodgers, all the hype is centering on the QBs because both have been so good for so long. Brady, however, has always gotten the best of Rivers in the past, winning all five of his starts against the San Diego signal caller while compiling a 91.4 passer rating in those encounters. Conversely, Rivers has managed just five touchdowns with eight interceptions and a less-than-stellar 73.4 passer rating in those games. Even though the two are never directly playing against each other, Rivers lack of success against Bradys Pats is a narrative that will follow the North Carolina State product until he excels in this kind of environment. Weve never played this Patriot team, a terse Rivers said when queried about his lack of success against Brady. Were 0-0 against this group. Theres a lot of guys in that locker room that have never played the Patriots in their life. Rivers is currently third in the AFC with a 102. 8 passer rating, slightly ahead of Bradys 101.1, He also has an AFC-best 69.1 completion percentage but is behind Brady in both passing yards (3,243 to 3,218) and TD passes (28 to 25). Its great to have him on our football team, McCoy said of Rivers. Hes been very efficient. Hes done a great job of leading not only the team, but the offense week in and week out. However you slice it, both QBs are great. Brady has the best December winning percentage in over 70 years at 45-7 and Rivers is in second with a 30-6 mark. Since losing to Kansas City to fall to 2-2 on the season, New England is 7-1 and has been scoring well over 30 points per game. Perhaps the biggest contributor to that has been the health of Rob Gronkowski, who is feeling good after a myriad of injuries in recent seasons and has an NFL-best 910 receiving yards for a tight end. Gronks nine TDs, meanwhile, are equal to his counterpart with the Chargers, veteran Antonio Gates, one of the best pass-catching TEs in NFL history. Rob has done a good job for us and been on the field a lot, plays in a lot of situations, been productive in the passing game and the running game, New England coach Bill Belichick said. The Pats mentor also had some flattering words for the ageless Gates, who remains one of the tougher matchup problems in the league. Gates seems timeless, Belichick said. Hes a hard guy to defend. Hes got great size, athleticism, hands, does a real good job setting up his routes, beating man or zone coverage. The x-factor in the game could be the running backs. San Diego is back to leaning on Ryan Mathews, who returned a few weeks ago after missing seven games with a sprained knee. The talented Mathews gives San Diego far more balance and makes opposing defenses pause before putting an extra defensive back on the field. Its great to have him back, McCoy said of Mathews. Hes worked extremely hard to get back where he is today. The Pats, meanwhile, brought back LeGarrette Blount two weeks ago after he was released in Pittsburgh and the big man hasnt missed a beat since he was with the Pats in 2013, averaging 68 yards a game and scoring two TDs. OVERALL ANALYSIS Belichick is generally ahead of the curve when it comes to the little things that helps a team win. Instead of flying from Green Bay back to Foxborough and then out to San Diego, the future Hall of Fame coach eliminated the East Coast to West Coast trek which always seems to be an issue by flying directly from Wisconsin to the Southern California. Its that kind of attention to detail that sets the Patriots apart and expect them to win a 10th game for the 14th consecutive season on Sunday, the first organization to turn that trick since the San Francisco 49ers reached double digits in every year from 1983-98. Sports Network predicted outcome: Patriots 27, Chargers 20 Cheap Sharks Jerseys . A judge had summoned Clemens and Brian McNamee to federal court in Brooklyn for settlement talks aimed at heading off a trial in the defamation case. McNamees lawyer emerged saying an agreement wasnt likely. "I think this is a case where the lines are deeply drawn in the sand," said attorney Richard Emery. Cheap Adidas Sharks Jerseys . "Yeah, [I heard them]," he said. "They made me miss the free throw." A year ago, Lowrys post-game antics may not have been so well received but what was snide and snarky is now endearing quick wit. http://www.cheapsharksjerseys.com/ . The Indians scored twice in the top of the ninth, getting the go-ahead run on a wild pitch by closer Matt Lindstrom. Axford (0-1) came in seeking his fifth save in as many chances. Cheap Adidas NHL Jerseys .com) - There may be a debate in Philadelphia about who should be the starting quarterback of the Eagles. Cheap Sharks Jerseys China . Ashley Wagner will skate in the womens short program for a U.S. team thats in seventh place. Davis and White won the silver medal at the Vancouver Games and are two-time world champions.Got a question on rule clarification, comments on rule enforcements or some memorable NHL stories? Kerry wants to answer your emails at cmonref@tsn.ca. Kerry, I appreciate your earlier comments on Torontos handling of the Vanek goal, and Im sure youve seen the Howie Rose-Kris King interview by now. Im still left with some basic questions about what the actual NHL rules are at this point, and was hoping you could provide some insight. 1. Does the situation room still need clear, incontrovertible evidence to overturn calls made on the ice? Every NHL announcer seems to think so, but Kris King clearly indicates that while that logic held in many cases there was a specific subset of calls (including kicking motion) where the situation room could take the on-ice call as purely advisory and didnt have to find incontrovertible video evidence in order to overturn. Is Kings view backed up by formal statements/rule changes? Do NHL refs uniformly understand that Toronto needs clear evidence to overturn in some cases but not in others? 2. Kings comments seemed contradictory in that he said the rules regarding kicking were defined so that neither refs or the situation room needed to make any judgment as to the players intent (i.e goals scored by kicking should be disallowed even if they could be considered unintentional or inadvertent), but also raised the point that "foot dragging" could be defined as "kicking" in this context. First of all, Rule 38.4 which you quoted in your initial comment does not mention foot dragging, and the "pendulum" motion it prohibits would seem to explicitly exclude the possibility of disallowing goals based on foot dragging. Has there been an internal memo or formal rule change that all NHL refs would be aware of that expands Rule 38.4 to include foot dragging? Secondly, outside of extraordinarily blatant cases, how could anyone disallow a goal on foot dragging grounds without judging the players intentions? Hundreds of goals go off skates where there has been no "pendulum" type kicking motion. How could anyone distinguish good from bad goals without determining whether they thought the player was trying to intentionally redirect a puck, as opposed to simply position themselves near the goal mouth where lucky bounces sometimes occur? We all understand that no set of rules can ever be perfect. The issue here is that you and most fans that saw the Vanek video believed the rule to be applied in that situation was one thing, and King may have implied (but never clearly said), no - the rule to be applied in that situation is different. If the rules are 100 per cent clear to refs and everyone in the league, it would still be useful to communicate changes more clearly so that announcers and journalists arent confusing the fans. Of course, if situation room personnel think they can establish rule interpretations that the on-ice staff isnt in sync with, that would raise a different set of issues. Hoping you can clarify what the real situation is. Hubert Horan Hubert: I truly believe that each person who staffs the Situation Room on a nightly basis in Toronto is a man of integrity and cares deeply about the game. They do not take the huge responsibility handed to them lightly and they do strive to get every call right through videoo review to the best of their ability.dddddddddddd When a play, subject to review, is taken over by the Situation Room their judgment is independent of the referees and any decision rendered through video review is final. The only exception is when video review returns an "inconclusive verdict" at which time the call reverts back to the referee on the ice. In almost every case the referees initial call will then stand. The referees make the call from their vantage point in real time based on the rules as written and with the direction and expected standard of enforcement they are handed from their superiors. The refs recognize that their decision on the ice can be overturned for any reason, whether they agree or even like it! It would appear, at least from the perception of the personnel conducting the video review, that clear and incontrovertible evidence is present for them to overturn a referees call on the ice. That perception and ultimate decision is always subject to debate and scrutiny from the hockey community. While I cant ever recall Kris King agreeing with a penalty I assessed against him during his 14 season NHL career I know him to be a very good, honest and charitable person. As a former player that was most often cheered by adoring fans, Kris and his colleagues in the Situation Room can sometimes find their decisions challenged rather vehemently by various members of the hockey community. No differently than a referee experiences throughout his career, it goes with the territory! This might explain some of Kris apparent defensiveness during the interview with Howie Rose. What Kris didnt explain, but only alluded to, were instructions provided them by the general managers how to ascertain a "distinct kicking motion" beyond the definition provided in rule 38.4 (iv). If such instructions include a skate drag or worse yet, unintended contact with a players skate resulting from physical contact by an opponent, these new criteria should be clearly communicated to the rest of the hockey world. That I believe is the question that Howie Rose and the rest of us would like a clear answer to. I would be most curious to know if Isles GM Garth Snow and Habs GM Marc Bergevin (following Brendan Gallaghers disallowed goal) among others have signed off on the instructions Kris King alluded to. A referee often factors in "player intent" when imposing his judgment on infractions and calls. To suggest otherwise is illogical. At the present time a vast majority of the hockey community, including current and former officials, current and former players, broadcasters and fans cant logically understand decisions to disallow goals like the one that went into the net off the skate of Thomas Vanek. The answer to that question has to come clearly and definitively from Colin Campbell, current Executive Vice President and Director of Hockey Operations who holds the keys to the Kingdom. Finally, the integrity and accuracy of the video review process would be greatly enhanced if the NHL were to employ former referees to provide their specialized expertise and INDEPENDENT judgment in these matters no differently than the other major professional sports leagues have recognized is necessary. ' ' '