The rest of the Bolts have no such illusions. They know the New England coaching staff likely was drawing up a game plan for them even before Peyton Manning's last-gasp pass had bounced off Dallas Clark's outstretched hand.
"It'll probably be the toughest game we've ever played," reckoned running back LaDainian Tomlinson, who should be back in the starting lineup after banging up his left knee. "I'm pretty sure we'll be huge underdogs, and rightfully so."
The Chargers were 9-point dogs against the defending NFL champions before they sent the Colts to the glue factory with both Tomlinson and quarterback Philip Rivers watching from the sideline as they made their fourth comeback.
"That's the true meaning of a team," said Tomlinson. "Guys kept believing, and got it done."
This was a statement game, a decla ration that the former Bolts, the ones who were said to be softer than the sand at Windansea Beach, now can zap anyone, anywhere.
"We've got some guys who compete and fight and scratch and claw as good as I've ever been around," said coach Norv Turner, whose club has won eight straight games after losing three of its first four.
Now, though, San Diego will be up against a Patriots team that hasn't lost a home playoff game in three decades, that ripped a victory away from them on their home field last January, and that ran up a 24-point lead on them at halftime en route to a 38-14 beatdown in their meeting in Foxborough this season.
"We know it will be a challenge," said Rivers. "We are going against a team that might be the best there ever was."
The Chargers were in meetings during most of New England's victory over Jacksonville Saturday night, but they caught the highlights and were duly impressed, as they have been all season.
"They're the best team in the NFL," saluted backup quarterback Billy Volek, who scored the winning touchdown against Indianapolis. "I take my hat off to them."
