So far, special forces

And he should be.

The Patriots departed for San Diego yesterday with a 4-1 record cobbled together not only by their offense and defense, but also by the timely contributions from their special teams unit, which was responsible for 40 combined points in New England’s 41-14 victory Oct. 4 at Miami and last Sunday’s 23-20 overtime victory over Baltimore.

The verdict against the Ravens was sealed not only by Stephen Gostkowski’s 35-yard field goal in overtime, but also by Zoltan Mesko’s booming 65-yard punt in OT that backed up Baltimore to its 19-yard line.

“I think sometimes it comes down to probability,’’ said Mesko. “Things have gone in our favor and maybe it’ll be vice versa in San Diego. But it’s a new game Sunday. I mean, you can’t rely on your past success to perform for you on Sunday, so you’ve got to deliver.’’

This season, the Patriots’ special teams are succeeding in doing just that: delivering when it matters most.

“We all know how important the kicking game is and we all put a lot of emphasis on it, and Scott O’Brien does a tremendous job,’’ said Patriots coach Bill Belichick, praising his special teams coach. “He’s as good as any coach I’ve ever coached with and we try to be good at it every week. It’s a combination of scheme and fundamentals and technique and, of course, it always comes down to the specialists: your returners, your kickers, and your snappers.

“If those guys do a good job, then you have a chance to be good. If they don’t do a good job, then it’s hard for the other 10 guys to overcome that. It’s hard to be a good punting team if you can’t punt and it’s hard to be a good return team if you can’t return. So the specialists play an important part of it, but at the same time you have to have a core group of guys to go with them.’’