Healthy LT hungry to face Patriots again
LaDainian Tomlinson of the New York Jets celebrates the team's 30-27 win against the Houston Texans. (Nov. 21, 2010) Credit: Getty Images
He slumped on the bench beneath a hooded parka, his knee throbbing as his team watched its Super Bowl hopes vanish into the gloaming of the New England sky. But what LaDainian Tomlinson remembers most are the taunts from the crowd.
This was Jan. 13, 2008, and Tomlinson lasted only two series in the AFC Championship Game against the Patriots. The Chargers running back had been injured the week before against the Colts, and he was forced to sit out the remainder of the game after rushing for five yards.
As the clock wound down and the Chargers' season crumbled in a 21-12 loss, Tomlinson was besieged by the hecklers behind the Chargers' bench.
"I'd already felt bad I couldn't help the team, and I remember being down, just not being able to do much at the most critical time in the AFC Championship Game," Tomlinson told me about one of his most painful NFL memories. "I remember the fans being on me. They were saying stuff like 'overrated' and 'you're never going to win a big game' and 'you ain't never gonna win a Super Bowl.' Stuff like that."
Tomlinson will be back at Gillette Stadium Dec. 6 for the first time since that anguished moment against the Patriots. Healthy again after an assortment of injuries led to his eventual ouster in San Diego, Tomlinson can't wait for a shot to ease some of the emotional pain from that difficult moment nearly three years ago.
The setting couldn't be any more dramatic. Jets-Patriots features two 9-2 teams atop the AFC East in a nationally televised prime-time event. And as big a moment as it is for the Jets, it's even more important for Tomlinson because of the lingering disappointment from his most difficult moment in the NFL.
"Weeks ago, people were talking about this showdown between New England and the Jets, and everybody's going to be watching," he said. "This is for all the marbles. This is what you play for. This is what you work for in the offseason, lift all the weights, practice, all that stuff, for this kind of moment on Monday night."
He believes the Jets will be up to the challenge. "We know how hard it's going to be," he said. "But I'll tell you what. Our hair will be on fire come Monday night."
Especially Tomlinson. And not just because of the memories of that loss to the Patriots, who extended their record to 18-0 and advanced to Super Bowl XLII, where they lost to the Giants in a historic Super Bowl upset.
No, there is even more history with Tomlinson when it comes to the Patriots.
Go back to the AFC divisional playoff game on Jan. 14, 2007, against the Patriots in San Diego. New England won the game, 24-21. Several Patriots players celebrated by imitating former Chargers linebacker Shawne Merriman's sack dance, which incensed Tomlinson.
He even lashed out at Patriots coach Bill Belichick. "I would never react that way. I was very upset," Tomlinson said after that game. "That showed no class, and maybe that comes from the head coach."
Tomlinson is still upset about that image, although he didn't bring Belichick into the conversation this time. "They did the Shawne Merriman dance in the middle of the field," Tomlinson said. "As captain of the team, to me, that's disrespect. I was taking up for our team and making sure we had some dignity."
Now you know why Tomlinson is so pumped up for this one, even though the game is more than a week away. He cannot wait to take the field against a team that has been at the heart of some of his most frustrating moments.
This time he has no major aches and pains to speak of, so his health will not be an issue. In fact, he is in the midst of a football rebirth after suggestions that he was finished. He already has rushed for more yards than last year (741-730) and is on pace to rush for more than 1,000 yards for the ninth time in his 10 NFL seasons.
Beating the Patriots in New England would be a fitting exclamation point for the 31-year-old running back. And if it happens, the ones he'll be thinking about most are the Patriots fans who scorned him in the same stadium nearly three years ago.
"You know what? I would be able to finally walk off that field smiling with a big grin on my face at those fans," he said. "Just to say, 'Hey, I'm back with a victory.' It would mean a lot."
It would mean everything.
