NFL playoffs divisional round: Patriots crush Chargers with postseason masterclass and Saints end Foles' magical journey

New England Patriots 41, Los Angeles Chargers 28

The Patriots have broken the National Football League. Actually, they broke it half a decade ago. Now they're collecting up the tattered pieces and melting them down for scraps. Reaching eight straight conference championships shouldn't be possible in a league built on the foundations of parity, but that's exactly what Bill Belichick and Tom Brady have done. Even if you hate them - and let's be honest, most people do - you have to respect them. There's never been an era of dominance quite like this in all of sports.

You'd think this utter supremacy, and the entire hand's worth of Super Bowl rings Brady probably keeps in a cabinet in the New England home he shares with his supermodel wife, would have erased the chip on the former sixth-round pick's shoulder. Uh, not a chance. "Everyone thinks we suck," Brady earnestly spat in his on-field post-game interview, but it's exactly that attitude which drives the Pats to success year after year. Even when winning has become the modus operandi, nothing is every taken for granted.

The Patriots destroyed the Chargers on Sunday. The final score actually flattered LA, but that's only because New England were able to take their foot off the gas for the entire second half. Their first half display was an absolute masterclass in postseason football. Every detail of their gameplan was perfect. Belichick, Josh McDaniels and Brian Flores made the Chargers' coaching staff which so brilliantly undid the Ravens last weekend look like total chumps.

On offense they established the run early with Sony Michel, and leaned heavily on checkdowns to James White (15 catches for 97 yards) in the passing game. The opening drive - New England's first touchdown on the first possession in eight postseason games, incredibly - was the blueprint for how they'd go about the day. Brady took his team 83 yards downfield on a seven and a half-minute march on which 12 of the 13 touches were to running backs. Michel capped it off by driving into the end zone, his first of a hat-trick he'd complete before half-time.

It looked like we might be in for one hell of a game when Philip Rivers hit back almost immediately with a 43-yard touchdown bomb to Keenan Allen. The Patriots had very different ideas.

The following drive belonged to Julian Edelman, who was everything you'd expect from Edelman in January. He had two huge catches on the drive, which ended with Michel breaking off the right edge and diving for the pylon. Edelman finished the day with nine catches for 151 yards, and played scrappy as a junkyard dog. He frequently broke through tackles and fought for first downs he had no right to make. Brady must love the guy like a son (watch out Julian, he'll be kissing you on the mouth soon enough).

It was the third score which emphasised just how easy the Patriots were making this look - against a Chargers team which were 12-4 in the regular season, remember, and viewed as the most  balanced outfit left in the tilt. No defender read Brady's play action on third-and-six, and he looped a pass to a wide open Phillip Dorsett in the back of the end zone to make it 21-7.

The Chargers defense failed at every level. They had no answer for the running game, couldn't put any pressure on Brady in the passing game, repeatedly left receivers open downfield, missed tackles, gave up chuck yardage after the catch and couldn't get off the field on third down.

On the flip side, New England's pass rushers - led by Trey Flowers - got after Rivers, forcing him to take potshots deep towards covered receivers which never looked like connecting. By jumping out to an early lead they made sure Melvin Gordon (nine carries for 15 yards) was never a factor, and Stephon Gilmore marked Allen out of the game all evening - the star wideout had just one more catch after the score on LA's opening possession.

When Rex Burkhead jinked off the left edge and into the end zone untouched for an eight-yard score to make it 28-7 with six minutes left in the first half the game already looked over, but things got even worse for the Chargers.

Knowing a touchdown would make it a two-score game at the half, Desmond King fumbled the Pats' first punt of the day, and it was recovered by Albert McClellan on the LA 35-yard line. Less than two minutes later James Develin was pushing Michel into the paint for his third score of the evening, which also put the first-round rookie over 100 yards rushing inside the first half. Michel finished with 129 yards from 24 carries, a memorable first postseason appearance for the Georgia product.

The second half, truthfully, needn't have happened. The Patriots were happy to just wind down the clock and settle for two Stephen Gostkowski field goals, and were unbothered by the Chargers shedding a little of the embarrassment by racking up three scores.

Gordon powered in the first from the one-yard line, Rivers looped the second to tight end Virgil Green, also from the one, and the third was a similar pass to Antonio Gates on a corner route. That one had some significance - it may well be Gates' last ever reception as a Charger, and indeed as a football player at all. We wish it could have been under better circumstances, but see you in Canton, Antonio.

Rivers finished 25 of 51 for 331 yards, three touchdowns and an interception - a jump ball which Gilmore beat Allen to late in the fourth quarter. Despite the big numbers Rivers didn't play well, and was visibly frustrated throughout the game. Rivers has now lost eight in a row to Brady, and not beaten him once. Is he running out of time to book his bust a spot in the Hall of Fame?

One which will be there as soon as he decides to finally hang up his damn boots will be Brady's. The GOAT was pretty much faultless, closing the evening 34 of 44 for 343 yards and a touchdown. It wasn't a marquee Brady game, but it was everything Belichick needed from his main man.

Next week Brady will officially be an underdog for the first time since 2013 when the Patriots travel to Kansas City to face the young phenom Patrick Mahomes. Brady got the better of the NFL's hottest property in Foxborough back in week six. Can he do it again with a ninth Super Bowl appearance on the line? If there's one thing last night taught us, it's that the best to ever do it is far from being done.

New Orleans Saints 20, Philadelphia Eagles 14

The NFL has woken up from it's year-long Nick Foles fever dream, and man was the awakening a rude one. With the Eagles down by six points late in the fourth quarter, Foles had the ball in his hands in New Orleans territory. He looked to his favourite target, Alshon Jeffery, on a hurry-up play, hoping to catch the Saints defense off guard for one last gain before the two-minute warning. Instead, it was Jeffery who wasn't quite set. The man who seems to share a telepathic connection with Foles let the pass slip through his hands. It ballooned up in the air and into the waiting arms of Marshon Lattimore, and the Saints were able to run out the clock to book a date with the Rams in next week's NFC Championship game.

Foles is the compelling story. The will he, won't he narrative of possible back-to-back miraculous Super Bowl wins was too good to ignore, which made it easy to forget that the Saints were writing a new chapter to their own story. Those in New Orleans haven't forgotten the Minneapolis Miracle, which stole away their chance at making last's year's Championship tilt. This was redemption, especially for the defense, which came up huge on the big stage.

The Eagles jumped out to a 14-0 lead on their first two possessions, but New Orleans never let them score another point all night. Cam Jordan was a menace at the line of scrimmage, Lattimore covered brilliantly and finished with two picks, and linebacker Demario Davis was all over the field. Doug Pederson and Foles couldn't find a way to unlock them after the early success.

Sean Payton, meanwhile, knows he's welcoming the Rams to New Orleans with the most complete roster he's ever had. This is easily the best defense he's possessed as a Saint, finally a unit worthy of the outstanding offense he's put together over the last half decade.

The two keys to that offense - outside of Drew Brees, of course - are Alvin Kamara and Michael Thomas, and both had huge games on Sunday night. Thomas in particular was otherworldly. He caught 12 passes for 171 yards - a Saints postseason record - and a touchdown. Thomas has tough competition for the best receiver in the NFL crown (there isn't an actual crown, sorry Michael), but these past three seasons mean you can't have the conversation without him.

Brees repeatedly looked to Thomas on vital third-and-long plays, and repeatedly Thomas hauled in the pass. The Saints' ability to keep the Eagles' defense on the field in these types of situations was debilitating for Pederson, but shows the heart and determination New Orleans have to go with their undoubted talent.

Kamara started the game quietly, but became more and more of a factor as the pressure mounted and the clock counted down. He finished with over 100 yards from scrimmage and was also an invaluable weapon on third down. It was a Kamara rush on third-and-10 which sealed the victory when it looked as if Foles may get one last hopeful shot at glory.

It didn't start quite so well for the Saints offense. In fact, it couldn't have started worse. Brees looked deep for Thomas on the very first play of the game, but Cre'Von LeBlanc - a nobody just a few short weeks ago - came up with a brilliant pick to get the Eagles rolling.

Foles converted the turnover into points with a 37-yard strike to Jordan Matthews. Another beautiful deep strike, this time down the sideline to Jeffery, set up Philadelphia's second. Foles did his best Brees impressing, leaping over the line of scrimmage from the one-yard line, to make it a two-possession game.

The match-up turned in New Orleans' favour on two massive plays. Foles got greedy, looking for another deep ball to Zach Ertz down the left sideline, but underthrew the pass, and it ended up in the hands of Lattimore. On the resulting possession Sean Payton opted for a bold fake punt call on fourth-and-one from his own 30 yards line, and Taysom Hill scrambled for the first down.

Big plays from Thomas and Kamara got the Saints right down to the two-yard line, and Brees floated a pass to Keith Kirkwood on a corner route to make it 14-7 after the extra point.

A Will Lutz field goal made it 14-10 at the half, and the Eagles continued to struggle on offense in the second period. The deafening Superdome crowd meant they repeatedly jumped early at the line of scrimmage, and Foles, who finished 18 of 31 for 201 yards, a touchdown and two picks, just couldn't any rhythm.

Brees (28 of 38 for 301 yards, two touchdowns and an interception) was the opposite. He ate up almost the entire third quarter on an 18-play, 112-yard, 11 and a half-minute drive which gave his team the lead. Again Thomas and Kamara were the X factors, and it was Thomas who caught the one-yard pass to make it 17-14.

Will Lutz added another field goal to make it 20-14 with 11 minutes left in the fourth, then missed a 52-yard try which would have given the Saints a two-score cushion with just three minutes remaining, but Foles and the Eagles couldn't capitalise. As fun as Philadelphia's journey has been, no one could argue the best team didn't progress.

In fact, that's the case with all four remaining teams in the Super Bowl hunt. The Chiefs, Patriots, Saints and Rams are deserving finalists, and also the four top-scoring offenses from the regular season. That's never happened before in the Super Bowl era. These playoffs have been a little underwhelming so far - this Saints-Eagles game has definitely been the pick of the bunch - but next Sunday's championship clashes have the potential to be immediate classics. Who else is counting down the days?