No longer dominant, Patriots do what it takes to win

	Corey Dillon and the Patriots seem to make all the key plays in the big games. Jim McIsaac/Getty Images

FOXBORO, Mass. -- Greatness is no longer part of the equation in New England, home of those three shiny Lombardi Trophies that the Patriots love to display anywhere on almost anything. But with their playoff opener Sunday against the upstart New York Jets, the Patriots proved that while they might not be the league's best team, they're still among the most dangerous.

And coldly efficient. And prideful. And consistently able to do what it takes to win on that particular day.

In an AFC wild-card game that doubled as a chess match for much of the day, New England wound up 21 points better than New York, 37-16. That score isn't really indicative of how things went at Gillette Stadium, because it was a seven-point game until less than six minutes remained in the fourth quarter, at which time two late New England touchdowns blew things open.

But somehow, even when the Patriots trailed 10-7 early in the second quarter, the outcome never really seemed in doubt. Because you knew that whatever move the Jets would make, New England would have an answer. If New York blitzed, the Patriots would show that they learned from their November loss to the Jets, picking up the pressure and making plays in the passing game with screens and quick outs. If the Jets drove into the red zone, New England would bow up and hold the visitors to a field goal, which it did three times.

And if it came time for somebody to make a game-turning play, of course it would be a Patriot to do it. In this case, it was nose tackle Vince Wilfork's alert recovery of a Chad Pennington lateral late in the third quarter. Wilfork lumbered 31 yards after scooping up the loose ball, setting up a 28-yard Stephen Gostkowski field goal that gave New England its first double-digit lead of the day at 23-13.

"That's a lineman's dream, to see the ball on the ground,'' said Wilfork, who picked the ball up well after linebacker Rosevelt Colvin had swatted it to the ground, with most players believing Pennington had thrown an incompletion in the direction of receiver Jerricho Cotchery. "That's a rule around here, if the ball's on the ground, you go get it.''

Wilfork said the Patriots sideline erupted into shouts of "Get the ball,'' once it hit the ground, knowing that it was a lateral and thus a live ball. At 6-2, 325 pounds, and coming off an ankle injury that had cost him the past three games, Wilfork was an unlikely ball-carrying hero for New England. But these are the Patriots, so whatever it takes.