Conference titles: You don't have to be great, just tough | Agganis Lives

Tom Brady and Lawrence Tynes weren't great today. They both made some big mistakes in the clutch.

Yet they're both going to Glendale.

Football isn't always about being great, particularly in conditions that made one wonder what Al Gore has been smoking the past few years. Today it was about being tough, and for Brady and Tynes, it was about getting the job done when they had to.

First, Brady. When was the last time Brady got picked three times in one game? How about last year's division playoff at San Diego? And the first half today played kind of like that game, when the Chargers outplayed the Pats and somehow found a way to lose.

It has been more than three years since Brady has been cussed out at Agganis Manor (that abortion of an interception he threw to lose a Monday night game in Miami). Then Tom got intercepted in the end zone on third down in a 14-12 game when he could've just hummed the ball out of play and taken the field goal.

You better have bought a round for the D at the postgame party, Tom. They bailed you out big on the Chargers; remaining two possessions.

Mercifully, Tom got back to his take-what-the-defense-gives self against a San Diego defense shivering in fear of Randy Moss, and pounded the ball to Wes Welker and Kevin Faulk.

And then there was Laurence Maroney. Just 16 yards at halftime; 106 after. Having watched last year's playoff game, the difference was obvious: With a bum shoulder, Maroney did not get low on defenders and move piles in '06. But protecting the lead today was a matter of Maroney reading the blocks and picking up yards after contact. He made the last eight minutes look anticlimactic after San Diego's last punt.

And here's to Junior Seau. At 39, playing against the team for whom he played 12 Pro Bowl seasons, Junior came up with the key play of the game, stopped Michael Turner for a loss on third and one at the Patriot 7 in the third quarter when the Chargers threatened to score the go-ahead touchdown.

For that matter, the much-maligned New England D kept the Chargers out of the end zone. Forget LaDanian Tomlinson lasting only two drives - any team would love to have Turner and Darren Sproles at the ready. Philip Rivers didn't look too gimpy. Antonio Gates was making cuts a guy two weeks off dislocating a toe shouldn't be making.

By this writing, I'm sure the party's over, and Bill Belichick has his nose buried in video again. After all, 18-1 is failure.

Speaking of failure (and redemption), Tom Coughlin better be buying a round for Tynes. Sam Madison should, too, after that stupid personal foul that handed the Packers their only second-half touchdown.

Kicking a ball 47 yards in below-zero chill has to be like kicking a brick. Tynes is no Pro Bowler, but if we're discussing a top 10 greatest clutch kicks in NFL history, he's earned a place in that discussion. That high snap on the last-second try in regulation left him without much of a chance, and how Coughlin could woof at him after the near miss from 43...wouldn't blame Tynes if he'd told Coughlin to talk to the hand.

On the other hand, judging from the shine of his cheeks and whiteness under his eyes, maybe we should lighten up on Coughlin a bit - he looked like he had some frostbite going on.

And forget drinks...Eli Manning owes his wife-to-be a lifetime of dishwashing for the sake of his superstition (since the Jints have lost games she's watched from a stadium box, she proved her devotion by freezing with the rest of the hoi polloi).

The way Elisha has played the past three weeks, particularly with the throws he made tonight in hell frozen over, I wonder now if the fickle, guttersniping New York fans deserve him? And Plaxico Burress was truly awe-inspiring - extending the body in those conditions should be rewarded.

And Justin Tuck, thanks for showing us how one earns a new $30 million contract.

For the Pack, this was definitely one to rip your guts out over. Think of how 17 of the 20 points came: Dumb third-down penalty, fumble after an interception, and Donald Driver bowling over a bump-and-run defender for a 90-yard touchdown.

The Green Bay ground game disappeared back into the gopher hole from which it sprung at midseason, and Brett Favre suffered again from the cockiness of greatness. The interceptions he threw in the third quarter and overtime were the products of a great player believing he can do anything, even when it's unreasonable (as Brady did at Foxboro).

I need a little time to digest a long day of football before thinking about the Super Bowl, but will say this: Patriots 14-point favorites? No way! The Pats have covered the spread exactly twice since the halfway point of the regular season.

Finally, my alma mater got skunked today. Bishop Hendricken High School, Warwick, R.I.,could've been represented twice in SB LXII (Packers defensive back Will Blackmon and Chargers GM A.J. Smith). We Hawks take comfort in the four Super Bowl rings the survivors of Steve Furness (70s Steelers defensive tackle) have hopefully kept as heirlooms.