Brady left Foxborough after Sunday's 21-12 win over the San Diego Chargers and wasn't due back until Thursday after coach Bill Belichick gave his players three days off.

Brady, this season's NFL MVP, has a high ankle sprain that is ``mild,'' according to the Boston Herald. The Boston Globe characterized it as a ``minor''

SAN DIEGO (AP) -Hall of Famer James Lofton was fired as the San Diego Chargers' wide receivers coach on Tuesday, a surprising move considering the way Chris Chambers and Vincent Jackson played down the stretch.

``I was stunned by the news,'' Lofton said several hours after he was given word by coach Norv Turner.

``I wasn't really given a concrete explanation, just that they wanted to go in a different direction,'' Lofton said. ``I really don't know. Like I said, I was stunned, surprised. I didn't see it co

The undefeated New England Patriots' 21-12 win over the heavy underdog San Diego Chargers drew a 25.7/46 on CBS. That was up 2 percent from the early game last year, the Chicago-New Orleans NFC championship that attracted a 25.1/45.

Combined, the two games averaged 49.7 million viewers, the most for a conference championship weekend in

Sunday's Giants game received the highest rating for any television broadcast since the Indianapolis Colts' 29-17 win over the Bears in last year's Super Bowl.

New England's 21-12 victory over the San Diego Chargers in the AFC championship received a 27.4/48, down 2 percent from the 28.1/40 for Patriots' 38-34 loss to Indianapolis in the late time slot last year.

The rating is the percentage of television households in the nation viewing a telecast, and the s

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) -LaDainian Tomlinson couldn't play through his pain.

Philip Rivers played through his, but was intercepted twice.

Throw it all together, and the San Diego Chargers failed to find the end zone in the AFC championship game, losing 21-12 to the perfect New England Patriots.

``It's unfortunate we didn't come through today,'' Rivers said. ``It's probably a lot closer than everybody expected. Not necessarily us; we expected to win.''

While the Patriots move on to their fourth Super Bow

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) -The wind was bad enough that the San Diego Chargers assigned a defensive back to hold the ball in place on kickoffs.

Nothing they didn't expect in January in New England?

``It was cold out there, but we knew that before we went out there,'' linebacker Shawne Merriman said. ``We had to play through it, and I think we handled it well.''

The temperature of 23 degrees was the lowest of the three AFC championship games played in Foxborough. The lowest temperature for any Patriots game

Jan. 14, 2006-Chicago Bears 27, Seattle Seahawks 24 (NFC Divisional Playoffs), 10:02.

Jan. 15, 2005-Pittsburgh Steelers 20, New York Jets 17 (AFC Divisional Playoffs), 11:04.

Jan. 8, 2005-New York Jets 20, San Diego Chargers 17 (AFC Wild Card), 14:55.

Jan. 11, 2004-Philadelphia Eagles 20, Green Bay Packers 17 (NFC Divisional Playoffs), 4:48.

Jan. 10, 2004-Carolina Panthers 29, St. Louis Rams 23 (NFC Divisional Playoffs), 15:10.

Jan. 4, 2004-Green Bay Packers 33, S

``I would've played in negative 50 to play in (the Super Bowl) and that's what we did,'' Jacobs said.

By comparison, it was 23 degrees in North Pole, Alaska, and at kickoff in the New England Patriots' 21-12 victory over the visiting San Diego Chargers in the AFC championship game in Foxborough, Mass. Though warmer than Green Bay, it was the lowest temperature for any of the three championship games played in Foxborough over the years. The wind chill was 9.

But the Packers discounted the weather