“Now we’re going someplace warm, because I’m freezing my you-know-what off,” Brady said.

He badly missed his first two passes — he threw a total of two incompletions in 28 attempts last week in the win over Jacksonville.

A few minutes later, Brady lofted a poor toss that Quentin Jammer intercepted. Belichick talked this week about the Chargers’ “ball disruption” and turnovers certainly were a focus — San Diego led the league in takeaways, the Pats had the fewest giveaways.

San Diego turned Jammer’s pickoff into Kaeding’s 26-yard field goal with 2:55 left in the period for a 3-0 lead.

This wasn’t what the home fans expected, and they grew silent as the Chargers refused to back down, engaging in several post-play scuffles with the heavily favored Patriots. Tomlinson stepped in to calm hard-hitting former teammate Rodney Harrison after some early roughhousing.

Maroney plunged in from the 1 barely over a minute into the second quarter and, with very light flurries falling, the Patriots were ahead for good.

Brady later hit Jabar Gaffney over the middle for a 12-yard TD and a 14-6 lead, prompting several of the Patriots to celebrate. Brady merely walked off the field with his head down.

“We’re not going to get all carried away with the undefeated season,” linebacker Mike Vrabel said. “We did that in the regular season.”

Notes: This marked the first time in more than 100 years that a team in the four major pro sports opened a season with 18 straight victories. The record for wins to start a season was set in 1884 by St. Louis in baseball’s Union Association, the Elias Sports Bureau said. ... Brady threw a TD pass in his 14th straight postseason game. ... Maroney has scored a touchdown in five straight games. ... The Chargers beat the Boston Patriots 51-10 for the 1963 AFL championship at old Balboa Stadium. The Patriots played that season at Fenway Park.

Don't miss this on MSNBC.com Pass it on: Sons of infertile men may be next The eight biggest Olympic marketing debacles Reality show judges range from wise to wacko Cosmic Log: Is this your jetpack? Forget your inhibitions: World's sexiest islands

MORE FROM NFL

NFL Section Front

Singletary wants to beat Bears, not reminisce PFT’s Picks: Bears will claw past 49ers Davis' comments puts 49ers on defensive PFT: Bears’ Harris won’t be suspended for punch Pats-Colts is greatest NFL rivalry of 2000s PFT: Brady recalls when he met Peyton   Slideshow: Peyton vs. Brady through the years   Video: Harrison on how Pats can beat Colts   Video: Dungy on how Colts can beat Patriots PFT: Lewis tells Ochocinco to hold the mustard NFL Section Front   Add NFL headlines to your news reader: