Last modified: Thursday, October 9, 2008 2:22 AM EDT LaDainian Tomlinson and the Chargers are off to another slow start, going just 2-3 after Sunday’s loss to Miami. LT is OK with Patriots' play BY MARK FARINELLA SUN CHRONICLE STAFF FOXBORO - Perhaps no other team in the National Football League is happier to be home this weekend than the San Diego Chargers. Following a stunning 17-10 loss to the Dolphins in Miami that dropped the Chargers to 2-3, they'll finally be back at Qualcomm Stadium Sunday night to play host to the 3-1 New England Patriots, finding themselves in a similarly frustrating situation as they were last year when they opened the season 1-3 and weren't able to claw their way back to .500 until November. "It is frustrating because you don't like to start that way," running back LaDainian Tomlinson said via conference call Wednesday. "It makes it more difficult in trying to fight your way back. But I think this team has the character and the right people on it to fight back and get where we want to be." Indeed, the Chargers made it all the way to last year's AFC Championship Game against the Patriots at Gillette Stadium, despite the poor start to their season. So if there's a silver lining to the Chargers' lagging start to the 2008 campaign, it's that they know they have what it takes to rally themselves and put the season back on the proper course. "Yeah, it does help because you know you do have the ability at the skill positions to do it," Tomlinson said. "For us, it's all about going out and making sure we prepare and making sure we really understand what's ahead of us. "Everybody that plays us is going to treat us like an elite team in the National Football League," he said. "Same way with the Patriots. Everybody who plays the Patriots plays them like they're an elite team. And sometimes I think you get caught up in not knowing how teams are going to play so hard." There should be no shortage of spirited play Sunday night (8:15 p.m.; Ch. 7, 10). There were hard feelings after each of the past two playoff meetings between the Patriots and Chargers, in the divisional round in 2006 and the title game last year, a 21-12 victory by the Patriots in which Chargers' center Nick Hardwick accused Patriots' defensive end Richard Seymour of being a "dirty player." Tomlinson, who had to eat some ill-intentioned words the previous year, seemed to want to stomp out any brushfires that might be igniting over Hardwick's nine-month-old comments. "We don't feel anything more or less about the Patriots than we do about a lot of other AFC teams that we play on a consistent basis," Tomlinson said. "You learn things about teams when you play them a bunch, and obviously we've played them a bunch. That's how Nick felt after that game. It doesn't mean that he felt like Richard is a dirty player all the time. "Maybe some things happened where he felt like that, but no, we don't feel like they're dirty players at all," he continued. "They're football players we see these guys in the offseason all the time, and there's no love lost at all. It's not like we don't want to talk to them when we see them. But during the game, when we've got a player against him, we want to kick their butt just like they want to kick our butts." Tomlinson, who has carried 89 times for 331 yards thus far this season, spoke glowingly of the Patriots' defense. "Their front is always what controls their defense, to me," he said. "They've got one of the best fronts in football when you look across the board - (Vince) Wilfork, Seymour, (Ty) Warren, (Mike) Vrabel, (Adalius) Thomas - you look at those guys, and they are as good as anybody in the league. That's my concern when I look at their team. I think those guys are what makes their defense go. And when they get after it, it's pretty tough to move the ball on their defense." Both teams are dealing with the losses of two outstanding players, the Patriots missing quarterback Tom Brady and the Chargers missing outside linebacker Shawne Merriman. The perception of both teams has changed as a result. "I think as far as the standpoint where people may look at them talent-wise, it does obviously take you down on the talent pole across the board, as far as teams are concerned," Tomlinson said. "But I think it's a perfect opportunity for guys to step in. Obviously it's tough to replace somebody like Shawne Merriman and also Tom Brady. But at the same time, somebody has to step up and take their place. You won't replace them, but hopefully you can get some production out of them." Tomlinson is battling a toe problem, but he said it's not going to deter him from putting forth his best effort. "As a runner," he said, "you need pretty much everything that you have as far as your leg is concerned feet, toes, knees, all that kind of stuff, hamstrings obviously when you hurt one part of it, as a runner, it hurts you. But it's football, and as long as I've been playing, there's no way that I can expect to not ever be hurt. I've got to play through it, and that's just a part of being a football player." Tomlinson took some heat last year for bailing out of the AFC Championship Game while his quarterback, Philip Rivers, played through a painful knee injury. Watching Rivers in action only served to reinforce what he already knew about his quarterback, Tomlinson said. "I learned what I already knew about him, that he's a tough joker, and at all costs, he's going to try to be out there and play, whether he's hurt or not," he said. "And another thing is, he obviously has a high tolerance for pain, that he can stand up to it and he can play through it." Given the history of these two teams, and the national-TV factor for Sunday night, it's understandable that the hype for this game has already included the harsh language of the past. But as Tomlinson said, hype has to take a back seat to the reality of the situation. "It's just another football game," he said. "We can't make it bigger than what it is. It's the sixth game on the schedule, and it happens to be the Patriots. So that's how we're going to approach it. We can't talk about anything, really and truly, in the past because we haven't beaten them." MARK FARINELLA may be reached at 508-236-0315 or via e-mail at mfarinel@thesunchronicle.com. Read Farinella's blog, "Blogging Fearlessly," at thesunchronicle.com/farinella.