The New England Patriots advanced the Divisional Round after defeating the Los Angeles Chargers, 16-3, in the Wild Card Round of the NFL playoffs.
The clock hasn’t struck midnight on the New England Patriots’ Cinderella story just yet.
In a game filled with ups and downs for both offenses, it was the Patriots’ defense that starred in their first home playoff victory since January of 2019.
New England outlasted the Los Angeles Chargers, 16-3, to advance to the Divisional Round of the postseason and ensure itself at least one more home playoff game.
How it Went
First Half
In yet another tightly contested Wild Card matchup, the Patriots’ defense was the difference in a low-scoring contest.
Sunday night marked the first time the Patriots’ defense played with Milton Williams, Robert Spillane, and Harold Landry all on the field since November 13 — and their presence was felt in critical moments.
New England began the game with the football and started moving with quick first downs on consecutive positive plays from Rhamondre Stevenson and Stefon Diggs. But the drive quickly stalled when Drake Maye was sacked by Odafe Oweh on an early 3rd-and-6 — a sign of things to come for the Patriots’ offense.
Things took a turn for the worse for New England on its second offensive possession, as Maye had his second-down attempt tipped at the line of scrimmage and intercepted, setting the Chargers up inside the 10-yard line.
The Patriots’ defense carried its late-season success in the red zone over to the playoffs, and it showed immediately following the interception.
Marcus Jones made a critical tackle on a Justin Herbert 3rd-and-goal scramble at the 2-yard line, and Christian Gonzalez blanketed Keenan Allen on fourth down to hold the Chargers off the scoreboard.
That would be Los Angeles’ best opportunity to score a touchdown in the game.
New England drove 14 plays, 93 yards in response to the turnover on downs forced by its defense, highlighted by a 48-yard catch-and-run by Stevenson that helped the Patriots flip the field.
New England wasn’t able to finish in the end zone, as it stalled at the Los Angeles 5-yard line and settled for a 3-0 lead.
The Chargers marched down the field themselves, but New England’s defense stood tall in the red zone once again, making a key stop on 3rd-and-2 at the 5-yard line to force the game-tying field goal with 6:52 remaining in the second quarter.
Herbert finished the first half an efficient 10-of-13 with 93 passing yards and 18 rushing yards, but he was held out of the end zone on two trips inside the 5-yard line as the Patriots’ defense continued to apply pressure in key moments.
The Patriots were held at midfield on their next possession, but downed the punt at the 8-yard line to pin Los Angeles deep in its own territory with 3:23 remaining.
The Chargers took over possession and nearly started in disaster, as Herbert flung a pass forward while getting dragged to the ground near the 2-yard line. Corey Durden nearly intercepted the throw, which looked close to being a fumble.
Los Angeles got one first down on the drive before another short-yardage stop by the Patriots’ defense seemed to halt the Chargers’ drive with 1:30 remaining in the half. Replay assist overturned the call, questionably extending Los Angeles’ possession before the defense stood tall yet again.
A short punt gave the Patriots the football at midfield with 31 seconds remaining and a chance to take the lead before the halftime break.
Maye, who struggled passing early — finishing the first half 6-of-15 (40% first half completion percentage, the lowest of his career) for 95 yards and an interception — used his legs to set New England up in field goal range on a huge 37-yard scramble.
The run was the longest by a Patriots quarterback in postseason history, and Maye’s legs would be a big difference in the outcome of the game. He ended as the game’s leading rusher with 66 yards.
Andy Borregales knocked through the 35-yard attempt, and New England entered halftime with a 6-3 lead.
The difference in a low-scoring first half was New England’s rushing defense, which looked to return to its early-season dominance. The Patriots led in total yardage at the half, 171-117, and outgained Los Angeles on the ground, 87-36.
Second Half
New England’s defense held strong once again to start the second half, forcing a quick three-and-out that was highlighted by a tackle at the line of scrimmage on second down and a pass breakup on third down from Jones, who was a catalyst for the unit throughout the evening.
The Patriots moved the ball well on their opening drive of the second half, gaining 58 yards on 11 plays before Maye was strip-sacked by Oweh for his second turnover of the night.
Oweh — the midseason addition from Baltimore — flashed at several points in the game, coming up with the third-down sack in the first quarter before the strip-sack in the third.
New England’s defense continued to make life difficult for Herbert and the Chargers’ offense following the fumble, allowing just one first down on a Carlton Davis pass interference before forcing another Los Angeles punt.
The Patriots held Herbert without any passing yardage in the third quarter, and their pass rush began to ramp up as the game wore on.
New England began its ensuing possession backed up inside its own 10-yard line, and Maye was sacked for the fourth of five times on the night on the drive’s first play. He responded by hitting Hunter Henry on a 3rd-and-13 conversion and Kayshon Boutte on a 42-yard strike along the sideline to flip the field for the Patriots.
The Chargers’ defense held from there, forcing another Borregales field goal as the Patriots extended their lead, 9-3, with 1:24 remaining in the third quarter.
Los Angeles took over possession and nearly had its first turnover of the game on the drive’s first play. Herbert was strip-sacked by Jones, but Kimani Vidal was in position to pick up the football and advance it forward for a Chargers first down.
Gonzalez came up big in coverage on a 2nd-and-7 pass breakup near the line to gain before an Allen third-down drop gave the Patriots the ball back with the lead for their first possession of the fourth quarter.
Turning Point
Maye and the offense took the field to begin the fourth quarter and mounted their best drive of the game.
Going 80 yards on seven plays, Maye used his arm and legs to push the ball downfield and into the end zone for the first time on the night.
He hit Kayshon Boutte on a 16-yard pickup to get the drive started, gained eight on a scramble to keep the offense on schedule, and capped off the drive with his first-career postseason touchdown pass.
Hunter Henry was the recipient on a beautiful 28-yard pass that lofted over the second level of the Los Angeles defense and into Henry’s hands for the score.
Maye finished that drive 3-of-4 with 52 yards passing, eight yards rushing, and the touchdown pass.
New England took a 16-3 lead, and it followed the touchdown with another strip-sack of Herbert. This time, Christian Ellis picked up the ball for the Patriots to recover possession at the Chargers’ 45-yard line with eight minutes remaining.
The Patriots barely avoided a third Maye turnover on yet another strip-sack by Khalil Mack on their following possession, as Jared Wilson fell on the ball, permitting a punt to flip field position with time winding down and a two-possession lead.
The Chargers drove the field looking for a score to tighten the game in the final minutes, but were stopped abruptly on Williams’ second sack of the game on fourth down — all but sealing the win for New England.
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In a game marked by defensive pressure, it was New England that got the better of Los Angeles.
The New England rush defense largely made Los Angeles a one-dimensional offense. Without Omarion Hampton on the field for the vast majority of the game, the Patriots held the Chargers to 87 total rushing yards on the night.
Following Herbert’s hot start, the Patriots’ pass rush began to tee off, sacking the Chargers’ quarterback six times and consistently bringing exotic blitzes that confused the Los Angeles protection plan and left Herbert searching for answers he wouldn’t find.
Herbert finished the game 19-for-31 with 159 yards passing and 57 yards rushing. It was the eighth time this season he was sacked four-plus times in a game.
Williams and K’Lavon Chaisson each recorded two sacks for the Patriots’ defense, with rookie safety standout Craig Woodson leading the team in total tackles (11).
New England outgained Los Angeles, 381-207, and held the Chargers to just 1-of-10 on third down and 0-of-2 in the red zone.
Maye’s playoff debut wasn’t filled with the fireworks that Pats fans hoped it would be, but he improved greatly on a shaky first-half performance with key plays to secure victory in the fourth quarter.
His resilience showed in his second-half statline as well, finishing the game 11-of-14 for 173 yards and one touchdown after the break.
Maye totalled 268 yards on 17-for-29 passing, one touchdown, one interception, and added 66 yards rushing on the night.
Stevenson led the way in offensive production yet again, accruing 128 scrimmage yards (53 rushing, 75 receiving) on 13 touches. He joined Dion Lewis (January 13, 2018 vs. Tennessee) and Aaron Hernandez (January 14, 2012 vs. Denver) as the only Patriots players with 50 rushing and receiving yards in a postseason game.
Mike Vrabel won 14 postseason games with the Patriots — and this was his first as New England’s head coach. He’s now 2-0 as a head coach in playoff games at Gillette Stadium, with his first victory coming as the head coach of the Tennessee Titans in January of 2020.
The victory marks the first home playoff win for New England since January 13, 2019, when the Patriots defeated the Chargers, 41-28, en route to their Super Bowl LIII title. It’s New England’s first playoff victory since Super Bowl LIII.
With the win, the Patriots will host another home playoff game at Gillette Stadium next weekend.
They’re set to face the winner of tomorrow night’s Steelers-Texans showdown in the Divisional Round after the Jaguars fell to the Bills on Sunday, 27-24, in a thrilling back-and-forth game.
The Patriots’ regular season success has carried over into the playoffs, and they’re now one of the final eight teams left standing after Wild Card Weekend.
We’ll be taking a closer look at what went right for New England in the win over Los Angeles, and previewing the upcoming Divisional Round matchup in the coming days.
Stay tuned for that and much more on Patriots Roundtable.
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