Playoff football returned to Gillette Stadium for the first time since 2019, and saw the New England Patriots leave with a 16-3 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers.<\/p>\n
It was a slow start for Drake Maye and the offense as a poor red zone showing limited them to just three field goals over the first three quarters. With New England\u2019s defense keeping them in the game, Maye then found Hunter Henry for a touchdown to push the lead to two scores and clinch a spot in the Divisional Round.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s everything that went down throughout Sunday.<\/p>\n
Final score: Patriots 16 : 3 Chargers<\/p>\n
Sunday, Jan. 11, 8:15 p.m. ET | Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, MA | Broadcast information<\/a> | Inactives<\/a> | Game day roster<\/a><\/p>\n The Chargers won the toss and deferred, putting Drake Maye and the Patriots offense on the field first. Maye picked up an initial first-down through the air to Stefon Diggs before then facing a 3rd-and-6, where LA\u2019s defense had tight coverage leading to them getting home for a sack to force a punt.<\/p>\n Justin Herbert and the Chargers offense started their night with a pair of first downs before a false start and blown up wide receiver screen set them behind the sticks. Facing a 3rd-and-12, an underneath pass to Oronde Gadsden was complete but brought down short of the sticks by Carlton Davis. With the offense on the field for 4th-and-2, LA could not draw a false start and took a delay of game to punt.<\/p>\n New England\u2019s next possession started backed up at their own eight-yard line. After going backwards on a first-down run, Maye\u2019s next attempt was deflected up into the air and intercepted by the Chargers.<\/p>\n Los Angeles took back over threatening at New England\u2019s 10-yard line and two runs from Herbert set up a 3rd-and-goal from the three. From the gun, Herbert looked to escape up the middle of the pocket but was stopped for just one yard. With the offense on the field on 4th-and-goal from the two, Herbert rolled to his right and fired an incompletion to Keenan Allen with Christian Gonzalez in coverage.<\/p>\n Following the turnover on downs, the Patriots found themselves backed up again at their own two-yard line. A check down to Rhamondre Stevenson quickly found them breathing room as the back rumbled for 48 yards to midfield. Eventually facing a 3rd-and-4, a reverse to Efton Chism saw the receiver let one go downfield to Maye which fell incomplete. The offense stayed on the field, however, and moved the chains as Maye found Kyle Williams to set up outside the red zone. New England then overcame a second-down sack as Maye found Chism for a 20-yard gain before the unit faced a 3rd-and-6 from the five \u2014 where Maye was forced into a throwaway. Andy Borregales then opened the scoring with a 23-yard field goal. [Patriots 3 : 0 Chargers]<\/p>\n After a first-down run stuff by Craig Woodson, Herbert found success through the air hitting Ladd McConkey for a 20-yard gain to beat a New England blitz. Marching down field behind two more conversions and a face mask penalty on Christian Elliss put LA in the red zone. Facing 3rd-and-short from the three-yard line, a handoff to Kimani Vidal was stuffed for no gain. Cameron Dicker\u2019s 21-yard field goal was then good. [Patriots 3 : 3 Chargers]<\/p>\n Back in a tie game, a first-down check down to TreVeyon Henderson helped get the drive started with a fresh set of downs. Set up in a 3rd-and-5 just over midfield, a pass to Rhamondre Stevenson went off the running back\u2019s out stretched hand to force a punt.<\/p>\n With the Chargers\u2019 backed up at their own eight-yard line, New England\u2019s blitz finally got home as Carlton Davis got home on a pressure to force a near fumble but incompletion. A 10-yard completion to Keenan Allen then found the unit some room to operate ahead of the two-minute warning. Herbert then barley converted a 3rd-down sneak to keep LA\u2019s drive alive before New England\u2019s pass rush made their mark with Milton Williams and K\u2019Lavon Chaisson recording back-to-back sacks to force a punt.<\/p>\n Taking over just shy of midfield with 31 seconds left, Maye took off with his legs for a 37-yard gain to set up inside the red zone with 16 seconds remaining on the clock. Two throwaways then led to a field goal with six ticks on the clock which Borregales connected on from 35 yards out. [Patriots 6 : 3 Chargers]<\/p>\n A short Chargers kick return ended the half.<\/p>\n Opening the second-half with the ball, LA faced a 3rd-and-5 where Marcus Jones wrestled a ball loose from Ladd McConkey to force an incompletion and three-and-out.<\/p>\n Maye\u2019s first two attempts of the half went for first downs, with the second being a perfectly placed ball between zone defenders to Hunter Henry for 17 yards. At midfield in a 3rd-and-6, Maye took his check down to Stevenson who picked up 17 more yards to move New England into Chargers\u2019 territory. A speed option then saw Maye pick up a 3rd-and-1 with his legs to move inside the red zone, where the Chargers defense then got home to force a strip sack which they recovered.<\/p>\n A second-down shot by Justin Herbert drew a pass interference penalty on Carlton Davis that netted Los Angeles 26 yards to move just shy of midfield. In a following 3rd-and-4, New England\u2019s pass rush forced Herbert out of the pocket and saw the QB\u2019s pass fall incomplete down the right sideline.<\/p>\n New England\u2019s second possession started by going backwards again as Maye was brought down for another sack off of his left side. In 3rd-and-12, Maye stood in to find Hunter Henry over the middle for 19 yards to overcome the loss and move the chains. The next drop back saw Maye take a shot downfield where Kayshon Boutte came back to the ball for a 42-yard catch to suddenly have New England in LA territory yet again. Overshooting an open Austin Hooper in the end zone then led to a 3rd-and-4, where Maye found Douglas, who dropped a ball that was short of the line to gain. Borregales\u2019 39-yard field goal was then good. [Patriots 9 : 3 Chargers]<\/p>\n Strong kick coverage by Brenden Schooler and Dell Pettus started the Chargers drive inside their own 20. Marcus Jones got home on a first-down blitz to force a sack and fumble, which Vidal recovered and took 17 yards to get LA on the move. A Christian Gonzalez pass breakup then helped set up a 3rd-and-7 where Herbert\u2019s pass was incomplete leading to another punt.<\/p>\n A pair of Drake Maye completions picked up two first downs to get the Patriots just over midfield. Maye then broke free from a rusher and scrambled before Stevenson found 13 yards on the ground. The next play, Maye then moved to his left and lofted one perfectly to Hunter Henry down field for a 28-yard touchdown. [Patriots 16 : 3 Chargers]<\/p>\n Down two scores for the first time, Herbert overcame a false start by breaking free for a 16-yard scramble followed by an 11-yard gain to get the Chargers on the move over midfield. New England\u2019s defense then made a play, as a stunt got home up front as K\u2019Lavon Chaisson forced a fumble that Christian Elliss recovered<\/p>\n In business at the Chargers 45-yard line, two runs by Henderson set New England up with a 3rd-and-6 \u2014 where Maye was hit as he was thrown and lost the ball which Jared Wilson recovered. New England then punted.<\/p>\n Backed up at their own seven, Herbert found a pair of completions to pick up an opening first-down. New England\u2019s pass rush continued to their hot streak, as Anfernee Jennings worked free on third-down to bring Herbert down for a sack. Needing to go on 4th-and-9, the Patriots dialed up another pressure which Herbert stood in against to find Gadsden to move the chains. Herbert then continued to methodically work down the field before being setting up in a 4th-and-9 on the other side of the two-minute warning, where Milton Williams got home for a sack.<\/p>\n With 1:55 left New England kept it on the ground as Henderson picked up a first-down to ice the game as Chargers used their final two timeouts. Maye then took it to victory formation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Playoff football returned to Gillette Stadium for the first time since 2019, and saw the New England Patriots…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":670556,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2050],"tags":[7,1167,249,84420,52700,91604,69690,726,2326,2094,6,208],"class_list":{"0":"post-670555","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-england-patriots","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-new-england","10":"tag-new-england-patriots","11":"tag-new-england-patriots-discussion","12":"tag-new-england-patriots-game-information","13":"tag-new-england-patriots-playoffs","14":"tag-new-england-patriots-scores-and-results","15":"tag-new-england-patriots-news","16":"tag-newengland","17":"tag-newenglandpatriots","18":"tag-nfl","19":"tag-patriots"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115880307381356533","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=670555"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670555\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/670556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=670555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=670555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=670555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}