The Patriots defense was suffocating all night, leading the way in their victory over the Chargers.
Introduction
The Patriots won a playoff game. Before this season if you had told me that we would win a playoff game this year I never would have believed it. I can’t believe how fast things turned around and it feels so good to be watching football that matters again. This is awesome. I love football.
Pros
You have to start with the defense. Everytime you thought the momentum of the game was about to turn, the Patriots defense would step up and shut it down. Herbert looked rattled, he looked desperate, and he couldn’t do anything the entire night. I kept saying to myself “you aren’t going to be able to shut Herbert down the entire game”. Well looks like that’s exactly what the Patriots did. The Patriots had their season high 6 sacks tonight, what a perfect night to do it. Milton Williams was awesome all night and beat two defenders to get one more sack on Herbert who laid there defeated as the stadium started to celebrate. Herbert is a good player and is very talented, but the Patriots broke him tonight.
The story of the game is zero points off turnovers for Chargers and an additional missed opportunity for a turnover on a Drake Maye fumble recovered by Jared Wilson. The Chargers had the ball on the Patriots ten yard line in the first quarter and came away with zero points. That is killer. This game could have been much different if the Chargers were able to capitalize on the turnovers.
Drake Maye had a very rough first half. The chargers had great coverage on the Patriots receivers and were getting good pressure. Moving the ball was difficult and Maye was probably dealing with first time playoff game nerves. But in the second half, Maye turned everything around, going 11 of 14 for 173 passing yards and a touchdown. What Maye lacked in quick decision making tonight, he made up for with some incredible runs, especially the big run at the end of the first half that got them three points.
In big games, it is nice to have experienced veterans to help steady the team. Hunter Henry and Rhamoundre Stevenson were those veterans for the patriots on offense tonight. Besides throwing the ball to Boutte later in the game, the only time the Patriots were able to move the ball is when it got into the hands of Stevenson or Henry. Stevenson had 128 yards of total offense and Henry had 3 catches for 64 yards and the game's only touchdown.
On the stat sheet, it says Treyveon Henderson only had 36 yards of total offense tonight. But his blitz pickup on the Hunter Henry touchdown was one of the best plays made by any player on either team during the game. Henderson was touted for his great pass blocking skills in the draft but has not lived up to the billing during the season. Tonight, he was able to make up for all of it with an incredible block on a blitzing charger that sent him spinning and gave Maye enough time to deliver the ball to Henry.
Cons
The efficiency in the passing game was far below what we have become accustomed to this season. Even with Maye’s incredible second half, he still finished the game completing only 58 percent of his passes. Part of that you have to give credit to the chargers, part of it is on the offensive line, but some of the blame goes to Maye being a little jumpy tonight. He struggled against the blitz at times and missed a big throw to Austin Hooper in the end zone. Overall, it is still much much better than what Mac Jones did in his first game so I will take it.
The turnovers were really bad and if I were a Chargers game I would be walking away upset that we blew an opportunity. The Patriots left the door open multiple times for the Chargers to get back into this and they just failed to capitalize on our mistakes. We cannot let that happen again
Jared Wilson was pretty terrible in pass defense tonight and Will Campbell does not look like himself. Campbell’s play style is built on top of his good footwork and extremely strong lower body. He always is on balance and consistently finishes his blocks and drives defensive linemen down field. Since he has returned, he does not have that same explosion out of his stance and I am concerned about him going forward.
