New England Patriots Bruising Defense Shuts Down Chargers in Wild Card Win

On a day that the Patriots offense was subpar, the Patriots’ bruising defense helped demolish the Los Angeles Chargers in a 16-3 win as they move on to the Divisional round. In fact, the Patriots’ defense was so bruising that Mike Vrabel, head coach of the Patriots, was bloody at the end of the game after Milton Williams   accidently nicked him on the lip with his helmet when the two men did a celebratory hug.

The Chargers were never comfortable throughout. Sure, the Patriots did turnover the ball a couple times and the Chargers were in the red zone more than once, but the Bolts could not take advantage of these opportunities and only came away with 3 points. Plus, the Chargers made baffling personnel decisions such as switching players during the hurry up drive at the end of the game. This allowed the Patriots to switch their personnel which takes more time off the clock to the benefit of the Patriots as noted by NBC’s Chris Collinsworth during the game.        

However, there are clear signs that the Patriots need to improve in the Divisional round. Drake Maye did not have his best night with only one touchdown but had multiple rushing yards in his playoff debut. The playoffs are not going to get any easier for the Patriots and the offense needs to be sustaining more drives and not to turnover the ball so much starting in the Divisional round. Also, Christian Gonzalez, a key component of the Patriots defense has a concussion and there is no timetable for his return. This means that the defense needs to step up during Gonzalez’s absence.

The Patriots’ performance was impressive against the Chargers, but the team needs to improve from the Wild Card round if they want to survive the NFL playoffs.