Four Studs, Four Duds From Patriots’ Gritty Playoff Win Vs. Chargers
It wasn’t pretty, but the New England Patriots grinded out a 16-3 win over the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday night in their wild-card matchup. After dominating on offense all season long, the Pats proved they can win gritty, low-scoring contests, too.
New England will now begin preparing for its upcoming divisional round matchup, where it will face off against the winner of the Pittsburgh Steelers/Houston Texans game on Monday night. Before we turn our attention to that contest, though, let’s pick out four studs and four duds from the Patriots’ biggest win of the season.
Studs
Milton Williams
It’s becoming tough to ignore just how impactful Milton Williams is for New England at the heart of its defensive line. Williams almost single-handedly took over this game down the stretch, as he finished the night with three tackles, two of which were sacks, with his second one essentially ending the game for the Pats.
K’Lavon Chaisson
The other guy who lived in the Chargers’ backfield this game was K’Lavon Chaisson. Like Williams, Chaisson also had three tackles and two sacks in this one, and he also forced a crucial fumble midway through the fourth quarter that helped the offense burn some valuable time off the clock.
Andy Borregales
This was not the high-scoring affair many folks expected it to be, meaning that Andy Borregales was called into action more than New England would have liked. Borregales delivered the goods, though, as he nailed all three of his field goals and his lone extra point attempt to help New England keep Los Angeles at arm’s length for most of this game.
Rhamondre Stevenson
For the second week in a row, Rhamondre Stevenson was the Patriots’ most effective offensive player. Stevenson racked up a healthy 53 yards on 10 carries, while also leading the team with 75 receiving yards on three catches. In his new role alongside TreVeyon Henderson in the backfield, Stevenson is continuing to thrive.
Duds
TreVeyon Henderson
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Henderson. The rookie star picked up just 27 yards on nine carries, with most of that production coming on a 15-yard run that ended the game on New England’s final drive. Henderson also caught one pass for nine yards, but he generally struggled to find any sort of room when he had the ball in his hands.
Carlton Davis III
Considering how the defense allowed just three points, it’s tough to get too upset with anyone on this unit. When Justin Herbert was throwing the ball, though, he had the most success targeting Carlton Davis III. This continued an up-and-down season for Davis, who also whiffed on a couple of tackles along the way.
Stefon Diggs
This seemed like a spot for Stefon Diggs to have a big game, but that never materialized. Diggs caught just two of his five targets for 16 yards, as he had a big drop early and struggled to get on the same page with Drake Maye afterwards. Moving forward, Diggs is going to have to be better if the Pats want to keep winning.
Drake Maye
The final line isn’t exactly awful for Maye (17/29, 268 YDS, 1 TD, 1 INT, 10 CAR, 66 YDS), but this wasn’t his best outing. He also fumbled twice, one of which he lost, and he struggled to find a rhythm for much of this one. The defense bailed him out, but New England will surely be hoping for Maye when he returns to action next weekend.