Image courtesy of The Associated Press
FOXBOROUGH – Now this is more like it.
From the time the lots opened at 4:00, to the time the lights went out and pregame introductions started at about 7:50, Gillette Stadium was alive for playoff football again.
It looked and sounded like the old days.
In the end, the offense struggled, but the defense had its best performance of the season, holding the Chargers to just 207 yards en route to a 16-3 AFC Wild Card win.
New England’s defense picked up the offense to the tune of six sacks, including a game ender from Milton Williams to officially send the Patriots to the AFC Divisional Round at home next Sunday against either Pittsburgh or Houston (3 or 6:30). It’ll be the first Divisional Round game for the franchise since 2018.
“I thought they played extremely well. I thought they were committed to stopping the run,” Mike Vrabel said of his team, particularly the defense postgame. “The sudden change was critical. It was a very good defense that we were playing. We turned the ball over far too many times. What our defense was able to do early in that game, in the red zone, inside the five yard line or inside the nine yard line, I think really set the tone for them for the rest of the game. Could have been better. A lot of scrambles. We knew that. Again, trying to rush, make sure that those scramble lanes aren’t there. Secondary did a fantastic job with the play extensions, making sure that those plays didn’t get loose.
“Just really proud of everybody.”
It was a slow start for both teams, scoreless after one quarter which included a tipped ball interception for Drake Maye (17-29, 268 yards, 1 TD, 10 rushes, 66 yards), but the defense held strong with a turnover on downs inside the New England two yard line. The Pats finally got on the board first with 13:32 remaining in the second on a 23-yard field goal from Andy Borregales. The kick capped a 14-play drive that included a near-touchdown pass from Efton Chism III to Maye with a little trickeration, but he overthrew his QB. A 4th-&-4 conversion to Kyle Williams followed and an 18-yard catch by Chism soon set up the kick.
LA answered with a field goal of its own. Both teams traded punts, with Williams and K’Lavon Chaisson picking up sacks on second and third down to force the Chargers boot. The Pats got the ball back one more time with 31 seconds left at their own 46. A 37-yard scramble for Maye set up a 35-yard field goal for Borregales to make it 6-3 heading into halftime.
“Just got to be better, whether it’s accuracy or ball placement or little things, making decisions faster,” said Maye. “Held onto the ball a little bit tonight. Finally got one in the end. I missed Hoop on a touchdown. Feel like I missed Pop on a third down low. It wasn’t my best tonight. But that’s why you have teammates, those guys picked me up. Never lost confidence. Was still slinging it around. Kayshon made some big plays. Came after the ball twice on some big plays. That’s the thing about us, we spread it around, can do a lot of things.”
The defenses continued to steal the show in the third quarter, with the Chargers punting to open the frame, but Maye was strip-sacked at the LA 18-yard line, killing an 11-play drive. Once again, the New England D held strong though, forcing another punt. Six plays later – including a 3rd-&-13 grab for Hunter Henry and a 42-yard completion to Kayshon Boutte, Borregales booted a 39-yard field goal to push it to 9-3.
It remained that way until just 9:39 was left in the game, when Maye threw an absolute dime to Henry for a 29-yard TD, just out of the reach of leaping Chargers safety Derwin James, making it 16-3. Moments later as the defense began teeing off on Justin Herbert, Chaisson and Elijah Ponder combined for a strip sack on Herbert, with Christian Elliss recovering at the LA 45 with eight minutes left.
Neither team scored again, but Anfernee Jennings and Williams closed things out with a bang, getting sacks on third and fourth down before Maye and kneeled out his first playoff win.
Stunningly, the 2025 New England Patriots are now just one win away from the AFC Championship, possibly at home if Buffalo can upset Denver.
But, as they have all season, the Pats will now focus on going 1-0. They’ve done it 15 times so far this season.
“Kind of running out of that tunnel with the crowd, that was a cool moment,” Maye added when talking about how different playoff football felt. “I kind of was running off the field like, ‘man, that was pretty sweet.’ Listening to the crowd. I don’t know why they put me last. They need to put Stef or somebody that hypes up the crowd. I just kind of run out there. Or Big Willie. Big Willie loves doing something funny. It was cool. Proud of the fans for how they showed up every week. Looking forward to getting back here at home. That is it, Playoff football. That’s what we said at the beginning of the season, we want to play home Playoff games in the Playoffs.
“That’s what we did. We are 1-0. We got to go to the next one.”