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Today in Patriots History
Dec 1, 1996: Pats 45, Chargers 7
Defense forces six turnovers
Knocks out Stan Humphries
Dec 1, 1996: Pats 45, Chargers 7
Defense forces six turnovers
Knocks out Stan Humphries
Sunday, December 1, 1996 at 8:01 EST, 5:01 PST
Week 14, Game 13 at Jack Murphy Stadium
New England Patriots 45, San Diego Chargers 7
Head Coaches: Bill Parcells, Bobby Ross
QBs: Drew Bledsoe, Stan Humphries/Sean Salisbury
Odds: San Diego 2-point home favorites
TV: ESPN (WCVB locally). Mike Patrick, Joe Theismann; Mark Malone
Clear, 58º, humidity 49%, wind 5-9 mph
62,541 tickets distributed; 3,332 no-shows; in-stadium attendance 59,209
Patriots improve to 9-4, first place in AFC East
Chargers drop to 7-6, third in AFC West
What was supposed to be a highly competitive game was anything but. Drew Bledsoe threw four touchdown passes, Willie McGinest scored on a fumble recovery after a Chris Slade strip sack, and Corwin Brown scored the only touchdown of his eight-year NFL career on a 42-yard return after Larry Whigham forced a fumble on a punt return. Terry Glenn, Keith Byars, Sam Gash and Shawn Jefferson caught TD passes from Bledsoe (19-29-232-4-0), and Ben Coates caught six passes on seven targets for 71 yards.
But the big story of the game was the Pats defense. Ted Johnson, Lawyer Milloy and Otis Smith picked off passes thrown by Stan Humphries, who was also sacked four times. My lasting image from this game is Humphries on his back, covering both ear holes on his helmet with eyes as wide as saucers and a thousand-mile stare, as if the reverberations in his head were so loud he couldn't see anything. Humphries was taken out after that play, and retired a year later due to multiple concussions, this one being the most severe. His replacement, Sean Salisbury, didn't fare any better being sacked two more times while being picked off by Jerome Henderson. That's a total of six turnovers and six sacks, as the Patriots controlled the ball for more than twelve more minutes (36:06 to 23:54) than San Diego.
With the victory the Pats overtook Buffalo for first place in the AFC East with a 9-4 record, and moved into the #2 seed in the AFC playoff race. The 45 points scored was the most ever by a Patriots against the Chargers (later equaled in a 45-0 2020 victory), and the 38-point margin of victory is the third most by the Pats versus the Bolts in their 46-game history.
Patriots Win by Knockout
Pro football: Humphries suffers concussion and Chargers are embarrassed at home, 45-7.
www.latimes.com
With almost 13 minutes remaining in the third quarter--that’s just two minutes beyond halftime--the 59,209 fans in attendance were leaving San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium in droves.
But at least they made the effort to show up.
Terry Glenn had five receptions for 63 yards, and got the Patriots on the board with a first quarter touchdown
Their football team, the schizophrenic Chargers, who lost at home to Tampa Bay and then won on the road in Kansas City, failed to make an appearance Sunday night.
Left unopposed, the Patriots frolicked, prompting ESPN commentator Joe Theismann to remark during New England’s 45-7 victory over San Diego, “This is the worst I’ve seen a professional football team play across the board in a long time. How good are the Patriots?”
San Diego's Rodney Harrison makes a tackle on RB Marrio Grier
The Patriots, featuring the NFL’s worst-ranked pass defense, looked like the 1985 Chicago Bears after beating San Diego for the eighth consecutive time and tagging the Chargers with their most lopsided loss during the five-year reign of Coach Bobby Ross.
New England, stopped at the San Diego one-yard line on downs in the fourth quarter, was denied the opportunity of handing San Diego it’s largest margin of defeat in franchise history. As it was, the 38-point deficit was the fifth worst loss suffered by the Chargers, and their worst since 1988, when they lost, 48-10, to San Francisco.
New England (9-4), now tied with Buffalo for the AFC East Division lead but maintaining the tie-breaking advantage because of its favorable divisional record, ran out to a 14-7 first-quarter lead, extended it to 31-7 by halftime, and with only cheerleaders, ushers and media in attendance, they were ahead 45-7 with 15 minutes to play.
A 7-yard TD from Drew Bledsoe to Sam Gash following a pick by Ted Johnson made it 21-7 early in the second quarter
The Charger coaches, identifiable by the befuddled looks on their faces, reacted as if this was some sort of suicide mission after falling behind 38-7. With three games to go, and San Diego (7-6) remarkably still alive in the wild-card derby, the Charger brain trust opted to risk their future hopes by subjecting quarterback Stan Humphries to a beating.
The Chargers had already lost tackle Tony Berti with an injury, which Ross later would describe as a serious blow to his team’s ability to protect the quarterback. Hello, is anybody home?
Humphries, injured seriously six weeks ago, playing with his left shoulder in a harness and probably the team’s most valuable player if it wants to advance to the playoffs, was knocked unconscious with a little more than six minutes to play in the third quarter after Mike Jones, New England’s 295-pound defensive end, landed on his head. “You can second-guess it, but I’ve been behind 31-0 before and came back and won the game,” Ross said. But then not with these guys.
Chris Slade's sack resulted in a TD for Willie McGinest to extend the led to 28-7 in the first half
“There was a point while Stan was in I still felt we could win the ballgame,” Ross said. “And I’m going to tell you this, he’ll stay in the rest of the time if I think we can legitimately win the ballgame.”
Humphries was gone for the night with a concussion, and the scene was reminiscent of of the movie “Weekend at Bernie’s,” with the medical staff propping up a dazed Humphries. Team officials said later he was taken to Sharp Hospital to remain overnight as a precautionary measure.
Left behind to describe the carnage, his teammates sounded as if they were the ones who had been knocked silly when asked to explain their up-and-down play.
Stan Humphries was literally knocked out of the game midway through the third quarter
“Human nature, who knows?” said Charger linebacker Junior Seau. “We don’t know the psychic of players in the sense of tapping in and going out there with a sense of urgency.”
Psychic? The Chargers have been consulting a psychic? Tapping in? What the heck is he talking about?
“We know that we got beat,” Seau said, and that’s encouraging. “You’ve got to take yourself and kind of analyze and see what happened and what you can do better. We have three games and we got to go out and win them. New England just came in and gave us an old-fashioned beating and we have to take that.”
The Chargers turned the ball over six times, had a 93-yard kickoff return for a touchdown negated by a holding penalty and averaged 2.1 yards a carry against the NFL’s 28th overall defense.
“Probably the only positive thing I could say would be the way we did hang in there and fight pretty hard defensively,” said Ross, and observers insisted Ross witnessed the same game as everyone else in attendance. “I thought after the first two series we played a pretty competitive football game.”
Tedy Bruschi with one of New England's six sacks on the evening
After the first two series, the Patriots outscored the Chargers, 31-7. Smelling salts, please, for everyone in Charger attire.
“I really didn’t think it would go the way it did,” said Patriot Coach Bill Parcells. “It was just one of those nights.”
It was the very best night imaginable for Drew Bledsoe, the Patriots’ emerging starting quarterback, who has led his team now to four consecutive wins. Bledsoe completed 19 of 29 passes for 232 yards and four touchdowns.
Curtis Martin totaled 77 yards from scrimmage on 20 touches
Box Score, Halftime & Full Game Summary, Team & Individual Stats, Drive Charts and Full Play-by-Play:
New England Patriots at San Diego Chargers - December 1st, 1996 | Pro-Football-Reference.com
New England Patriots 45 at San Diego Chargers 7 on December 1st, 1996 - Full team and player stats and box score
www.pro-football-reference.com
December 1, 1996 - New England Patriots at San Diego Chargers Box Score and Game Statistics
The most complete, accurate and reliable reference source for December 1, 1996 - New England Patriots at San Diego Chargers boxscore and game statistics.
www.profootballarchives.com
Patriots Starting Offense:
84 WR Shawn Jefferson
78 LT Bruce Armstrong
76 LG Bill Roberts
64 C Dave Wohlabaugh
71 RG Todd Rucci
68 RT Max Lane
87 TE Ben Coates
88 WR Terry Glenn
11 QB Drew Bledsoe
28 RB Curtis Martin
33 FB Sam Gash
Patriots Starting Defense:
92 LDE Ferric Collons
97 LDT Mark Wheeler
75 RDT Pio Sagapolutele
55 RDE Willie McGinest
93 SLB Monty Brown
52 MLB Ted Johnson
95 WLB Dwayne Sabb
21 LCB Ricky Reynolds
36 SS Lawyer Milloy
32 FS Willie Clay
45 RCB Otis Smith
Patriots Special Teams:
4 K Adam Vinatieri
19 P Tom Tupa
86 LS Mike Bartrum
80 KR Troy Brown
22 PR Dave Meggett
First Half, 1:23:06
2:27:46 Full Game
1996 Week 14 - New England Patriots at San Diego Chargers - SNF
2:27:46 Full Game
1996 Week 14 - New England Patriots at San Diego Chargers - SNF
