MORSE: Good, Bad and Ugly From Patriots' 16-3 Playoff Win

It wasn’t pretty, and the Defense saved the Patriots’ bacon. This was perhaps the best game the Patriots’ Defense played all year. Watching this game was extremely frustrating, as tallied numerous times, I swore while watching the game.

The Good

The Defense held the Chargers to 207 yards of total Offense. They limited Justin Herbert to 159-yards passing on 19 of 31. I actually felt bad for Herbert when he constantly got pounded by the Patriots’ pass rush. He was sacked 6 times.
The Defense held the Chargers to one 3^rd down completion on 10 tries. Entering the game the Chargers were 3^rd in the league on third down with 45.8%.
Everyone knows the struggles the Patriots Defense has had in the Red Zone. The Patriots were dead last in the league. Not tonight, the Chargers were 0-2.
The Chargers media before the game. “This Patriots offense, listen, you play who’s in front of you, but I don’t think they faced a top 10 defense all season long.” We can now bury the narrative that the Patriots only got here for a Historically Easy Schedule. This win in the Playoffs validated the good work they have done all year.
Ladd McConkey was the leading receiver with 3 catches for 32 yards. No LAC had more than 32 yards.
Rhamondre Stevenson ran 10 times for 53 yards and a 5.3 YPC. He also added 3 catches for 75 yards and a big 48-yard reception.
Kayshon Boutte had 4 catches for 66 yards and a big 42-yard catch. Boutte was a game-time decision with a hamstring issue. The Patriots actually elevated Jeremiah Webb from the Practice Squad just in case he couldn’t go.
Hunter Henry only had 3 catches for 64 yards but had that big TD. Maye put the pass in the absolutely right spot, just over the hand of All-Pro Safety Derwin James. On the play, James got sucked up thinking Maye was going to run.
That is a good defense the Patriots played tonight, and the Patriots did very well. The 381 yards of total Offense was very good against the Chargers #5 ranked defense that was only giving up 285.2 yards a game.
The Patriots held a big 32:15 Time of Position to LAC 27:45. The Chargers, coming into the game, were 2nd in the league with over 32 minutes per game.
The Patriots lost the turnover battle 2 to 1. The Patriots had an opportunity for another off a strip sack, but Kimani Vidal scooped it up and ran it for a 1^st
Rookie Craig Woodson, playing in his 1^st playoff game, had his best game of the season with 11 tackles, 7 of which were solo tackles.
Christian Elliss was all over the place with 8 tackles and pressure on Herbert.
Marcus Jones had six tackles and a sack as well as sticky coverage.
Kyle Williams had just 1 catch, but it was a nice sideline play for a 1^st He also had a great block on Stevenson’s catch and run.
Jack Gibbens had 7 tackles, and I was surprised how much playing time he received.
Andy Borregales going 3 for 3 on Field Goals, was big factor. We saw how many kickers missed during the playoffs and the games leading up to the playoffs. There was a difficult wind at Gillette as the game went on.
According to Robert Spillane, the Chargers players told him they had no idea what the Patriots were doing in the secondary.
The Patriots blitzed at an extremely high rate of 45%.
Zak Kuhr has to be given high marks for his game plan against Chargers. Incredibly they held an 11-win team to 0 TDs and just 3 points.
TreVeyon Henderson had a tremendous blitz pickup of Daiyan Henley on the Hunter Henry TD
Jared Wilson’s fumble recovery of a Maye strip sack was terrific.
Before getting injured Christian Gonzalez did not allow a reception on any of his 5 targets across 26 coverage snaps in the Patriots Wild Card victory. Gonzalez has allowed a league-low -9.7 receptions over expected this season, including the playoffs. Yet he didn’t make the All-Pro team?
How rare is it for the Patriots to win a post-season game with only 1 TD?
- 2001 Snow Bowl
- 2003 AFC Championship
- Super Bowl LIII vs. Rams
- Tonight
Jack Westover had his 1^st catch of the season

The Bad

The Defense front four were horrible in the 1^st. They were extremely undisciplined and didn’t stay in their pass rush lanes. There were too many fly-bys by Landry and Chaisson. The DTs weren’t getting outside when the DEs went inside on stunts, resulting in 57 yards rushing by Justin Herbert, who led the Chargers. Vidal had 31 yards. The Patriots’ defense made the Chargers one-dimensional. That’s when the pass rush pinned their ears back and let loose on Herbert.
The Chargers, without both starting Pro Bowl Tackles, are the worst O-line in the league. I even heard Greg Bedard say they were even worse than the Patriots’ line last season.
Christian Gonzalez’s concussion injury was a big concern. I thought Charles Woods played well in his place. The receiver fell on Gonzalez his head.
Drake Maye struggled in the 1st. He was 17 of 29, 58% Completion %, 268 yards, a TD, and an INT. In the 2^nd half he turned things around. He went 11 of 14 for 173-yards passing a TD and a 142.0 Passer Rating. I thought he was way too amped up before the game. I saw his pre-game interview, and I could tell from how he rushed his answers that he was amped up. It showed up when he was passing high. The interception wasn’t his fault, as the DT tipped the ball at the Line of Scrimmage.
Drake Maye missed a great opportunity for a deep ball to Kyle Williams on a 2^nd and 2 yards. The Chargers were in man-to-man defense, and Williams was one-on-one against a Defender who was very susceptible to double moves. Maye didn’t recognize it, and Vrabel had to call a timeout because the play clock was ticking down.
Josh McDaniels abandoned the deep passes because of the two-high shell the Chargers play on defense. The Patriots did have 4 chunk plays with Stevenson’s catch and ran for 48 yards. Nice block by Kyle Williams on Stevenson’s pass and catch. Kayshon Boutte had a 42-yard reception on a catch-and-run. Efton Chism only had 1 catch for 20 yards. Hunter Henry’s 28-yard TD was the longest pass in the air by Maye.
This was exactly the kind of game the Chargers wanted to play, but in the end, the Patriots were better at it than the Chargers were.
Efton Chism overthrew a wide-open Drake Maye on a flea-flicker pass.

The Ugly

The Offensive line was brutal in pass protection. The Chargers took advantage of the two rookies on the left side. I don’t know which rookie was worse. Campbell got constantly pushed back into the lap of Drake Maye. Khalil Mack pushed Campbell back into the feet of Maye. He also went around Campbell like a turnstile for a strip sack. Jared Wilson was playing on roller skates. He failed to pick up stunts and got beaten right off the Line of Scrimmage. I have said this numerous times, going back to before the season started. There has been only one other team in the last 25 years that has started two rookies on the blind side of the QB. That was the Ravens in 2016, and it didn’t work out well. Today it didn’t work for the Patriots. I would have taken Wilson out of the game after giving up his second sack and replaced him with Ben Brown.
I was shocked that Stefon Diggs was held to 2 catches on 5 targets.
The two Patriots Kickoff Returners are brutal. Efton Chism runs a 4.7 40-yard time, and D’Ernest Johnson runs a 4.8. That is extremely slow. I’d be looking for a Kickoff returner in the draft.
What video evidence showed that Justin Herbert made the 1^st down? That is an absolute joke.

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About Mark Morse

Merrimack Valley native and lifelong fan of the New England Patriots. My earliest memories of the Patriots were attending as a child with my dad, the off-season practice at Phillips Academy. I was at the Patriots game at Harvard Stadium in 1970 where Bob “Harpo” Gladieux was called out of the stands by the stadium announcer over the PA to play in the game. Analyzing the draft since ESPN first started to televise it in 1980 and former writer for the Lowell Sun Newspaper.

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