Drake Maye completed 17 of 29 passes for 268 yards and a touchdown and also rushed for a team-high 66 yards to lead the New England Patriots to a 16-3 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers in an AFC wild-card game played Sunday night in Foxborough, Mass.
Rookie kicker Andy Borregales kicked three field goals for the Patriots, who limited the Chargers to 207 yards of offense. New England sacked Los Angeles quarterback Justin Herbert six times. Linebacker K’Lavon Chaisson and defensive end Milton Williams each collected two sacks.
“We talked to them about being willing to spill some blood out there, and that the big dogs come out in January,” Patriots coach Mike Vrabel said after the game, praising his defense. “I think (Williams) took that to heart in the way he played the game and the way he finished the game.”
New England running back Rhamondre Stevenson caught three passes for 75 yards and rushed for 53 yards on 10 carries. Tight end Hunter Henry scored the game’s only touchdown on a 28-yard catch in the fourth quarter.
Herbert completed 19 of 31 passes for 159 yards. He also gained 57 of his team’s 87 rushing yards.
The Patriots (15-3) had 381 yards of total offense. The Chargers (11-7) were 1-of-10 on third-down conversions.
“We weren’t good enough, didn’t get enough points,” Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh said. “Left our defense out on the field too much in terms of time of possession. Just wasn’t our night.”
Second-seeded New England will host the winner of Monday night’s game between fourth-seeded Pittsburgh (10-7) and fifth-seeded Houston (12-5) next Sunday in the divisional round.
“Proud of this team,” Maye said. “We never doubted it. It wasn’t pretty, that’s for sure, but this defense was so fun to watch. Congrats to them. They won the game for us.
“I didn’t throw it well tonight,” the quarterback continued. “Gotta be better. We did what we had to do, and that’s what it takes in the playoffs. Just proud of this team. That was fun. That was fun to get one at home and look forward to being back here next week.”
After a scoreless first quarter, Borregales opened the scoring by kicking a 23-yard field goal with 13:32 remaining in the first half.
The seventh-seeded Chargers tied the game on Cameron Dicker’s 21-yard field goal with 6:52 left in the second quarter, but Borregales gave New England a 6-3 halftime lead by making a 35-yard field goal with 2 seconds left in the first half.
New England had a 9-3 lead after Borregales kicked his third field goal. This one was good from 39 yards with 1:34 left in the third quarter. It was still 9-3 at the end of the third.
The Patriots stretched their lead to 16-3 on Henry’s TD reception and the Borregales PAT with 9:45 to play.
–Field Level Media
