FOXBORO, Mass. — The New England Patriots are moving on to the divisional round of the NFL playoffs.
They won their first playoff game since beating the Rams in Super Bowl 53 on Sunday night, holding the Los Angeles Chargers to just a field goal in a 16-3 victory in front of a raucous Foxboro crowd.
Out of all the Wild Card weekend playoff games, last night’s at Gillette was truly all about the defense. It was a low-scoring affair—and the defense stepped up when Drake Maye was not at his best.
The 23-year-old’s first playoff game didn’t play out as he probably hoped, with an interception in the first quarter and a fumble in the third. But he also led the team in rushing with 66 yards and threw for 268 yards—including a touchdown pass to Hunter Henry in the fourth quarter that would seal the win.
The defense only allowed three points, and Maye gave credit where credit was due for his first playoff win.
“Proud of this team,” Patriots quarterback Drake Maye said. “We never doubted it. We never doubted it. It wasn’t pretty, that’s for sure, but this defense was so much fun to watch. Congrats to them. They won the game for us. I didn’t throw very well tonight. I need to be better, but we did what we had to do, and that is what it takes in the playoffs.”
“I’m just so proud of this defense we’ve really come together and to hold an offense like that to three points in a playoff is huge for us, it’s just another boost of confidence,” Patriots linebacker Robert Spillane said.
The defense forced several crucial fourth-down stops and also sacked Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert a half dozen times.
“What our defense was able to do early in that game in the red zone inside the 5-yard line, inside the 9-yard line was, I think, really set the tone for them for the rest of the game,” Patriots Head Coach Mike Vrabel said.
“I’ve been saying it all season, we can control the game if we do what we need to do up front, we’re going to win,” said Defensive Tackle Milton Williams.
Williams had two sacks in the game and after a crucial one in the fourth—he ran to the sidelines—with a little too much intensity, giving Vrabel a head butt-and a bloody lip.
That might be his consolation prize for agreeing to be the Patriots’ head coach one year ago today.
So now the Pats will host a divisional round game on Sunday. The opponent? The winner of the Steelers-Texans game tonight. The time—either 3 p.m. or 6:30 p.m.
The Pats lost to the Steelers during the regular season. They did not play Houston.
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