New England Patriots hold on to beat Los Angeles Chargers

New England Patriots vs Los Angeles Chargers recap and highlights

The weather could not stop the New England Patriots this weekend. In their Week 8 matchup against the Los Angeles Chargers in rainy Gillette Stadium, the Patriots came away victorious, winning 21-13.

While getting the win is of the utmost importance, it was not a great performance overall by the Patriots. The weather undoubtedly played a part in the sloppiness, but the Patriots were only able to sporadically produce.

Credit needs to be given to the Chargers as well. Their defense was up to the task for most of the afternoon. They played a bend but don’t break defense, and it worked in their favor. The Patriots were able to get into the end zone only once when Tom Brady found Rob Gronkowski for a two-yard touchdown on the first play of the second quarter.

Brady had a solid game, completing 32-of-47 for 333 yards. He was unable to beat the Chargers defense deep, as the leading receivers for the Patriots were running backs James White and Rex Burkhead. White had five receptions for 85 yards while Burkhead had seven receptions for 68 yards.

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The Chargers defense was able to limit the Patriots, as New England’s offense stalled on multiple occasions. Stephen Gostowski was called upon six times for field goal attempts, making four of them. His misses kept the Chargers in the game. Luckily for the Patriots, they were unable to take advantage of the misses.

Once again, the Patriots defense showed up and had a good game. It was a great team effort, as the Patriots were down four starters defensively with linebacker Dont’a Hightower, cornerbacks Eric Rowe and Stephon Gilmore and defensive tackle Malcolm Brown all out.

Other than an 87-yard run by Melvin Gordon in the first quarter, the Patriots defense was stout. Outside of that 87-yard run, the Chargers managed only 70 yards on 20 carries.

Philip Rivers was unable to get anything going through the air either. Despite going up against the Patriots’ league worse pass defense, with players missing, Rivers was relatively ineffective. Rivers completed only 17-of-30 passes for 212 yards, one touchdown and one interception. The only sack he took was when he fumbled the ball scrambling away from pressure.

Highlights

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The Chargers will head into their bye week before traveling to take on the Jacksonville Jaguars Week 10. The Patriots will also take their four-game winning streak into the bye in Week 9. They will face the Denver Broncos in Week 10 on the road.