Although they were favored in the eyes of bettors, there weren't many who felt super confident with the Patriots' chances of leaving Wild Card Weekend the winners of their first playoff game in four seasons.
Part of that was because they were set to face the Chargers, who have playoff experience, but the toughness and resiliency of New England showed up on the field on Sunday night, single-handedly earning them the win.
That isn't sitting too well with some of the Chargers' players, though, and they were already proving to be sore losers the second they were able to speak to reporters after the loss.
Other than just not dealing with a blowout loss well, since they only scored three points all night, much of the frustration likely stems from the ongoing narrative that the Patriots aren't a legitimate playoff team, as many have chalked up their wins as the result of an easy schedule.
But that doesn't mean any Chargers player should be sharing disrespectful, downright delusional takes like Odafe Oweh did after the game.
Post-game comments prove that Patriots' opponents still don't respect them
While speaking to the media after the loss, Oweh claimed that the Chargers were, and are, the better team, and on any other night, they would beat the Patriots.
If that were the case, they'd clearly have to score more than a field goal to accomplish that.
Odafe Oweh: "I feel like we're a better team. And Any other day, we beat them. We just ain't have it today, so that's the more annoying part."
— Kris Rhim (@krisrhim1) January 12, 2026
Oweh is an unrestricted free agent but said he wants to be in L.A. He had three sacks today, a single game postseason franchise record.
It's surely just frustration coming from a player in a heated moment after a disappointing loss, but at the same time, it proves that Patriots' opponents are buying into the idea that they have only gotten lucky to have now racked up 15 wins this season, as they head into the divisional round of the playoffs.
Although it's not fun to hear, it just shows that the Patriots are back in a way the rest of the league is not happy about, and we know how much they thrive on people doubting them.
That will only grow over the next week, and it will become even more relevant when they find out who they'll be facing on Sunday.