The New England Patriots established themselves as one of the best run defenses of the last decade after the first half of the season. It took until Week 10 for a running back to eclipse the 50-yard mark, an incredibly impressive feat. The second half of the season, however, has been a different story.
New England allowed four 100+ yard rushers in their last six weeks of the season, all of which averaged 4.9 YPC or more. Two averaged north of 7.0 yards per carry en route to the century mark. Robert Spillane's absence has hit the Patriots hard, as he missed three of those games.
No team has had a 100-yard rusher while Milton Williams has played this year. Both are expected to play against the Chargers.
No team has had a 100+ yard rusher against the Patriots this season when Milton Williams has played.
— Graham Wilker (@GrahamWilker1) January 8, 2026
Only the Bengals have done so when Robert Spillane has played.
The #Chargers are 12th in rush YPG.#Patriots #nfl
Despite the reinforcements, New England's recent struggles against the run are indicative of its downturn in tackling. Against a Chargers team whose offense centers on power football, New England will need to be at their best in tackling.
The Patriots must improve in their tackling going into their first playoff game
The Patriots have four players (min. 125 run defense snaps) with a run defense missed tackle rate worse than 12.5%, something that must be remedied. Edge defenders K'Lavon Chaisson and Anfernee Jennings are each north of 20%, while slot corner Marcus Jones and linebacker Christian Elliss hover around 15%.
Against Miami, the defense missed 7 tackles in the run game. They missed 6 the week before and 9 against Baltimore, a stark contrast to their mostly clean pre-bye tackling.
The importance of Williams' and Spillane's returns cannot be understated. The Chargers have had five games with a 95+ yard rusher and average 28.0 PPG in those games. When they don't have a 95+ yard rusher, they average 18.9 PPG, a significant drop off.
Containing both Omarion Hampton and Kimani Vidal through sure tackling will be key, and in the defensive backfield, keeping the powerful Quentin Johnston and slippery Ladd McConkey at bay will be key to their success.
New England will need to excel in fundamentals in order to beat the Chargers on Sunday, and sure tackling will be atop the list of necessities for Vrabel and Co.