Look: 40 Photos of the New England Patriots’ Wild Card Playoff Win Over the Los Angeles Chargers

The wait is finally over (even though it hasn’t been too long). The New England Patriots are playoff game winners once again.

For the first time since defeating the Los Angeles Rams in the Super Bowl in 2019, the New England Patriots have won a playoff game. The Pats took down the other Los Angeles team, the Chargers, 16–3 in the Wild Card round of this year’s playoffs.

The New England Patriots are Playoff Winners Again

While it was not exactly a perfect performance, all that matters when it comes to the postseason is moving on, and the Patriots did enough to do just that. A tremendous effort by the defense gave Drake Maye and company plenty of time to put up enough points to comfortably pull away late.

This was the first playoff game for Maye, and at times it did show. The MVP candidate finished with 268 yards passing, one touchdown, and 66 rushing yards, but he did have his struggles. Maye missed open receivers a few times, threw an interception, and fumbled twice. However, when it mattered most, he was there to make the play, including a perfectly thrown ball to Hunter Henry for a touchdown late in the fourth quarter to seal the win.

The true story of the night was an amazing performance from the Patriots defense, which kept the Chargers under 100 yards rushing and harassed quarterback Justin Herbert all night long. That effort included a total of 11 quarterback hits and six sacks, making for an uncomfortable pocket throughout the game.

When do the New England Patriots Play Next?

With the win, the Patriots now move on to the Divisional Round of the playoffs this coming Sunday, and New England will once again host the game.

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Now it’s time to reflect on the win with some incredible images from the game. Here’s what it looked like from the field on Sunday night.