Drake Maye threw a landing cross to Hunter Henry within the fourth quarter because the New England Patriots protection roughed up Justin Herbert in a 16-3 AFC Wild Card playoff victory over the Los Angeles Chargers.
Andy Borregales kicked three subject targets for the Patriots (15-3), who gained a playoff recreation for the primary time since their Tremendous Bowl victory to cap the 2018 season. They will host the winner of Monday evening’s recreation between Pittsburgh and Houston within the divisional spherical.
In his first profession playoff recreation, Maye accomplished 17 of 29 passes for 268 yards and ran for a team-high 66 yards. He additionally threw an interception and misplaced a fumble, however the Chargers (11-7) could not capitalise on these turnovers.
New England held the Chargers to 207 yards of offense and sacked Herbert six occasions, with a type of leading to a misplaced fumble that arrange the Patriots’ TD.
“How about our defense, man? Congrats to the defense,” Maye stated. “What a night. It was so fun to watch.”
That is the second straight season through which the Chargers have misplaced within the wild-card spherical. Herbert completed 19 of 31 for 159 yards and was his staff’s main rusher with 57 yards as he fell to 0-3 within the playoffs.
The Chargers final failed to attain a TD in a playoff recreation of their 21-12 AFC championship recreation loss to the Patriots in the course of the 2007 season.
Stats leaders:
Chargers
- Passing: Justin Herbert, 19/31, 159 yards, 0 TD
- Dashing: Justin Herbert, 10 carries, 57 yards
- Receiving: Ladd McConkey, 3 catches, 32 yards
Patriots
- Passing: Drake Maye, 17/29, 268 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT
- Dashing: Drake Maye, 10 carries, 66 yards; Rhamondre Stevenson, 10 carries, 53 yards
- Receiving: Rhamondre Stevenson, 3 catches, 75 yards; Hunter Henry, 3 catches, 64 yards, 1 TD
The Patriots drove into the crimson zone on their first possession of the third quarter, however the drive ended when Maye was strip-sacked by Odafe Oweh, and De’Shawn Hand recovered for the Chargers.
After Los Angeles punted, Maye related on a cross to Kayshon Boutte that went for 42 yards to set the Patriots up on the Chargers 27, however New England settled for a 39-yard subject purpose that stretched their result in 9-3.
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Early within the fourth quarter, Maye used a 16-yard cross to Boutte and a 13-yard burst by Rhamondre Stevenson to arrange his exact 28-yard TD toss to Henry that put the Patriots in entrance 16-3.
The Chargers picked up back-to-back first downs to open their ensuing drive. However when Herbert dropped again to cross on the subsequent play, linebacker Okay’Lavon Chaisson strip-sacked him and fell on the free ball.
Los Angeles had one closing possession, nevertheless it ended with Herbert getting sacked by Milton Williams on fourth down.
Watch each minute of the NFL playoffs and Tremendous Bowl LX at Levi’s Stadium reside on Sky Sports activities NFL.
