Collins,Patriots Defense Rises To Shut Down Chargers in 23-14 Win
The New England Patriots used a dominant defensive effort to shut down the San Diego Chargers on the road, coming back in the 4th quarter to defeat the Bolts 23-14.
On a night where the Patriots offense sputtered, especially in the red zone, it was the defense and special teams led by Jamie Collins, Darrelle Revis and Brandon Bolden who kept the Patriots in range until Tom Brady and the offense were able to put together a comeback.
With the win, the Patriots improved to 10-3 and remain the top seed in the AFC. They also improved their divisional record as Miami lost and the Patriots now have a three-game lead over the Dolphins with three to play. Miami visits Foxboro next weekend.
Other observations from Sunday’s game include:
Collins Steps Up Huge: On a night where the Patriots defense was missing LB Dont’a Hightower due to injury, much of the onus was placed on 2nd year LB Jamie Collins. And he came thru the game with high marks.
Collins wore the green dot communication device as the quarterback of the defense in Hightower’s absence, never an easy transition. Collins was easily the best player on the field for the defense, notching nine tackles, two sacks and providing a physical, athletic spark for the defense that hounded QB Philip Rivers all night long.
As we pointed out in our pre-game write up, the opportunity for “A-Gap” pressure would be there and Collins and fellow LB Jonathan Casillas who filled in for Hightower were immense as they disrupted the Chargers passing game time and again. Collins was flying around the field making plays and had arguably his best game in a Patriots uniform.
Milestone Night For Gronkowski: During the second quarter, Rob Gronkowski made a bit of NFL history when he hauled in a 14 yard touchdown pass from Tom Brady that narrowed the score to 14-13. With the TD, Gronkowski became the first tight end in NFL history to record 10 or more touchdowns in a season four times.
Gronkowski and Chargers TE Antonio Gates entered the game with nine touchdowns and each with three seasons of double-digit touchdown seasons. But the Patriots kept Gates out of the end zone and the record, for now, remains strictly a Gronkowski one.
Gronkowski had another solid evening with 8 catches for 87 yards including the one touchdown and it was impressive considering the attention heaped on him by the Bolts defense.
New Players Play Key Roles: As noted above, the Patriots defense was the key factor in this win and two of the players who stood out weren’t even on the team six weeks ago. At the time of acquiring both Akeem Ayers and Jonathan Casillas much of the reaction to their arrival was greeted with a mixture of indifference and the old stand-by used by Bill Belichick denigrators, “Bargain Basement Shopping”.
As it turns out, it was the Patriots who got the bargain. Ayers continued his very solid play since coming over from Tennessee providing a good pass rush and last night dropping into coverage and picking off a Rivers pass.
Casillas pressed into starting duties in Hightower’s absence, was solid at linebacker. Coverage is his strong suit, but with the play of the front seven, held the Chargers to only 53 yards on 17 attempts on Sunday night.
Revis, Ninkovich Big Contributors: Among the many standouts on the Patriots defense Sunday night were Rob Ninkovich and Darrelle Revis who again provided outstanding play in the win over San Diego.
Revis’ name was scarcely mentioned all night and that is because Rivers and Chargers pretty much ignored his side of the field all night long. Revis provided blanket coverage on the Chargers Keenan Allen for the entire game and Allen became the latest victim of the “milk carton” blues of WRs going against Revis this season.
Allen came in on Sunday as SD’s leading receiver with 72 catches for 762 yards and 4 touchdowns. On Sunday Allen was a total non-factor catching two passes for three yards. Against Revis, he had one catch for three yards. Against Baltimore the week before, Allen caught 11 passes for 121 yards and 2 TDs. That is the kind of production Revis brings to the table every week.
Rob Ninkovich continues to play “Iron-Man” for the Patriots defense, playing in over 96 percent of the defensive snaps for the season, tops in the NFL. Ninkovich put together another solid outing with good QB pressure, (1 QB sack) as well as solid positioning setting the edge.
The Patriots defense after struggling on third down last week in GB responded. San Diego was only 4 of 13 on third down and registered only one third down conversion after scoring a touchdown early in the second quarter.
Philip Rivers was hounded by the pass rush and the coverage was excellent. Rivers was just 2-10 on passes going more than five yards downfield, in a telling stat from Mike Reiss from ESPN Boston.
Offensive Line Struggles Again: In a somewhat troubling development, the offensive line struggled for the second week in a row. The Patriots running game, after a nice start on the first drive, failed to provide much of the push needed to keep that balance the team is looking for each week.
Tom Brady’s pass protection wasn’t great either, San Diego while registering only one sack, pressured Brady numerous times and forced him into errant throws. The Patriots were only 1-4 in the red zone and failed to take advantage of favorable field position for much of the game.
In a somewhat misleading stat, Brady threw for over 300 yards and two touchdowns completing 27 of 44 passes but this game didn’t have the feeling as one where the offense was firing on all cylinders. He also threw an ugly interception at the end of the first half as Gronkowski was open in the end zone and Brady floated a pass that was well short and picked off by Manti Te’o at the three yard line.
The offensive line will have to get back to the level of play that it was enjoying prior to last week’s game if the team is going to enjoy success in January. Credit the San Diego defense for playing well, but the OL has failed in two straight games to control the line of scrimmage.
Bolden With Key Blocked Punt Sets Up Offense: Running back Brandon Bolden, a special teams stand-out, provided a key play to set the Patriots up with a short field that ultimately ended up as the Gronkowski touchdown.
With the Chargers punting from deep in their own zone, Bolden flew off the left edge and easily blocked Mike Scifries punt. The resulting collision spun Scifries around dumping him on his head and neck which forced him to leave the game with what was reported as a shoulder injury.
But more importantly for New England, it set them up at the SD 25 and was there that Brady found Gronkowski for the Patriots first touchdown.
Browner Victimized For Clean Hit: A pivotal play occurred in the second half that ultimately cost the Patriots a touchdown. Ladarius Green was hit by Rivers on a crossing route that he juggled as he tried to haul in.
The Patriots defense was playing thirds in the secondary and CB Brandon Browner flew across Green’s bow and leveled him with a clean hit with his shoulder to that of Green’s causing the ball to fly into the air where it was picked off by S Devin McCourty. (pic NFL Game Rewind)
McCourty returned the pass 56 yards for a touchdown but the score was wiped out when the officials ruled that Browner’s hit was a helmet-to-helmet blow and not only cost the Patriots seven points but gave the Chargers a first down.
Perhaps it is time to allow officials to review these calls after the fact as this may have cost New England the game had San Diego gone on to score. Patriots players talked about this play after the game, stating it galvanized them at a critical juncture. One thing that can’t be denied is that Browner has definitely brought an edge to this season’s defense.
Player of the Game – Offense: Julian Edelman
Nursing a sore thigh and not 100 percent, Edelman never missed a beat. Brady’s favorite target continues to go in dangerous places and do the dirty work to move the chains. Edelman is on pace for another 100 catch season in 2014.
Edelman caught eight passes for 141 yards and a big, big touchdown that put the game away in the fourth quarter. Taking over at their 31 yard line, the Patriots showed run with LaGarrette Blount and on the ensuing play-action, the Chargers linebackers bit leaving a big hole across the middle. Brady’s pass to Edelman was on the money and breaking a tackle, he was off to the races, going 69 yards to put the game away.
Player of the Game – Defense: Jamie Collins
Collins was the best player on the field for the Patriots defense Sunday Night. He made plays all over the field and provided veteran leadership in calling the signals for the defense that belies the fact that he’s only in his second season.
Is there still anyone out there that is down on the trade the Patriots made with Minnesota that netted the team, Collins, Logan Ryan and Josh Boyce for Corradelle Patterson in the 2013 draft?
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