With the exception of last season, when the Los Angeles Chargers shut out the New England Patriots 6-0 in Gillette Stadium. The history of this matchup over the last twenty years has been somewhat one-sided. At one point, the Patriots had won seven straight games against the Chargers with three different starting quarterbacks. What started this wave of dominance? The first ever playoff meeting in January of 2007, when the number one seed San Diego Chargers with the MVP LaDainian Tomlinson were looking to take down the three-time Super Bowl champions in the old Qualcomm Stadium.
In 2024, the Patriots and Chargers will see each other once again in the second-to-final game of the regular season, just a few days before New Year’s Eve. While New England is rebuilding and evaluating their biggest strengths and weaknesses as the season progresses, LA is trying to regain their respectability with Jim Harbaugh as the new head coach. They already paid their quarterback Justin Herbert a ton of money, but the longer they keep disappointing, the more tainted the legacy. Let’s take a look at five of some of the most notable performances between these two teams and set up the stage for this year’s Week 17 matchup between these old AFC rivals.
The Patriots are Fully Charged Against the Chargers: 5 Notable Performances Between the Two Teams
1. 2006 AFC Divisional
The beginning of this dominant history for the Patriots was in one of their more memorable playoff games on January 14, 2007. One week prior, they had blown out the New York Jets 37-16 in the Wild Card, but had a bigger challenge on their hands as the third seed in the AFC. They had to travel all across the country to play against the number one seed Chargers, who were the most fun team to watch that season by far. Tomlinson was the league’s MVP that season, scoring an NFL record thirty-one total touchdowns and flat out carrying that offense to relevancy. Yes, Phillip Rivers was remarkable in his first full year as the starting quarterback and Antonio Gates was still in his prime. But without LT, there was no way that San Diego was going to be as good as they were, scoring the most points out of any other team in the league. Another underrated aspect to this team was their shutdown defense, engineered by Marty Schottenheimer and assisted by defensive coordinator Wade Phillips.
It was the season where linebacker Shawne Merriman introduced his famous “Lights Out” dance, the one that he did after every time he came up with a sack, which was 17.5 that year. This defense was good enough to allow only nineteen points a game, which ranked seventh in the league, and they also finished in the top ten in yards allowed. Merriman and Phillips were the two anchors in their pass rush, Donnie Edwards made so many plays all over the field, and their secondary had studs such as Quentin Jammer and Drayton Florence that held their own against anybody lined up against them. Heading into their first playoff game of the season, the Chargers were five point favorites and there were not too many people picking the Patriots to win. This was finally going to be the team that would give Schottenheimer his first taste of championship success, and if they beat New England, they had what it took to beat any other team in football.
For the first forty-five minutes of the game, San Diego was punishing New England on both sides of the ball. Despite a couple of lost fumbles and setbacks along the way, Tom Brady had still thrown two interceptions and the Chargers were making their opponents pay for those mistakes. They lead 14-3 at one point, and in the middle of the fourth quarter, they were leading 21-13 with the game in their control. All of the momentum completely turned around with a fourth and five at the San Diego forty-one with about 6:25 left. Trying to tie the game up, Tom Brady looked for Troy Brown over the middle but ended up throwing his third interception of the night. Running with the ball, Marlon McCree tried to keep the play alive instead of going down with the ball. That ended up being a costly decision, because with the blink of an eye, Brown knocked the football out of the defender’s hands and the Patriots quickly got it back from the Chargers. It might not have been the play that cost San Diego the game, but all McCree had to do was just go down and keep the ball in his hands because any time Brady has a chance, he is going to make that team regret it instantly. Not too long after that fumble, the Patriots got in the endzone thanks to a former Charger named Reche Caldwell, and a direct snap to Corey Dillon up the middle tied up the game.
San Diego went three-and-out on their next possession, which gave Brady 3:30 and two timeouts to take the lead. It started with a dart over the middle to Daniel Graham, and then a few plays later, Caldwell got free down the sideline and stepped out of bounds into the red zone, giving rookie kicker Stephen Gostkowski the range he needed to put New England on top. Sure enough, he drilled a 31 yard chip shot through the uprights, and the Patriots were up 24-21. But Rivers still had plenty of time to make a name for his legacy and did enough to set up a makeable field goal for Nate Kaeding from 54 yards out to send the game into overtime. The ball was placed down, the kick was up, and it just spun to the right at the last second. The kick was no good, the Chargers season was over, and New England was moving on to the AFC Championship.
It was not exactly very cordial at the end, because once the Patriots won the game, many of their players started doing the “Lights Out” dance and were not afraid to rub it in the face of the Chargers. LT let everyone know that it was disrespectful and classless, Rivers was furious about it once he saw it with his own eyes, and it looked like a rivalry was going to be born. Fortunately, these two teams would see each other once again in 2007, and revenge was going to be the name of the game… for both teams.
2. Who Needs Cameras?
For the New Patriots, this Sunday night matchup against the Chargers in the second game of the season was more impactful than anybody could have anticipated. One week prior, they blew out the New York Jets 38-14 in the first game of the season. Normally when a team loses the game, they would quickly address what went wrong for them and move on to the next. Well, they did that but took their frustrations to a different level. A day or two after the game, the Patriots were accused of spying on the Jets sideline by videotaping the team’s defensive signals, which was a huge violation of NFL rules. To make a long story short, the team was punished and Bill Belichick was the main guy that was responsible, but that is a different story for another day. There was a game that New England had to get ready for, and after what had just transpired throughout the entire week, the team was more angry and motivated than they should have been. The Chargers were trying to get back at the Patriots for ruining their season, but New England wanted to get back at the world and let everyone know that they did not need any cameras or cheating tactics to win football games. One of these two teams would get their revenge, and on a primetime stage in Gillette Stadium, it was pretty clear who was going to get the final laugh.
The game was not even close, and at no point did the Chargers have any chance of winning. Brady threw for close to 280 yards and three touchdown passes, Laurence Maroney and Sammy Morris combined for 128 rushing yards, Randy Moss was a star with 105 yards and a couple touchdowns, and even Wes Welker had a 90+ yard night on eight catches. The defense was just as unstoppable that night, holding Tomlinson to just forty-three rushing yards on eighteen carries, while also sacking Rivers three times and picking him off twice. It was an ugly blowout that almost terrified the rest of the NFL. One week ago, the Patriots were accused of cheating, and now they had just destroyed one of the hottest teams in the league 38-14. Who needs cameras when you are the undisputed best team in football? Some say that it was this game that allowed New England to pull off one of the greatest seasons in NFL history, finishing with an undefeated 16-0 record while tormenting every team that stood in their way during the regular season. San Diego still finished that season at a respectable 11-5 record, and it turned out that this would not be the last time these two teams would play each other.
3. 2007 AFC Championship
After finishing the 2007 regular season with a perfect record, it was pretty much expected that the Patriots would host the AFC Championship after taking down the Jacksonville Jaguars in the divisional round. If they wanted to make it back to the Super Bowl for the fourth time in seven years, they had to get past a familiar rival. The Chargers might not have been as flashy as they were in 2006, but they more than deserved to be in the conference championship. The offense had not changed dramatically, their defense had a rising superstar in Antonio Cromartie that lead the NFL with ten interceptions, and their two playoff victories were more than impressive. It started with a defensive victory against the Tennessee Titans in the Wild Card, and then it was the offense’s turn to overthrow Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts in the Divisional, but that was also the game where they would deal with a huge obstacle. Late in the fourth quarter, Rivers tore his ACL and was quickly ruled out for the rest of the game. When any player in the NFL tears that ligament in his knee, he is not expected to even be on the field for a good number of months, let alone the next week. But knowing that this was the biggest game of the season, Rivers decided to give it a go and play the AFC Championship on one knee, similar to Willis Reed playing on a broken leg in Game 7 of the 1970 Finals.
Not one time did Rivers walk over to the sideline and miss a play. He gutted it out, he played his heart out and showed the world just how much fortitude and character he had, but it was unfortunately nowhere near enough. In a game where Brady was picked off three times, San Diego could only get six points off of those turnovers and did not score a touchdown for the whole afternoon. Rivers finished with just 211 yards and two interceptions, LT suffered a knee injury on the second play and did not take another snap, and the Chargers just fell flat. It was still a very ugly game for the Patriots offense, but they still did more than enough. Brady threw a couple touchdown passes, Laurence Maroney arguably had the best game of his career with 122 rushing yards on twenty-five carries, and they completely milked the clock all the way down to zero when they got it back with close to nine minutes left in the fourth quarter. The Patriots advanced to the Super Bowl with a 21-12 victory, even though it was incredibly sloppy and unbearable to watch. That was not even the worst of it though because two weeks later, their perfect season came to an end against the New York Giants with a heartbreaking 17-14 defeat.
4. 2018 AFC Divisional
Over ten years have passed, and in that span, the Chargers were just 1-5 against the Patriots. That one victory was in 2008, when Brady was out with a torn ACL and they defeated Matt Cassel and company 30-10 in San Diego. Since then, the Patriots have still been the best and most dominant team in all of football, while the Chargers were on the outside looking in, even with a move to Los Angeles before the 2017 season began. However, in the divisional round of the 2018 playoffs, many expected the Chargers to finally get over the hump against the biggest bully in their conference. The Patriots might have been the second seed in the AFC and were hosting this matchup in Gillette Stadium, but they were clearly not as unstoppable as they were in the past, and the media did everything they could to write this team off. They even said that the Chargers, a team that Brady has never lost to in his career, was going to blow the Patriots out on the road and move on to the AFC Championship.
To be fair, the Chargers did have a solid team that season. Rivers was still playing at a solid level in year thirteen, and while the roster had completely changed around him, there were so many playmakers on that roster. Melvin Gordon was a Pro Bowl running back, Keenan Allen was easily one of the best route runners in football, Mike Williams was a huge playmaker, and it was an offense that scored the sixth most points in the league. Their defense had plenty of studs like Joey Bosa, Melvin Ingram, and Derwin James that made their impact feel week after week. They finished that year eighth in points allowed and tenth in yards allowed, so against a team like the Patriots, this was supposed to be a dogfight. Spoiler alert, it was not.
Knowing that they were being written off, the Patriots wanted to send a message not just to the Chargers, but to the rest of America that they were not done just yet. On their first offensive drive of the game, the Patriots drove 83 yards down the field in fifteen plays, taking just over seven minutes for Sony Michel to get the firs touchdown. LA quickly responded with a wide open touchdown pass to Allen, but up until garbage time, the Patriots were just all over the field. The Patriots scored on six of their next seven drives, five of them ended with touchdowns. Michel had one of the most signature performances of his career, running the ball twenty-four times for close to 130 yards with three touchdowns. Julian Edelman was the best receiver on the field with 151 yards on nine catches, Brady threw for over 343 yards, and LA had no answers until it was way too late. Rivers might have finished the afternoon with over 330 yards and three touchdowns, but two of them didn’t take place until they were down 41-14. Gordon ran for just fifteen yards on nine carries, Allen only had one more catch for the rest of the game, and LA was just flat out punked. Both Brady and Belichick came up with the perfect gameplan on both sides of the ball, and it was more than enough for them to make it to their eighth straight conference championship. They soon beat the Kansas City Chiefs 37-31 in overtime, and then two weeks later, won their sixth Super Bowl in franchise history with a 13-3 victory over the Los Angeles Rams.
5. Adrian Phillips Revenge Game
The last time that New England beat Los Angeles was in Week 8 of the 2021 regular season, when both teams were trying to leap their way into the playoff picture. Let’s start with the Chargers, since they were considered to be the better team at the beginning of the year. Justin Herbert was the undisputed rookie of the year in 2020, setting the record for touchdown passes with 31 and proving to be a legitimate face of the franchise. Heading into his sophomore season, it was not only time for him to take that next leap, but for the rest of the team as well. Brandon Staley was in his first year as the head coach, Austin Ekeler was finally getting a chance to be the starting running back after playing as the second option behind Gordon, and the team had plenty of talent to be a playoff contender. Heading into this home game against the Patriots, they were 4-2 and 4.5 point favorites, but little did they know that they were going to be in for a long day.
After Brady left the Patriots in the 2020 offseason, the team completely stumbled out of the playoff picture just one year after the end of an unbelievable era and were coming off of a 7-9 season. In the spring of 2021, Belichick went on a spending spree in free agency, which is nowhere near normal for the Patriots organization at the time. New additions were made on both sides of the ball, guys coming back from injury returned to the lineup, and a rookie quarterback named Mac Jones was drafted in the first round. The Patriots might not have had the pieces to be a legitimate Super Bowl contender, but Belichick was not going to let his team go to ruins after seeing Brady win yet another championship in his first year with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Heading into the new So-Fi Stadium in Los Angeles, the Patriots were stumbling at 3-4, but they had won six straight against the Chargers and were going to use that historical fact to their advantage.
Right away, LA’s offense was sharp and precise, capping off their opening drive with a powerful five yard touchdown run from Ekeler. They already scored more points than they did against the Patriots the year before, when they got shut out 45-0 in their own house, when Cam Newton was the starting quarterback and N’Keal Harry caught the only touchdown pass thrown that day. After the Chargers scored, the Patriots didn’t take too long to respond with a touchdown of their own, but neither did LA. On the second play of the second quarter, backup running back Justin Jackson nearly took a 75 yard run to the house, but it still set up an easy touchdown pass to Allen to give LA the lead. But what ensued for the rest of the afternoon was a gutsy defensive battle. New England had no problem moving the ball down the field, but they could only settle for field goals by Nick Folk.
The Chargers, on the other hand, were just neutralized for the rest of the day. Even though a third-quarter field goal from Dustin Hopkins gave them a 17-16 lead, Belichick’s adjustments sent LA’s offense into quicksand, and it officially sank them early in the fourth quarter. Hoping to put the game further out of reach, the Chargers faced a third and ten at their own twenty-two yard line. Herbert didn’t go for the home run ball, but instead threw a pass on the right flat to tight end Jared Cook, who was not even aware that the pass was coming his way. Former Chargers safety Adrian Phillips, who had already picked off Herbert early in the second quarter, saw that mistake right away and took an opportunity to pounce on the play. The Patriots defensive back dived for the ball and came up with an impressive interception, quickly getting up and running down the sideline, eventually getting into the endzone for a game-changing pick six! Jones then found Jakobi Meyers in the endzone for the two-point conversion, and New England was now leading 24-17! The Chargers offense went three-and-out on the next drive, the Patriots kicked a field goal to increase their lead to ten, and it was too late for LA to make a potential comeback. They might have scored a late touchdown with forty seconds left, but New England recovered the onside kick and won the game 27-24.
Throughout the rest of the regular season, both the Patriots and Chargers were considered to be two promising Wild Card contenders, but only one of them got to make it to that stage. New England was on the fortunate side, but it was worse under the surface. Before the bye week, the team was 9-4 with the best record in the AFC thanks to a punishing defense and re-energized offense. Unfortunately, they lost three of their final four matchups to stumble into the playoffs as the sixth seed in the AFC, before ultimately getting destroyed 47-17 by the Buffalo Bills. In retrospect, the Chargers were the more deserving playoff team, but they got in their own way in the regular season finale against the Las Vegas Raiders. The winner would make the playoffs, the loser would be sent home, and both would make it in if this ended in a tie. Tied at 32 in overtime, the Raiders were in no rush to get into field goal range on their final drive and it looked like they were going to let the score stay the same. However, Brandon Staley called a late timeout to get their run defense adjusted, which sent a message to Vegas that they were playing for either a win or a loss. The Raiders quickly got that, and a few plays later, Daniel Carlson booted the Chargers out of playoff contention with a 47 yard walk off field goal.
Why bring these five matchups up when the Chargers just beat the Patriots last year? The answer to that is very simple. Last season, New England just had no structure or vision on their offense, and their defense was incredibly injured without some of their top players. Now that both teams are going to be at full strength with new head coaches and promising young quarterbacks, it will be a chance to see if New England will pull off an upset on their home field, or if Los Angeles will finally get out of their own way and show why they were considered to be dark horse Super Bowl contenders not that long ago. Because this game is in Week 17, this could be a very pivotal one for the Chargers if they really do head into the right direction in Harbaugh’s first year in charge. As for New England, this could be an opportunity to play spoiler once again. While some things change, others just remain the same, and that would be a chance to reinforce that narrative now that they are starting over. Time will tell to see how both teams will look heading into this game, but only one of them will have more hope and optimism at this point.
