The New England Patriots punched their ticket for the divisional round of the 2025 NFL Playoffs on Sunday night when they handed the Los Angeles Chargers a 16-3 defeat. While it wasn’t a pretty game, New England earned quite a bit of praise for its performance, with notorious Patriots hater Nick Wright even praising the team.
Entering this game, many folks expected the Pats and Chargers to engage in a shootout. Instead, both teams struggled to put points on the board, with N.E.’s defense eventually taking over the contest in the second half.
After dominating on offense for much of the year, the Patriots proved they can win games because of their defense, too. Wright loved what he saw, as he shouted out New England on social media after it officially eliminated Los Angeles from the postseason.
“Absolutely 10 out of 10 tremendous performance by the Pats defense & Vrabel,” Wright wrote in a post on X. “Drake Maye had some first playoff game jitters but then settled in and made the game sealing throw. That was an awesome, championship caliber playoff victory for the Pats.”
It’s worth noting that the Chargers were pretty beat up heading into this game, but they still have an effective offense led by star quarterback Justin Herbert. He simply could not get anything going against the Patriots’ defense, which is a scary sign for the rest of the league.
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While L.A. will begin making vacation plans, New England will turn its attention to the divisional round of the playoffs. The Pats will be playing the winner of the Pittsburgh Steelers/Houston Texans game on Monday night, with the game set to take place on Sunday, Jan. 18.
Featured image via David Butler II/Imagn Images
