Curran's Patriots-Chargers preview review

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Curran's Patriots-Chargers preview review

SAN DIEGO – Huge win after a week in San Diego. The Patriots finish their six-game junket 5-1 with just a narrow loss to the Packers last week. Remarkable performance by their defense. Offensively, the Patriots sputtered for a long stretch but were able to gut the Chargers in the final 20 minutes.

WHEN THE PATRIOTS HAVE THE BALL

Preview

The Chargers don’t have the most daunting defense but, then again, neither did the Packers. The Patriots have to do a better job converting third downs this week – or staying out of third down – against the Chargers. San Diego was riddled by linebacker injuries but has returned to health there and is playing better. The Chargers 3-4 is anchored at the back by free safety Eric Weddle, a smart player. Size-wise if he ends up on Gronk, that’s a bad deal for him. Brandon Flowers is the Chargers best corner. Second-year defensive end Kendall Reyes is starting to make an impact. The Chargers’ tepid pass rush is something the Patriots can really feast against. No pressure on Brady, no chance for San Diego.

Review

The Chargers did a nice job winning 1-on-1s, particularly Melvin Ingram on Nate Solder. The Patriots offensive line would get a gentleman’s C for this effort. A lot of plays that were embarrassingly blocked. The Patriots also seemed to have a hard time figuring out what they wanted to attack with. They rammed the ball down the Chargers’ throat but seemed to go away from it for no reason, although there may have been personnel or scheme adjustments that made them flip so swiftly. Weddle played very well on Gronk but Gronk still had 8 for 87. Julian Edelman was terrific and had some death-defying routes to run over the middle. He finished with 141 yards on eight catches. Bad gaffe by Brandon LaFell (4-41) getting stripped. Brady was, in 45 dropbacks, less than normal. He completed 28 for 317 and two touchdowns. He had some brilliant throws into tight windows. But the pick before the half was tough to swallow. His accuracy ebbed and flowed. But he also did what was necessary when necessary with four scrambles and a couple of key first down pickups. Red zone issues and inability to convert on third down were something the team will have to look at this week.

WHEN THE CHARGERS HAVE THE BALL

Preview

San Diego does a terrific job spreading the ball around because Philip Rivers is a big-brain guy who finds matchups. His first big threat is Keenan Allen outside. He’s seen 111 passes this season, catching 72 of them. Great, great route runner. Anticipate a Revis deployment there. Antonio Gates is the next issue. He’s still a big threat, especially on third down. A Jamie Collins/Patrick Chung shared operation there would be the Patriots likely option but the personnel on the field dictated by down, distance and game situation means a defense can’t always dictate who gets who. Eddie Royal is the slot so he’ll get Kyle Arrington and Co. Malcolm Floyd is the burner. At 6-5, he’s probably a Brandon Browner operation. The Chargers’ lead back is Ryan Mathews. He’s been hurt much of the year but is averaging 4.5 per carry. The Ravens held him to 40 yards on 12 carries last week. Branden Oliver is the changeup back and is a Darren Sproles clone. The Patriots’ biggest key will be getting off the field on third down and making up for any diminishment to Donta Hightower in the middle of the defense. Rivers is going to try to find that and exploit it. The Patriots should be able to get to Rivers with their pass rush. San Diego hasn’t been great in protection this season.

Review

Allen (2 catches, 3 yards) was erased by Revis. Gates (5-34) was held down by a collection. Malcom Floyd had his moments against Brandon Browner who erased – literally – tight end Ladarius Green. The Chargers only ran for 53 yards on 17 carries and Rivers was sacked four times and harassed many more. A dominant performance by the Patriots front which – even without Chandler Jones, Dont'a Hightower and Jerod Mayo – overwhelmed the Chargers up front. Jamie Collins, Rob Ninkovich, Vince Wilfork, Alan Branch, Chris Jones and Sealver Siliga were too much for the Chargers offensive line to hold off.

THE KICKING GAME

Preview

Chargers punter Mike Scifres has been at it a while and is still one of the league’s bigger legs. Kicker Nick Novak is 3 for 3 beyond 50 yards and has only one miss this season. Keenan Allen and Eddie Royal have eight punt returns each. Allen’s been more explosive with an 11.1 return average. San Diego is allowing 10.3 per punt return. Kinda high. Patriots special teams have been very good for the most part, though Ryan Allen hasn’t been as consistent as his rookie season.

Review

One of the game’s big turning points was the punt block by Brandon Bolden late in the second quarter setting up a back-shoulder touchdown throw to Rob Gronkowski. Nick Novak kicked well in relief of Scifres but it took a while for him to get his mojo. Ryan Allen had a solid punting game for the Patriots with a net of 44 and four punts downed inside the 20 (the final one just missed being downed at the 1 but turned into a touchback). Punt and kickoff coverage for both teams was very good.

GAME WITHIN THE GAME

Preview

How well the Patriots are able to perform at the linebacker level if Donta Hightower is limited or cannot play. How well the Chargers use personnel to get the matchups they want if the Patriots have to dip deeply into their depth chart at linebacker.

Review

It was Casillas stepping in for Hightower and the Patriots were exceptionally on point in keeping track of guys leaking out of the backfield and on crossers. Few, if any real busts.

CHARGERS GOTTA STOP

Preview

LeGarrette Blount. I’m walking the plank here. Watch them hand it to Jonas Gray 28 times. But I think Blount’s work when he’s gotten the ball since returning is enough to keep him at the top of the pecking order. The Patriots will want to start fast and control the ball so look for Blount’s usage to increase as the game wears on.

Review

San Diego did a solid job of it overall, limiting Blount to 66 yards on 20 carries, but Blount did have some big runs early and late although the middle of the game he was a phantom.

DON'T BE SURPRISED IF...

Preview

The Patriots defense has a very difficult time with a limited (or not available) Donta Hightower.

Review

What a tremendous job by both Jonathan Casillas taking over for Hightower in the defense and Jamie Collins taking the role as lead communicator. The defense played one of its best games of the season and Collins was remarkable.

THAT SUMS IT UP PATRIOTS STYLE

Preview

“I think to be balanced is really important. I thought we ran it really good last week. I think we’ve been running it good for a while. I think we just have to figure out how to run more plays so we can get more runs, get more passes, get more yards. I think that speaks to a lot of things – third down conversions. It’s a very complementary game. We have to do enough things to stay on the field which enables us to continue to run the ball [and] stay balanced. Last week we were behind the whole game. That’s not the way to play in the NFL. You don’t really want to be behind too often.” – Tom Brady on keeping the run-pass ratio close.

Review

The Patriots showed great commitment early to the run then deviated when they got in tight and wound up settling for the field goal on that drive. It was hard to see exactly who the Patriots wanted to be offensively Sunday night. Whether that was dictated by the Chargers’ personnel or it was the Patriots playing a shell game with their intentions wasn’t clear but it was a little odd.

THAT SUMS IT UP CHARGERS STYLE

Preview

“I just think that it shows a lot about what I’ve always said, which is about the character of our team, the toughness of our team, and we’ve finished strong in years where we were 13-3 or 11-5 those years. We’ve finished strong in years when we were 7-9 or 8-8 and I think that just shows whatever situation it is we are going to fight like crazy at the end and have that mentality to finish it off the right way.” – Philip Rivers on the Chargers being tough in December.

Review

The Chargers are certainly a team with a high grit level. They got cuffed around up front on their offensive line and that’s the main reason they came in second.