FOXBOROUGH — This was old-school, leather helmet stuff. T formations and flying wedges. No style points. No artistry. It was the Waltz of Sub-Zero refrigerators, nothing like the thrills and grid artistry that electrified fans across America at playoff games in Charlotte, Chicago, Jacksonville, and Philadelphia.
But Patriots fans waited six years for this moment and there were no complaints at the end of Sunday night’s 16-3 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers at Gillette Stadium.
The first three quarters were not easy on the eyes as the Pats and Chargers bored Football America with punts, fumbles, and stalled drives. It wouldn’t have surprised me if fans across the country petitioned the NFL to kick them out of the playoffs altogether and bring back the Jags or Packers. Such was the state of this defensive slugfest.
The Patriots led, 9-3, early in the fourth, but still we worried that some fluky play could end New England’s magical season. Drake Maye was struggling with two turnovers, no touchdowns, and a mere three field goals from four trips inside the Chargers’ 22-yard line. In the first half he was 6-of-15 passing for 95 yards.
LA was too much for the man.
Ugh. We were prepared to kindly remind you that Tom Brady himself went scoreless in the first half of his first playoff game against the Oakland Raiders 24 years ago.
That’s when Maye stepped up and reminded us that he’s worthy of being compared to a young TB12. In the sixth minute of the final quarter, he feathered a 28-yard touchdown pass to Hunter Henry, completing a seven-play, 80-yard drive which pushed the Pats to a 16-3 lead and reminded Justin Herbert and the Chargers that they never had a chance.
“It wasn’t pretty for sure,” said Maye. “I didn’t throw very well tonight. I’ve got to be better. Finally got one in the end zone. It wasn’t my best night, but that’s why you’ve got teammates . . . it was great to watch this defense.”
“I thought our defense played extremely well,” said Pats coach Mike Vrabel. “We turned the ball over far too many times, but what our defense was able to do, especially early in the game, really set the tone.”
The Chargers poor pass protection made them first-round playoff fodder. Again. The Pats have now beaten the Bolts in the playoffs four times in four tries in this century, and Pro Bowler Herbert is 0-3. Like Philip Rivers, Herbert (sacked six times) can’t beat the Patriots when it counts.
The second-seeded Pats will be home again next Sunday in the divisional round, against the winner of Monday’s Pittsburgh-Houston game. Here’s hoping it’s Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers coming. Wouldn’t it be sweet if the Bills beat the Broncos in Denver, and then we get Maye vs. Josh Allen in an Ali-Frazier III AFC Championship game on Jan. 25 at Gillette?
Sunday’s beatdown was the first playoff game at Gillette since Brady’s final Patriot game — a 20-13 playoff loss to the Mike Vrabel-coached Tennessee Titans in January 2020. New England’s convincing win also represents their first postseason success since Brady and Co. won Super Bowl LIII, 13-3, over the Rams in February 2019.
Brady’s ultimate successor, 23-year-old Maye, led the Pats to a 14-3 regular season and now has them advancing in the Super Bowl tournament for the first time since Brady roamed the Foxborough turf.
Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, did not get off to a great start for New England sports fans. Much of the local population awoke to the sad, yet thoroughly predictable news that the Red Sox had been pantsed yet again regarding a free agent they were supposedly “in on.” After weeks of gaslighting fans, the Sox were outbid for the services of the popular Alex Bregman, who wound up signing with the Cubs for five years and $175 million. Fortunately for the Sox, the news broke right after the doors closed at Saturday’s Fenway Fest. Swell.
It was left to the local football team to make everybody feel better, and there was certainly optimism regarding its chances against their West Coast cousins from Los Angeles. The Pats were established as 3½-point favorites when the playoff pairings came out last weekend and there was minimal pushback that the Chargers were being unfairly maligned.
The Pats came into the night with a 3-1 lifetime playoff record vs. the Chargers. The Bolts’ only victory, 51-10 in the AFL championship game, came way back in 1964 when Babe Parilli was slinging touchdown passes to Jimmy Colclough and Gino Cappelletti was kicking extra points into the Red Sox bullpen at Fenway. In this century, Brady and friends beat Rivers and Co. three times in AFC postseason competition.
Former Super Bowl champ Vince Wilfork — looking newly svelte — had the honor of ringing the bell atop Bob Kraft’s lighthouse during pregame ceremonies. I’m pretty sure Vince yelled, “We all we got. We all we need,” but it was hard to hear over the din.
It was a toasty 35 degrees and dry when LA’s Cameron Dicker (Dicker the Kicker) kicked off at 8:16 p.m. Both offenses were slow out of the gate. Maye was intercepted on a tipped pass on his own 10-yard line in the first quarter, but New England’s defense stoned the Chargers, who are famously inept in the red zone. After that mini-drama, both teams managed lengthy, clock-eating drives that stalled inside the 10, and both settled for short field goals.
A 37-yard run up the middle by Maye set up the Patriots for a 35-yard Andy Borregales field goal just before halftime and the Pats led, 6-3, at intermission. After all the playoff drama of the first four wild-card games, it was pretty boring stuff.
Late in the third, Maye moved the Pats back to the Chargers 21, but again, New England stalled and settled for a field goal. It finally broke through in the fourth, and New England’s outstanding defense made 16-3 look like 73-0.
It’s Game On for the playoff Patriots. Bring on the Steelers, Texans, Bills, and (gulp) Bears.
Dan Shaughnessy is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at daniel.shaughnessy@globe.com. Follow him @dan_shaughnessy.