The New England Patriots barely escaped San Diego with a victory today as they won 23-20 on a missed field goal from 50 yards away by Kris Brown. The game appeared to be sealed when New England had a 23-6 lead in the fourth quarter. Then things got interesting. The San Diego Chargers, led by quarterback Philip Rivers, drove the team down the field for a touchdown with just over seven minutes remaining in the game. Kris Brown had a beautiful on-side kick that was recovered by the Chargers, and then they drove down the field again and scored another touchdown with just over four minutes remaining. The Patriots then drove toward midfield, where a fourth-and-one decision was huge. They decided to go for the win and failed. The Chargers took over on the New England 48-yard line and quickly drove down to the 27-yard line, where they faced a fourth-and-two and a chance to send the game to overtime. Chargers lineman Louis Vazquez was called for a false start, moving the ball to the 32-yard line, which set up the game-tying field goal attempt.

Offense

The New England Patriots offense was awful in the first half and showed some signs of life in the second half. Tom Brady had a less than stellar game, converting 19 of 32 passes for 159 yards and a touchdown. He was sacked four times, hurried several others, and the receivers weren’t open for the majority of the first half. The running game was nonexistent in this contest, as they ran for a measly 51 yards on 22 carries, but they did get a touchdown from Benjarvis Green-Ellis. The only receiver that really stood out was rookie tight end Aaron Hernandez, who hauled in 5 catches for 54 yards. The other Patriots rookie tight end, Rob Gronkowski, provided the only other touchdown for New England. The Patriots converted just 15 first downs and were awful on third down, going 3 of 12. At one point in the red zone, the Patriots offensive line was horrible, as it allowed Tom Brady to be sacked on two consecutive plays. With 53 seconds left in the first half, the Patriots had 35 total yards of offense and 40 yards accumulated in penalties.

Grade: C-

Defense

The Patriots defense stepped it up in a big way during the first three quarters, capitalizing on several miscues by the Chargers. James Sanders, Jerod Mayo, and Rob Ninkovich recovered fumbles, and Devin McCourty made a great athletic interception, a play Darrelle Revis would make. The Chargers looked a bit lost in the first half, as there were several dropped balls in addition to the fumbles. Philip Rivers finished with a nice stat line as he was rallying his troops, finishing 34 of 50 for 336 yards and a touchdown. The Patriots did an outstanding job against the run, holding the Chargers to 38 yards on 19 carries. Simply put, the Patriots defense did enough to win on the road and were lucky Kris Brown missed the potential game-tying kick. The Chargers clearly had all of the momentum and simply ran out of time. Jerod Mayo once again led the Patriots defense in tackles, with 11 total. Brandon Deaderick and Mike Wright recorded sacks for the second straight week.

Grade: B+

Special Teams

The Patriots special teams play is generally an area of strength, but they were average today. They had several penalties called against them and quite a few low snaps. It’s a good thing rookie punter Zoltan Mesko is good at fielding low snaps and is good under pressure, because other punters may have had a rough time. Darren Sproles had good success returning kicks, as he averaged 27.2 on five returns. Patriots’ return man Brandon Tate was shut down on his two attempts, totaling just 45 yards. Julian Edelman had 37 punt return yards, including a 34-yarder in which he broke a tackle. Stephen Gostkowski was 3 for 3 in field goal attempts. After the Chargers scored to make it a 23-13 game, the Patriots’ special teams were caught napping, as they allowed the Chargers to recover an on-side kick. San Diego eventually scored a touchdown to make it 23-20.

Grade: C