What the holy hell did the entire football world just witness from the Patriots?
Depending on your perspective, it probably elicited various states of fear and cheer.
New England beat up on the Chargers like ya write about.
45-0.
Cam Newton had two rushing touchdowns, the first to close out a 75-yard, tone-setting drive to open the game.
Gunner Olszewski had a 70-yard punt return touchdown and added a 38-yard touchdown catch from Jarrett Stidham in garbage time.
Devin McCourty returned a blocked field goal for a 44-yard touchdown to close out the first half with momentum and a decisive 28-0 lead.
And the defense harried budding star rookie quarterback Justin Herbert all evening to the tune of three sacks, an incredible 11 QB hits and picked off a pair of the first-round pick’s passes.
Sure it was complementary football, but not the just-good-enough, ho-hum stuff seen in the Patriots five previous wins this season. This was dominant complementary football.
To improve to 6-6 on the season.
To keep the longshot, fledgling playoff hopes alive.
It was like nothing seen in New England all year. This was almost old-school, dynasty Patriots kind of action.
And let’s not go crazy with the rationalizing cheap shots about the Chargers, their inept coaching staff and such. Remember, the Patriots needed a Nick Folk 51-yard field goal as time expired to complete a 10-point fourth quarter comeback to get past the still-winless Jets back in early November.
It’s generally accepted that Bill Belichick’s teams play their best football after Thanksgiving and in the month of December and it’s hard to believe otherwise after watching what New England did Sunday evening at SoFi Stadium in L.A.
“It was nice to see it come together today,” Belichick said afterwards, expressing how proud he was of his team. “I thought we had a game where all three units contributed. It was a complementary game. We had plays from the offense, the defense and special teams. We played with a good level for 60 minutes and more consistency than we’ve probably had in most other games.”
Boy did it come together. Pass rush. Improved tackling.
Dominant run-blocking. Great offensive game plan and play calling.
There’s been snippets of each along the way during this challenging campaign, but not in concert the way it all came together in a beautiful symphony to stun a Chargers team that had been outscored by more than 10 points by an opponent just once all season and had scored at least 16 points each time it took the field.
There is no questioning how impressively the Patriots played on Sunday. How completely they dominated soon-to-be-fired L.A. coach Anthony Lynn and his team.
But to what end? What does such a well-rounded road performance on the first weekend of December mean for a team that dug itself a hole with its play through the first two months and just now pulled to .500?
Depending on which calculators and spreadsheets you choose to believe, the Patriots still have only between a 15-21 percent chance to make the playoffs.
Two teams in the AFC East alone, the Bills and Dolphins, already have eight wins. New England rode the bus back to its L.A. hotel Sunday night still ranking 10th in the AFC playoff picture that will only send seven teams to postseason action. It has a challenging Thursday night matchup with the Rams on the immediate horizon after a few days of impromptu prep at UCLA followed up by a trip to Miami.
“I think our entire team has gotten better pretty much weekly,” Belichick said. “We just do things better than we’ve done them before. There’s still plenty of room for improvement. I’m not saying we’re there yet or anything by any means.”
They have indeed played better of late. They do more things well now than earlier in the year, even if the passing offense is still well below modern NFL standards. And they are also clearly not there yet if the there in question is inside the playoff picture.
The reality is that as well as the Patriots played against the Chargers, this wasn’t a classic late-season domination to solidify playoff seeding. As good as they looked and as much momentum as has been built up winning four of the last five games to keep things interesting down the stretch, New England probably still needs a little holiday help to get into the dance. It may not quite require a Christmas miracle, but it’s not far off, either.
To be clear, though, they still believe inside the New England locker room.
“We just have to understand that we just have to take one game at a time. We understand what position we are in. And everything is pretty much in front of us,” Newton declared. “We just have to really hone in and focus on the opponents that we face that week and maximize each and every opportunity that we do get. I think if we keep that going on, we’ll be in good graces.”
We’ll soon find out.
But for here and now make no mistake, this was a good Patriots win. A dominant win. A win to feel good about for the team and its fans alike.
Now, it’s on to Thursday night and the 8-4 Rams, currently the No. 3 seed in the NFC playoff picture.
No rest for the NFL weary.