The New England Patriots put the clamps on the Los Angeles Chargers in the wild card round of the playoffs, surrendering only a field goal in a 16-3 victory on Sunday night. The defensive performance paved the way for that win, and it was one earned through relentless pressure and deception.
That combination, conducted from the sideline by defensive play caller Zak Kuhr, left the Chargers guessing throughout the night. And don’t just take it from us: they said so himself, according to linebacker Robert
Spillane.
“Zak has been great all year. He keeps the dial spinning. He keeps offenses guessing. All year he’s been doing that,” said Spillane during his postgame press conference.
“After the game, just talking to a few of the guys on their team, they had no clue what we were doing. And they came up and said that: ‘We had no clue what you guys were in all game.’ So, for him just to be able to build those packages throughout the week, our backend players then knowing how to disguise the different defenses, that really keeps quarterbacks guessing.”
On the day, the Patriots did not just prevent the Chargers down reaching the end zone, they also limited their overall output. L.A. finished with only 207 yards of offense and a mere 3.5 yards per play, all while going just 2-for-13 on combined third and fourth downs.
Unsurprisingly, Spillane was quite thrilled with the end result.
“I’m just so proud of this defense,” he said. “We’ve really come together. To hold an offense like that to three points in a playoff game is huge for us. It’s another boost of confidence for what we’ve already been doing all year.”
That year, thanks to Sunday’s win, is set to continue for at least another week. And the Patriots defense will continue trying to confuse opponents, or as Spillane put it:
“We’re just going to continue to build on what we already know works.”
