The Los Angeles Chargers and the New England Patriots face off on Sunday with a spot in the AFC Championship game on the line. The Patriots are the favorites in this game but that doesn’t mean the Chargers don’t have a shot to win this game. Let’s breakdown three reasons why the Chargers will beat the Patriots.
Tom Brady looks vulnerable
There is no question that Tom Brady is still one of the better quarterbacks in the league and one of the best of all time, but this isn’t the same Brady that slung it all over the field and rarely made mistakes. This Brady is still throwing touchdowns and having success, even though he is missing a lot of easy throws that are routine in the pass.
Rob Gronkowski also looks like a shell of himself and isn’t the same dominant receiver that has dominated defenses for years.
Brady very well could still have a huge game on Sunday but if there ever was a year you wanted to face Brady and th Patriots offense, there is no question that this is it.
On the season Brady has thrown for 4,335 yards, 29 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions and a passer rating of 97.7. Just a few weeks ago against the Bills, he only had a passer rating of 48.3 and that is concerning because that type of performance didn’t happen in years past, at least not as frequently as it has this year.
Chargers defense is elite
Most of the talk coming out of the Chargers win over the Ravens was how bad Lamar Jackson was but most people didn’t talk about why they were so bad. The Chargers defense is good and doesn’t get talked about enough and the one thing they have done all year is take away the opponents best option.
This is a team that shut down a really good Chiefs offense in the second half and they have made the right adjustments all year. Over the last three games the Chargers are only giving up 16 points per game and are playing with a lot of confidence.
If the offense can hop out to an early lead the defense should be able to pin their ears back and make life pretty tough on Tom Brady.
Patriots defense has been gashed
This isn’t the same Patriots defense of years past that would completely shut down teams. The stats overall look decent for this team but they have had some really bad games that have shown just how bad the defense can be and remember they were able to play the Bills and Jets four times total to help pad the stats.
This is a team that gave up 34 points each to the Titans and the Dolphins. Now the Dolphins offense was decent at times this year but the Titans offense was one that had troubles moving the ball but had no issue against the Patriots.
Rivers is going to get his chance to light up the secondary and I think he will have no issue moving the ball up and down the field all afternoon.
