NFL Spin Zone
Fansided

Los Angeles Chargers: 3 Takeaways vs. Patriots in Week 8

By Derek Snyder

FOXBORO, MA - OCTOBER 29: Travis BenjaminFOXBORO, MA - OCTOBER 29: Travis Benjamin #12 of the Los Angeles Chargers carries the ball during the third quarter of a game against the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium on October 29, 2017 in Foxboro, Massachusetts. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
FOXBORO, MA - OCTOBER 29: Travis BenjaminFOXBORO, MA - OCTOBER 29: Travis Benjamin #12 of the Los Angeles Chargers carries the ball during the third quarter of a game against the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium on October 29, 2017 in Foxboro, Massachusetts. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
2 of 4
Next
FOXBORO, MA – OCTOBER 29: Dion Lewis #33 of the New England Patriots carries the ball during the second quarter of a game against the Los Angeles Chargers at Gillette Stadium on October 29, 2017 in Foxboro, Massachusetts. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
FOXBORO, MA – OCTOBER 29: Dion Lewis #33 of the New England Patriots carries the ball during the second quarter of a game against the Los Angeles Chargers at Gillette Stadium on October 29, 2017 in Foxboro, Massachusetts. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) /

3. Chargers stopped the run, but not the Patriots running backs

Heading into their eighth game of the 2017 regular season, the Chargers have established themselves as one of the worst teams in the league in stopping the run. Literally every team they’ve played this year has done what they wanted on the ground, except for the Denver Broncos a week ago.

More from Los Angeles Chargers

That said, their Week 8 matchup against New England would put their ultimate defensive struggle to the test, as Dion Lewis, James White and Rex Burkhead awaited in Gillette Stadium.

The good news for Los Angeles is that they held the Patriots to only 98 yards on 32 total carries on Sunday afternoon; however, the bad news is that the Pats’ running backs were able to break-through in the passing game, totaling 163 receiving yards between White, Burkhead and Lewis.

Needless to say, anyone who is going to give the Chargers defense props for having a good defensive outing against the run needs to consider what New England’s gameplan was all along. Due to the insane pass-rush between Joey Bosa and Melvin Ingram, Tom Brady was going to do everything in his power to get the ball off as fast as possible.

The result of that plan of attack was checking the football down to his backs, which gave Los Angeles all kinds of problems on Sunday afternoon.

Home/Los Angeles Chargers