New England Patriots bold predictions for a crucial Week 13 matchup with the Chargers.
In what has been a roller-coaster type of season to this point, the New England Patriots have appeared to start to figure things out in the latter portion of the 2020 campaign. In Week 13, New England will hope to continue to keep that momentum rolling when it begins a three-game road stretch on Sunday evening in Los Angeles.
The Patriots will hit the road to battle the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday evening on CBS, a contest between two below-.500 squads at SoFi Stadium.
New England enters the AFC showdown having won three of its last four games to come to an overall record of 5-6 through 11 games. Most recently, the Patriots defeated the Arizona Cardinals 20-17 in Week 12 at home in Foxborough.
In that game, New England fell behind early and ended up trailing Arizona 10-7 going into halftime. In the second half, however, the Patriots turned things around and outscored the Cardinals 13-7 over the final two quarters and buried a game-winning field goal as time expired to steal the game at Gillette Stadium.
On the other side of the field in Week 13, New England battles a Los Angeles team that enters the game at 3-8 on the year while having lost four of its last five games.
With the Patriots aiming to remain the win column while keeping the Chargers in the loss column in Week 13, let’s dive into three bold predictions that will occur for New England on Sunday in Los Angeles.
3. Chargers will throw on the Patriots early and often
The first thing that is just about a given to take place in the Week 13 matchup between New England and Los Angeles this weekend is that the Chargers offense will continue to lean on the passing attack led by rookie quarterback Justin Herbert.
Coming into the contest, the Chargers have one of the more pass-heavy offenses in the NFL, ranking third as an overall offense among NFL teams, headlined by a third-ranked passing attack and an 11th-ranked run game.
Going into Week 13, Los Angeles has recorded a total of 3,227 yards through the air, which is the third-most in the NFL behind only the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Kansas City Chiefs. The Chargers have completed 286 passes (fifth-most in the league) for an average of 7.4 yards per catch (tied for ninth-most) while throwing for 23 touchdowns via the pass (tied for seventh-most).
When it comes specifically to Herbert, he has recorded the ninth-most passing yards among NFL quarterbacks, tallying 3,015 through 11 games. With 269 completions (seventh-most in NFL), he has completed 66.9 percent of his passes along with a quarterback rating of 100.9 with just seven interceptions.
Traditionally, the Patriots defense has done a decent job in holding opposing offenses in check, having the 15th-ranked defense in the league so far this season. But recently, New England’s defensive unit has allowed opposing teams to air the ball out a bit, which is something Los Angeles will try and take advantage of on Sunday.