FOXBORO -- Here are five quick-hitting takeaways from what transpired between the Patriots and Chargers in their AFC Divisional Round playoff game on Sunday...
RIVERS ON THE RUN BRADY STANDING TALL
SCHEME WINS
While the blocking was exceptional, the Patriots scheme was able to pick apart Gus Bradley's defense. Just look at how the first drive of the game played out for New England. The Patriots ran 14 plays for 83 yards and ran 7:11 seconds off the clock. They mixed things up, working from under center and from out of the shotgun. They showed signs of being able to run it (Sony Michel had 100 yards before the half), and they moved efficiently with their passing game. And when Brady did pass, the football was out quickly. They used the screen game consistently -- as we thought they might -- and they hit their backs out of the backfield early and often. They even worked a shuffle pass in. Anything they could do not to let Bosa and Ingram tee off and get up the field on deep Brady dropbacks, they did.
GRONKOWSKI THROWING HIS WEIGHT AROUND
Rob Gronkowski is what he is at this point. What's that? An occasional down-the-field threat who can still do some serious damage as a blocker. It was what he did in the running game Sunday that made him one of the best players on the field for the Patriots offense. On Michel's 11-yard run on the game's opening drive, he threw Derwin James out the club. On the next play -- same call, opposite side of the field -- he might've gotten away with a hold, but he controlled James again. In the second quarter, helped push the pile on Michel's five-yard touchdown run, and he executed a nice combo block with Trent Brown on Rex Burkhead's six-yard score. Gronkowski broke two tackles and carried a third defender on his lone catch of the day for 25 yards. But what he did in the trenches was his best work.
WHAT A DIFFERENCE A LEAD MAKES
I asked Tom Brady on Friday if he'd like to take the football to start the game if the Patriots won the toss. He said it wasn't his decision. But based on his comments (and the comments of many of his teammates and coaches during the week), the Patriots knew they had to play from ahead. They knew they had to make LA's defense guess their intentions -- made easier when playing with a lead -- and they knew they had to make Philip Rivers and his offense more predictable. The Patriots did take the kick to start the game. They scored. And they never lost the lead. Along the way, the Chargers had to abandon the run game, but when they did run, the Patriots held them to a measly 1.7 yards per carry. The Patriots' ability to defend the run -- particularly out of their sub packages -- has been one of the weakest areas of their team for much of the season. But by playing with a lead, forcing the Chargers to throw, and eliminating the run altogether as a viable threat, they made themselves tougher to play against. The Chargers had just 15 rush attempts through the game's first 50 minutes.
- MORE PATRIOTS - Brady adds to his list of playoff records
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