Patriots RB Rhamondre Stevenson had 128 total scrimmage yards against the Bolts.

Patriots QB Drake Maye had 268 yards passing, with 1 TD, 66 yards rushing against the Los Angeles Chargers

The Patriots took their first step toward a trip to Super Bowl 60 with a dominant 16-3 triumph over the Los Angeles Chargers in NFL Wild Card competition.

The Pats defense was the story of this contest as it sacked Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert six times while thoroughly dismantling the Chargers offense.

This game turned in the first quarter when Pats quarterback Drake Maye, in his first NFL playoff game, had his pass tipped and intercepted by the Chargers inside the Pats’ red zone.

The Chargers failed to score a point as the Pats defense stopped them on a fourth-and-two play inside their five-yard line. That was basically the game as the Chargers failed in their one chance to put real pressure on this young Patriots team that has very few players with any major playoff experience.

Maye overcame his early struggles and made the key plays when the offense needed them, the first being his checkdown pass to running back Rhamondre Stevenson for a 50-yard gain. The team turned that play into a 23-yard field goal by rookie Andy Borregalas for a 3-0 lead in the second quarter. The defense rose to stop the next Chargers scoring threat, forcing them to settle for a 23-yard field goal by Cameron Dicker, which tied the game at three a piece.

Maye used his legs while engineering the next Patriots scoring drive, avoiding a Chargers pass rush and scrambling for 37 yards, setting up another field goal by Borregalas, this time at 35 yards, that gave the home team a 6-3 halftime lead. The Patriots’ offense started moving the ball in the third quarter, scoring a 39-yard field goal to extend the lead to 9-3.

All the while, the defense kept the clamps on the Chargers’ offense by maintaining constant passrush pressure on Herbert. Linebacker K’lavon Chaisson recorded two sacks and a forced fumble as the Patriots’ defensive unit forced Herbert into critical mistakes while completely shutting down the Chargers’ offense. The Pats put the game away when Maye hit tight end (and former Charger) Hunter Henry for a 28-yard TD in the fourth quarter. Defensive lineman Milton Williams’ sack of Herbert, the sixth for the team, turned the lights out on Los Angeles as the Patriots tied the franchise record for fewest points allowed in an NFL playoff game, three, the same number allowed by the Patriots in the team’s last playoff victory, the 13-3 triumph over the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl LIII in 2019.

Drake Maye’s numbers were respectable (268 yards passing, 1 TD, 66 rushing) in his first NFL playoff game. But he was quick to praise his team’s defensive work for the Pats victory: “Our defense was awesome all night. They carried our team. I stood in awe just watching them from the sidelines. As for me, I left some plays on the field that I hope I will improve on in our next game.”

That next game will be against the Houston Texans at Gillette Stadium on Jan. 18. The visiting Texans spanked the home team, the Pittsburgh Steelers, to the tune of 30-6 in one of the most dominant displays of defense seen in recent National Football League Playoff history.

The Texans, with the numberone-ranked defense, giving up a measly 17.4 points a game, proved to be too much for the Steelers. They harassed and finally broke the will of quarterback Aaron Rodgers and his Pittsburgh teammates, overcoming two fumbles and an interception thrown by their quarterback, C. J. Stroud, that kept the game close for three quarters.

But the defense rose to the occasion, stopping the Steelers’ offense every time Houston’s offense put the game in jeopardy. It seemed only fitting that the defense would record two touchdowns (on a returned fumble by Sheldon Rankins and an interception by Calen Bullock) in the fourth quarter to put the seal on this, the first road playoff victory in the Texans’ franchise history and 10th straight win this season, the longest active streak in the league.

The Texans are the first team to register two defensive touchdowns and allow fewer than 200 yards in an NFL playoff game since 1950. For the Steelers, this embarrassing loss, the seventh straight postseason defeat (tied for the longest streak all-time) for Mike Tomlin, brings his 19-year tenure as Steelers head coach to an inglorious end. It could also bring an end to the NFL career of 42-year-old Pittsburgh quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

In other NFL Wild Card Games: The sixth-seeded Buffalo Bills stopped the third-seeded Jacksonville Jaguars in the first road playoff victory of Josh Allen’s pro career. For the last five years, the Bills have dominated the AFC East and, as a result, have had homefield advantage in playoff competition. Their playoff quest this year will test their mettle as Road Warriors, seeing that the topseeded Denver Broncos and second-seeded Patriots hold homefield advantages over them should they meet in this year’s playoffs.

Buffalo passed their first road playoff test with their 27-24 comefrom-behind win over the home team and third-seeded Jaguars in Jacksonville. Allen, the reigning NFL Most Valuable Player, showed how he earned the title, getting up from several violent hits to lead his team down the stretch of a hotly contested game that saw four lead changes in the fourth quarter.

He concluded the game-winning drive, including a 37-yard pass to Brandin Cooks and a 10- yard pass for a clutch first down, finishing the drive with a one-yard quarterback run for the game-winning score. He did this on a badly bruised body from multiple earlier hits. He and his Bills team now carry their road act to Denver for a divisional playoff matchup with the top-seed Broncos. Make no mistake, the Bills are a tough group, like their all-pro quarterback, and will give the Broncos all they can handle.

The headline story in the NFC came out of Philadelphia where a shorthanded, injury-depleted, sixth-seeded San Francisco 49ers team pulled off a mighty upset against the defending Super Bowl Champion Eagles before a stunned sellout crowd at Lincoln Financial Stadium in the City of Brotherly Love.

While giving credit to the 49ers for their mental toughness and refusal to yield under overwhelming playoff pressure, with third and fourth-string substitutes playing major roles, many football pundits say this was more about the Eagles’ offensive failures than the 49ers’ defensive effort. The Eagles showed little creativity on offense, allowing the 49ers’ defense to stop them at the key moments of the game, especially on Philly’s last scoring drive. Eagles fans are a tough bunch when they win and an even tougher group to deal with when they lose, especially to a lesser-talented squad like this 49ers team at home. And while the Eagles are headed for an early playoff exit, neither they nor their fans expected San Francisco to play the top-seeded Seattle Seahawks for the third time this season, in Seattle.

The other NFC Playoff matchup is between the fifthseeded Los Angeles Rams and the second-seeded Chicago Bears in Chicago. Both the Rams and the Bears had to rally from behind to beat the Carolina Panthers and the Green Bay Packers, respectively. The Rams marched 71 yards on their game-winning drive with MVP candidate Matthew Stafford hitting tight end Colby Parkinson with 38 seconds left in the fourth quarter to provide the margin of victory. The Bears rallied from an 18-point deficit to defeat the Packers 31-27, thus becoming the first NFC team to win a playoff game after trailing by 15 points.

The Packers head into the off-season knowing they fell apart after dominating the Bears for the entire first half of this playoff contest. Bears first-year coach Ben Johnson, who claimed he took the Chicago job so he could keep beating Packers coach Matt LaFleur and now holds a 7-2 record against him, gets the last laugh in this one.

The second-seeded Bears advance to face the upstart Rams in divisional postseason play at Soldier Field in Chicago.