Drake Maye threw a touchdown pass to Hunter Henry in the fourth quarter as the New England Patriots defense roughed up Justin Herbert in a 16-3 AFC Wild Card playoff victory over the Los Angeles Chargers.
Andy Borregales kicked three field goals for the Patriots (15-3), who won a playoff game for the first time since their Super Bowl victory to cap the 2018 season. They'll host the winner of Monday night's game between Pittsburgh and Houston in the divisional round.
In his first career playoff game, Maye completed 17 of 29 passes for 268 yards and ran for a team-high 66 yards. He also threw an interception and lost a fumble, but the Chargers (11-7) couldn't capitalise on those turnovers.
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New England held the Chargers to 207 yards of offense and sacked Herbert six times, with one of those resulting in a lost fumble that set up the Patriots' TD.
"How about our defense, man? Congrats to the defense," Maye said. "What a night. It was so fun to watch."
This is the second straight season in which the Chargers have lost in the wild-card round. Herbert finished 19 of 31 for 159 yards and was his team's leading rusher with 57 yards as he fell to 0-3 in the playoffs.
The Chargers last failed to score a TD in a playoff game in their 21-12 AFC championship game loss to the Patriots during the 2007 season.
Stats leaders:
Chargers
- Passing: Justin Herbert, 19/31, 159 yards, 0 TD
- Rushing: Justin Herbert, 10 carries, 57 yards
- Receiving: Ladd McConkey, 3 catches, 32 yards
Patriots
- Passing: Drake Maye, 17/29, 268 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT
- Rushing: Drake Maye, 10 carries, 66 yards; Rhamondre Stevenson, 10 carries, 53 yards
- Receiving: Rhamondre Stevenson, 3 catches, 75 yards; Hunter Henry, 3 catches, 64 yards, 1 TD
The Patriots drove into the red zone on their first possession of the third quarter, but the drive ended when Maye was strip-sacked by Odafe Oweh, and De'Shawn Hand recovered for the Chargers.
After Los Angeles punted, Maye connected on a pass to Kayshon Boutte that went for 42 yards to set the Patriots up on the Chargers 27, but New England settled for a 39-yard field goal that stretched their lead to 9-3.
Early in the fourth quarter, Maye used a 16-yard pass to Boutte and a 13-yard burst by Rhamondre Stevenson to set up his precise 28-yard TD toss to Henry that put the Patriots in front 16-3.
The Chargers picked up back-to-back first downs to open their ensuing drive. But when Herbert dropped back to pass on the next play, linebacker K'Lavon Chaisson strip-sacked him and fell on the loose ball.
Los Angeles had one final possession, but it ended with Herbert getting sacked by Milton Williams on fourth down.
Watch every minute of the NFL playoffs and Super Bowl LX at Levi's Stadium live on Sky Sports NFL.
(c) Sky Sports 2026: NFL Playoffs: New England Patriots beat Los Angeles Chargers 16-3 as Drake Maye claims first post-season victory
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