Everything you need to know about Patriots-Chargers in Week 13
FOXBORO -- This year's New England Patriots are playing a lot like the 1992 New England Patriots, a team that also started its season 2-9. On Sunday at Gillette Stadium, these current Patriots will look exactly like their 1992 counterparts.
The Pats have been acting the part of those '92 Patriots, and on Sunday they'll look like that team when they don their throwback red uniforms. The Patriots weren't too successful when they regularly wore these particular threads from 1984-92, but as throwbacks, the Pat Patriot look has been quite successful.
New England has donned those fancy throwbacks nine times since 1994, and the team is sporting a 7-2 record in those games. Unfortunately, those two losses have come the last two times they wore the red jersey-white-pants-white helmet combination: a 24-10 loss to the Bills last season and a 24-17 loss to Miami in Week 2 this season.
Can they get back to their winning ways this weekend against the 4-7 Los Angeles Chargers? Who knows. Anytime we think the Patriots have a winnable game in front of them, they lay a massive dud and are handed another discouraging loss.
It happened last week in New Jersey. And three weeks ago in Germany against the Colts. And a week before that when the Commanders came into Gillette and eked out a 20-17 win.
At least New England has won six straight regular-season meetings with the Chargers and seven overall. Will that matter on Sunday? Probably not. But it's a stat, and this page is full of Patriots-Chargers stats that you should know ahead of Sunday's tilt.
Patriots vs. Chargers
-The Patriots have been playing the Chargers since 1960, which was the inaugural season for both franchises in the AFL. The Pats are 24-14-2 all time against the Chargers, and own a 3-1 record against them in the postseason.
-The Patriots faced the Chargers in their first ever championship game in franchise history back in 1963. The Boston Patriots lost in San Diego in the AFL Championship Game to the tune of 51-10.
-The last time the Patriots lost a regular season game to the Chargers was over 15 years ago in October of 2008. That's when the San Diego Chargers beat New England, 30-10, at Qualcomm Stadium.
-The last time the Chargers won in Foxboro was back in 2005. The Bolts beat the Pats, 41-17, to snap a 22-game home winning streak for New England. Prior to that loss, the Pats had won seven straight games over the Chargers.
-Since that 2005 loss in Foxboro, the Pats are 10-1 against the Chargers in regular season and postseason action.
-The Patriots tout a 14-8-1 home record against the Chargers, with a 12-1 record as the New England Patriots. The Boston Patriots were just 2-7-1 against the Chargers at home.
-Bill Belichick is 12-5 against the Chargers for his career, including 11-3 with the Patriots (including the postseason).
Patriots-Chargers Connections
-Only one former Patriots player is on Los Angeles: Tight end Stephen Anderson. You're forgiven if you don't remember him, since he was on the New England practice squad in 2018. He was released ahead of the 2019 season, when he started his first stint with the Chargers, which lasted three seasons. He's now back on the L.A. practice squad after playing in 16 games for Arizona last season.
-The Patriots have quite a few former Chargers on their roster: Defensive lineman Lawrence Guy, tight end Hunter Henry, defensive back Adrian Phillips, tight end Matt Sokol, and cornerback J.C. Jackson.
Everything else you should know about Patriots-Chargers
-The Chargers bring a talented aerial attack, ranking 10th in the NFL at 243.5 passing yards per game. Their 24.5 points per game is tied for the eighth-most in the league.
The Patriots, for comparison's sake, are 23rd in passing offense at 193.8 yards per game and 31st in points at 13.5 per game. Los Angeles has scored 31 touchdowns on the season to New England's 16.
-If there's a weekend to get the passing game going though, it's this weekend. The Chargers are the worst passing defense in the NFL, allowing 280 yards through the air per game. Los Angeles ranks last in total defense at 390.6 yards per game, and are tied for 24th allowing 3.5 points per game.
-Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert is 0-2 against the Pats for his career. He's completed just 50 percent of his passes against New England for two touchdown passes and four interceptions. Adrian Phillips picked off Herbert twice the last time these two teams squared off, a 27-24 win by New England in Los Angeles in 2021.
-The Chargers are one of the five AFC teams that Mac Jones hasn't thrown an interception against in his career, along with the Bengals, Browns, Jaguars, and Titans. He's 4-1 against those opponents.
-Rhamondre Stevenson is coming off a season-high 98 rushing yards last week against the Giants. He finished with 107 yards from scrimmage, becoming just the second Patriots player in the last 10 seasons to have three straight games of over 100 yards from scrimmage.
-Sunday will be Bill Belichick's 424th overall game (including the postseason), which will move him past Don Shula for the third-most games coached with one team. After Sunday, Belichick will trail just George Halas (506) and Tom Landry (454).
Tune in to Patriots-Chargers on WBZ-TV -- the television home of the New England Patriots. We get you ready starting Wednesday night with Patriots 1st Down on TV38 at 9:30pm, with Patriots All Access airing on WBZ-TV Friday night at 7pm. WBZ is the place to be on Sunday, with Patriots GameDay kicking off coverage at 11:30am, the Pats and the Chargers set to kick off at 1pm, and Patriots 5th Quarter following the game!