It wasn’t always pretty, in a game that went over 50 minutes without its first (and only) touchdown. But a young Patriots team – including multiple key players playing in the playoffs for the first time – made enough key big plays late to pull out the win.

What worked for the Patriots, and what needs to improve before their next playoff game? Let’s take a look in a Wild Card edition of takeaways…

Dominant defensive effort

This game was all about the Patriots’ defense. They dominated the Chargers for the vast majority of the 60 minutes, while still improving as the game went on.

“I thought they played extremely well,” head coach Mike Vrabel said after the game. “What our defense was able to do early in that game, in the red zone, inside the five yard line or inside the nine yard line, I think really set the tone for them for the rest of the game…Just really proud of everybody.”

As Vrabel mentioned, the defense set the tone right away. Red zone defense has been an issue for the Patriots this season, so when Drake Maye was intercepted backed up to his own goal line on the Patriots’ second drive of the game, it looked like the Chargers were in position to take an early lead. However the unit held up, with Marcus Jones tackling Justin Herbert on the goal line on third down, then Robert Spillane and Christian Barmore getting pressure on fourth down to force an incompletion and turnover.

That became somewhat of a pattern in this game. For the first three quarters the Chargers would move the ball a little bit, only to stall out before reaching field goal range. The Patriots’ defense held Los Angeles to a 1-of-10 mark in third downs, becoming just the seventh defense since 2010 to have such a performance, per Pro Football Reference.

As the game went on, the Patriots’ defense made things tougher on Herbert and his receivers. While they didn’t initially get the pressure that was expected against a weak Chargers’ offensive line, the secondary didn’t give Herbert much room in covering the pass catchers. It was one of the Patriots’ better coverage games of the season.

Then, the pressure game – with the Patriots really turning up the heat in the second half. In total Herbert was pressured 30 times on 44 drop backs. Free agent signings K’Lavon Chaisson and Milton Williams – who like Spillane has recently missed multiple games due to injury – led the way. They each had two sacks, with the Patriots finishing with six as a team. Three of those six came in the fourth quarter.

“We talked to them about being willing to spill some blood out there, that the big dogs come out in January,” Vrabel said of Williams’ approach after the game. “I think Milt took that to heart in the way that he played the game, in the way he finished the game.”

Zak Kuhr confused the Chargers

Adding to the Chargers’ frustration was the fact that they may not have been ready for a lot of what the Patriots’ defense threw at them. That’s credit to defensive play caller Zak Kuhr, who has been in that role for most of the season while defensive coordinator Terrell Williams has been battling cancer.

“After the game, talking to a few of the guys on [the Chargers], they had no clue what we were doing and they came up and said that ‘We have no clue what you guys were in all game,'” Spillane relayed in his postgame press conference. “For him to be able to build those packages throughout the week, our backend players to know how to disguise the different defenses, it really keeps quarterbacks guessing.”

The Patriots may need that level of complexity in their defense moving forward, as they could have a couple of experienced quarterbacks ahead on their road to a Super Bowl. Both Aaron Rodgers (playing Monday night) and Josh Allen (won on Sunday, plays next Saturday) are still alive in the AFC playoff picture.

Drake Maye’s first playoff game

Maye’s first playoff game was one to remember, but also one he’ll need to have a short memory about in some regards. It was rocky at times, but importantly he stepped up and made plays when they needed to be made.

On the second drive of the game Maye had his first of two turnovers. His pass over the middle – out of his own end zone – was tipped at the line by Chargers defensive tackle Teair Tart (who had a great game) then picked off on the deflection. The defense bailed Maye and the offense out by getting that four down stop on the ensuing posession.

Once he got the ball back he led one of the better drives of the game for the Patriots. A checkdown against the blitz helped the Patriots get from out of the shadow of their own goalpost up near the 50, then kept going. The drive would eventually end with a field goal after the Patriots went 93 yards, but it helped settle things down.

The ball security issues continued into the second half though. Maye fumbled twice, losing one. Both came on plays when he tried to throw out of a sack, making a bad situation worse.

There were also a few sprays over the course of the game. That was highlighted by him overthrowing Austin Hooper open in the end zone in the fourth quarter. In some ways, the player Maye was as a rookie showed up at times.

Despite those issues though, Maye was still able to turn it on when the Patriots needed him the most. In addition to leading that long drive after his interception, two plays stand out. The first was a 37-yard scramble inside of the two minute warning of the first half, which set up the Patriots with a 35-yard field goal to take the lead going into the locker room. A significant momentum play. The other was his best throw of the night, a dime to Hunter Henry for a 28-yard touchdown that put the game away.

After a rough second half Maye did a much better job settling in. He was 11-of-14 for 173 yards in the second half, but did have the two fumbles.

“Just got to be better, whether it’s accuracy or ball placement or little things, making decisions faster,” Maye said of his own performance after the game. “Held onto the ball a little bit tonight. Finally got one in the end. I missed Hoop on a touchdown. Feel like I missed Pop on a third down low. It wasn’t my best tonight. But that’s why you have teammates, those guys picked me up. Never lost confidence.”

Impact plays from the running backs

Two of Maye’s teammates who picked him up in this game were the running backs. Rhamondre Stevenson and TreVeyon Henderson came into the playoffs playing high-level football, and that continued on Sunday night.

Stevenson continues to be arguably the Patriots’ biggest threat with the ball in his hands. his 48-yard catch-and-run in the first half was huge but he was effective every time the ball came his way. He ran 10 times for 53 yards, and had three catches for 75 yards.

As for Henderson, his biggest play may have been without the ball in his hands. He had a play action look on the touchdown to Henry, with the Chargers ending up blitzing right up the middle. Henderson had to quickly adjust and ended up flipping Chargers linebacker Daiyan Henley around and away from Maye, giving him the time to throw. Early in the season pass blocking was one of Henderson’s biggest issues, but he came up big in that regard in this one.

Rookie offensive linemen struggle

In addition to Maye cleaning up the turnovers, one other area the Patriots’ offense will need to look for improvement heading into the divisional round (or really, these two go hand-in-hand) is their pass blocking. In particular, the all-rookie left side of the line struggled.

First round pick left tackle Will Campbell had one of his more down games as a pro. PFF’s initial tracking had him down for three pressures, and his sack allowed was the strip sack fumble that Maye lost. The Chargers threw a lot at him in this game, and were able to make him look like a rookie.

Meanwhile left guard Jared Wilson allowed a team-high four pressures. This was Wilson’s first game back after missing multiple games with a concussion. Ben Brown had stepped in for him, and it will be interesting to see if the Patriots consider going back to Brown after going through the film.

Obviously, the Patriots were still able to win this game despite the struggles of both players. Looking at the pass rush units of the other teams left in the AFC though, it’s somewhere they’ll need to improve moving forward.