Are the Patriots back? Or are the Falcons just free-falling? That’s a pair of questions we’ll have better answers for Sunday afternoon when New England hosts a surging Chargers team in Week 8. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. ET Sunday and will be broadcast live on CBS (live stream).
The Pats regained their Super Bowl swagger by crushing Atlanta in a fog-laden Sunday Night Football showdown, but their revival will be put to the test when a line-demolishing Charger pass rush turns up the heat on Tom Brady. Joey Bosa will get his first opportunity to sack the surefire Hall of Famer, and an improving-but-unsteady offensive line will have its hands full ensuring Brady has he time he needs to lead one of the league’s best attacks.
Time, TV channel, and streaming info
- Time: 1 p.m. ET
- Location: Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, Mass.
- TV: CBS
- Streaming: NFL on CBS
- Odds: New England is favored by 7.5 points.
Chargers at Patriots news:
- BELICHICK AT IT AGAIN: The Chargers can’t study game film due to New England’s weather-controlling coach.
Seriously -- This is the Patriots-Falcons All-22 film that the Chargers have to study this week. From the start of the 4th quarter: pic.twitter.com/SW1DjoEq1J
— Ben Volin (@BenVolin) October 24, 2017
- It was only a matter of time before the Patriots jumped back into the top two of the NFL power rankings.
The Patriots are No. 1 in total offense, and Tom Brady already has 2,208 passing yards when nobody else has crossed 2,000.
Sorry for ever doubting you, Bill Belichick and Brady.
- Melvin Ingram’s pass rush is so scary, he’s drawing flags for perfectly legal hits.
- The Patriots’ defensive revival is thanks to some insane play in the red zone — and it’s unsustainable.
Just one problem, though; you’ve heard the old “sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good”, and to varying extents, the Patriots red-zone defense over the past few weeks has been, well, lucky and good.
Does Philip Rivers have it in him to exploit the Patriot secondary?
Matt Ryan was the first passer all season to fail to throw for 300-plus yards against New England last week. Rivers could be the second if he can’t step up his game. The veteran passer is throwing for just 259 yards per game this fall, his lowest output since 2012. That’s even with a healthy Keenan Allen for the first time since 2014 — the explosive wideout leads all Chargers with 485 receiving yards this fall.
Chargers at Patriots prediction:
Among our eight experts, only Stephen White believes the Chargers will win. Our other seven experts chose the Patriots in their Week 8 picks, as did OddsShark’s computer.