Patriots at Chargers score: Late pick-six off Justin Herbert lifts New England to road win in L.A.

The New England Patriots are back to .500 on the season after moving to 4-4 following a 27-24 win over the Chargers in Los Angeles. This game started out with both teams mirroring one another with touchdown drives on their opening possessions and then punts on the second. L.A. broke away with a touchdown early in the second quarter and began to edge out a lead. 

New England would hang around, however, drawing within one at halftime. After the break, they again traded scores with both teams netting field goals as L.A. continued to cling to a one-point lead. It was at that point where the pendulum was seemingly going to swing in favor of the Chargers following a three-and-out by the Patriots offense. However, former Chargers safety Adrian Phillips was able to pick off Justin Herbert on the ensuing possession and return it 26 yards for a touchdown to give New England the 24-17 lead with 10:11 to play in the fourth quarter. They'd later go on a 14-play drive that put them up by two scores, which would be enough to walk away with the road victory.   

Mac Jones finished completing 18 of his 35 passes for 217 yards. Meanwhile, the Patriots' running game -- led by Damien Harris -- totaled 142 yards on the ground and a touchdown. Herbert ended his day with 223 yards on 18 for 35 passing, two touchdowns and two interceptions.

Why the Patriots won

The Patriots made the clutch plays when they needed to. Naturally, the pick-six falls under that category, but so does the 14-play drive on their following possession. After forcing a three-and-out by the Chargers, the Patriots would travel 54 yards and eventually kick a 30-yard field goal to go up by two scores. What was just as important as putting up points was the Patriots' ability to bleed the clock down roughly seven minutes to give L.A. as little time as possible to get back into the contest. Various Patriots ball carriers were making the savvy decision of sliding in-bounds to keep the clock ticking as they moved down the field. That gave the Chargers only enough time for one touchdown drive and hope to recover an onside kick just to tie the game with a late field goal. 

New England's pass rush also came up big in this game, especially Matthew Judon, who continues to be the biggest free-agent addition of the offseason. He was constantly applying pressure and finished with 1.5 sacks and two quarterback hits along with five tackles. On the day, the Patriots sacked Herbert three times and finished with a total of six quarterback hits.

Why the Chargers lost

Arguably the biggest area where the Chargers struggled in this loss was on third down. They converted just four of their 12 opportunities, which contributed to New England jumping out to roughly a 10-minute advantage in time of possession. Those issues on third down were a key reason for the L.A. offense going silent in the closing minutes of the first half. After their second touchdown on the afternoon, the Chargers had two three-and-outs and an interception going into the break. Over that same stretch, the Patriots would tack on six points to cut into the Chargers lead. 

Turnovers were obviously a killer for L.A. as well as each resulted in points going up on the board for the opposition and both were hauled in by former Charger Adrian Phillips. Herbert's first interception occurred with just a minute remaining in the first half and was followed up with a five-play drive by the New England that brought them within one point prior to halftime. Meanwhile, the second was that dagger pick-six that put the Chargers in a seven-point hole in the fourth quarter.

Turning point

Phillips' pick-six completely changed the complexion of the game. New England had just gone three-and-out on offense, which came after a six-play drive by the Chargers that resulted in a field goal that gave them the 17-16 lead. Poised to add to that lead, Justin Herbert and Jared Cook seemed to have some miscommunication as the tight end failed to turn around on the throw, which was grabbed by Phillips, who would then travel 26 yards to the end zone. After Mac Jones completed the two-point conversion to Jakobi Meyers, that put the Patriots in the driver's seat up seven. 

Play of the game

While there were arguably more impactful plays in this game, this one is notable because two players were able to pull off spectacular efforts. The most obvious, of course, is Justin Jackson, who was able to escape a handful of Patriots by cutting up the middle of the field and rushing for 75 yards. Meanwhile, this was also a stellar effort by corner J.C. Jackson, who was able to run down Jackson and prevent him from scoring a touchdown. That lack of quick is something the Patriots' coaching staff will surely highlight during film review. 

What's next

From here, the Patriots will head to Carolina to face the Panthers and their old friend Stephon Gilmore. As for the Chargers, they'll be in Philadelphia taking on the Eagles, who are fresh off a dominating win over the Detroit Lions.