Welcome to the Unconventional Review, an instant reaction to standouts, stats, and story lines from the Patriots’ most recent game …
Many seasons have passed, and the cast has changed, but the script the Patriots authored Sunday night sure feels familiar in all the right ways.
The second-seeded Patriots roughed up Justin Herbert and the Chargers, 16-3, in their wild-card round playoff matchup Sunday night. It was the franchise’s first postseason victory in seven seasons, since a 13-3 win over the Rams in Super Bowl LIII in February 2019.
While there is an obvious gulf between the magnitude of that victory, the sixth and final Super Bowl win of the Tom Brady/Bill Belichick dynasty, and this one, the first postseason victory of the Drake Maye/Mike Vrabel era, it was impossible Sunday night to not appreciate the aesthetic similarities.