Around New England

Philip Rivers 0-7 vs. Tom Brady

January 9, 2019

Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers is 0-7 lifetime against New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, with all of the previous games having taken place when the Chargers were in San Diego. (They moved to Los Angeles starting with the 2017-2018 season.)

The two are expected to lead their teams in the second-round playoff game in Foxborough on Sunday, January 13, 2019.

The Patriots went an unusually pedestrian 11-5 during the regular season, just good enough to snag a 2 seed and a first-round bye. The Chargers went 12-4 in the regular season, but had to settle for a wildcard 5 seed. (That’s because the 1-seed Kansas City Chiefs took the West division of the American Football Conference with a 12-4 record and a tiebreaker.)

Rivers, 37, has been the starting Chargers quarterback since 2006, when he took over for Drew Brees. (That’s after the Chargers traded Brees to the New Orleans Saints.)

The Chargers beat the Patriots 30-10 in San Diego on Sunday, October 12, 2008 with Rivers at the helm, but that’s the season Brady missed almost all of with a torn anterior cruciate ligament and a torn medial collateral ligament in his left knee. Matt Cassel was the Patriots’ quarterback that day.

Here is a list (from a web site called The Football Database) of games featuring Rivers vs. Brady:

Sunday, January 14, 2007
Divisional Playoff Game
at San Diego
Patriots, 24-21

Sunday, September 16, 2007
at Foxborough
Patriots, 38-14

Sunday, January 20, 2008
AFC Championship Game
at Foxborough
Patriots, 21-12

Sunday, October 24, 2010
at San Diego
Patriots, 23-20

Sunday, September 18, 2011
at Foxborough
Patriots, 35-21

Sunday, December 7, 2014
at San Diego
Patriots, 23-14

Sunday, October 29, 2017
at Foxborough
Patriots, 21-13

In the seven losses, the Chargers offense under Rivers has been unable to score more than 21 points. (With a low of 12 points.)

Since the two teams’ first meeting in 1960 (when the Chargers were in, oddly enough, Los Angeles, and the hometown team was called the Boston Patriots), the Patriots lead the series 24-15-2, according to The Football Database.