Patriots vs Chargers Predictions: San Diego Could Leave New England with a Win

Do not get caught up Tom Brady's phenomenal performance on Monday Night Football against the Miami Dolphins when he threw for a franchise record 517 yards and four touchdowns. Allow me to say it how it is: New England's secondary was putrid. 

Bill Belichick and the Patriots were lucky to escape Miami with a victory thanks to Brady's record-setting night. If it weren't for Brady, Chad Henne and his 416 yards would have sealed a victory for the Dolphins. 

This upcoming Sunday, unfortunately for the Patriots, they'll be squaring off against a far more talented team, the San Diego Chargers. 

Granted, the Chargers were not a playoff team in 2010, but had the league's top defense and offense—which is pretty remarkable. 

San Diego kicked off their season with a 24-17 victory over the Minnesota Vikings and Rivers played relatively well, despite throwing two interceptions. No. 17 tossed two touchdowns as well as accumulating 335 yards and completing 68.8 percent of his passes. Rivers was sacked twice. 

Entering Sunday, it's safe to expect that the Chargers will come out gunning and look to expose New England's atrocious secondary. If New England loses this game, it will be because of their pass defense. 

Following New England's Monday night victory, I learned a couple things: 

1. If Tom Brady does not have a monster game, the chances of the team winning are pretty slim. 
2. If New England cannot put pressure on the quarterback, their secondary will be exposed and taken advantage of. Granted, the Patriots did record four sacks, but by watching the game several times, I tend to believe that their pass rush is far too inconsistent. 
3. New England's secondary is very inexperienced. I do understand that it was the first time that Josh Barrett, Patrick Chung, Devin McCourty and Ras-I Dowling started together, but they made Chad Henne look like Dan Marino. 

If Henne played like an All Pro, then how do you think Rivers is going to play? Scary, isn't it? 

Over the years, New England has been changing their philosophy on both sides of the ball. It's almost like that they're the Indianapolis Colts from five years ago: Score a lot of points to make up for your below-average defense—news flash, it doesn't always work that way. For an example, look at New England's last three playoff losses. Their offense was contained and the opposing team walked all over their defense. 

The last time that these two foes met was last season in San Diego and Rivers played strong, and quite frankly, the Chargers should have walked away with a victory. Rivers completed 68 percent of his passes for 336 yards and one touchdown. 

If Rivers plays the way he did last season and San Diego's defense can put pressure on Brady and lock down Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez, it is going to be a long day for New England. 

With that being said, I do favor the Patriots because of one thing: home field advantage. The Patriots have been overwhelming good at home as they've gone a perfect 16-0 at home over the past two seasons. 

Prediction: New England: 30 San Diego: 27