The Patriots came out slow, with Tom Brady having a passer rating of 29.4 in the first quarter, but came on in the second to take a 14-9 lead into the half.

Two Patriot interceptions off Philip Rivers helped, the first by Asante Samuel leading to a 12-yard touchdown pass from Brady to Jabar Gaffney that gave the Patriots a 14-6 lead.

Ellis Hobbs had an interception on the next series, but Wes Welker dropped a third-down pass that forced the Patriots to punt.

The Patriots have been helped by the fact that San Diego's LaDainian Tomlinson hasn't played since the first series of the game. It was announced that he has a sore knee but could return.

Still, the Chargers stayed close as his replacements, Michael Turner and Darren Sproles, provided a strong running game. Sproles, in fact, ran for 34 yards on consecutive draws to help the Chargers drive down for their third field goal of the game, with eight seconds left in the half.

After that, Rivers, with a brace on his injured right knee, left and went into the San Diego locker room.

Of note, the game time temperature was 23 degrees, with a wind chill of nine.
Entering the game, the Patriots had a record of 22-3 since 1993 when the game-time temperature is 34 or lower.

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