Sports News Southwest

San Diego, California - Sunday, October 12, 2008 - Qualcomm Stadium (70,000) - 5:15 p.m. PDT. The Patriots travel to San Diego for a Sunday night matchup with the San Diego Chargers this week. This game is a rematch of last year’s AFC Championship game, won by Patriots 21-12.

One of the most anticipated matchups of the 2008 season will take place on the national prime-time stage as the San Diego Chargers welcome the New England Patriots to Qualcomm Stadium. Just a little more than 10 months ago, the Chargers fought and battled despite being injury depleted and came up just short in their quest to reach Super Bowl XLII.

NBC will televise the game with Al Michaels, John Madden and Andrea Kremer calling the action.

The Series - The Chargers and Patriots have a long and storied history in both the regular season and the postseason. It goes back to 1963 when the Chargers defeated the Boston Patriots, 51-10, in the 1963 AFL Championship Game. Decades later it continued with the Chargers defeating the Pats in 2002 and again in 2005 during the regular season the year after New England won the Super Bowl. The latter, a 41-17 win in Foxboro in 2005, ended New England’s NFL-record 21-game home winning streak. All told, the Patriots lead the series, 20-14-2, and have won three in a row, including that 21-12 win in last year’s AFC title game.

New England will place its mark of 12 straight road victories (the second-longest in NFL history) on the line as the Patriots and Chargers tangle for the fourth time in 22 months.

New England has begun the 2008 season with a 3-1 record, marking the third straight season in which the Patriots have won at least three of their first four games. New England is the only NFL team to start each of the last three seasons with a record of 3-1 or better.

The Patriots have won 11 consecutive games during the month of October, a streak that dates back to 2005. Since 2003, the Patriots are 20-3 in October games, having swept the month in 2003, 2006 and 2007. This season, the Patriots opened the month of October a 30-21 win at San Francisco. Following this week’s game against San Diego, New England closes out the month with back-to-back home games against Denver and St. Louis.

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