Patriots vs Chargers Part of NFL Saturday Tripleheader

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The New England Patriots will hit the road for a matchup against the Buffalo Bills in Week 16. With a 3-11 record, they are headed quickly towards a top-five pick in the 2025 NFL Draft at least. While fans enjoy seeing wins, each loss actually ends up being helpful for this year's team.
Following this week's game, the Patriots will face off against the Los Angeles Chargers, who are also a serious playoff contender.
Some news has come out about New England's Week 17 game against the Chargers and when it will be played.
According to NFL insider Mike Garafolo, that game will be part of the NFL's Saturday tripleheader and will kick off at 1:00 p.m. EST.
NFL announces tripleheader of games for Saturday, Week 17 (Dec 28) on @nflnetwork:#Chargers-#Patriots, 1p Eastern#Broncos-#Bengals, 4:30p#AZCardinals-#Rams, 8p
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) December 17, 2024
While the Patriots are going to be an underdog in that game, it does have the potential to be entertaining.
Watching rookie quarterback Drake Maye take on Justin Herbert will be pure football quarterback entertainment. New England will also be trying to play the role of spoiler for Los Angeles when it comes to their playoff hopes.
Along with the Patriots taking on the Chargers, there are two more games that will follow. Both of those games will have major playoff implications too.
At this point in the season, most New England fans are already looking ahead to the offseason. However, there are a lot of young players who are playing important games for their development process. Maye is one of them.
Throughout the rest of the season, the best course of action would be to play competitive football, but end up losing. The higher the Patriots can get in the draft would help their future outlook.
All of that being said, New England will be featured in the Saturday tripleheader. Fans love Saturday NFL games and Patriots fans will have the treat of watching their team play during the early afternoon window.

Evan Massey is a sports reporter and analyst who covers college football, the NFL and NBA. He has contributed to the On SI network since July 2021. He has also written for ESPN, Yahoo! Sports, Forbes, Bleacher Report, NFLAnalysis.net, NBAAnalysis.net and many other publications. In his free time, Evan enjoys spending time with his wife and son.