The New England Patriots (11-5) will host the Los Angeles Chargers (12-4) in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs on Sunday.
The game is scheduled to start at 1:05 p.m. ET and will be broadcast on CBS. If you don’t have cable or can’t get to a TV, you can still watch a live stream of the game on your computer, phone, or streaming device by signing up for one of the following cable-free, live-TV streaming services:
If you have Amazon Prime or start a free 30-day trial of Amazon Prime, you can watch all CBS content (both live and on-demand) via the CBS Amazon Channel, which also comes with a seven-day free trial.
Once you’re signed up for both Amazon Prime and the CBS channel, you can then watch a live stream of the game on your computer via the Amazon website, or you can watch on your phone, tablet, or streaming device via the Amazon Video app.
CBS (live in most markets) is included in FuboTV’s main package, which includes 75-plus channels and is largely tailored towards sports. You can sign up for a free seven-day trial right here, and you can then watch a live stream of the game on your computer via the FuboTV website, or on your phone, tablet, or streaming device via the FuboTV app.
If you can’t watch live, FuboTV comes with 30 hours of Cloud DVR (with the ability to upgrade to 500 hours), as well as a handy “72-Hour Lookback” feature, which will allow you to watch the game on-demand up to three days after it airs even if you forgot to record it.
In addition to their extensive Netflix-like streaming library, Hulu now also offers a bundle of 50-plus live TV channels, including CBS (live in most markets). You can sign up for “Hulu with Live TV” right here, and you can then watch a live stream of the game on your computer via the Hulu website, or on your phone, tablet, or streaming device via the Hulu app.
If you can’t watch live, “Hulu with Live TV” also comes with 50 hours of Cloud DVR storage (with the ability to upgrade to “Enhanced Cloud DVR,” which gives you 200 hours of DVR space and the ability to fast forward through commercials).
Watch on Your Phone: NFL Mobile
Streaming of in-market and prime-time games can be watched on phones via the NFL Mobile app.
DAZN is a cable-free, live-sports streaming service. Its offerings depend on your country, but those who are in Canada can watch every NFL game, including the playoffs, and NFL Network live and on-demand via DAZN.
You can sign up for a free one-month trial of DAZN right hereYou can watch the game on your computer via DAZN.com, or on your phone (Android and iPhone compatible), tablet, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Xbox One, or other compatible streaming device via the DAZN app.
If You’re Outside the United States & Mexico
If you’re not in the United States, surrounding territories, or Mexico, you can watch NFL games live via NFL Game Pass International. The cost of the package depends on which country you’re in.
Once signed up, you can watch games on your computer via the NFL Game Pass website, or on your phone, tablet, or streaming device via the NFL Mobile app, which can be downloaded for free on a handful of different devices.
Chargers vs Patriots Preview
The Patriots’ Tom Brady, 41, and the Chargers’ Philip Rivers, 37, will break the record for the oldest combined ages of opposing playoff quarterbacks.
“That’s a pretty good one right there. That’s pretty cool,” Brady told reporters on Friday, according to Patriots.com. “It’s just fun to be around — I’m out there today practicing and it’s whatever degrees out — 10 degrees, 15 degrees and I’m sitting here just playing with my friends, throwing the football around. I think it’s just a great blessing to be able to do it and do it here for this team, which I’ve loved to do. Philip’s been on the same team — it means a lot. We all work hard to get to this point. These things aren’t guaranteed, very tough to get to this point in the season.”
While Patriots head coach Bill Belichick dismissed the idea that New England’s frigid January weather could give his team an edge over the residents of Southern California — “We’re not playing the weather” — Brady entertained it: “I just think the ability to practice in it like today. It’s very similar to what we’re going to get on Sunday so just knowing again, how many layers you’ve got to put on and how you’re going to feel. … Just to practice in it, we’re prepared for it and hopefully we can use some of the things we’ve learned to our advantage.”
Rivers completed 68.3 percent of his passes for 4,308 yards, 32 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions this season. Slowing him down could be a challenge for a Patriots team that ranked seventh in scoring defense, but 21st in total yardage defense, 22nd in passing yardage defense, and 19th in passing touchdown defense. The Pats also surrendered 4.9 yards per carry, ranking 29th.
“They can attack you in a lot of different ways — backs, tight ends, receivers, running game, passing game, great quarterback, very experienced, can make all the throws,” Belichick said, per Patriots.com .”They have a lot of weapons at their disposal. Depending on what you do, they’ll move in one direction or another to try to attack you and [Philip] Rivers is very good when there’s multiple plays to pick the one that attacks the defense. He’s very good at that.”
Though the Patriots boast a Hall of Fame quarterback, their running game was more impressive than the passing attack during the regular season, ranking fifth in rushing yards and fourth in rushing touchdowns.
The running back trio of James White, Rex Burkhead, and Sony Michel also caught 108 passes for 932 yards and eight touchdowns.
“Their running backs are very effective,” Chargers defensive coordinator Gus Bradley said, according to Chargers.com. “They really have three running backs, and … they’ll show up in empty sets and they’re very effective. They’ll have explosive plays themselves. So we always go into each game, stop the run — and then No. 2, eliminate explosive plays and somehow we’ve got to affect the quarterback. You know, to give him those throws to running backs, it’s our style of defense that we play, and we go about it that way, and we try to put our guys in the best position to play those things.”
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How to Watch Chargers vs Patriots Game Online for Free