SAN DIEGO — Maybe Aaron Rodgers got the best of the Patriots defense last week, but Philip Rivers was no match for Bill Belichick’s unit last night.

In fact, Rivers had no chance.

That may have come as a bit of a surprise, especially with Dont’a Hightower unable to play thanks to the shoulder injury he suffered late in the Packers loss a week earlier.

So the Pats had to tackle Rivers, Antonio Gates, Keenan Allen et al with Jamie Collins, the backup to the backup defensive signal caller, now wearing the green dot and getting everyone in place.

So there was a little adversity thrown into the mix. No matter.

Collins was Rivers personal nightmare last night. With nine tackles, two sacks, three tackles for loss and two quarterback hits, he made plays all over the field.

But so did everyone else. The defense came to play and once again showed it’s going to be a force to be reckoned with come January, as the unit stood tall in the Pats’ 23-14 victory over the Chargers last night at Qualcomm Stadium.

From Collins Herculean play, to Darrelle Revis eliminating Allen, to Akeem Ayers and Rob Ninkovich providing pressure from the edges, to Vince Wilfork and Alan Branch stuffing runs in the middle, to recently activated Sealver Siliga providing a boost, the defense rebounded from the Packers game in a big way.

After allowing 478 yards of total offense to the Pack last week, they stymied the Chargers, holding Rivers & Co. to 216 yards. With the offense struggling to put points on the board early on, the defense kept the Chargers at bay long enough for Tom Brady to get that side of the ball clicking.

“We got a lot of plays from a lot of different people today,” Wilfork said. “One thing we did tonight: We weren’t hesitant. We played the way we needed to play. We understood what we needed to do, and how we needed to play, and we played that way. That was a big win for us.”

Last week, the Pats sat back and were passive, not attacking Rodgers, who picked them apart, throwing for 368 yards. They were too cautious with respect to his running ability, sitting back, instead of applying pressure. Last night, they went after Rivers, sacking him four times. After Collins, Ninkovich registered a sack, while Siliga and Chris Jones shared the other.

“Me, personally, I just think that cost us last week, not being on that attack mode, not being aggressive with Aaron,” Wilfork said. “I told my teammates, ‘I’m not going to make that mistake no more. We’re going to get after him.’ And we did.

“It wasn’t always perfect, but at the same time, we did what we wanted to do. We got pressure in the middle of the pocket and forced (Rivers) to throw some balls short, a couple incompletes. We tried to eliminate his targets downfield because he hurt us before, getting the ball vertical downfield with his receivers.”

On the night, Rivers completed 20-of-33 passes for 189 yards with one touchdown and one interception, by Ayers when he dropped into coverage. The Pats really tightened the screws on third down, as the Chargers only converted 4-of-13 attempts.

Rivers barely looked at Allen all night, that’s how well Revis had him blanketed. He completed two passes to Allen for just 3 yards.

As for Rivers’ favorite target, Gates, he caught five balls for 34 yards. Defensive coordinator Matt Patricia had multiple people take turns on Gates, whether it was Brandon Browner on some occasions, Collins others, Duron Harmon, Tavon Wilson — the Pats threw the kitchen sink at him.

“I thought overall, we did a good job of taking away what they wanted to do,” Devin McCourty said. “I think that’s a key each week.”

Enough can’t be said about Collins, who stepped in and not only took over the role of signal caller, getting everyone lined up, but he also dominated. Several times, he flew uncontested up the A-gap next to the center to dump Rivers.

“He’s been unbelievable all year,” McCourty said of Collins. “I think one thing this team has been fortunate enough with, in training camp, we had (Jerod) Mayo, Jamie and Hightower, all of them switched around, being the signal call. So when Mayo went down, and High had to step up, it wasn’t a big deal.

“So, it’s no big deal to us. Whoever’s calling the plays, we just go out there and play. And Jamie has stepped up all year, making big plays. He did it tonight.”

Behind Collins, the defense rebounded from last week, and put one more notch on its belt. During the recent run, it’s taken down Jay Cutler, Peyton Manning, Andrew Luck, Matthew Stafford and now Rivers.

“I thought it was a good rebound for us,” McCourty said. “But I thought during the week, I thought it was a good job, being in California, everybody taking care of what we needed to do . . . to have a veteran group, take advantage of being out here and being together, I felt it showed tonight.”

Said Wilfork: “That was Patriots football.”