Brendan Daly is aware the numbers don’t look particularly good when it comes to the Patriots and stopping the run. The Patriots defensive line coach, however, is not interested in past stats.

He’s just concerned with finding a way to stop or slow down the Chargers, a team with the third best rushing offense in the NFL.

“We’re hoping to not give up any yards in any situation, but I’m not necessarily concerned about the stats or the numbers, aside from winning and losing football games,” said Daly, when asked about how porous the Pats defense has been particularly on first down. “To be honest, we’re most focused on how are we going to handle the run game this week and what challenges those present us. What’s happened over the past 16 games, to be quite honest, isn’t all that relevant.”

Does that mean all the explosive plays the Chargers have made in the past are irrelevant, too?

“Well, I would say that they’re capable of creating explosive plays, without a doubt,” he answered. “You’re right – based on what they’ve done in the past, no. It’s a matter of who performs best this Sunday, and that’s why we go out and play the game.”

High praise for Bolts ‘D’

Josh McDaniels didn’t mince words. He put the Chargers defense in an elite category.

“This is the best group we’ve played all year. Their defensive front is extremely disruptive,” said McDaniels. “They play a one-gap style of defense. That’s what Coach [Gus] Bradley’s always done and they’re really good at what they do, create a lot of issues for you with their penetration. They’re disruptive in the running game and create negative plays, which puts you into second and third-and-long which they excel at and then they can create a ton of problems then with their pass rush . . . this is a tremendous challenge.”

The Chargers defense was ranked ninth best in the league during the regular season.

Thumbs up for Lynn

Bill Belichick is a fan of Chargers head coach Anthony Lynn, a former NFL running back. The Patriots head coach praised Lynn for the job he’s done with the team in two years, especially dealing with relocation issues.

“I haven’t had a lot of personal interaction with Anthony but I have a ton of respect for him as a player and certainly the job that he’s done with the Chargers,” said Belichick. “Relocating a franchise is not an easy thing to do. Dealing with all of that, all of the other challenges that normal teams have in the National Football League are difficult, but when you throw relocation and international games and some other things that have come up along the way on top of that, I think that organization has shown a lot of resiliency, mental toughness and certainly a very high level of performance over a sustained period of time since they were 0-4, or whatever it was last year.”

The Chargers did start 0-4 in Lynn’s first season, and have gone 22-7 since.

“They’ve won a lot of close games so I have a tremendous amount of respect for Coach Lynn, all of the coordinators out there, their staff and their organization,” said Belichick. “They’ve done an outstanding job. Again, best record in the AFC this year. That’s not easy to do. They’ve earned it.” Related Articles Patriots-Seahawks injury report: Julian Edelman limited, Josh Uche out Thursday

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No nightmare whisperer

Funny moment during conference call with Belichick. He was told Trey Flowers had a nightmare about not being able to set the edge. The Patriots coach was asked what that says about Flowers in making sure he plays the defense correctly.

“I don’t know. I’m not an analyst of nightmares,” Belichick cracked. “But look, I think our players certainly recognize the importance of our season and where we are with this season and what we’ve earned the right to do, which is to play in this game and it’s important for all of us to do our jobs the best that we can and perform well. That’s what we’re here for.”

Hollister on IR

The Pats made a couple roster moves, first placing tight end Jacob Hollister on IR. They signed tight end Stephen Anderson to the 53-man roster from the practice squad and signed defensive back A.J. Howard and offensive lineman Dan Skipper to the practice squad.