Oct. 9, 1964 | Chargers @ Patriots Highlights

Oct. 9, 1964 - The San Diego Chargers borrowed two of Boston’s defensive weapons, the blitz and the interception, and then came on strong with their second-string quarterback to hand the Patriots their first defeat of the season, 26-17, at Fenway Park tonight.
Crashing in throughout the contest in a manner made famous by the Patriots last year, the Chargers threw the Boston offense off balance and completely ruined it as the secondary picked off four of Babe Parilli’s passes, two of them in the end zone.
Those two big grabs definitely spoiled Boston’s scoring chances besides wrecking a lot of other things.
It was the first loss for Boston and drops the team into second place in the Eastern standings.
It ruined Parilli’s statistics, as in four previous games he had only two interceptions.
And it spoiled the night for the record crowd of 35,096, the largest ever to see the Patriots in Boston. San Diego is a jinx team for the Pats. Three times last year they wrecked the Patriots, most painfully in the championship game out on the Coast where Tobin Rote, the old pro quarterback, picked them apart.
But tonight, the Patriots took care of Rote early, intercepting him and generally covering his plays perfectly. They saw their old nemesis for only a few minutes in the first quarter, and when he was taken out after the interception, it seemed the Boston club would roll to its fifth straight victory.
San Diego had another quarterback though, an unheralded sub named John Hadl, who came in and dominated the game.
When Hadl entered the game, Boston was leading, 3-0. Hadl completed nine of his first 10 passes, including eight straight. His scoring throws were for 2 and 13 yards to Lance Alworth and 15 yards to Don Norton. The Chargers (2-2) now sit in second place in the Western division behind the league-leading Kansas City Chiefs (2-1).

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