No Power In Buffalo

There was no electricity for much of the game in Buffalo at the stadium or for the Chargers.

The Charger defense, again, with a chance to step up and help the team overcome a late defecit is unable to stop the Bills and 2 late turnovers by Phillip Rivers seal the fate of the Chargers.

The Chargers continue an unimpressive season and clearly resemble a team that was highly over-rated coming into the season.  

LaDainian Tomlinson continues to be totally ineffective and I am sure many sports media types are beginning to prepare to attach their 'past his prime' label to Tomlinson...and possibly rightly so.  Sure, the offensive line has been far less then stellar so far this season but LT started out his career under a similar scenario, where his offensive line was absolutely horrible yet he was able to 'Barry Sanders it' and make something out of nothing and, of course, break off a big run on occassion.  This season there are no big runs, no big plays for LT.  Instead he is met at the line of scrimmage, usually, by multiple defenders...so is it LT, the o-line or the playcalling?  Probably a little of each but as this season has started, Tomlinson has been a totaly non-factor in any of the Charger games.

But Tomlinson is not the biggest concern on the Chargers team, no, it is the Charger defense that once again is put under pressure to make a stop late in the game and like it has been seen so far this season, the Charger defense was unable to stop the Bills as they preceded to drive down the field and essentially put the game out of reach.  Yes, Rivers threw an interception at the goal line that would have given the Chargers a 21-20 lead with about 6 minutes to go, instead it is 23-14 Bills with about 3 minutes to play...essentially ending the game.  A Phillip Rivers fumble on the following possession sealed the fate of Chargers and have officially been exposed as over-rated.

The Chargers travel to London to play the Saints who will be without Reggie Bush and who knows what Charger team we will see this Sunday, but the New Orleans offense will likely have a big game against a Charger defense that is incapable of shutting down any sort of offense consistently.

On a side note, the Broncos got totally beat down by the Patriots last night and have clearly shown that the AFC West is a laughingstock and there is no team worthy in the entire division.  The winner of the AFC West would be primed for an early playoff exit because they likely will be playing a competent wild card team that will be hungry to succeed whereas the AFC West teams all look like low rent NFL teams with inconsistent play and poor defense.