Chargers Survive Chiefs

The San Diego Chargers gave life to Kansas City Chief fans...after seeing their team get beaten by the Buffalo Bills and the Detroit Lions by a combined score of 89-10 most pundits had the San Diego Chargers dominating this (non)game from the kickoff.  But in typical, early season form, the San Diego Chargers kept the Chiefs in the game and with a 3 point lead, the Chiefs had the ball and were beginning to mount a late game drive that could potentially tie or win the game.  But the Chiefs offense, which was mostly muted most of the day, committed their first and only turnover of the game when Eric Weddle intercepted Matt Cassel and the Chargers had to simply run the clock out and escape with the win.

Philip Rivers has not looked good at all these first 3 games and was picked off twice.  The Charger defense resembles the defense that the Chargers have had in the recent past, able to virtually stop any team for three quarters but in the fourth, most teams are able to move the ball fairly effectively against the Chargers.

On the upside, runningback Ryan Mathews has proven his worth so far.  After a fairly lackluster rookie season, imo, he has proved to be a valuable weapon for the Chargers...catching and running the ball very good.  And Vincent Jackson continues to have a stellar year.  Antonio Gates did not play but his backup, Randy McMicheal has been filling in nicely.

I know many people in my survivor pool, me included, were sweating this game and everyone should take note that no Charger game can really be easy.  Case and point, the Miami Dolphins come to San Diego to play the Chargers this week.  The Dolphins are 0-3 and 7 point road dogs to the Chargers...if I were a betting man, I'd pick the Dolphins to cover because the Chargers can, and may just be likely, to play down to their competition and be lucky to sneak out a win, if at all, against the Dolphins this week...

Chargers Survive Vikes, Fumble To Patriots

I'm off to a slow start this season, doing my best San Diego Chargers impression...

The Chargers escape week 1 with a win over the Vikes, but not until after they showed why they are the Chargers of old, again.  Vikes run the opening kickoff back for a touchdown and for most of the first half the Chargers looked hapless.  Defense showed up in the second half and the Chargers end up with the win.

Week 2 rolls around and the Chargers played a game that resembles many of their playoff games against "elite" teams.  The Chargers fumbled and turned the ball over and, yet, still had a chance to win the game into the fourth quarter...but after the final Tolbert fumble that the Patriots then promptly scored a touchdown on, that, for all intense purposes, ended the game.

This game did reveal what will likely be the reason why the Chargers won't go far in the playoffs...but unfortunately, is the same reasons it has been in the years past.  Poor defense and turnovers.  The Charger defense is unable to make a stop when it matters against good teams.  Then, conversely, the Charger offense, which is touted as "high powered" is muted by a mediocre defense.

Sure the Chargers may impress against middle of the pack NFL teams, but they continue to be the same Charger team we have seen for the past 5-6 years...poised to disappoint.

Chargers 2011-12 Predictions

The 2011 football season kicks off tonight and I figured I best get my predictions in the books before the season starts...although, starting the season with one Thursday night game really doesn't seem like the season is kicking off...Sunday, of course, is the real kickoff...but I digress...

I'm just going to start with it and get it over with...it will be like the sting you feel from pulling off a band-aid, but I think it has to be done to justify my thoughts on this 2011 Charger team.  That is, Norv Turner sucks and the Chargers aren't going to win anything with him as the head coach.  I did give him the benefit of the doubt when he first got to San Diego but for the past 2 seasons I have been completely disgusted with how this team performs and then disappoints.

We'll start with the first game.  There has been a lot of emphasis being put on the Chargers first few games because under Turner the Chargers typically start slow and lose more than they win in their first 4-6 games of each season.  Turner has said that a lot of effort and determination is being put into starting the season out good, so we'll see if that indeed happens.  I can easily see the Chargers lose to the Vikings on Sunday...in San Diego to boot!  If that happens, I will be fully braced for another disappointing season.  Sure, under Turner the Chargers provide the fan with an exciting ride throughout the season but it always ends in a colossal disaster in the playoffs.

Many pundits put the AFC West as a weaker division and that may be true, but it is certainly better than it was just 3 years ago.  The Raiders and Chiefs aren't bad anymore and no one in the NFL minds the fact that the Denver Broncos stink - HA HA HA!  I think the division is once again up for grabs.

So let's just state the obvious...the Chargers special teams last season was the worst in the history of the NFL and cost the Chargers a number of games.  Although the Charger defense was ranked #1 last season it was mostly due to being in poor field position because of the horrendous special teams coverage so opposing teams didn't need to go on 70+ yard drives every time they took the field.  The Charger offense was legit last year and Phillip Rivers is "The Man".

The Chargers schedule will be interesting...they play (along with the AFC West opponents) the NFC North, AFC East, Jacksonville and Baltimore.  Interesting that the Chargers either play at home, indoors or in an otherwise "warm" part of the country every game after the game in Chicago on November 20th.  That could be in their favor for the regular season but could be a problem if they end up going somewhere cold in the playoffs and became 'soft' because of the climate they played in...

So the first four games (Min, @NE, KC, Mia) I think the Chargers go 2-2, losing at least one of the games that they could have, should have won.  The next four games (@Den, @NYJ, @KC, GB) are mostly road games and the Chargers go 1-3 in that stretch, so 3-5 overall at the midway point, right on pace with previous years.  Next four games (OAK, @Chi, Den, @Jac) look like the breather the Chargers need to get back on pace...go 4-0 and are now 7-5 coming down the stretch. Buf, Bal, @Det & @Oak finish up the Chargers season...I think they go 2-2 and end up one game short of the playoffs at 9-7...it will be the game in Oakland that will decide the season and the Chargers were manhandled by the Oakland line (both offense and defense) last season and Oakland looks to be better...but who knows, maybe 9-7 is good enough to win the division and get you into the playoffs.

But I see a season that will be very much of the same that we have seen for the past 3, 4 years under Norv Turner.  Occasionally the Chargers will beat a good team but the Chargers will also get beaten by any number of bad teams on any given day.  The Chargers haven't shown any consistency in the past had have only disappointed in the playoffs.  The AFC is always a knock-down, drag out fight and the Chargers never seem to have the mentality or the game to rise above the rest.  The AFC West gets no respect because no team from the AFC West has earned any and I don't think that is going to change after this season either.

I hope I'm wrong and I'll be watching every Charger game and would love nothing better than to see them win a Super Bowl because no matter what I think will or won't happen it will never change the fact that I am a super fan and will cheer for them no matter what... GO CHARGERS!