Chargers Shock Philly, Rivers Solid In Win

The San Diego Chargers traveled to Philadelphia, had a lead for most of the game, lost the lead with 7:06 to play in the game and the Charger team from the past couple seasons wasn't to be found - that Charger team blew leads and floundered in the fourth quarter... but instead of losing the game, the Chargers went on to defeat the Eagles.  What also is rare for the Chargers, it was a road game...they haven't performed well on the road in years and it was a non-conference game and I do believe the Chargers were 0-6 against their last 6 NFC opponents.  Plus, Phillip Rivers had to lead the Chargers on a game winning drive...something that also has been just as rare as all the other ominous stats for Charger futility.

So what happened?  Well, let's start with Phillip Rivers who looked sharp...and I will also give props to the coaching...the play calling seemed to keep the Eagles defense off guard for almost the entire game.  Rivers played a great game throwing for over 400 yards and had 3 touchdowns with no interceptions.  Eddie Royal... a player the Chargers picked up last season and most of us haven't thought much about him since because he really hasn't done much...but he had 3 touchdowns against the Eagles and has 5 total in the first two games...obviously performing at the level the Chargers had hoped for since his acquisition.  What also was fairly impressive was that Malcolm Floyd went down early in the second half and his replacement, Keenan Allen did a decent job filling in...in fact, Rivers was able to spread the ball around, hitting 8 different receivers in the game.

The Chargers could have had an even bigger lead if Antonio Gates and Ryan Mathews both wouldn't have fumbled on the goal line.  Gates, gets a pass from me because he has proven to be a good player and if you minus the fumble, he still had a pretty good game.  Now Mathews, on the other hand, has fumbled since he was drafted, never rips off a big run and has done little to prove his worth to this team.  Dan "the moron" Deirdorf commented on how the Chargers were going to "ride it out" with Mathews as the Chargers continued to use him on the offense after the fumble...well, hopefully that is short lived and even if the Chargers do continue to "ride it out" with Matthews, I think he should be used, if at all, outside the 20 yard lines and more sure-handed backs be used inside those critical areas to minimize the mistakes he seems to make every season that hurt the Chargers.

The Charger defense is still a cause for concern.  Even though the Charger offense was able to move the ball and score the defense had opportunities to put the game away by just stopping the Eagles offense...but the Eagles seemed to be able to move the ball very easily and in huge chunks for much of the game.  It was certainly the Eagles defense that lost this game for them.  And to not take credit away from the Chargers, but the Eagles defense was bad and penalized multiple times that often times helped the Chargers out of a jam throughout the game. 

I was somewhat surprised at the confidence the coaches have of Nick Novak.  The Chargers had a 1st and 10 at the Eagles 31 with 21 seconds left to play and two timeouts.  Instead of trying to move the ball closer or even score a touchdown, the Chargers simply ran the ball for a few yards to set up a Novak 46 yard game winning field goal.  If Novak missed that field goal and the Chargers go on to lose the game in overtime (it was tied at 30), people would have certainly scrutinized that decision to settle for a field goal rather than take a few shots downfield....especially with the way Rivers was throwing the ball.

This win gives Charger land some hope that things could be moving in the right direction...that the team may not be as bad as originally advertised, but the season is still very young.  The Chargers have to travel to Tennessee this week and the Titans aren't the slouches many thought they were either so the Chargers need to stay focused.