Chargers Beat Jaguars, Above .500 At The Bye Week

It's been almost two weeks since the Chargers beat the Jaguars fairly handedly and now after having last weekend off the Chargers travel to D.C. to face the Redskins.

So far, this season, the Chargers have surprised me by their play...in that it is much better than I had anticipated...but also, how bad the NFC East is.  Prior to the season started I didn't think the Chargers could beat any of their NFC opponents.  Now, I think the Chargers could sweep that division...already beating the Eagles and division leading Dallas...the Redskins are up next and then the lowly Giants later this season.

Another surprise is how well the AFC West as a whole is doing.  For the past couple years many could argue that the AFC West was one of the weakest in the league, it is now one of the toughest.  The Chargers have yet to play the Broncos and the Chiefs...both above the Chargers in the division...so the Chargers need to stay focused because the season is only going to get tougher for them and crucial division games loom on the horizon.

Chargers Beat Colts On Monday Night Football

For a week ESPN had promos on their stations that featured Andrew Luck passing the ball and verbiage that tempted viewers to tune in Monday Night to watch Andrew Luck and the Indianapolis Colts play on ESPN's Monday Night Football.  Barely a mention or even a notation that Andrew Luck and the Indianapolis Colts were playing the San Diego Chargers.  So it was kind of an extra special pleasantry when the Chargers proceeded to beat the Colts on Monday Night.

The Chargers continue their up and down season...winning a game and then losing the next.  Beating teams people don't think they should be able too and then losing to teams that people think they shouldn't.

I do think the Chargers are improved from last year and will give McCoy some credit so far.  The team hasn't been totally obliterated by another team and is fairly competitive each week.  Once consistency is found, the Chargers could elevate their game to a level that may be playoff worthy.

What's weird is watching the Chargers one week, when they can't get a first down to save their life and their defense unable to get off the field...then the next week, against a team like Indianapolis - many would say a "quality" team - the Charger offense ran the ball down their throats, something the Chargers have been unable to do to any team so far this year and the defense was somewhat formidable...what it amounted to was that the Chargers had the ball for long periods of time as they had nice long sustaining drives and the defense held the Colts out of the end zone which maintained leads for the Chargers throughout the game.

Chargers travel to Jacksonville...which Charger team will be there?  If the Chargers lose to the Jaguars, it will just illustrate that the Chargers a team that is still too inconsistent to be good.  If the Chargers win, then they will know how to come off a big monday night football game, travel to the east coast and do what it takes to win on the road.  Last season the Chargers could lose to any team on the road, regardless of their quality, if this Charger team is going to begin to move in the right direction, winning east coast road games is something that needs to happen more often.

Chargers Look Like Chargers Of Old...Turnovers, Bad D and No Run Game

It was a late night game, the San Diego Chargers versus the Oakland Raiders...word is, the latest scheduled game on the west coast in NFL history...which guaranteed that 75% of America would be sleeping during most of this game.  Some would think that the Chargers failed to wake up for it as well.

The Chargers reminded me of the Charger team of the past few seasons...bad.  Muffed kicks, interceptions, poor defense and absolutely no running game.  The Chargers failed to execute in every facet of the game...offense, defense and special teams...something that they failed to do in most games under Norv Turner the past few seasons..but after seeing the Chargers find some success on the offensive side of the ball and not fail as bad as in the past on special teams, this season did have some promise.  But Sunday night showed that this team is still very far away from being consistently decent.

The Raiders defense was up for the task of stopping Phillip Rivers and the Chargers offense...although, Rivers from the beginning was looking like the Rivers of the past two season as well as he lobbed a ball to no clear Charger receiver and was picked off on the first possession. Rivers would end up with 3 interceptions on the night...more than doubling his season total.

The Charger run game can not be found anywhere.  The Chargers had a total of 32 yards rushing for the game...the Raiders QB, Terrelle Pryor had 31 by himself for the Raiders.  Which just illustrates how poor the Charger defense is and how much better the Raiders defense is.  The Charger defense was seen running around all night...rarely in position to stop the Raiders or make a play...which has been a theme for this season already.  The Raiders defense had pressure on Rivers, their secondary was covering well and they shut down the run...invert that statement for the Chargers who had little to no pressure on Pryor, secondary coverage was horrible and the Chargers couldn't shut anything down.

Then there's the special teams...something the Chargers have struggled with the past few seasons but things seemed like they were getting better....well...not.  Eddie Royal muffed a punt in the first half that set up a Raiders score and later the Raiders would block a Chargers field goal attempt.

Just to make things as bad as they could for the bolts, Danny Woodhead would also fumble the ball that the Raiders would recover and score on.  The Raiders led this game wire-to-wire and the Chargers were never in a position to even make the game competitive...when they had the opportunity to narrow the gap it was the Chargers who couldn't make the plays to do so and the Raiders always capitalized on the Chargers ineffectiveness overall.

The Chargers are still not a good team...they are not a consistent team.  The first step towards becoming either, in my opinion, is the defense.  The defense for the Chargers has been nothing but horrible so far.  Sure the turnovers and mistakes made by the offense are obstacles, but the Charger defense has done nothing so far...no timely interceptions, sacks or fumble recoveries... in fact the Chargers have just 1 interception and 1 fumble recovery on the season, which puts them second to last in the league for turnovers.

The Chargers host the Colts this weekend...the Colts have a decent defense and offense and compared to the Chargers, their team is extremely stout.  If the Chargers are going to even have a chance against the Colts, the Chargers are going to need to protect the ball and force some turnovers...something that wasn't done this last week....last season....or even the season before....