Chargers vs Raiders week 8 Overview

A fantastic day of football for San Diego fans as the Chargers looked to improve their standings in the AFC West Division title. To start the great day, the Denver Broncos were brutally beaten by the Baltimore Ravens putting them at 6-1. The Bolts beat Oakland right after putting them at 4-3. The good news for San Diego fans is that Denver is facing Pittsburgh next week which could potentially put them at 6-2 unless the Broncos play really well. San Diego is playing the New York Giants next week after coming off a two game winning streak and the Giants being humbled by Philadelphia. If the Bolts win, they would only be one game behind their division leaders, the Denver Broncos. All that said, today's game started out great for San Diego, stopping the Raiders on their opening drive with an interception and going on to score an amazing touchdown in nine seconds off of two plays that got the fans riled up. Seeing a 59 yard pass to Floyd, and then a wildcat play from LT for the touchdown amped up every Charger fan watching. The only area the Bolts looked week in was stuffing the run, and special teams. Although, as far as the run goes. The Raiders ran the ball nearly every play because their passing game is non-existent. Rivers was on fire today as he connected with his favorite receiver, Vincent Jackson to gain another touchdown in a five play drive. One thing that is great about being a Chargers fan is that the Bolts know how to move the ball quick. Oakland put up a good fight, but it just wasn't enough to break their now 13 game losing streak to San Diego. I don't think Phillip Rivers ever plans on losing to Oakland. LT was looking good for the most part, and was able to get into the end zone twice in today's hard hitting game. I am anxious on a week to week basis to see what the Bolts are going to do. I hope the trend that started today continues through the rest of the season, which is, Denver losing and the Chargers winning. Next week should be a lot of fun, but San Diego has a lot of preparation and hard work to do if they want to beat the Giants in New York inweek 9. How about Shawne Merriman!!! It is about time!!! Two sacks for the big man today as he got to give the fans his famous "Lights Out" dance for the first time this season. As long as SD's defense is amped up, they will perform. I can't wait to see if Merriman and Phillips stick it hard to Eli Manning next week in New York. The Chargers beat the Raiders. The Raiders beat the Eagles. The Eagles beat the Giants. So theoretically, the Chargers should be able to beat the Giants also, right? We will find out next Sunday. GO BOLTS!!!

Kansas City Crushing!

There isn't too much to be said about today's game other than..."It's About Time!" I'm sure every San Diego fan out there was as satisfied as my self as we watched our Chargers destroy Kansas City. No hard feelings KC, but we needed that sort of win to get our momentum going. I hope the Chargers carry the momentum from today's game to next week and crush Oakland in SD. It may have come later than us fans would have liked, but I believe that San Diego is picking up the broken pieces of their team and putting it back together correctly. One negative that I saw was the O-line and LT trying to get into the end zone in short yardage situations. That being said, I am happy to see that Norv kept LT in and tried to give him the TD. I think it is important to the team, to the fans, and mostly to LT to know that his coach believes in him. Tomlinson was running great the first half of that game, but it seemed like KC got his number the second half. The passing game was great also, with Rivers hitting Jackson multiple times for big yard plays. It warmed my heart to see the little banners on NFL Today that showed the stats, and the Chargers being at the top of nearly every list. Although it was an exciting game for the Bolts, there is still the fact that Kansas City is not that great of a football team. I look forward to seeing how the Chargers play in a harder situation. I feel like Norv Turner got the message that the fans sent him after Denver last week. I think he will work on the criticisms and hopefully pull this team that has so much potential out of the gutter. Today was the first step, but there still many games left and the Bolts need them all. The more that turn out like today, the better. I don't know about you, but I would rather be bored watching the Chargers totally annihilate a team, then be stressed out watching a close game where the Chargers barely win or lose. Every other game I want to be close for the love of a good game, but San Diego I want to have won before halftime. There were little things here and there that need improvement, but with a 37-7 win, I don't feel it appropriate to dwell on them too much. The coaches and the players need to do that, and hopefully they prepare well for Oakland next week. Oh, and NO MORE INJURIES!!! That being said, I will sleep well tonight and dream about the Superbowl. GO BOLTS!!!

Can't Wait For Week 7

I don't know about you other SD fans out there, but for me, Monday isn't the worst day of the week...Tuesday is. You know why? because the NFL is done for the week until Sunday. That's like 5 days without watching my team. I am on the edge of my seat waiting for the Chargers to play Kansas City this week because I'm looking forward to a win. That's right, I'm predicting the future...The Bolts are gonna have to start that late in the season winning streak this week if they want any chance at catching the broncos. The good news is that we have KC, Oakland, WA, Tennessee, the Browns, and a couple other should wins..Oh yeah, the Eagles (we should beat them). I know we can beat Denver when we go to their house (even though we lost at ours). Then there's the Bangles, we can beat them too...I'm not saying get your hopes up San Diego, but there are a lot of games that we should win...If you compare who we lost to, to who Denver beat, we played the harder teams. I look forward to seeing if Denver can hold on to zero losses, but I highly doubt they will. Ahh!!! just talking about the Chargers make me wish it was Sunday already. Continue looking, because there's plenty to talk about. Keep it real SD..GO BOLTS!!!

Monday Night Meltdown

Alright, I said in "Sad Day for San Diego" that I didn't want to talk too much about their problems because the wounds were still too fresh. Well it's been a couple of days, and I have been thinking about a few things. One, on the Chargers first real drive they were two yards from the endzone and Norv puts little Sproles in to try to push the pile!! What?!?! LT was running great that drive, and Norv makes that bogus call! It is a sore spot because he did the same thing in Pittsburgh. He should have thrown it on that play anyways, but if he was going to try to push through the line then he should have used one of the bigger backs. Are you kidding Norv?!?! The play calling was alright for the most part, but when it comes down to the clutch situations, Norv Turner is not the right man for the job. He was saying before the game how he wants the guys to play well, not neccesarily focus on winning...Well....I hate to break it to you Norv, but winning is the only way you're going to keep your job. The Chargers NEED to win, playing well is nice, but if they don't pull off the win, then it is pointless. I don't care if the Chargers played their super dooper bestest and lost to New Orleans or some other good team by two points...If they do not win, they lose. If they lose, they don't go to playoffs. If they don't go to playoffs, then San Diego better fire Norv Turner for destroying a once good team. The way I see it, Mike Shanahan is floating around out there. He would probably do a much better job with the Chargers. I hope the GM seriously considers that. There are plenty of great coaches out there that could easily take this talented team to the playoffs. Norv needs to learn how to motivate, not take them into the locker room during halftime and say, "you guys are doing alright out there, maybe with just a little more effort we might win." What!! Do your job Norv, and tell Ron Rivera to do his, or you all will be looking for jobs. I am sick of watching the Chargers lose games they could have won. Should have, could have, would have, but didn't....I don't know about the rest of you Charger fans out there, but I am very aggravated over our situation this year and I blame the coaching. That's all I have to say. GO BOLTS!!!

A Sad Day in San Diego

Week six for the San Diego Chargers started out with much optimism as they looked to pick up two games on their division rivals, The Denver Broncos. It was a very heated game as anyone watching could see. There was jawing going on between the Bolts and Denver before the game even started. The Bolts came out strong in the first quarter (excluding the first drive). The defense seemed to have woken up and was not letting Denver's highly praised offense get any points. LT was looking sharp for the Chargers as he was running like the LT of a few years ago. He was getting first downs and making plays. Even San Diego's offensive line was doing a good job protecting Rivers the first half. The Offense was driving the ball and the fans anticipated victory. The problem San Diego had the first half was SPECIAL TEAMS. We don't hear about the Chargers Special Teams unit doing a bad job, but tonight they gave Denver two touchdowns. One on a kickoff return and the other on a punt return. The Bolts go into half time ahead 20-17. The third quarter rolls around and San Diego's defense seems to have come out strong again, but a questionable PI by Ellison gives the Broncos a first down. The offense wasn't looking as good the second half because the Broncos cranked up the blitz and the O-line wasn't protecting Rivers. Then San Diego's defense starts to get picked apart by Orton and the game gets stressful when the Broncos take the lead. The defense started showing some of the same problems they had against Pittsburgh: they got lazy on pass coverage, there were too many penalties, and there was not enough pressure on the QB. Overall, the Broncos dominated the 2nd half of the game. Defense wasn't making the tackles again and gave up too many yards. The good news is, Nate Keading is a great field goal kicker. That said, one can never expect the kicker to win games. It is too stressful of a kick for anyone (especially when its a 55 yard attempt). The only way the Chargers will make playoffs this season is if they get on their winning streak immediately and don't lose another game, and hopefully the Broncos start losing. We will see what happens here the next couple of weeks. If not, maybe we will get the wild card pick, but I doubt it. I don't want to go into too much detail about the problems tonight because it is too soon and I am hurting inside right now, as is every San Diego fan. Well..."There's always next year." I am getting really tired of that phrase. I can only hope for a mental shift in San Diego that will make them perform to their highest potential. Goodnight San Diego, good luck falling asleep tonight. GO BOLTS!!!

Chargers Shift in Offensive Focus

Ever since Ladanian Tomlinson joined the San Diego Chargers, he has been the key factor in their playoff success. He was the top rusher in the NFL for a few seasons straight and has almost 1200 career rushing yards. I'm not sure if it is LT or the Offensive line that has been the decline in San Diego's rushing game. Or maybe it is the predictable Charger play calling by Norv Turner. The fact of the matter is; San Diego's rushing game is nearly non-existent at this point, and Norv Turner does not emphasize the importance of running the ball as there has been no improvement on the ground. Maybe the problem is that Norv was a QB when he played, and since he is calling the plays for SD he is chasing QB stats. Is it a good or a bad thing? Well, Phillip Rivers is playing beautifully and averaging 311 yards a game, but there needs to be a balance if the Chargers are going to be effective. I believe that LT still has some juice in him, but hasn't been given the opportunity to show himself because the team has been playing catchup all season. I saw the spark LT had in the Pittsburgh game. He was looking more like the running back San Diego fans love. His problem in Pittsburgh was the line gave him nowhere to go, and he only had a few attempts before San Diego was behind by 28 pts. If Rivers continues to do his job effectively and the Chargers can get the running game back, then San Diego will be dangerous. I'm starting to think that the offensive line coach needs to be replaced by someone who will put some fight into the players, and if Norv Turner can not get the job done, then he is a useless head coach and he should be replaced as well.

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