Sunday, January 6, 2008

Titans - Chargers Notes

1.) The Chargers look out of sorts. The Titans are playing loose and just pounding the ball. If the Chargers stack the line and force Young to throw they should be fine. Losing Scaife and Williams has to effect this game eventually.

2.) Big gain by Chris Chambers. The Chargers and Rivers are finally in rhythm. Miami should trade a couple more valuable receivers within their own conference.

3.) Rivers loves to throw. Overthrow, underthrow, just as long as he's throwing. He should have a fun time in the Dome next week.

4.) Before the game I told my wife that I would be surprised if the Titans scored more than 6 offensive points. I may still be right, but at this rate 6 might be enough to win.

5.) Rivers throws a horrible pick. It took 2 or 3 wobblers, but he finally threw the pick. I genuinely fear this game will end 3-0.

6.) There is a huge swing at stake for the Patriots here. Will they play a banged up, one-dimensional team led by Vince Young? Or a team whose second best Running Back is Fred Taylor?

7.) This feels a lot like the NFL's soon-to-be-annual Rookies vs. Sophomores game.

8.) Antonio Gates appears to have suffered a serious lower leg/foot injury. Tough loss for a Chargers team that is struggling for offense. Great player. San Diego misses a 45 yarder. They need a turnover in the worst way.

9.) Titans lead 6-0 at the half. Unbelievable. A win by the Titans would essentially grant New England a free pass to the AFC Championship game. It would also force the Colts to beat a rival three times in a season. Fun.

10.) Chargers need to start the half with a drive for points. They are 7-1 at home this season, but they are on the brink of another crippling playoff loss. A 34 yard gain to Vincent Jackson sets up a field goal. The blocking for LT has been atrocious. Titans lead 6-3.

11.) Wow. The Charger fans must be dying right now. This game shows the importance of good coaching. Norv Turner versus Jeff Fisher was not a fair matchup. Fisher has forced Philip Rivers to win the game, and that strategy is a winning one thus far.

12.) LT looks slow. It's kind of creeping me out. It's like they stuck his slower older brother, FraDanian out there. Footing may not be great on the field, much like when the Colts played them earlier this year. Huge personal foul on Albert Haynesworth. Bad call. TOUCHDOWN. Vincent Jackson is doing it all. Chargers lead 10-6.

13.) Titans are averaging 3.7 yards per carry heading into the fourth quarter. That number needs to soar in a hurry if they are going to steal this game. Rain is pouring down and the Titans' Rob Bironas pushes his kick wide left. HUGE.

14.) The Chargers get a much needed drive. Rivers has it going just enough to win this game. The Chargers face a 4th and goal from inside the one and will go for it. This is the ball game. TOUCHDOWN LT! Awesome play. Jumped about 10 feet in the air and didn't make it. His second effort gets him over for the score. That should do it for San Diego. We'll see them a week from today. Upset-minded Jacksonville will head to New England.

Deshawn Zombie comments: I don't know for sure that Jax is much better than San Diego, but here's why I wanted the Chargers first: for all the talk about the Chargers 'past success' against the Colts at RCA, no one seems to mention that that was with a different (better) QB. Phil Rivers has never had to call plays in the thunder of RCA. So, do I want a team that can run the ball, has a shaky QB and an idiot coach who plays in RCA every year, or do I want a team that can run the ball, has a shaky QB and an idiot coach who have never dealt with the noise. Um, I like option B. I also think the Chargers did nothing to instill confidence in Norv. LT looked like he was ready to choke him most of the day. If the Colts get up 10 early, this could turn into another Denver massacre. That team WANTS to quit on their coach.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Chargers should be blowing out the Titans. This game is so bad, it's almost unwatchable.

Tough break for Gates. He's a hell of a competitor.

And yes, the Dolphins single handedly handed the Pats 16-0 and the Chargers a decent WR.

Forget 2005. I really want the Chargers to win, because it'll be a good tune up for New England. That, and they'll get completely blown out.

Anonymous said...

It would be kind of funny though, for the Chargers to have gotten rid of Marty last year (because he couldn't make it in the playoffs), and then get Turner, who can't make it in the playoffs

Demond Sanders said...

Oh, totally. This game is an indictment of AJ Smith, the Chargers GM. They need just a couple offensive plays out of their quarterback to win this. Good thing you let Drew Brees walk, genius.

Bob M. said...

skpicky, "kind of funny?" You are understating it--it would be uproarious!

Not sure if it was DS or DZ who said it here last week, Young going down hurt in Indy was the one thing that game them a chance in that last game. A shame they didn't see the light for this game, because they might have won over a SD team that's.... not terribly intimidating. And for all his talent, LT has had more 20-yard games over the years than any other 1,500 yard rusher I can recall. Seems that twice a season he's just shut down. I suspect part of that is lack of QB firepower so some teams with a good scheme/personnel matchup can just sell out and shut him down, and the QB is not considered enogh of a threat.

To his credit, VY played injured and got hammered a bit, and did a decent job. He is a man, I'll give him that. Wait, wait, wait, I remember thinking that of Jeff George about 15 years ago.... Gets up off the ground with blood on his face and stays in the huddle, then throws a laser 97 yards from the seat of his pants, to nobody in particular.

Did SD really lose Gates, or more accurately a 100% effective Gates for next week? I like to stay on an even keel myself, regarding expectations, but I wonder how Vegas will handle that--is he worth 4 pts? 7 pts? Maybe Hayden and MJax can practice for Moss by beating up on Chambers at the LOS. Phil B had an interesting Indystar blog entry regarding talking to Dr. Z about Randy Moss and rough coverage. Z claims to have seen it 11 years ago in a college bowl game.

I think LT's post-game comments were telling. Essentially: it was not easy to do but it was good to get the win. The he probably heard what that sounded like and followed up with, "But it's not like we're ready to go out and lose now...." Methinks the chap doth protest too much. We'll see in a week.

Anonymous said...

If this were a Steelers blog...this would certainly be your picture to wrap up the game:

http://www.michaelkarmstudio.com/Method/picsMethod/ShootFoot.jpg

:(

Anonymous said...

ok...that didn't work, try clicking on my name (I put the link in there).

Bob M. said...

Wow, Just reviewed the Week 10 loss to SD. I guess i forgot that the Colts outpaced them 25 1st downs to 11; 386 yards to 177; and let TOP by 13 minutes.

We had 76 yds rushing woth no OTs. That SHOULD go up by at least 40. (was Castillo in action back then?) They were 3-11 on 3rd downs and had 86 yards passing. WITH Gates in the game. That has to improve, but even 5-11 and 170 passing yards should not make much difference. They won't get two return TDs and 6 INTs. Okay, so maybe Brackett doesn't recover another fumble in the EZ for a TD....

SD is a good, physical team. So am I nuts for thinking this could be a blowout? If we are healthy, I don't know if they can keep within two TDs. Rivers has cleaned up his act a bit and LdT is back on track, but so are the Colts. And SD at home just struggled against a team that was decimated by injuries (seems to be a SD specialty this year).
I'd be pretty curious to see anybody picking against the AFC home teams this week.

Bob M. said...

sorry for all the typos above.