Hey, look what's back! Well, the BFTB podcast is taking a break this week (You're shocked, I know), so I figured I might as well get my Bolts & Dolts named after a great Chargers game.

Bolts

Philip Rivers - 15/24, 233 yds, 4 pass TDs, 1 INT

Here's an incredible stat: After 10 games this season, El Capitan has only had 2 games in which he threw fewer than 2 touchdowns. That means in 80% of his games this season he's thrown for multiple TDs. Here's another fun stat: After getting sacked 18 times in the first 6 games of the season, Rivers has gotten sacked just 5 times in the last 4 games (and you could argue that most of those were coverage sacks). He's getting better because the offensive line is getting better.

Mike Tolbert - 25 rushes, 111 rush yards, 1 rush TD, 2 recs, 42 rec yards

When Mike Tolbert is making big offensive plays, the Chargers offense becomes about ten times more versatile. His 22 yard run and 28 yard catch from Mike Scifres took a lot of wind out of the Broncos' sails. Tolbert's Malcom Floyd-like ascension from undrafted FA that wasn't really expected to make the team, to starting FB, to back-up RB that leads the team in every rushing category, is another big feather in the cap of A.J. Smith.

Darren Sproles - 5 rushes, 14 rush yards, 5 recs, 60 rec yards, 1 rec TD

I know! I'm just as surprised as you are to see Lil' Lightning on this side of the Bolts & Dolts post. The funny thing is, members of my family have a knack for saying one thing (but you have to truly believe it) and having the complete and total opposite happen. We call it "The Gennaro Curse". So, of course after I told the guys over at Mile High Report that "Sproles is nothing to worry about and the Broncos don't need to gameplan for him", Sproles makes a huge play and makes sure to remind the Colts (who are definitely watching the tape) just who they're messing with.

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Here's your 1/4-through-the-season Bolts & Dolts leaders (including what you'll read after the jump):

Bolts:
4 - Antonio Gates
3 - Philip Rivers, Kevin Burnett, Antonio Garay
2 - Shaun Phillips, Mike Tolbert, Brandon Siler, Malcom Floyd, Offensive Line
1 - Steve Gregory, Legedu Naanee, Paul Oliver, Ryan Mathews, Jacob Hester, Antoine Cason, Buster Davis, Defensive Secondary, Defensive Line

Dolts:
3 - Darren Sproles
2 - Special Teams
1 - Nick Hardwick, Stephen Cooper, Brandyn Dombrowski, Mike Tolbert, Legedu Naanee

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Let me start off by addressing and clarifying the big news of the week, because it seems I wasn't exactly clear yesterday. Legedu Naanee joined me for 15-20 minutes on last night's podcast (listen here), but as of right now we don't have plans for him to come back on the podcast. Not that he's said no, I just haven't asked.

What "Legs" will do is answer several questions for us each week via e-mail, then pop-in after I've posted the questions to answer any follow-up questions from you guys in the comments. That weekly segment will either be called "Runnin' with Legs" or "Kickin' It with Legs", because those seemed to be the two favorites in the comments yesterday. Vote accordingly below.

Onto the (admittedly, late) Bolts & Dolts!

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Bolts - Offense

Offensive Line

Team 5.2 YPC, 1 Sack Allowed

Is it possible that the San Diego Chargers, and Hal Hunter, have someone managed to find a better LT in Brandyn Dombrowski than they had in Marcus McNeill? He's certainly not far off, which is incredible when you remember that last year he was an undrafted free agent Guard. Kris Dielman is playing at a really high level, Nick Hardwick redeemed himself by looking dominant all game, Louis Vasquez can only be described as solid and even Jeromy Clary has been adequate at RT.

Barring injury, this line has a chance to be really, really good this year. They looked strong at all point in this game, and Jacob Hester and Mike Tolbert seemed to do a good job of understanding where they were going with their blocks and following the lane created by the line. I don't think the line could've played much better than it did.

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It's strange how good everyone seems to feel about the team after a Week 1 loss to the worst team in the AFC last year, but there's good reason for that. Well, sortof. It's partially that we're all crazy and have been brainwashed by Norv Turner, Philip Rivers and AJ Smith. But hey.....In Norv We Trust, right?

Here's why I feel good about the game though. The team looked capable, when it wasn't raining, of doing okay at Arrowhead and great elsewhere. After the jump, let's take a look at this first drive by the Chargers (good plays bolded).

Roll Call: tonoxtono, riversformvp, John Gennaro, cameronm, Zach (maestro876), xa2173, Sam (sdsuaztec4), jkvandal, Axion, Superduperboltman, zelkolnikov, Jeffery, TJB, thepadfather, cowbell, tonik, I8EtoDunbar, Dex, catch22b, FriarFaithful4Life, JiltedEmu, kentuckybronco, losbolts, Neoplatonist Bolthead, Worthington, HuangDi, gman87, Ben R, $#%@ eli and his daddy, Slyintine, BoltfromBoston, Rich Garcia's defective eyes, Jonny Dub, Stan Darsh, bo_shilo, Aussiecharger, CABurrito, Adriel Bergman, gatesoftds, MarineCorpsDuck, Derek Snyder, TritonEye, Jonathan Holmes, NocturnalMatt, Its Mikey!!, TecateBoltsFan, benrb, KSJ49, NorthCountyBolt, GambitUte, Michaelt817, bstew95, shaqfor3

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First I want to apologize for getting this up so late, my landlord was getting the interior of the house painted today and they had to unplug the internet until they were done.

This is usually the most anticipated and debated about post of the week but I'm guessing that most of you, like me, are trying not to think about what happened last night and keeping your mind on other things. As fans, though, we have the duty to hand out praise and blame to the players and coaches because really that's the only thing we really can do.

To me, what happened yesterday was more stunning and painful to watch than the opening round loss to the Patriots in 2007. While that team also made costly mistakes, those mistakes were things that happened to the team all year and had managed to win despite them. This year was different; after the 2-3 start, the team rarely made any mistakes, they were protecting the ball and creating takeaways, and I couldn't even remember the last time Nate Kaeding missed a field goal.

Anyway, I'm sure nobody will agree with my positions on the following but you guys can add your own in the comments because I might have missed some because of the drinking and what not. Without further ado I present the final Bolts and Dolts of the season.

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Hello, hello, hello.  Let's start off today's Bs&Ds with some bad news.  As predicted, I missed the first half of the Chargers game (mostly, we'll get to that in a second).  Not as predicted, my DVR decided that it wasn't going to record the game unless I went home and set the thing manually.  Once I realized that, I became the jerk at the family function that was watching a football game on his phone and ignores everybody else.  What else could I do?  It's almost playoff time!

I saw about 5 minutes worth of football on my phone.  The first play was a should've-been-easy TD to Antonio Gates that Philip Rivers overthrew by about 3 yards.  On my 3 inch by 6 inch screen, it looked like Philip laughed that one off.  The second play was a little bit more difficult TD pass to Gates.  After that I watched the Redskins move down the field with ease thanks to Quinton Ganther and packed in the phone for the car ride home to a larger television screen.

This game made two things very, very evident.  One, as has been the case seemingly since AJ Smith took over as General Manager, this team has plenty of depth today and plenty of fresh young bodies for the future.  Two, if the Chargers run into a team that has a really good defense and really good running offense, they could be in trouble.  A game against the Ravens or Jets scares me a little, because those teams are good enough on defense to stay in the game and can run it enough to take advantage of the Chargers' biggest weakness (The Bengals are not included because after losing Rey Maualuga they've looked like a different, weaker team).

Anyways, onto Bolts & Dolts (with a few fresh faces this week).

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This was the most complete win, and certainly the most dominating victory, for the San Diego Chargers this year if you take out the two games against the Chiefs. I know a lot of people were worried about this streaking Titans team heading into the Christmas Day matchup, but after I wrote up the game preview I knew it would turn out this way.  Really, any time the game preview says the opposing team hasn't been very good at defending the pass and they just lost their best player for the season....it's going to be a big win for the Chargers.

Because this team was great in just about every facet of the game, there will be plenty of Bolts and not a lot of Dolts this week.  I suppose that's a good thing.  Nobody wants to be a grinch this time of year.

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