Well there is good news and there is bad news, the bad news is my prediction didn't do so well last week but since the Chargers won the good news is that my prediction didn't do so well last week. Click below to see what I came up with this week against the Broncos.

Major Stat Geek Warning Below!!!

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by Chris Park - AP

The San Diego Chargers defense swarms Brian Westbrook during the Chargers 31-23 victory in a NFL football game Sunday Nov. 15, 2009 in San Diego. (AP Photo/Chris Park)

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Attention all nerds.  Do you head straight to Football Outsiders when you're looking for better-than-average stats?  Well, I found another website that you're going to want to bookmark.  (Editor's Note: This is not a paid advertisement.  I've never even talked with the guys from this website.  So if this sounds like a sales-pitch, it's not.)

ProFootballFocus.com is a website that football stat-geeks have been dying for without knowing it.  Just about any question you have about the team can be answered within their stats.  Want to know who has played the most defensive plays for the Bolts?  Eric Weddle, with 544.  How about which player has the most QB Pressures?  It's a tie between Luis Castillo and Shaun Phillips (both have 10).  Wondering who the best MLB on the Chargers is?  You'll be surprised.

Let's delve into some of PFF's defensive stats and player ratings...

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Both the offense and defense were less than spectacular for the first three quarters of Sunday's game.  Fortunately, when it mattered most at the very end of the game, both units rose to the occasion.  Anyone who watched the game knows this and the numbers reflect it.

Offense

The offense was unsuccessful more often than not on Sunday.  This was mostly thanks to a complete inability to run the ball, but even when Rivers dropped back to pass the Chargers were still failing every other play.

The futility in the running game is attributable to several factors that were noticeable during this game and have been present for most if not all of the season.  Tomlinson, who gets a majority of the carries, is slow to the hole and goes down on first contact almost every time.  The play-calling also leaves something to be desired as Turner continues to call running plays out of power formations that telegraph his intent, but provide no push.

The 50/50 success of the passing game is more benign.  Rivers and co. try to complete a lot of low percentage downfield throws and are actually very successful doing so.  It just isn't going to show up that way in what is essentially a pass/fail system where all successes are equal.  The final drive of the game, though, was impressive by any standard.  The Chargers rate of success was 75% (6 of 8) and they completed four passes of 10 or more yards.  Also, the only completion that wasn't good for a first down or touchdown was a nine yarder on first down.

Defense

The defense's stop rate of just over 50% isn't anything to sneeze at, but it isn't terribly impressive either.  What is impressive is that the defense recorded a stop on the final nine plays of the game which covered the Giants' last three possessions.  That run of dominance also kept the score close enough with enough time left on the clock to allow for the offense's game-winning drive.

Those last three possessions are even more impressive when you realize that until that point, the defense was only recording a stop on 43% of their plays.

One thing about the numbers that jumped out at me was the breakdown by down.  The Chargers were fairly mediocre on first and second down, but downright dominant on third, especially third down runs.  They only allowed five third down conversions all day.  The reason it seemed like more was because four of them occurred on the Giants' third drive of the game and none of them happened after that with the Chargers holding them short of the sticks on their last seven third downs.

Cooper (7), Siler (6), Phillips (5) and Weddle (4) all had big individual games as measured by tackles for stops.  Nine Charger defenders prior to this week's game had recorded 4 or more stops in one game.  For four of them to do so in this week's contest is impressive to say the least.  Cooper's seven stop game makes him the team leader again having been tied with Phillips after last week's game.

Wrap Up

Overall, Sunday's game was an even one until the very end and against a good team like the Giants on the road and on the opposite coast, I think that's something we should be happy about.

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I wanted to create an unbiased prediction of the score for this week’s game, but being a lifelong Charger fan I found that to be rather though.  My solution was to turn to stats, if I could look at and compare each team’s average points for and against points per game totals I thought might somehow be able to predict the score without bias.  Click below to see what I came up with.

Major Stat Geek Warning Below!!!

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I was around, and a San Diego Chargers fan, when LaDainian Tomlinson caught 100 passes in a season.  I remember that being one of the most frustrating 4-12 teams in history.  Anyways, I got an e-mail last night that I was perusing this morning when I saw this....

Rivers’ top two receiving threats -- TE ANTONIO GATES and WR VINCENT JACKSON -- are tied with 42 receptions apiece and can challenge RB LA DAINIAN TOMLINSON’s franchise record of 100 receptions in 2003.

What?!?  While it's possible that I just forgot this stat, I am fairly certain that I remember his 100-reception season as a record for a running back.  I had no idea that no WR in the history of the Chargers has ever caught 100 balls in a season.  That's amazing, especially considering how potent the Bolts offense has been over it's history.

More to the point, only 1 of the top 3 Chargers' spots in terms of receptions is held by a WR.  Here's the list.

1. LaDainian Tomlinson, 100 rec (2003)
2. Tony Martin, 90 rec (1995)
3. Antonio Gates, 89 rec (2005)

That's unbelievable!  Even with Gates and VJ getting the majority of the catches this season, each of them is on pace for only 84 catches by season's end.

By comparison, the Denver Broncos have had 6 WRs with seasons of 100 receptions or more.  The New England Patriots have had 3 WRs with 100+ catch seasons in the last decade alone.  The Colts have had 5 seasons like that, with 4 coming from Marvin Harrison.  Even the Chicago Bears' Marty Booker caught 100 passes in a season once.  The youngest team in the league, the Houston Texans, already have 2 seasons of 100+ receptions from a WR.

This begs the question.....which teams in the NFL have never had a 100+ reception season from a WR?  It has to be rare, right?  Maybe not as rare as you'd think.  Here's a list of them.

• San Diego Chargers
• Cleveland Browns
• Kansas City Chiefs
• Miami Dolphins
• New Orleans Saints
• New York Giants
• New York Jets
• Philadelphia Eagles
• Seattle Seahawks

More photos » by Lenny Ignelzi - AP

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About a week ago, somebody in the comments here (and forgive me for forgetting who it was) pointed me in the direction of a former HS football coach who was grading Chargers offensive linemen on every single play to give everyone a good idea of who was playing well and who wasn't.  He was posting his findings on Facebook and the Chargers.com forums, but not here.

I reached out to him, to see if I could convince him to post his stuff here as well.  Seeing as how most of us are stat-geeks, I assured him there'd be an audience for it.  I finally got my response yesterday, in the form of an awesome spreadsheet.  Go ahead and click on that link.  It should open up the spreadsheet, which shows Paul's grades on every play for the Chargers games played in Weeks 1, 2, 3 and 8.

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More photos » by Carolyn Kaster - AP

19 days ago: New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning sits on the ground after being knocked down during the second quarter an NFL football game against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, Nov. 1, 2009, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

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Luckily for us, this game is not in primetime and is very important for both teams.  Because of that, the Philip Rivers vs. Eli Manning storyline isn't getting as much attention as it normally would.  Chargers fans are more concerned with a victory, which is desperately needed, and Giants fans are more concerned with Eli's health.  Still, there's a way in which the QB conversation can be had in the context of this game and I'd like to do it.

It's not difficult to argue that Philip is having the better season.  He has about as many TDs (12 to Manning's 13) with half as many interceptions and a higher completion rating.  These stats were also mostly attained under duress, evidence by the 16 times Rivers has been sacked in comparison to Manning's 8.  That doesn't tell the whole story though.

Eli Manning injured his foot in a week 4 matchup against the Chiefs.  The following week, it seemed all was fine as he destroyed the Raiders (8-for-10, 173 yards, 2 TDs).  The three weeks since, however, have shown that Manning is struggling to be an effective QB because he's not comfortable planting on to that injured foot while throwing.

On the flip side, Philip Rivers has stayed healthy and consistent throughout the season.  The last three weeks have resulted in 2 wins and 3 of Rivers' 4 best games of the season.  So if we compare how the QBs have been doing over the last three weeks, it probably won't be pretty.......

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Holy crap.  I just found the most in-depth stats for offensive linemen and I couldn't be happier.  Not by the stats (haven't scoured them all yet), but just by having a legitimate way for statistical analysis on offensive linemen.  Let's look through the Chargers' offensive linemen through the first 6 games of 2009 and see how they've played.....

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