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I know, I know, how boring. "Of course Philip Rivers was going to have a great game, he was facing the worst secondary in the NFL. " That's what I would've been saying after the game, but as I sat in a bar at 10am yesterday I saw on the screen "Antonio Gates - Out (foot)" and felt the blood rush from my face. Suddenly, my brain was struggling to get through the following math equation:
Philip Rivers - Wide Receivers - Tight Ends - Kris Dielman + Inexperienced RBs + Horrible Special Teams = ?
Turns out, the answer was "Victory". If you give El Capitan a couple of weeks of practice with any WRs and TEs, he's going to get on the same page with them and find a way to move the ball downfield....at least against below-average defenses.
I thought about giving this week's game ball to Seyi Ajirotutu, who went from the practice squad to being the team's most successful rookie this season in just three weeks. However, for as much as I am excited for Tutu's potential....I do not think he would've finished with 111 receiving yards and 2 receiving TDs if he had Billy Volek (or any non-elite QB) throwing to him instead of Rivers.
The same goes for Randy McMichael, who seems to have taken the advice I gave him during the BFTB Podcast when I said that he should forget about the bad first-half to the season, embrace the chance against the Texans and get started on having a great second-half to the season.
The offensive line also deserves a mention, because for the second straight week the Chargers QB was sacked only once (and it was a coverage sack) and the Chargers top 2 RBs each had over 4 yards per carry. However, Philip Rivers has seemingly thrown this team on his back the last few weeks and is playing near-flawless football as the Chargers try and fight their way back to the top of the division.
Wonko will be around later today to handle 5 Good Things/5 Bad Things from the game.