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I said that I would do this on Twitter before the game started, so here goes:
The San Diego Chargers are a good football team.
This is what we envisioned in the preseason. Philip Rivers flinging the ball around to a seemingly endless number of talented receivers, balanced by a two-headed monster of a running game. The defense barely mattered to us fans, we knew they would be able to take chances and blitz like crazy once the San Diego offense built up its big lead.
So, what happened? Who knows? Vincent Jackson was hurt. Malcom Floyd was hurt. Antonio Gates was hurt. Ryan Mathews and Mike Tolbert both battled injuries. Philip Rivers was probably hurt, or something. The defense has played terribly when the team doesn't have a lead because then they get too conservative. It all rested on the shoulders of Rivers, essentially, which is one reason I thought he'd win the MVP Award this season. Instead, we didn't really see the real Rivers until December.
Everyone had a great game for San Diego tonight, with the possible exception of Antonio Gates (who was getting extra attention after a strong first quarter). Nobody had a bad game. The only bad plays were a fumble from Ryan Mathews, which Jared Gaither jumped on top of, and a meaningless FG that Nick Novak missed. Both had good overall games though, and everything else went San Diego's way. Mike Scifres might've fallen asleep on the bench for all we know, because he had zero punts in the game.
Keep your fingers crossed. This could be a really fun ride if everything breaks the Bolts' way and the end up in the playoffs. Next week against the Lions is another test by another good team that is already punching their playoff ticket.
It's going to be awkward if the Chargers have both a 6-game losing streak and a 5 game winning streak in the same season, especially if they miss the playoffs.