What happened to the Chargers? (San Diego: how much, layoffs, live)

[dusesean1986]

I don't know how many folks watched the San Diego Chargers take on the New England Patriots. But, the end result was the Chargers losing. Give me your explanation for the lost.

1.Stopped the Running Game, Went to the Air More
(Our Offensive Line Was Destroying the Patriots Defensive Line)

2.Three possessions in the first half where we were in New England Territory past the fifty yard line and failed to score any points

3.The Chargers had multiple opportunities to put the game away. There were numerous opportunities to score in the Second Half. You can't allow a team whose won three Super Bowl's in the last five years to keep hangin' around.

4.Definently the biggest, Phillip Rivers lack of postseason play. He did not look confident, and many of his balls thrown were way off target.

[wall st kid]

I was at the game. Very exciting. Not the result i was looking for however.

SD just made too many bonehead plays. Critical 4th and 5 with New England driving, the Charger defender intercepts the ball and starts running only to lose the ball on a fumble. Just knock the ball down, its 4th down, you get possession right at the line of scrimmage. That wasn't smart and dumb stuff is what cost them.

Also, there were many wrong things, using too many time outs in the 2nd half, Rivers running TOO much time off the playclock on the first or 2nd play on the last possession.....Chargers would have been able to get into FG range if Rivers didn't waste 20 seconds on one play on that final drive and even w 8 seconds left in the game, you either have to run another quick pass out of bounds to gain 5 or 10 more yards, or you go for the gold and bomb it to the endzone. Trying a 54 yarder there was hopeless.

[dusesean1986]

I completely understand everything you pointed out. Alot of inexperience from both the Chargers and Phillip Rivers. I just knew the longer New England was still hanging around the best chance they had to beat the Chargers.

[merlin70]

Brady, 11-1 in the playoffs, now is 12-1.

Need we say more?

Sometimes experience counts.

[wall st kid]

Originally Posted by merlin70

Brady, 11-1 in the playoffs, now is 12-1.

Need we say more?

Sometimes experience counts.

Yeah, we can say more. Brady wasn't impressive. He grinded it out, but wasn't exactly Joe Montana like on Sunday. Sure, he found a way to win, but if they don't get a fluke play, they probably lose. Brady being 11-1 didn't have anything to do with the Charger player intercepting the ball on 4th and 5 in the 4th quarter and then fumbling it back to the Pats. If the Charger player holds on to the ball (not much to ask, right?) than Brady would have thrown a key interception on 4th down with the game on the line.

Its very easy to look at final results. I like to look at how results came about.

What Brady did in the past is irrelevant to Sunday's game. In the NFL, teams change overnight. Major injuries, coaching changes, momentum, etc can make a good team into a bad team in the space of a few weeks.

[dusesean1986]

Yea, agree with you there. There have been plenty of playoff games Tom Brady has won with his playoff experience, but Sunday was not one of them. He received major help from Troy Brown, and his defense continously caused the Chargers to punt and seemingly go nowhere on offense inside the New England 50. He did throw three picks, which doesn't account for anything experience or not. Like Phillip Rivers off the mark passes, many of his balls thrown were some of the worst I've ever seen from Tom Brady, at the ground, three feet over the guys head. Most of the Chargers wounds were self inflicted on Sunday, and had little to do with the Patriots experience. There were numerous opportunities by the Chargers to be ahead by more than one touchdown by the middle of the fourth quarter. The Chargers had more talent, but their playoff inexperience was definently exposed. I truly believe they were much more talented than the Patriots, but it's not whose truly better, it's whose truly better on the given day the game is played. Poor Marty!

[dusesean1986]

Originally Posted by wall st kid

Trying a 54 yarder there was hopeless.

Hey, it just hooked right. I just hope the Chargers, along with Marty, all stay for next season. It would be super dissapointing if this team was broken apart and we would maybe have to wait a while until the Bolts struck back.

[wall st kid]

dus86,
i was at the game and had seats in the lower level on the 50 yard line. i had a great view of the final kick....to my eye, the ball was at least 10 yards short. As soon as he kicked it i could see it wasn't going to be anywhere close. Im not sure where the ball landed, but i think it was far away from even coming close.

I said to the people i was at the game with, "dont you have to run one more play and try and gain some more yardage"

they might have even had a better chance at a hail mary at that point.

Rivers inexperience running the hurry-up offense was key. The Chargers were 14-2, so there were times during games where they could have experimented or fine tuned Rivers abililty to run the hurryup. Seemed like he never ran that offense before and had no idea how much time he was wasting getting everyone set.

Chargers got the ball back with 1:05 left in the game. The first play was a 14 yard completion to Gates taking them to their own 39. The next play didn't start until there was 40 seconds left in the game. Instead of spiking and stopping the clock w 40 to go, Rivers ran another play, a short pass to gates that only gained 4 yards and took another 16 seconds off the clock, which ran the game clock down to 24 seconds.

It took Rivers 41 seconds to run 2 pass plays to Gates gaining 14 yards and 4 yards.

THere was a pass to EP that gained 21 yards to the Pats 36 yard line. If Rivers was just a little better and more efficient with the clock, he would have been able to have more than 8 seconds on the clock and then the Bolts get to run another play. If he has 10 more seconds, they run another dump off pass play and probably gain at least 5 yards.

Its all water under the bridge now, but in hindsight,there were many reasons the Chargers didn't win.

[socketz]

Brady happened to the Chargers. We should just go ahead and put that guy in the Hall of Fame now. I knew that game was the litmus test for them, and they were a fumbled interception away from winning.

That was a war....both teams were physical. Great game, but the result sucked. Marty's and Tom Brady's legacy lives on....

If the Pats play that intense this week, they will mutilate the Colts. They just beat the best team in football hands down.

[wall st kid]

sock
i dont think the pats will be able to match the intensity of the colts. I was way more impressed with the colts desire and hunger than i was with new england.

i know this may sound crazy, but the pats were more than content to lose...the chargers just wouldn't let them. Pats got down 14-3. If Chargers get the next td, its 21-3 and the game gets out of hand. New England didn't look all that impressive from an 'energy' standpoint. They just kind of hung around and let the chargers impolode....pats weren't good enough to take the game, they needed san diego to do some bonehead things to keep them in the game.

its hard to knock brady and all he's done in his career...but i believe the pats have played better in the past and had better teams. if they beat indy i'll be very impressed.