BOLT ANALYSIS - WEEK 7

What a difference a change of opponent makes. This week's ANALYSIS will focus on something that hopefully was gained in spades on Sunday: Confidence. Lets preface this by saying that Kansas City is bad. Maybe really really bad. But perhaps our problem here in high-expectation land is that we are always looking ahead..always measuring our Boyz against the next "good" team we are going to play. I think that is all wrong. You can only line up against one team at a time. And we lined up against the perfect tonic for our ills..the Chiefs.

The first half of this game was pretty much perfect. LT has 60 yards in the first quarter...V Jackson had 100 yards in the first half, Rivers was untouched, and our Defense looked great. Lets forget for a moment that we were playing the Chiefs and just focus on the fact that we finally looked tough...we were in position...we had a PASS RUSH. So that is what pressure looks like. It looks very nice doesn't it. The 3-4 defense can be so effective (has to be effective) when you pressure the QB. It is nice to watch when it works. And, back on offense, we converted 3rd downs, got some running lanes, and protected the QB. In the rain of the second half, this game devolved into a sloppy, yucky affair. LT has 11 carries for 70 Yards at the half and finishes with 23 carries for 72? Wow. Pretty gross. It did not really matter though, because the defense was in complete control, picking off Cassell 3 times, blocking a punt on special teams, and Sprolie broke through for the big TD. 37-7. Nice to have one where you can actually breathe in the 4th quarter.

So, back to confidence. This team either has too much of it and fails..or, more recently, appears to have none of it..and fails. This game was a great one to build that back up. Much like a savvy horse trainer will take a struggling horse and put him against weaker for a couple of wins, a team needs to remember how to win...how to finish...how to stick the knife in. It is just such a mental game..much more so than anyone wants to lead on. The defense can only benefit from its pummeling of KC, because it can start believing that the plays are there to be made. I am not sure what woke up Steven Gregory and Eric Weddle but those little undersized guys looked fantastic in this game. They moved some players around...moved Gregory to the 3rd corner role instead of Cason and moved Paul Oliver to strong safety for much of the game. It worked, these guys looked comfortable and made plays. Merriman really looked like he was trying...getting involved..opening up plays for others. Phillips with two sacks...Dobbins was everywhere playing in place of Burnett. Guys stepped up and looked tough. Again, forget who they were playing. This is an NFL team and it is good to feel good about yourself. Next opponent is the Raiders, who finally benched the woefully underprepared Jamarcus Russell and go with the much feared Bruce Gradkowski. They got crushed 38-0 at home by a Jets team that had been beaten by Buffalo. Confidence builder...it would seem we should keep this going next week.

So, what did we see that we need to work on? Well, how about 8 rushes to LT from the 1 or 2 yard line and a total of zero yards? I completely understand Norv's insistence to give LT the ball over and over in this situation. And...I agree with it. We NEED to get LT off...we NEED to get his confidence up. Our offensive line simply cannot run block. Period. This is a team we pummeled all game long and we could not block them at all on the goal line. Our guys can pass block, but their run blocking is atrocious. Now..a couple of things to throw in. Uh..hey Norv, when the first 7 LT rushes up the middle and to the left did not work, did it occur to you to try something else? Outside run? Direct snap? Play action and screen? Something. I was down with trying to get LT in the endzone (and he did if it was not for a silly play by dombrowski to not report to the referee) but that was hard to watch. Just because we are up by 20 points or more does not mean we can have three first downs inside the 5 and score 2 fields goals. Not acceptable. This run blocking is really a problem. In fairness, again I must raise the play calling issue. When LT is in...they bring in two tight ends, line up in the "I" and snap the ball. Everyone in the free world knows it will be LT up the middle. When Sproles comes in, they mix it up, do different things and trick the defense. 8 rushes from LT and all 11 chiefs know what is coming. That is a good recipe to fail. There was a time when the Bolts could say..."we are better than you, come stop us". No more. They need to mix it up.

That is about all I can criticize...except maybe some dumb penalties. For now, the ANALYSIS will not concern itself with playing a "good team". The ANALYSIS would like to support a confident Charger team, winning on the road in the rain by daylight, facing a next-week opponent in complete disarray. Gotta beat the team that lines up in front of you...lets just focus on that for now. And Confidence.