BOLT ANALYSIS -- WEEK 1: AN OPENING WIN, BUT OUCH!

Well, the candle is lit. The 2011-2012 season kicked off over the past weekend and man is it nice to have the NFL back. Crazy stuff around the NFL..like the Manningless-Colts getting demolished, and the mighty Steelers getting destroyed. Also, as Darin pointed out, the USC-Utah points debacle has Vegas reeling. Nothing like Football!! But, let’s focus on the Bolts. An off-season of fine tuning, nursing injuries, and assembling what we all hope are the right chess pieces to make a real run at the Big Prize. Expectation and anticipation were high…until the kickoff.


In what has to be the most surreal moment in recent memory (I think I have said that before) the opening kickoff was returned 103 yards for a touchdown by Percy Harvin. An offseason that was SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED to rebuild special teams with new players, more speed, an Ace new Special Teams coach, and a new attitude fizzled with the first kickoff of the season. Bolts fans, you really cannot script this. I could not have written this up if I had 100 tries. Absolutely ridiculous. And, in what could be the most significant thing that happened yesterday, we may have lost Nate Kaeding for the season. Nobody hit him….he did not make a tackle…just got twisted and left the game with an injured knee. One play, guys, and we had laid the biggest egg you could imagine.

Then, the rest of the first half began to come into focus. Wait a minute, was that Norv calling runs up the middle followed by a third and long incompletion…again and again…? How refreshing. A new playbook…oh wait…that is the same start they have had for the past 4 years. A frustrating half that saw trips into the red zone thwarted by an interception and a bizarre 4th and 20 play where they could have let Scifres try a long one. Now, I get it, don’t put too much pressure on your punter-turned-kicker. But, 4th and 20? Defensively, we were doing OK...although we let 90-year old D McNabb free on some big runs and Adrian Peterson got loose for a couple of big ones. Nice foot tackle Weddle. Was that $40 million weighing you down? Bottom line was that despite dominating the stats….what else is new?...we were down 17-7 at halftime and everyone was tightening the belt for another round of excuses. It was a carbon copy of early last year….dominating the stats…but not scoring points.

Then the second half started. A fantastic, tough, drive with a nice mix of runs and passes culminating in Mike Tolbert back to back bowling ball rolls through the Vikings defense. The Vikes were sending blitzers on literally every play. The Chargers answer to this was to forget about downfield plays and focus on short hitters to Gates and to the backs. Frustrating perhaps…but we had 5 or more long, sustained drives with lots of great third down conversions. It was tough to see V Jackson and Floyd pretty much taken out of the mix, but nice to see we have options and we adapted to some pretty aggressive defensive game planning. Rivers got comfortable in the second half (despite one horribly ill-advised throw in the red zone intercepted by the amazing Jared Allen). The offensive line played solid throughout..still need help on the run blocking but Phillip had 43 passing attempts and only two sacks despite facing blitzes all day long.

Once the Boyz were within 3 points the defense really took over. Completely dominating the entire 2nd half. Completely. They were helped out by an amazingly conservative game plan from the Vikings. Once the Chargers had figured out Peterson…the Vikes had nothing else to offer. They attempted 15 passes the whole game! And nothing downfield. Completing only 7 for 39 yards. 39! Seriously? This had nothing to do with our secondary. It was a crazy-boring game plan, total reliance on their running back, and the fact they never had the ball ‘cuz our offense was clicking. A Mike Scifres field goal (yeah, Mike!) tied the game, setting the stage for what…another late meltdown? Another special teams mistake? Nope, none of the above. Rivers led another great drive with the play of the game to Tolbert on a scramble and throw. The only thing scrambled about Rivers is his eggs. The guy is a statue…yet he got clear and made a pretty little touch pass to Tolbert for the winner. And, then, the Defense, once again locking down McNabb and company with a late sack. Shawn Phillips was superb all game…despite missing most of the preseason. Takeo Spikes was organized and solid in the middle of our linebacking crew. Rookie Corey Luiget was rock solid and Antonio Garay held up in the middle. A great, great effort by the D. And, oh yeah, thanks to Minnesota for THREE OFFSIDES PENALTIES on the final drive in addition to the vanilla offense. Are you kidding me? Don’t think I have seen that before.

So, is it all positive? No, absolutely not. Kaeding may be lost for the year. Luis Castillo may be lost for the year with a broken bone in his leg. This is tough because they made a decision to sign only 6 defensive linemen this year (so they could focus on speed, linebackers and special teams—oh the irony). We need to sign someone quick to both try and kick field goals and to defend. Maybe Ogembi Nguwabo (sp?) He was a late cut by the team and knows the defense. Man, isn’t it just the Charger way? Win the opener but lose two key starters? One step forward…two steps sideways…one step back. Whatever. To lose Castillo is tough, but he is replaceable. To lose Nate is really tough. When you have a great kicker, you can play for that winning field goal. When you are unsure about your kicking game, it causes all sorts of play calling issue and forcing of yards. Bummer. We shall see if they are both truly lost for the year. It would seem so.

But, gotta focus on the guys on the field. Wonderful to have Gates back, Rivers looks solid if a bit rusty, the defense looks improved. S. Phillips and spot player Antwan Barnes look disruptive. The Patriots are up next on the “Game of the Week”. We have not seen them yet but I will go out on a limb and say they will be….uh….good. So, tough week ahead. Bottom line is it is good to have football back and we are 1-0. Last year’s team would have lost that game so, to conclude, I am happy to report, we are not last year’s team.