BOLT ANALYSIS: WEEK 7 -- UH OH

Oh Boy…here we go again. The Chargers played a game on Sunday in which they were favored in New York against the hated Jets. They had proclaimed themselves as healthy as they have been all year. They were coming off of a bye with a 4-1 record and were playing a shaky foe that was struggling. Norv had actually talked some smack to pump up the guys. Despite these encouraging signs….folks, what we saw on the field yesterday was alarming. In the immortal words of that sage, Dennis Green, what this team brought to the table leads us to an early season declaration of “they are who we thought they were”…or more accurately…”they are who we hoped they weren’t”.

The second half of yesterday’s game should really give us little hope that we have a contending team. The lack of spirit, the lack of execution, the lack of any fire is very troubling. We had hoped that new veterans such as Takeo Spikes would help with this fire. We had hoped that high draft choices such as Cason and Larry English would continue to improve and get better. More than anything, perhaps, we had expected our quarterback and star receiver to continue playing at a high level. I can safely report after that game that across the board…we are in trouble. But first, lets talk about the game.

It started pretty joyfully…right? A fumble recovery for a touchdown and an interception by Weddle had the Jets frustrated and Sanchez moping on the bench. A very nice drive ending in a good TD by Gates had us up 14-3 and looking strong. Another good drive and some decent defending had is up by 11 at the half and confidence was high. We were moving the ball, we were active on defense, things were positive. Then, the Jets did what decent teams do. They changed their game plan…they made adjustments….they played with passion. The Chargers did what they do…come out flat and act shocked when the other team takes away the plays they thought they could run.  The Jets began to get into a nice cadence with runs and passes, converting third downs and staying on the field. These drives were helped by a ridiculous number of penalties. At least 4 of the Chargers dreadful 13 penalties were bogus. Two were called on Jammer where he had made good defensive plays, and two were false starts that were instead called on our defense. Bullshit…but that does not account for the other 9 that were called on us. In addition, the Jets knew they had a secret weapon (not so secret but the Chargers seemed to think so). Plaxico Burress is a 6 foot 5 beast who has the impressive claim to fame of shooting himself in the leg at a party and going to jail. Nice. Well, Antoine Cason seemed to believe that Burress was going to pull a gun on him any moment…staying nowhere near him on coverage in the red zone despite the fact that every Joe Blow in the stadium knew who was going to get the ball. Awful.

Despite all this ragged and ugly play, the Bolts were still in position to win this game (or at least make it hard on the Jets). With the ball in field goal range on a 3^rd and 4, Rivers threw a pass a little behind Jackson that bounced into the hands of (who else) Darrelle Revis. Game changer. A field goal there (or if Jackson holds on to the ball maybe more) and we are in a good spot. However, this interception and a second even more sickening interception…and the Jets were up 27-21. However, we still had a chance…1:40 left on the clock. Hey, we are pretty good at the two minute drill right? All you need to do is call 3 plays in the huddle and run them in quick succession….when in doubt, spike the ball and buy some time. OK, I really hope all of you studied that 1:40. That was the SD Chargers in clear relief. A team with no clue what it is doing when the chips are down. The time wasted on that drive was unreal. It is as if the coaching staff and Rivers had no idea what to do…as if this whole “clock” thing was just too much to understand. It really goes beyond embarrassing folks…this is more like a culture. Something ingrained. We have no ability to improvise and get out of our gameplan.

There were so many things wrong about this game, but I will just focus on two that unfortunately we had taken as strengths of our team: Rivers and the inability of our receivers to get open. Rivers has been really special over the past couple of years. He is bad this year. Period. Leads the League in interceptions, missing on all type of throws, bad timing. He looks bad. I have read that he may be hurt..that he may have an injured chest and that is impacting his motion. Who knows? I just know that things do not seem to be improving. Add to that the fact that our receivers seem to be running half-assed routes and not getting separation and you have a weak offense Now, Revis is a special player. He took VJ out of this game completely. But our guys seem to be sleepwalking, hoping someone else makes a play.

So, can I leave you all with something positive? Just this: We are still in first place. The Raiders’ new leader Carson Palmer threw 3 of 6 interceptions and McFadden got hurt. Suddenly the Raiders look poor and the Chiefs and Broncos are not very good. We have a chance next Monday night to take control of the AFC West with a win over the Chiefs. It is a tough place to play but we will probably be favored again. What do you think? Are the Bolts who you think they are? Are we better than we look? Will Halloween night indeed be scary? Stay tuned.

BOLT ANALYSIS: WEEK 5 -- THE WORST 4-1 TEAM IN FOOTBALL? HOPEFULLY NOT.

We have reached the first (and only) break in the 2011-2012 season. The Chargers enter their bye week in desperate need of a rest. For those of us who study the schedule and piece together some prognostication at the beginning of the year, a 4-1 mark and first in the AFC West was right about where we figured we should be. Now, clearly, where we “should” be has not been close to where we have actually been in the last few years. But this year appears to be an exception. Once again, yesterday, we beat a team we “should” beat. In fact, that is the 4th such game we have played. The combined record of the teams we have beaten is 4-15. We have done nothing special. But special don’t matter in the standings. Fans (such as the ANALYSIS) continue to lament the lack of style points to these wins. But I’d rather be known as the “Worst 4-1 team in Football” than the “Best 2-3 team”…our usual moniker at this point in the game slate.


So, here we go. For three quarters + yesterday, this game was a beatdown. We drove the ball well, ran through them, converted first downs, and utterly stopped their offense. Ryan Mathews again showed his talent….looking especially strong and fast for much of the game. We were winning the line battles and opening holes. On defense, they could not do anything right. Kyle Orton was hideous…missing open receivers…throwing a pick….looking confused. They could not convert any third downs and the rout was on….or was it? Nope. Unfortunately, our Red Zone performance was miserable again. Needing to go for short field goals instead of TDs. What the hell is going on? You cannot blame penalties because we had exactly ZERO of those yesterday, which was great. Is it play calling, execution, Rivers getting jumpy and happy feet, lack of a healthy Gates, Floyd and Jackson? I don’t know, but it is very tiresome. Three great drives ended in short field goals and Rivers and Crayton botched a short pass that went for a pick 6 the other way. Despite utter domination, it was 16-10 and it should have been 24-3 at least. Then, however, we had what is my favorite play of the season so far. The D stopped the stinking Orton on a three and out and we got the ball back with less than 2 minutes in the half. Looking like they were playing for the field goal..with a couple of runs and a spike..suddenly Norv dialed up a beauty on a 30+ yard TD pass to wide open Floyd. That was good stuff…and got us a 23-10 lead at the half.

Despite the divine intervention of The Messiah…oops I mean Tim Tebow…starting the second half. It was more of the same…Chargers driving and getting a field goal….Broncos going three and out. The third quarter ended just as the half had ended…domination. The Broncos were asleep…there was quiet in the mile-high air. After a Charger field goal put us up by 16 points, things began to change. It started with a very strange drive. We were rolling with the ball when suddenly we took a sack, then the ball squirted out of Rivers’ hand for a 17 yard loss. Huh? The crowd started stirring…and Tebow began to find his feet.

The Broncos and Tebow started driving nicely with running plays. Don’t bother throwing the ball Tim. The Chargers Defense started backing up….missing tackles…hoping someone else would step up. Nobody did. Tebow ran in a ridiculously easy 10 yard score…then McGahee blew over Weddle for a two point conversion. Just like that…it was a one possession game. Unbelievable considering the Broncos had 5 first downs total going into the fourth quarter. On the ensuing drive, Rivers made another critical error. Despite having some time to step up…he hesitated on a rush and then lurched forward trying to make a play…the ball was tipped out of his hand and the Broncos recovered. No question a fumble…and guess what happened? Another drive of McGahee and Tebow runs and then, with Weddle trying a blitz…Tebow calmly completed a little pass over Weddle’s head on a screen which led to an easy 27 yard touchdown pass. With everyone in the stadium expecting a Tebow or McGahee run (we had been run over by both of them) for the two point conversion…the Bronco coaches made a mistake. Our defense was gassed, embarrassed, and reeling. We would not have been able to stop them running it in. Instead, they dial up a fade…which Tebow actually threw pretty well. But Cason made a nice play to knock it away. HUGE play, because we retained the lead. Another absolutely life saving throw to Malcom Floyd on a 3rd and 8 got us down the field and killed the clock. Rivers misses that throw and we lose the game. Period. With the help of a couple of penalties we got in line for another field goal. Nick Novak calmly nailed it and we were up by 5. Very big…because Tebow was itching to get back in and if we were down by less than 3…he would have got it. Let’s talk about Novak. Wow….11 for 11. He is not just making these kicks, he is drilling them. There has been no doubt of these going through. Even hit a 51 yarder yesterday. What a find he has been. As I said last week…Kaeding could be on his way out.

Even with only a handful of seconds left and no time outs, Tebow made it far more interesting than it should have been. A circus catch by Brandon Lloyd…and then a wide open tight end grab over the middle put them in a realistic spot to make a last effort. Tebow ran around back there avoiding our fatties (man, should NFL players really get that tired after hardly playing for three quarters?). That was pathetic. Anyway, Tebow bought time and almost connected. But, alas the ball fell incomplete and the game was in the books.

Sigh. Last week I closed with the following comments: Stay on Target. Focus. Bear Down. Manage the Game. Well, they did that for three quarters. Not enough. This game should have been iced early. Even quotes from Jammer and Weddle after the game bear this out. Jammer: “We were just trying to get out of there and they started making plays”. Weddle: “None of that stuff matters, we won the game”. Both of these quotes trouble me. “Managing the Game” only works when you do it for the duration. Our defense was terrible in the 4th quarter. Our front three was nothing short of sad, our pass rush was horrible, and Weddle and Gregory kept getting absolutely trampled by their runners. Not good enough. To be content with avoiding a disaster at the last second is not good enough. I will say it again, this team does not have a killer instinct, it does not have the ability to stick the knife in, and it lacks toughness. The on field leadership simply fails them and anything out of the ordinary or contrary to what they have game-planned (read: Tebow) throws them into utter disarray. Our remaining schedule is a murderer’s row: Jets, Raiders twice, Packers, Ravens, Bears, and the upstart Lions and Bills. Those are tough teams that hit hard. I don’t like the matchups, folks. Will the bye week get us going…well, it cannot hurt.

Let me close with some positives, because really, there are a number of them. 4-1. That is a huge positive. We are finishing games with wins. We are dominating statistically (40 minutes to 20 yesterday in possession). We are getting first downs and moving the ball well. Perhaps most importantly, we are overcoming injuries. Let’s be fair, no Gates again yesterday…Tolbert AND Mathews leave the game with injuries…leaving Hester to take all the reps and moving McMichael into a fullback role. That is not easy. Floyd and Jackson are clearly nowhere near 100%. Two starters out on our defensive line for weeks now. Again, that is not easy. We have overcome a lot thus far. Hopefully, Gates will return against the Jets (he says he will). Hopefully, Mathews is not badly injured (it looked pretty bad). Hopefully, Tolbert can be taught to keep his helmet on (I hear they have seminars on that). We must hope folks….because that is what makes it fun. Having hope. And at 4-1….we have plenty of it. Enjoy the week off Boyz…heal up….toughen up….lets keep it going.

BOLT ANALYSIS: WEEK 4 -- MANAGING THE BLACKOUT

Blackout #1 (2011) came and went yesterday. Not much of a sense of outrage here in Southern California. Did anyone even notice? After all, it was a picture perfect Fall day…. there was Halloween shopping to do and plenty of other reasons not to buy an overpriced ticket to a game in an antiquated stadium with bad food and a 2 hour wait to get out of the parking lot. Yet, the NFL, it its never-ending quest to fleece the fans, blacked the game out in a massive radius that takes over most of So. Cal. The ANALYSIS, always focused on the public service it provides, cobbled together a mixture of radio, Yahoo Game Tracker, and NFL Sunday Ticket Red Zone Channel (the bomb by the way) to bring you the weekly review. Now, followers, this is not an eye-witness account. I must give you that disclaimer. But, it is all the news that is fit to print on yesterday’s game.


“Game Management”. A term that us Charger fans have come to loathe. When done right, it can be a comforting, if not spectacular, way to win a football game. When done in Norvesque fashion, it usually means keep the game close, don’t take chances and lose in heartbreaking fashion at the end due to mistakes and poor execution. However, perhaps this season is different? Yesterday, the Chargers managed a game from start to finish…never pulling away…never sticking the knife in…but also never really feeling in danger. It is a game for a Norv to cherish, because it was done without some of the Bolts biggest names. Gates did not suit up (more on that later), the solid Jammer did not suit up…we already know we are down two defensive linemen due to injury. V Jackson and Floyd are banged up. It ain’t pretty out there. Yet, the Chargers drove the ball well….moved the chains….kept the clock ticking…and got points on many of their drives. A workman-like effort…guys punching a clock….and carrying their lunch pail and thermos back to their Midnight Black Escalade (with spinning rims) at the end of the game. Can we get used to this, Bolt Fans? I think so….a win is a win even if only Norv loves it.

The game started in somewhat typical fashion, a couple of three and outs for us. Again, not ready to go at the starting bell. We got their QB out of the game early, yet backup Matt Moore rallied the Dolphins to a 92 yard drive to score the game’s first points. It almost seems like we need this to happen to us to wake us up…get the blood moving. The response, a three pass blitzkrieg ending in Vincent Jacksons 55 yard TD catch. Uh, Miami, this guy is pretty good…you may not want to let him get 25 yards behind your defense. Dude falls down and still scores. From there, we seemed to trade drives for most of the game. Always able to stop the Dolphins when it counted…and force them into field goals. Each time they drew close, we drove again and got 3 more. With that, a game ball again to Nick Novak…the new kicker went 4-4. Add to that the fact he is kicking them out of the back of the endzone and let me be the first to say…Nate should be a little worried. Loved the three points just before halftime. The Dolphins had tied it and that was a good message to send.

Offensively, we are banged up. VJ caught three big passes and then rotated in and out as a decoy the whole game. Floyd was not a factor and neither was Crayton. Randy McMichael is filling in admirably for Gates…but he got dinged at one point too. We even had to throw the ball to our rookie Vincent Brown a few times. Again, it was our backs carrying the load in both the running and passing game. Mathews continues to impress. He is running hard, turning short passes into big games, and causing matchup problems. That is what they hoped for. Tolbert also looks dangerous and strong. If they keep covering our guys downfield, these passes to the backs are just fine with me. I still think Philip looks out of sync. Despite the efficient numbers and good game yesterday, it still appears he is forcing at times and not as sharp as usual. However, he is managing the game and we are 3-1 so I will shelve this issue for now. Of greater concern on our offense is injury. Gates is scaring me a lot. He is pulling himself out because of pain tolerance and saying he needs “rest”. He just had 7 months of rest and injured himself after 1 ½ games. What is a couple of weeks of rest going to get him? Doctors have said there is nothing structurally wrong with his foot and he is at no more risk now than he was on opening day of a more serious injury. Yet, there he is on the sideline. I am not going to hit the panic button yet, but I am starting to think about LT…pulling himself out of games where only he knew how hurt he really was. I love Gates. Love him. Don’t get me wrong. He played hurt last year and that was a valiant effort. Yet, I am starting to wonder if maybe his head is not in this right now. Just sayin’. Hopefully, no additional injuries mount up…but the bye is after next week’s game so don’t be surprised if you see some key guys sitting next weekend too.

On defense, I am really liking our organization. We are not giving up big plays, we are making tackles, and we even had two interceptions yesterday. I think the leadership that Takeo Spikes is bringing is just huge. He makes us tick. Also, nice effort from rookie Marcus Gilchrist. Stepping in for Jammer..got an interception and matched up on big Brandon Marshall to positive results. Even got an interception. Yes, he had one huge penalty that kept their drive alive (a problem we keep having!) but a very good game from the kid. Also, how about two sacks from Larry English? Finally released from the witness protection program? Maybe. Sacks come in bunches. We REALLY need this guy to find his legs and be disruptive. I take this as a positive step. Overall, a nice team effort from a defense that keeps getting a little better.

OK. Now, let’s keep it real. We are 3-1 and that is just fine. We are 3-0 at home and that is just fine too. However, our opponents are a combined 1-11 and that is not so fine. In fact, the one win out of these 12 results is KC over Minnesota…so that makes it look even worse. These are three games we absolutely need to win to be a serious team…home games against bad opponents. The good part is that we have won them. We have put teams away and got to the finish line. That is a big difference from last year. We have another favorable matchup (albeit on the road) next week against the 1-3 Broncos. Then we are at our bye week. We are embarking now on three straight road games, including a tilt against the Jets and a Monday night game against the Chiefs. Winnable games folks….but we need to keep stepping up. We cannot play down to the competition. We need to prove we can go to Denver, on the road, and beat a division opponent. Do that, and one can only conclude we have had a good start to this season. Lose to Denver, and the questions will remain along with the doubt.

So, with ¼ of our season in the books, the assessment is mostly positive. We seem to be gelling on defense. We seem to be moving the ball pretty well. We are testing our depth due to injuries and coming up with mostly positive results. We have replaced our kicker. Most importantly, as we have said, we are winning the games we need to win. Let’s keep it up folks. Stay on Target. Focus. Bear Down. Manage the Game.