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.