I have said this before but most sports fans, especially professional bloggers, are given to hyperbole. How many times after a game (or during a game) have you said, “That is the worst I have ever seen”…or “I have never seen anything even remotely as bad as that”. Well, folks, last night we did see something we have never seen before. All that was needed was a snap. Center gives ball to Quarterback. Same Center who has been giving the ball to the same Quarterback for 6 years. That is it. One snap. 48 seconds left…1st down at the 15 yard line. Despite all the ugliness that had come before this snap, the Chargers had won the game. They had fought back…they had competed…and they had it won. Nick Novak had been spot on, missing only a 52 yarder out of 15 tries…and he was looking at a 32 yard field goal to end the game. When Rivers dropped this ball…and then inexplicably could not find it on the ground…the look on Chargers fans’ faces was beyond anguish and shock. I’m not sure I have the proper adjectives…so I will go with disbelief.
What this one snap does is pretty remarkable. Had Rivers actually held onto the ball, the Chargers would be 5-2 and 3-0 in the AFC West. Given how bad the Chiefs and Broncos are (and now the Raiders look pretty poor too without a QB) this snap would have given the Chargers control of the Division. This snap would have injected confidence into a beleaguered and suddenly below average Philip Rivers. It would have given confidence to a sad sack, uninspired team. It would have had the pundits talking about how the team “battled back”…how they “fought through the injuries”…how they “are building a winner”. However, holding onto that ball would have also masked the undeniable truth. A win in this game would have simply hid the fact we must all now embrace. We are not good.
That winning field goal would have masked the fact that our best offensive lineman, Marcus McNeil, a guy we have spent countless millions on, was called for SIX penalties last night. He could not block anything last night and Tamba Hali so completely destroyed him it was embarrassing. When Hali went to the other side, he beat Jeromey Clary (another guy we just spent a bunch of money on) so badly he looked just as miserable. We had 12 penalties in this game. All that anyone will talk about was the bogus and horrible offensive penalty on Gates that nullified a TD…but what about the other 11? Unacceptable.
The winning field goal would have masked the fact that our big play receiver, the guy who we are contemplating dumping a massive contract on, cannot get open. Vincent Jackson is an afterthought. He is not open on short routes, and he is not close to open on long ones. With Gates double teamed on every single play last night, Jackson was often man to man. That is what a receiver and a coaching staff dream of. Yet, he is running half-heartedly down the field and cannot get separation.
The winning field goal would have masked the fact that Ryan Mathews, despite flashes of brilliance, cannot hold onto the ball and cannot stay healthy. Every single game he has a new injury. Add to this injuries to Tolbert and now a concussion to Brinkley and our running game is nowhere.
The winning field goal would have masked the fact that we cannot score in the red zone and we cannot defend on 3rd down. To me, after watching tons of football over the many sad years of my fandom….there are simple facts: 1) When you have the ball in close you must score touchdowns and 2) When you have the opponent in 3rd down situations you must make plays to stop them. We cannot do either. We had 9 trips inside the 35 yard line last night. This resulted in 1 touchdown, 4 field goals, 1 missed field goal, 2 fumbles, and 1 interception. Unacceptable. Period. On the defensive side, when the chips were down we allowed conversions of 3rd and 16, 3rd and 9, and 3rd and 4. All easy plays by the Chiefs…and on two of them our defense was not set. The coaching staff not prepared to send in the play…our linebackers running around frantically. This happened twice on their winning drive. Once was the aforementioned 3rd and 16 that would have kept them out of field goal range. Unacceptable. Period.
And, finally, the winning field goal would have masked the fact that there is something wrong with our Quarterback. Is he hurt? Does he lack confidence? Is it that Gates and Jackson are shells of what they should be? Does he not trust his line? Or is he simply not a clutch quarterback? I don’t know, but those two first quarter interceptions were mind-blowingly bad. And there should have been at least two more that were dropped by the Chiefs. Yes, it is true, Philip led them back. Had a very good second half…hit some huge throws. And the last 4 minutes of that game were textbook…Philip driving them into Chiefs territory…making first downs, killing the Chiefs timeouts, and killing the clock. Leading us to a first down with the clock ticking down to 48 seconds and a win. That was perfect. But we know what happened next.
Followers, I have nothing else to give on this team right now. What happened last night just leads some to question whether it is fate. My point in the paragraphs above is that we have made roster decisions on players who are not that good, we have a coaching staff that cannot coax and inspire better play from these players, and we have a quarterback who simply may not be that good. We cannot lose to the Chiefs and be taken seriously. The Chiefs are bad, everyone. Really bad. This game should have been easy for us. Even with the injuries, even with starting three rookies on defense and a practice squad running back taking snaps. If we are a good team, we win. The ownership, the manager, and the coach will all look at the snap (at least in public) as an aberration. Just a mistake. Maybe that is all it is, but it seems endemic of something greater. To wit:
About McNeil’s night…Norv said: “He was just too amped up”
About Mathews’ fumble…Norv said: “He is doing so great lately, he just dropped one”
About the red zone errors…Norv said: “We’ve got to execute better down there”.
That is it. That is the extent of the passion we see from Norv. In my humble opinion, that is not enough. We don’t know what goes on in locker room, but the public persona of this team has to change. There has to be an edge, there have to be ramifications. This calm demeanor is what AJ wants, and it is what the Spanos family wants. Unfortunately, the players we have banked on are not coming through and we seem to have no way to bring them to a different level. We play the Packers on Sunday, then four days later we play the Raiders. This thing could and probably will get away from us quickly. Maybe that would be better. It would force a bloodletting. Last year’s limp home to a 9-7 record was too easily blamed on our Special Teams and injuries. We made the collective decision to keep almost all of our players, banking on the thought that if we cleaned up our play we would win games. The team this year is worse…because the players on the field ARE the players we want on the field. They don’t have “it”…whatever that is.
So, I try to end all of these posts with something positive. Here you go: We had a lot of fun trick or treating last night. Crazy the number of kids out there on the streets. Lily was a Spider Princess and it was a beautiful, balmy southern California night. Lots of joy out there. Also, the Breeders Cup is this weekend. That is something to look forward to. As far as football, the only thing we can hang onto is that we are tied for first place in a bad division. It is a long season…you never know what will happen. Just need to pull a Norv and say, “We need to play better”. Uh….right, Norv, and it starts with a snap.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.