You know the saying that goes, “You don’t know that you have a good girlfriend until you’ve been with a bad one?” Well after watching Norv Turner’s coaching performance while the Chargers were getting shellacked by the Patriots yesterday, everyone in my group of friends felt like we just traded Kelly Kapowski for Glenn Close’s character in Fatal Attraction. I was really excited about this game and Norv Turner came by and boiled a proverbial rabbit in my kitchen. The Chargers looked unprepared, were outsmarted, and played like a team that was poorly coached. I’m not a Marty Schottenheimer fan by any means, but in their losses last year, they didn’t get blown out like they did yesterday. How demoralizing.
I’ve heard people say that the Chargers just ran into a buzz saw in the form of a Patriot team motivated by people questioning the credibility of their three Super Bowls. But while there may be some truth to this, the Chargers shouldn’t have gotten blown out the way they did. I saw a team that failed to adjust when the Patriots started the game off with the spread formation. I saw corners playing back when they should have been pressing. I saw no attempts at disguising their coverages or anything other than vanilla blitz packages. I mean what happened to all of those corner and safety blitzes I kept reading about in the preseason? Did someone forget to tell Ted Cotrell that the season started two weeks ago?
On offense Turner showed that he had the balls of a field mouse with some of his play calls. Let me tell you a couple of three things: They should have gone for it on 4th and 1 in the second quarter when they had the ball on their own 39-yard line. When you’re down 17-0 and have Lorenzo Neal -- who was like 20-for-20 in those situations last year, you gotta go for it. I don’t care where the ball was. And if they wanted to play it safe, they should have given Neal the ball the play before when it was 3rd and 1. On the next drive, it was 3rd and 1 again and they still didn’t give it to Neal! Instead they call a pass play that gets picked off and returned for a touchdown which made it 24-0 and marked the beginning of the end for the Chargers. Look, every game has a moment or two where the head coach decides to either “whip it out” or “keep it in their pants”-- let’s just call this the “Whip it Out Moment”. Turner had two chances to whip it out on the road against the best team in the League and both times he kept it in his pants.
The Chargers had a couple of other chances to make it a more competitive game but didn’t. They opened the second half with a touchdown but let the Patriots come right back and score to make it 31-7. And when the Chargers brought it to 31-14 and then recovered the ensuing kickoff at the Patriot 31 a touchdown would have made it a 10-point game. Instead Turner calls two pass plays that both resulted in sacks, they call some halfhearted passing play on 3rd down, punt, and that was that.
So where does this leave the Chargers?
For one thing, they need to get better on offense. The Chargers offense doesn’t exactly look like its being run by an offensive genius. They haven’t scored in the first half yet this year, the line is getting pushed around, and their receivers haven’t done squat. But the biggest problem right now is that Phil Rivers is absolutely killing us. He turned the ball over three times yesterday and the pick he threw to Adalius Thomas that got ran back was brutal. I don’t know what happened to him, but Rivers doesn’t look comfortable in the pocket and is having a really hard time dealing with the blitz up the middle. Come to think of it, this offense doesn’t really have an identity right now. Are we a power running team? Are we a short yardage passing team? Are we a play-action team? Are we going to at least try to throw the ball downfield? Hopefully we’ll figure this out in the next few weeks. They go to Green Bay and play a good defensive team this weekend and if they can handle the Packers they have the Chiefs at home and they’re looking at a 3-1 record in the first quarter of the season. During the second quarter of the season they play at Denver, Oakland, Houston, and at Minnesota so they should be 7-1 or at the very least 6-2 at the midway point which isn’t bad. After that, they have their next gut-check game against the Colts on November 11th so they basically have seven weeks get their crap everything squared away.
And that’s why I’m not worried. Unlike the guy who delivers mail at my office who earlier today bet me a case of beer the Chargers wouldn’t make the playoffs (true story), I’m not going to give up on the season because of one lousy game. I’m I pissed that we lost? Hell yes, I am. But if you look at the big picture it’s Week 3 and we’re 1-1 against two of the top five teams in the League even though we’re going through a coaching change, we haven’t scored an offensive touchdown in the first half, and our running back is averaging less than two yards a carry.
I got emails and comments this morning slamming me for picking the Chargers to win this game 30-14. Do I feel like a moron for thinking the Chargers would blow out the Patriots? Of course I do. In retrospect I was a little too confident in thinking that the transition between Schottenheimer and Turner would be smooth. But you know what? My expectations for this team still haven’t changed. This season isn’t about beating the Patriots in Week 2. This season is about winning a championship. And while they got embarrassed last night there’s still a whole lot of season left to go. Maybe we get another shot at those guys in January. And maybe, by then Norv Turner will have grown some balls and we can stop comparing Marty Schottenheimer to Kelly Kapowski.
Showing posts with label patriots. Show all posts
Showing posts with label patriots. Show all posts
Monday, September 17, 2007
Thursday, September 13, 2007
“Saw Things So Much Clearer…
Once you… were in my… REARVIEW MIRROR.”
--Pearl Jam
I think that just about sums up my Week 1 performance that saw me go a putrid 6-10 against the spread. Ouch! The good news is that I still won some scratch on a Charger-Colts parlay. Woot! Remember kids: It’s not about picking the right teams, it’s about betting on the right teams.
Let’s just hope they put that quote on my bust when I’m inducted into the Sam Rothstein Bettors Hall of Fame.
Here are my Week 2 picks (team listed first is the team that I picked):
LAY THESE ON THE WAY TO YOUR BETTORS ANNONYMUS MEETING:
Green Bay +1.5 at New York
Eli Manning has a bum shoulder, their defense gave up 45 points and Brandon Jacobs is on pace to become the fastest player ever to gain “Guy I Regret Drafting on my Fantasy Team” status joining Randy Moss, Felix Hernandez, 2006 Manny Ramirez, and Rich Harden. I think it’s safe to say the 2007 season hasn’t started off so well for the G-Men. I’m just looking forward to around Week 8 when the Giants are 1-7 and Peter King is interviewing a Tiki Barber who has six coats of make-up on and a grin so big you’d think he just ate a 42-ounce piece of turd.
Minnesota +3 at Detroit
I don’t know what games I’m getting on Sunday but I would like to make a special request to FOX: If you guys could find it in your heart not to saddle San Diego County with the Minnesota-Detroit game this weekend I would really appreciate it. I don’t know if there’s a game that would make everyone in my collective group say, “Screw it, let’s just play Madden until 1” but this one would really tempt us. Thanks!
In case you’re wondering, I went with the Vikings because I think the Vikings will be able to run the rock and Detroit won’t be able to score as easily as they did against Oakland last week.
Baltimore -7.5 vs. NY Jets
Both quarterbacks are hurt and I’m thinking Kyle Boller would fare better against the Jets defense than Kellen Clemens would against the Ravens defense.
ALMOST TOO CLOSE TO CALL:
Philly -7 at Washington
I went with Philly only because it’s a must-win game for the Eagles this week. They can’t lose their home opener and go 0-2 to start the season can they? Even though McNabb looked horrible last week, they would have won that game if it weren’t for those two muffed punts.
On the Redskins side, everyone says they looked good last week but they only beat the Dolphins by three points! It’s hard to take points on a road team when you don’t think they can win straight up.
San Francisco +3.5 at St. Louis
If I could take a mulligan on one of my preseason picks it would be the Rams winning the NFC West. “Piss Poor”, “Unprepared”, and “Sloppy” are three adjectives I would use to describe their performance last week against the Panthers. And now they’ve lost Orlando Pace for the season. Also, a couple of more bad games from Steven Jackson and I’ll be ready to introduce the “Never Trust a Black Football Player with Long Hair” corollary. I mean we already have Ricky Williams, Al Harris, and Cedric Benson. I just need a couple more instances before we can confirm this. I nominate Jackson and Lawrence Maroney to each fumble three times this week and Benson to miss the next 4-6 weeks with bruised ribs.
UNDERDOG SPECIALS:
San Diego +3.5 at New England
This is going to be the biggest game of the regular season. You wanna know why I think the Chargers will win? Let me break it down for you:
I don’t care about the spying. I don’t care about last year’s game. To be honest with you, I don’t care about what LT has to say about Belichick or what Rivers has to say about Hobbs or any of that crap. The Chargers are just going to line up on Sunday night and beat the living crap out of the Patriots. We’re going to stop the run with our front seven. We’re going to knock Brady around. We’re going to cover Moss with Jammer and a safety on top and the first time a ball is thrown his way, Moss is going to get smacked so hard he’ll be wishing he was back in Oakland smoking indo and running over meter maids. We’re going to use Cromartie on Stallworth and Florence on Welker and the Patriots “major acquisitions” are going to give their fans a nice big shit burger to eat. On offense, our line is going to maul their line. Do you hear me? MAUL. And since they’ll be loading up the box against LT, mark my words, Vincent Jackson and Malcolm Floyd will have a field day against Asante Samuel whoever else they have on the other side.
To paraphrase Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men: “We’re going rip your head off and shit down your fucking throat. You fucked with the wrong team.”
Trust me Charger fans, it will be a joyous beat down that will leave us looking forward to the next beat down we give those over-hyped, east coast, scarf and glove wearing sissies in January.
Chargers 34 Patriots 14.
Tennessee +7.5 vs. Indy
I was very impressed with the Tennessee win over the Jags last week and while the Colts looked good too, I’m not 100-percent sold on Indy’s defense just yet. Now if they go on the road and cover against a Titan team that always plays them tough then I may change my mind. But as of now I see a Titan upset or Indy squeaking out a 25-24 win or something of that nature.
Houston +6.5 over Carolina
The current leader for the award for “The Over-Hyped Storyline that everyone’s laughing about by Week 5” goes to “Jake Delhomme is looking over his shoulders now because of David Carr.” Are we talking about the same David Carr who has a 75.5 career passer rating or is there another David Carr out there that I don’t know about?
Another fun story that’s been circulating is the “Mario Williams has more touchdowns than Reggie Bush” take. I think it’s safe to say that at the end of the day, Reggie Bush will have more touchdowns than Mario Williams this year. In fact when it’s all said and done I’m guarantee you that Reggie Bush will have more touchdowns this season than Mario Williams will have in his entire career. I’m even willing to go as far as to say that Reggie Bush will have more touchdowns this year and in his career than Mario Williams will have sacks this year or throughout his entire career.
I like Mario Williams and all, and he seems like a nice guy but he’s not even in the same stratosphere as Reggie Bush.
Hopefully somewhere in Houston, someone is reading this while repeatedly ramming his head against the wall.
SCOT WRIGHT SPECIALS (Seemingly easy picks that could end up screwing your parlay):
New Orleans -3.5 at Tampa Bay
I’m not ready to give up on my sleeper team just yet and to be honest with you, I was this close to picking the Bucs to cover this one. First of all, the Bucs were right in that game against the Seahawks last week until Jeff Garcia got hurt and secondly the Saints offense didn’t exactly look like world beaters against an undersized Colts defense. I picked the Saints but I think that this game will tell us a lot about both teams.
Seattle -2.5 at Arizona
Matt Leinhart looked like he’d rather be doing body shots off of Tara Reid in some club in LA rather than playing in the game against the Niners last Monday. He didn’t exactly look like the guy at USC who threw for like 380 yards and 4 touchdowns every game. Still, the Cardinals defense didn’t look too bad last week and the Cardinals did beat the Seahawks last year. Although I’m not picking them, the Cardinals are at home and if Leinhart can get it together I think they can pull this one off.
Dallas -4.5 vs. Miami
I initially picked Miami on this one but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that the Dolphins have little to no talent on offense and I would be an idiot to pick them. And for the record, I’m glad Wade Phillips and Cam Cameron aren’t with the Chargers anymore. I thought both were ridiculously overrated. As Wade Phillips found out last week playing Cover 4 every down and relying on your front seven doesn’t exactly work when you don’t have Shawn Merriman. And after looking at the Dolphins I set years Cameron remains head coach at 2.
Denver -9.5 vs. Oakland
The Broncos should win this one going away -- especially with Josh McCown now hurt, but you have to figure in the Jay Cutler factor here. The Broncos out-gained the Bills 470-184 last week yet only won by a measly point. You wanna know why? Because Cutler had plays where, according to the game recap, he “blindly pitched a lateral to his left, over running back Selvin Young's head (forcing Young to punch it out of bounds) and putting the Broncos in a deep hole, facing third-and-23.”
If you have money on a team, under no circumstance do you ever want to see the quarterback blindly pitching a lateral to his left. None. You hear me? None.
FREE MONEY
Jacksonville -11 vs. Atlanta
This game almost made it on the previous category but although I don’t trust the Jags, the Falcons looked ridiculously bad. Six sacks and two interceptions returned for a touchdown while scoring only three points against the Vikings. This is one of the games you pass on because you think that the point spread is too high and all of a sudden its 14-0 in the second quarter and you’re wishing you had thrown some scratch down on the game.
Pittsburg -10 vs. Buffalo
Although it was against the lowly Browns, Pittsburg looks like a team that’s going to be in the mix this year. As for Buffalo, they lost two defensive players last week and now they have JP Losman and a rookie running back in a tough road game this week. They Bills may be able to keep it close in the first half but the Steelers are going to blow the game open in the second half.
Cincinnati -8.5 at Cleveland
Two stats courtesy of the good people at Pro Football Weekly:
1. Cleveland is 1-12 vs. AFC North competition in head coach Romeo Crennel’s tenure.
2. Cincinnati outscored Cleveland 64-17 and out gained Cleveland 869-504 last season.
You can’t put this one on your bet card fast enough.
Chicago -13 vs. Kansas City
Last week’s drubbing by the hands of the Houston Texans confirmed the obvious: The Chiefs suck! Now they go on the road and face a 0-1 Bears team that’s still pissed off about losing to the Chargers last week. Unless Rex Grossman completely craps the bed, this one looks like an easy bet.
Speaking of Rexy, look what Ron Rivera told the Charger linebackers according to Matt Whilhelm: “He told us that Rex was kind of a mental midget so you can get into his head and create that doubt." Since I dubbed Adam Eaton a mental midget a few years ago can we just call this the Adam Eaton Hall of Fame? I nominate Adam Eaton, Rex Grossman, Eli Manning, and Chris Webber to be in the inaugural class.
And you know what? That’s still not enough to deter me from picking against the Bears.
And if you don’t think I’m throwing J’ville, Pittsburg, Cincy, and Chicago down on what will probably be the easiest four team parlay this season, you’re crazy.
--Pearl Jam
I think that just about sums up my Week 1 performance that saw me go a putrid 6-10 against the spread. Ouch! The good news is that I still won some scratch on a Charger-Colts parlay. Woot! Remember kids: It’s not about picking the right teams, it’s about betting on the right teams.
Let’s just hope they put that quote on my bust when I’m inducted into the Sam Rothstein Bettors Hall of Fame.
Here are my Week 2 picks (team listed first is the team that I picked):
LAY THESE ON THE WAY TO YOUR BETTORS ANNONYMUS MEETING:
Green Bay +1.5 at New York
Eli Manning has a bum shoulder, their defense gave up 45 points and Brandon Jacobs is on pace to become the fastest player ever to gain “Guy I Regret Drafting on my Fantasy Team” status joining Randy Moss, Felix Hernandez, 2006 Manny Ramirez, and Rich Harden. I think it’s safe to say the 2007 season hasn’t started off so well for the G-Men. I’m just looking forward to around Week 8 when the Giants are 1-7 and Peter King is interviewing a Tiki Barber who has six coats of make-up on and a grin so big you’d think he just ate a 42-ounce piece of turd.
Minnesota +3 at Detroit
I don’t know what games I’m getting on Sunday but I would like to make a special request to FOX: If you guys could find it in your heart not to saddle San Diego County with the Minnesota-Detroit game this weekend I would really appreciate it. I don’t know if there’s a game that would make everyone in my collective group say, “Screw it, let’s just play Madden until 1” but this one would really tempt us. Thanks!
In case you’re wondering, I went with the Vikings because I think the Vikings will be able to run the rock and Detroit won’t be able to score as easily as they did against Oakland last week.
Baltimore -7.5 vs. NY Jets
Both quarterbacks are hurt and I’m thinking Kyle Boller would fare better against the Jets defense than Kellen Clemens would against the Ravens defense.
ALMOST TOO CLOSE TO CALL:
Philly -7 at Washington
I went with Philly only because it’s a must-win game for the Eagles this week. They can’t lose their home opener and go 0-2 to start the season can they? Even though McNabb looked horrible last week, they would have won that game if it weren’t for those two muffed punts.
On the Redskins side, everyone says they looked good last week but they only beat the Dolphins by three points! It’s hard to take points on a road team when you don’t think they can win straight up.
San Francisco +3.5 at St. Louis
If I could take a mulligan on one of my preseason picks it would be the Rams winning the NFC West. “Piss Poor”, “Unprepared”, and “Sloppy” are three adjectives I would use to describe their performance last week against the Panthers. And now they’ve lost Orlando Pace for the season. Also, a couple of more bad games from Steven Jackson and I’ll be ready to introduce the “Never Trust a Black Football Player with Long Hair” corollary. I mean we already have Ricky Williams, Al Harris, and Cedric Benson. I just need a couple more instances before we can confirm this. I nominate Jackson and Lawrence Maroney to each fumble three times this week and Benson to miss the next 4-6 weeks with bruised ribs.
UNDERDOG SPECIALS:
San Diego +3.5 at New England
This is going to be the biggest game of the regular season. You wanna know why I think the Chargers will win? Let me break it down for you:
I don’t care about the spying. I don’t care about last year’s game. To be honest with you, I don’t care about what LT has to say about Belichick or what Rivers has to say about Hobbs or any of that crap. The Chargers are just going to line up on Sunday night and beat the living crap out of the Patriots. We’re going to stop the run with our front seven. We’re going to knock Brady around. We’re going to cover Moss with Jammer and a safety on top and the first time a ball is thrown his way, Moss is going to get smacked so hard he’ll be wishing he was back in Oakland smoking indo and running over meter maids. We’re going to use Cromartie on Stallworth and Florence on Welker and the Patriots “major acquisitions” are going to give their fans a nice big shit burger to eat. On offense, our line is going to maul their line. Do you hear me? MAUL. And since they’ll be loading up the box against LT, mark my words, Vincent Jackson and Malcolm Floyd will have a field day against Asante Samuel whoever else they have on the other side.
To paraphrase Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men: “We’re going rip your head off and shit down your fucking throat. You fucked with the wrong team.”
Trust me Charger fans, it will be a joyous beat down that will leave us looking forward to the next beat down we give those over-hyped, east coast, scarf and glove wearing sissies in January.
Chargers 34 Patriots 14.
Tennessee +7.5 vs. Indy
I was very impressed with the Tennessee win over the Jags last week and while the Colts looked good too, I’m not 100-percent sold on Indy’s defense just yet. Now if they go on the road and cover against a Titan team that always plays them tough then I may change my mind. But as of now I see a Titan upset or Indy squeaking out a 25-24 win or something of that nature.
Houston +6.5 over Carolina
The current leader for the award for “The Over-Hyped Storyline that everyone’s laughing about by Week 5” goes to “Jake Delhomme is looking over his shoulders now because of David Carr.” Are we talking about the same David Carr who has a 75.5 career passer rating or is there another David Carr out there that I don’t know about?
Another fun story that’s been circulating is the “Mario Williams has more touchdowns than Reggie Bush” take. I think it’s safe to say that at the end of the day, Reggie Bush will have more touchdowns than Mario Williams this year. In fact when it’s all said and done I’m guarantee you that Reggie Bush will have more touchdowns this season than Mario Williams will have in his entire career. I’m even willing to go as far as to say that Reggie Bush will have more touchdowns this year and in his career than Mario Williams will have sacks this year or throughout his entire career.
I like Mario Williams and all, and he seems like a nice guy but he’s not even in the same stratosphere as Reggie Bush.
Hopefully somewhere in Houston, someone is reading this while repeatedly ramming his head against the wall.
SCOT WRIGHT SPECIALS (Seemingly easy picks that could end up screwing your parlay):
New Orleans -3.5 at Tampa Bay
I’m not ready to give up on my sleeper team just yet and to be honest with you, I was this close to picking the Bucs to cover this one. First of all, the Bucs were right in that game against the Seahawks last week until Jeff Garcia got hurt and secondly the Saints offense didn’t exactly look like world beaters against an undersized Colts defense. I picked the Saints but I think that this game will tell us a lot about both teams.
Seattle -2.5 at Arizona
Matt Leinhart looked like he’d rather be doing body shots off of Tara Reid in some club in LA rather than playing in the game against the Niners last Monday. He didn’t exactly look like the guy at USC who threw for like 380 yards and 4 touchdowns every game. Still, the Cardinals defense didn’t look too bad last week and the Cardinals did beat the Seahawks last year. Although I’m not picking them, the Cardinals are at home and if Leinhart can get it together I think they can pull this one off.
Dallas -4.5 vs. Miami
I initially picked Miami on this one but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that the Dolphins have little to no talent on offense and I would be an idiot to pick them. And for the record, I’m glad Wade Phillips and Cam Cameron aren’t with the Chargers anymore. I thought both were ridiculously overrated. As Wade Phillips found out last week playing Cover 4 every down and relying on your front seven doesn’t exactly work when you don’t have Shawn Merriman. And after looking at the Dolphins I set years Cameron remains head coach at 2.
Denver -9.5 vs. Oakland
The Broncos should win this one going away -- especially with Josh McCown now hurt, but you have to figure in the Jay Cutler factor here. The Broncos out-gained the Bills 470-184 last week yet only won by a measly point. You wanna know why? Because Cutler had plays where, according to the game recap, he “blindly pitched a lateral to his left, over running back Selvin Young's head (forcing Young to punch it out of bounds) and putting the Broncos in a deep hole, facing third-and-23.”
If you have money on a team, under no circumstance do you ever want to see the quarterback blindly pitching a lateral to his left. None. You hear me? None.
FREE MONEY
Jacksonville -11 vs. Atlanta
This game almost made it on the previous category but although I don’t trust the Jags, the Falcons looked ridiculously bad. Six sacks and two interceptions returned for a touchdown while scoring only three points against the Vikings. This is one of the games you pass on because you think that the point spread is too high and all of a sudden its 14-0 in the second quarter and you’re wishing you had thrown some scratch down on the game.
Pittsburg -10 vs. Buffalo
Although it was against the lowly Browns, Pittsburg looks like a team that’s going to be in the mix this year. As for Buffalo, they lost two defensive players last week and now they have JP Losman and a rookie running back in a tough road game this week. They Bills may be able to keep it close in the first half but the Steelers are going to blow the game open in the second half.
Cincinnati -8.5 at Cleveland
Two stats courtesy of the good people at Pro Football Weekly:
1. Cleveland is 1-12 vs. AFC North competition in head coach Romeo Crennel’s tenure.
2. Cincinnati outscored Cleveland 64-17 and out gained Cleveland 869-504 last season.
You can’t put this one on your bet card fast enough.
Chicago -13 vs. Kansas City
Last week’s drubbing by the hands of the Houston Texans confirmed the obvious: The Chiefs suck! Now they go on the road and face a 0-1 Bears team that’s still pissed off about losing to the Chargers last week. Unless Rex Grossman completely craps the bed, this one looks like an easy bet.
Speaking of Rexy, look what Ron Rivera told the Charger linebackers according to Matt Whilhelm: “He told us that Rex was kind of a mental midget so you can get into his head and create that doubt." Since I dubbed Adam Eaton a mental midget a few years ago can we just call this the Adam Eaton Hall of Fame? I nominate Adam Eaton, Rex Grossman, Eli Manning, and Chris Webber to be in the inaugural class.
And you know what? That’s still not enough to deter me from picking against the Bears.
And if you don’t think I’m throwing J’ville, Pittsburg, Cincy, and Chicago down on what will probably be the easiest four team parlay this season, you’re crazy.
Monday, August 20, 2007
Deconstructing the Patriots
It took me -- and every other Charger fan I knew, about six months to get over that playoff loss to the Patriots in January. I’m not kidding. I was totally pissed off for a solid six months. As a sports fan, that was hands-down the single worst loss I’ve ever experienced. At this point, instead of rehashing the crappy details of that crappy day, I’ll just say that January 14, 2007 totally sucked.
But while the Patriots may have won that game, this offseason came to show who the better team was. Check out the list of key offseason acquisitions for each team:
New England Patriots: Randy Moss, Donte Stallworth, Adalus Thomas, Wes Welker, Kelly Washington.
San Diego Chargers: (none)
By looking at who the Patriots got you’d probably think that the Chargers kicked the hell out of the Patriots. Generally, teams who advance to the AFC Championship don’t sign an entire receiving corps. This tells me one thing: Not only did the Patriots know they should have lost that game, but they knew they should have lost that game by at least three touchdowns. And they had to react the way the did because they realized the Chargers were that much better than them.
Instead of recognizing this though, ESPN, Peter King and the rest of the national media have been busy giving the Patriots a seven month, marathon lap dance. I on the other hand don’t think the Patriots are better than the Chargers. To paraphrase Dennis Green: “If you want to crown their asses then crown their asses…” But I’m not going to and here’s why:
Quarterback
I like Tom Brady about as much as the next guy but take a look at the past four playoff games the guy has played in:
2006 AFC Championship at Indy: 21 of 34 passing, 232 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT, 79.5 QB Rating.
2006 Divisional Playoff at SD: 27 of 51, 280 yards, 2 TD, 3 INT, 57.6 QB Rating.
2006 Wild Card vs. NYJ: 22 of 34, 212 yards, 2TD, 0INT, 101.6 QB Rating
2005 Divisional Playoff at Denver: 20 of 36, 341 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT, 74.0 QB Rating.
Outside of the Jets game those are pretty crappy stats for someone who’s supposed to be the Joe Montana of this generation. Plus Brady threw an interception on the potential game-tying drive against Indy, an interception in the Charger game that would have clinched the game for the Chargers had Marlon McCree not fumbled, and threw an interception in the Denver game that Champ Bailey returned for a touchdown which proved to be the difference in the game.
I’m not saying he’s not a great QB, nor am I saying that Phil Rivers is better. I’m just saying that’s how Rex Grossman performed during the last four playoff games he was involved in. Oh, did I say Rex Grossman? I meant Tom Brady. Got a little confused there.
Running Back
Lawrence Maroney is an unproven, injury prone running back, who hurt his shoulder at the end of last season and has been seen wearing a protective covering over it during training camp. I’m not saying he won’t be good this year (especially since he’s on my fantasy football team), I’m just saying there are some questions.
On the other hand there are no questions about “The Living Legend” LaDanian Tomlinson. This discussion is over.
(How’s that for LT’s new nickname? I know, Ric Flair used to refer to himself has “The Living Legend” but since LT already stole Lawrence Taylor’s moniker, I figured he could go ahead and take Flair’s too. “The Living Legend” LaDanian Tomlinson. It’s got a great ring to it)
Wide Receiver
Only in Boston can a signing of a short, white, overachieving wide receiver generate more excitement then the signing of Randy Moss. All I can say is if Welker were black he’d be Az Hakim.
And as for Moss, in addition to being a malcontent, here’s how he did in two games against the Chargers last year:
Game 1: 4 receptions, 47 yards
Game 2: 3 receptions, 26 yards.
Granted, he did play in the Bed and Breakfast offense but really, I don’t think AJ Smith lost any sleep when the Patriots got him.
So to summarize, the Patriots signed the white Az Hakim, a malcontent who caught 7 balls for 73 yards in two games against the Chargers last year, and a wide receiver with chronic hamstring problems (Donte Stallworth).
Good job. No really, great job.
Linebackers
The thing that aggravated me the most in the Chargers’ playoff loss (and the reason I think Cam Cameron was a little overrated) was that they stopped giving the ball to LT in the second half. I mean, which one of the slow, white guys the Patriots had at linebacker was going to stop LT? Ted Bruschi? Mike Vrabel? Tom Izzo? I will question this until the day I die.
To fix that problem, the Patriots went out and signed Adalus Thomas who according to every one is one of the most versatile defensive players in the League. (I seriously thought Peter King was creaming his shorts when he wrote about this in his Monday Morning QB column). But my question is if he was so good why did the Ravens let him go? By my count, Thomas was at most the fourth best player on the Raven’s defense last year behind Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, and Terrell Suggs. This means that opposing offenses had to account for Lewis, Reed and Suggs before they even thought about Thomas. We’ll see how he does when offenses start keying on him.
Defensive Line
I was listening to some NFL show the other day and some guy said that the Patriots’ defensive line is the heart of their team. That may be the case but if you think about it, the trio of Richard Seymour, Gerald Green, and Vince Wolfork are the poor man’s version of Luis Castillo, Igor Olshanski, and Jamal Williams.
If Castillo can stay healthy he’s younger Seymour with a pass-rush and Williams and Olshanski are a little better than Wilfork and Green.
And that goes to show you, the Patriots best unit (defensive line) is not as good as the Charger’s third best unit (defensive line behind running back, offensive line, and linebackers)
Secondary
With Asante Samuel holding out, I can’t for the life of me name another cornerback on the Patriots. They’re basically signing guys off the street to play corner and the media is giving them a pass. What a crock of crap.
For their safeties they have Rodney Harrison and rookie Brandon Meriwether who’s more known for his exploits in the brawl between Miami- FIU brawl last year. (FYI Meriwether is number 19). Watch this guy and tell me if the Patriots would take a chance on this guy in their heyday.
And that pretty much sums things up. When the Patriots were winning Super Bowls, they used to never sign guys like Meriwether and Moss. They’d let other teams sign guys who’d disrupt team chemistry and wouldn’t touch guys with off field problems. Now it looks like the Patriots are doing what teams they used to beat were doing and the Chargers are doing with what the Patriots did when they were the team to beat.
I just wish someone besides me would realize this.
But while the Patriots may have won that game, this offseason came to show who the better team was. Check out the list of key offseason acquisitions for each team:
New England Patriots: Randy Moss, Donte Stallworth, Adalus Thomas, Wes Welker, Kelly Washington.
San Diego Chargers: (none)
By looking at who the Patriots got you’d probably think that the Chargers kicked the hell out of the Patriots. Generally, teams who advance to the AFC Championship don’t sign an entire receiving corps. This tells me one thing: Not only did the Patriots know they should have lost that game, but they knew they should have lost that game by at least three touchdowns. And they had to react the way the did because they realized the Chargers were that much better than them.
Instead of recognizing this though, ESPN, Peter King and the rest of the national media have been busy giving the Patriots a seven month, marathon lap dance. I on the other hand don’t think the Patriots are better than the Chargers. To paraphrase Dennis Green: “If you want to crown their asses then crown their asses…” But I’m not going to and here’s why:
Quarterback
I like Tom Brady about as much as the next guy but take a look at the past four playoff games the guy has played in:
2006 AFC Championship at Indy: 21 of 34 passing, 232 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT, 79.5 QB Rating.
2006 Divisional Playoff at SD: 27 of 51, 280 yards, 2 TD, 3 INT, 57.6 QB Rating.
2006 Wild Card vs. NYJ: 22 of 34, 212 yards, 2TD, 0INT, 101.6 QB Rating
2005 Divisional Playoff at Denver: 20 of 36, 341 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT, 74.0 QB Rating.
Outside of the Jets game those are pretty crappy stats for someone who’s supposed to be the Joe Montana of this generation. Plus Brady threw an interception on the potential game-tying drive against Indy, an interception in the Charger game that would have clinched the game for the Chargers had Marlon McCree not fumbled, and threw an interception in the Denver game that Champ Bailey returned for a touchdown which proved to be the difference in the game.
I’m not saying he’s not a great QB, nor am I saying that Phil Rivers is better. I’m just saying that’s how Rex Grossman performed during the last four playoff games he was involved in. Oh, did I say Rex Grossman? I meant Tom Brady. Got a little confused there.
Running Back
Lawrence Maroney is an unproven, injury prone running back, who hurt his shoulder at the end of last season and has been seen wearing a protective covering over it during training camp. I’m not saying he won’t be good this year (especially since he’s on my fantasy football team), I’m just saying there are some questions.
On the other hand there are no questions about “The Living Legend” LaDanian Tomlinson. This discussion is over.
(How’s that for LT’s new nickname? I know, Ric Flair used to refer to himself has “The Living Legend” but since LT already stole Lawrence Taylor’s moniker, I figured he could go ahead and take Flair’s too. “The Living Legend” LaDanian Tomlinson. It’s got a great ring to it)
Wide Receiver
Only in Boston can a signing of a short, white, overachieving wide receiver generate more excitement then the signing of Randy Moss. All I can say is if Welker were black he’d be Az Hakim.
And as for Moss, in addition to being a malcontent, here’s how he did in two games against the Chargers last year:
Game 1: 4 receptions, 47 yards
Game 2: 3 receptions, 26 yards.
Granted, he did play in the Bed and Breakfast offense but really, I don’t think AJ Smith lost any sleep when the Patriots got him.
So to summarize, the Patriots signed the white Az Hakim, a malcontent who caught 7 balls for 73 yards in two games against the Chargers last year, and a wide receiver with chronic hamstring problems (Donte Stallworth).
Good job. No really, great job.
Linebackers
The thing that aggravated me the most in the Chargers’ playoff loss (and the reason I think Cam Cameron was a little overrated) was that they stopped giving the ball to LT in the second half. I mean, which one of the slow, white guys the Patriots had at linebacker was going to stop LT? Ted Bruschi? Mike Vrabel? Tom Izzo? I will question this until the day I die.
To fix that problem, the Patriots went out and signed Adalus Thomas who according to every one is one of the most versatile defensive players in the League. (I seriously thought Peter King was creaming his shorts when he wrote about this in his Monday Morning QB column). But my question is if he was so good why did the Ravens let him go? By my count, Thomas was at most the fourth best player on the Raven’s defense last year behind Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, and Terrell Suggs. This means that opposing offenses had to account for Lewis, Reed and Suggs before they even thought about Thomas. We’ll see how he does when offenses start keying on him.
Defensive Line
I was listening to some NFL show the other day and some guy said that the Patriots’ defensive line is the heart of their team. That may be the case but if you think about it, the trio of Richard Seymour, Gerald Green, and Vince Wolfork are the poor man’s version of Luis Castillo, Igor Olshanski, and Jamal Williams.
If Castillo can stay healthy he’s younger Seymour with a pass-rush and Williams and Olshanski are a little better than Wilfork and Green.
And that goes to show you, the Patriots best unit (defensive line) is not as good as the Charger’s third best unit (defensive line behind running back, offensive line, and linebackers)
Secondary
With Asante Samuel holding out, I can’t for the life of me name another cornerback on the Patriots. They’re basically signing guys off the street to play corner and the media is giving them a pass. What a crock of crap.
For their safeties they have Rodney Harrison and rookie Brandon Meriwether who’s more known for his exploits in the brawl between Miami- FIU brawl last year. (FYI Meriwether is number 19). Watch this guy and tell me if the Patriots would take a chance on this guy in their heyday.
And that pretty much sums things up. When the Patriots were winning Super Bowls, they used to never sign guys like Meriwether and Moss. They’d let other teams sign guys who’d disrupt team chemistry and wouldn’t touch guys with off field problems. Now it looks like the Patriots are doing what teams they used to beat were doing and the Chargers are doing with what the Patriots did when they were the team to beat.
I just wish someone besides me would realize this.
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