I know I posted this once before, but I don’t think Franklin understood I was being sarcastic. Of course, I see today that he’s been added to the injury report. That report, besides the growing number of guys on IR, is basically just Joey Bosa. It’s the same shit every week, I know. In fact, it’s the same thing every year. I won’t spend much more time rehashing last week. At this point, I’m not even sure how many of you are even watching this team. But before Keenan Allen went down, I was happy to see the Bolts trying to stay away from the very same bad habits I wrote about a week ago. I heard a little of the game on Sirius before I put on the TV and Josh Lewin pointed out after the first shotgun draw play that “Chargers Cynics” would think they were up to their same old loser ways. Of course, that’s exactly what happened. It wasn’t just that Melvin Gordon scored two touchdowns that had been encouraging. But he was running hard and breaking tons of tackles along the way. Even in the offseason Acee pointed out that you can’t get a rhythm going when you are sitting for so long on the bench. Had Rivers not gotten hurt in the seemingly meaningless game against the Giants in 2013, I don’t think that McCoy would even have allowed Mathews to carry the ball so much. We rode that until he got hurt and that was the only success we’ve seen under that visored douchebag. There was the long field goal in Denver later that month that reminded us that he’d continue to coach scared and stupid.
As soon as Woodhead caught that TD, I was Tweeting about the absence of Gordon. It isn’t even about Gordon himself, but what he represents. It was clear that he was heating up and our “braintrust” pulled the plug. On the drive Allen got hurt on, they were throwing left and right. I don’t think that’s what got him hurt, but I wondered why we were acting like we hadn’t been successful running the ball. The U-T’s Jay Posner responded to me during the week that they were trying to score, so I guess I should be grateful for that. In Cincy last year they wouldn’t even take one of their two timeouts. Sunday they had already burned through all 3.
After Allen went down, I gave up. I thought they could still win but felt like it didn’t matter. Before he was carted off, I felt like we might be better than expected even though Denver already looked like they would destroy us. The Traitors and their giant-headed QB were losing, so maybe we wouldn’t be in the division cellar after one week. But as the second half unfolded, I found it more and more difficult to root for us. They are so fucking stupid and making the same mistakes yet again. They were playing passive football on both sides and were being rightfully beaten for it. I had to close my eyes on what ended up being the final touchdown. I couldn’t root against the Chargers because I felt like losing wouldn’t teach them any lesson that they hadn’t learned by now.
When I hear Ken Wisenhunt say this week that it wasn’t intentional to go away from Gordon I take him at his word. People like NBC’s Derek Torgeson tell me I’m wrong and that he’s just using coachspeak. But actions speak louder than words. Even if McCoy has final say, Wisenhunt calls the plays. If I can go on Twitter and warn the world what’s happening like Christian Bale in The Big Short, that’s a problem. I won’t bore you with Einstein’s quote about insanity, but I have no faith that they won’t do the same thing again and again.
That won’t stop me from watching tomorrow, but it will stop me from feeling good about it. When people say that a loss would get McCoy closer to being fired, I’m tempted to root against them. But I also know that my actions don’t mean a thing. Sadly, it’s taken this long to realize it. But even if McCoy was fired, it’s not as if Wisenhunt inspires much confidence. If he seriously didn’t know returning to the same loser shotgun draw plays that got him his job back to begin with was a recipe for disaster then he’s of no use to us. Pagano should have been fired years ago for the same stupidity. The 3-man rushes are a sure sign of waving the white flag. It was as if this team was playing for OT when they had a 21-point lead.
Injuries are part of football. As was pointed out this week, the reason Keenan Allen fell so far in the draft was due to his fragility. Brandon Marshall can get his knee twisted and return to the same game. But with Allen, you knew he was done. AJ Smith was on XX1090 saying that the Chargers really don’t want to be Kronke’s tenant in LA and that they’re bluffing. I read a Tweet after Sunday’s game that having a shitty team in San Diego is better than having no team at all. Are those the only two options? It just sounds pathetic. Tomorrow is the fourth #WhiteHotAmericanShitshow. The stadium will be alive and maybe the Bolts will even win. But if it’s like that Cleveland game last year where they just don’t do quite enough to blow the game, it won’t mean a thing. I read someone say that at least the Chargers might get a top-5 draft pick after the season. We couldn’t even sign this year’s pick and he still hasn’t practiced, let alone played in a game.
What I hate most of all is that we don’t even have brief window of hope before the Chargers come along to ruin it. We had not even one half of the first game to feel good about. I’ll be watching tomorrow, but I won’t be happy about it.
In important news, my dad’s cat scan went well this week and things seem to be moving in the right direction. For that I’m extremely grateful.
Speaking of grateful, tomorrow is also the anniversary of my first Dead show. There’s a pic of Jerry from that night posted above and it was actually released officially last year. It will also be the anniversary of Hendrix’s passing. So there’s that.
I got stuff running ’round my head that I just can’t live down.
JIC,
RLW
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