I’ll keep this post on the short side since I have to write another one before Thursday. If they drop tomorrow’s game, however, the game at Arrowhead won’t mean shit. Suddenly, KC, Balt and their defense, and Denver become huge hurdles. But we’re hoping the team has learned from the game a few weeks back. They have fallen behind in the last three games, but let’s see if they can stop that trend tomorrow. I won’t bother saying that that it will be good for them to get back “home” this time. That also backfired against Denver. I’m sure all sorts of Bengal fans will crawl out from under the deck to sit in the sun tomorrow. But if this team can succeed where it failed a few weeks back, it won’t matter.
I said after the aforementioned Denver game that I could deal with the loss if they won last week. Win they did, as amazing as it was. There was so much to take fault with in Pittsburgh. Lynn’s decision to kick on 4th and 1, Michael Davis, Ekler being unable to to do anything…
Yes, we got lucky on the false start which led to the touchdown to Benjamin. I still can’t believe we keep using that guy and that he caught the pass. But I don’t think you can suggest that luck often favors the Chargers. People can point to the Williams touchdown in Cleveland, that’s fine. Was there a block in the back on King’s touchdown? If there was, I’ll just chalk it up to payback for the Weddle penalty in the first half of Indy 2007 playoffs.
The Bolts earned that win Sunday. Ekler almost had his third season killing fumble and later went out of bounds when there was no need to. I don’t know if the spotlight was too much or if he’s really worn down as Lynn suggested. He did get some runs in the second half at least. Jackson was obviously great and he’ll be needed tomorrow. Before the Pitt game, the story leaked out that Gordon could go much sooner than expected. I think if the Chief game was tomorrow he might be able to play a bit. That’s not me having any inside info or taking the Bengals lightly. But if people think Gordon should have been on the bench against Arizona, then it’s ok for him to sit tomorrow. Plus, Lynn suggested that the plan was to get him in some at least on Thursday.
He can’t have any more moments like he did against Denver, but Rivers deserves a ton of credit for Sunday night. He had rushers all over him and calmly took the team down the field for the final drive. I couldn’t watch a single kick as Badgley lined up, but I think that’s to be expected. The Steelers were clearly offsides on all three tries, but I do worry about the shanks.
I had to buy this after the game. Allen was that good. He can talk trash if he plays like that. Of course, I got a little worried when I saw him carry that ball like a loaf of bread at one point, but I’m always waiting for the other shoe to drop.
I don’t know about us being favored as much as we are tomorrow, but this is simply a game we can’t afford to drop. “Take care of business” is a total cliche at this point, but it’s completely applicable in this case. This team needs to play like it deserves to take a playoff spot and would do something once in the postseason. I read some interesting stuff about Windt and his twitching which may cause some of the pressure on kicks. Jones took his sweet time on the one that was blocked. Kaser got an earful from Lynn after the Rams game, but clearly they wanted him out for a while. I don’t know if Jones can punt better than he is right now. He’s pretty old. Badge has gotten a few to the end zone of later, however.
I don’t think the Chargers are looking ahead to Thursday. They’d better not be because we all know what can happen if they do. They shocked me last Sunday with a Hanukkah miracle. Tomorrow’s the last night. Hopefully they can finish the week strong. Plus, Phil’s 37 and has a 9th on the way. Remember that 2010 game at Cincy when TO and Chad Johnson scored on us? Rivers threw a pick before the quarter ended and Tolbert had to be carried off on a stretcher. If they’d won that game they would have made the playoffs despite having those historically bad special teams and Jackson holding out for the year.
Let’s prove this year’s different.
JIC,
RLW
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