After losing the last 4 games against the Pats, 2 of them playoff games, the Chargers are out for some Patriots blood on their home turf at Qualcomm Stadium. With wonderboy Tom Brady recovering from ACL surgery in CA, this could be their chance. Now, before you run me out of town, let me finish. It COULD be their chance. Despite the embarrassing loss to Miami, I do believe Mr. Cassel is coming along nicely. A fourth week bye proved extremely valuable, giving Cassel and Moss a chance to establish that long ball we all know has been missing. You've heard me complain continuously about turning Moss inside; he's going to get slaughtered. Leave him on the sidelines. Inside is Wes' territory. Let the little engine that can pull one of his U turn moves on the Chargers' DBs and leave Randy out of it.
Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah. That loss to Miami, in my mind, was an anomoly particularly because I was at Gillette for the first time (Don't worry, Marima and JHR have already banned me for life). The defense was on their heels with gadget plays and simply weren't reading very well. But, this isn't about Miami.
The Dolphins may have shown how to beat the Chargers. I will harp on this until everyone is absolutely sick of hearing it: third down efficiency is one of my favorite stats. It doesn't guarantee a win, but dang if it doesn't help. To sound positively Belichickian:
Reporter: Coach, what do you think about third down efficiency.
Belichick: I like our efficiency to be good and there's to be not so good.
Reporter: Well what percentages do you...
Belichick: Hey kid, are you wearing flip flops? Have you started shaving yet?
That's not a real quote; I just kinda made that up...ok, moving on. The Bolts converted 3 out of 12 while Miami went 7 for 14. See what I mean? Back to Moss. Get him running deep, scaring the living daylights out of the DBs, you know, like he did in 2007? Teams were falling all over themselves trying to cover Moss, so Brady would just dump to Welker, Gaffney or Faulk. I want to see that fear again.
Looking at the running game, it's a shame LaMont Jordan is listed as not participating due to a calf injury. I hope he heals up because I certainly miss him. With Maroney bouncing off of the line, I want to see Jordan crashing through.
Defensively, gimme some more of that "speed package". 1 downed lineman, 4 LBs and 6 DBs sounds awful dangerous to me. Bring it on. Shoot the gaps with LBs, pop WRs with CBs and close the middle which seems to be a perennial weak spot for the Patriots' D. Philip Rivers didn't throw any interceptions against Miami, so let's shake things up a bit and get in their faces. Forget about coverage; I want Hobbs and O'Neal to be ball hawks. This soft, man-to-man, coverage stuff is for the birds.
Now that I've rambled on, sound off with your thoughts on how to game plan this puppy. Hold on, I gotta check to see if Bill's listening. Bill? Did you get my email? Hey, is this thing on? Check...one...two...