By Kevin Acee
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
December 18, 2007
This season is not finished, the Chargers want to make clear. "We're definitely excited to win the division," center Nick Hardwick said. "But nobody is happy with it. We just won the division. Who cares? We've won it three of the past four years, and we haven't done (expletive) with it."
Champions of the AFC West for the second straight season, the two games left on the schedule will not determine where the Chargers are on the first weekend of January. But these two will determine whom they play that Saturday or Sunday – and beyond. "We can't really protect guys," LaDainian Tomlinson said yesterday. "We clinched a playoff spot, but it's better to be the third seed than the fourth seed. We're in control of our own destiny with that, so we've got to take care of our business."
Simply put, the Chargers can secure that No. 3 seed with two victories. Pittsburgh, currently seeded fourth, has an identical 9-5 record but has lost four games against AFC opponents to the Chargers' three. The Chargers would also hold that same tiebreaker over Cleveland if the Browns were to win the AFC North instead of Pittsburgh.
The No. 3 seed hosts the No. 6 seed (currently Cleveland) in the first round and then travels to play the No. 2 seed (Indianapolis), which has a bye the first round of the postseason. The No. 4 seed hosts No. 5 (currently Jacksonville) and then travels to the No. 1 seed (New England).
"There are a lot of different scenarios, so I'm not going to be caught up in that," Chargers coach Norv Turner said. "I know when we line up to play we're going to be playing a good football team. . . . I'll just worry about that when it gets here."
Make no mistake, though, Turner is aware of the scenarios – including one that would have the No. 3 seed hosting the AFC Championship Game if No. 1 were upset in the second round. And he desires the third seed.
"We want to go win our next two football games," he said.
To what lengths the Chargers will go to accomplish that remains to be seen.
With numerous players recovering from or playing through injuries, the Chargers are fortunate a playoff spot is no longer on the line.
"If we were in a situation where we had to win to get in, you'd push it more with a guy who is trying to get back healthy," Turner said. "But we're going to do what's best for the players, so we can be as healthy as we can be when the postseason starts."
That means that Monday night against Denver, players such as Philip Rivers (knee), Mike Goff (foot), Nick Hardwick (foot) and Jamal Williams (ankle) will continue to play. It means starters will remain in games as long as a victory is in the balance.
But Shawne Merriman (knee) and Luis Castillo (ankle) might not be brought back as quickly, even though both profess to be ready to play.
"We're going to be smart with Shawne; we're going to be smart with Luis and anyone who has something that is iffy," Turner said. "We want to be playing our best, and we want to be healthy when we get into the playoffs. So that will weigh on my mind in making a decision. If we have a guy who is in jeopardy, and it's in his best interest and our best interest to not play (him), then we'll protect him. But for the most part we're going to go play."
Turner is also grateful for the extra day this week to rest. The players were off yesterday and today and will have a light day Wednesday. That is important, because not only will the Chargers have a short week before playing Oakland in the regular-season finale, they also could have a short week before their first playoff game.
If the NFL holds to its pattern of alternating the conference games between early and late Sunday on the first weekend, it will be the AFC's turn to play in the late Sunday slot on Jan. 6. It is likely that a matchup involving Pittsburgh would be more appealing to CBS and the league for the late Sunday spot than a matchup involving the Chargers.
"We've looked hard at the schedule," Turner said. "One of the things I'm going to emphasize hard with our team is that we have this week to really rest, get back healthy. We have to take advantage of that."
Players are on board with playing and finishing strong.
"We need to keep this momentum going," Goff said. " . . . You want to be at your best going into the tournament. It's good we got the invite to the big dance. But we've gotten invited to the dance a couple times before, and we haven't gotten up the nerve to ask anybody else to dance yet.
"I think we realize what lies ahead. We've still got two regular-season games. It's great to get it clinched. How Norv is going to handle things, that's up to him. We can just get ready for Monday night."
I must have been typing when you posted this. My thoughts exactly, as you see above. I love this kid's athleticism. He's in the Dallas Clark mode of a wide receiver playing TE. And I'll always have a soft spot for him because he won me BOATLOADS of cash when he was terrorizing helpless MAC defenses at Western Michigan. His foot is still worrysome though. It won't be 100% healed until next season. He says he still plays in pain, but he fights through it.
I browse in tabbed mode and generally have a dozen threads opened at one time. Some tabs sit for 30-60 minutes before I get them, and I spend a lot of time on my responses. Sorry I hurt your feelings by posting something that you'd posted 30 minutes earlier.
