Will the Chargers join the party or not? (1 Viewer)

[SeniorVBDStudent]

So I've started capping the week 9 matchups and it got me thinking about the bolts and how they haven't performed where I thought they would at season start.

(The bolts get the "pleasure" of hosting Green Bay this week.)

In particular, at the beginning of the year I was thinking it would be a Green Bay / San Diego superbowl (to my chagrin as a Pats fan).

Looking around the league, there are some teams we thought were in dire straights who are starting to look pretty good.

To wit, things look better today for these teams versus 3 weeks ago:

Pittsburg (laid a couple eggs)

NY Jets (looked genuinely bad early on)

NY Giants (up and down peformance ytd)

Iggles (only recently stopped drinking their own koolaid)

Atlanta (finally remembered Michael Turner)

New England (defense has improved from epic fail to somewhat bad, lol)

New Guys at the party:

Detroit

San Fran

Cincinnati

Houston

Buffalo

Fading or dead:

Indy ex Peyton

Dallas

Chicago

Tampa Bay

Minnisota

Seattle

Which team is this?

New Orleans

Baltimore

Rick Flair:

Green Bay

Now, wrt San Diego, I think the offense will be ok with a healthy Vjax and a healthy Gates, so the question really comes down to does their defense start playing better? Is it a matter of losing Ron Rivera? What exactly is the chargers problem or problems and are they gonna turn it around or not?

Discuss...

(edited to add buffalo to the party...must have blocked them out of my mind deliberately, lol)

 

[SeniorVBDStudent]

Opening vegas concensus line for Green Bay at San Diego is SD+5, 53 points total. I capped it as 31-21, Green Bay.

 

[Raiderfan32904]

For San Diego to be part of the discussion, let alone join the party, they need Phillip Rivers to be himself again. He's currently at a 6 year passing rating low with 7 TD's and 9 INT's. Some rumors that he's been playing through injury are casting doubt on where this team goes. The Chargers in a nut shell go as P. Rivers goes. He's a dynamite, franchise QB. No doubt about it. Head and shoulders above every QB in the AFC West for some time. But if he can't play like it, the Bolts aren't going anywhere.

 

[scott72]

Rick Flair:Green Bay

This made me ..Anyhow as far as this week's game, I like the fact the Chargers have a short week and we're coming off our bye, but I still think it's going to be tough. The Chargers have some key guys back offensively, and our defense can definitely be scored on. It's going to take 30 pts easy to win this one..

 

[SeniorVBDStudent]

Rick Flair:Green Bay

This made me ..Anyhow as far as this week's game, I like the fact the Chargers have a short week and we're coming off our bye, but I still think it's going to be tough. The Chargers have some key guys back offensively, and our defense can definitely be scored on. It's going to take 30 pts easy to win this one..

Its starting to look like no team is safe from the "playing below average after the bye week" phenom this year. just saying...

 

[Reepicheep]

Fading or dead:Indy ex PeytonDallasChicagoTampa BayMinnisotaSeattle

I get this list except for Chicago. They had a brutal early schedule. They have road losses to the Saints and the Lions, and a home loss to the Packers. If they can split their next two games (@Philly, Lions), the schedule sets up nicely for them to make a playoff run, they play the entire AFC West in four consecutive weeks, then the Seahawks, Packers, and Vikings. 10-6 wouldn't surprise me at all, and with a head-to-head edge over the Falcons and Bucs it could be enough to make the playoffs.

 

[Chase Stuart]

Rick Flair:Green Bay

This made me ..Anyhow as far as this week's game, I like the fact the Chargers have a short week and we're coming off our bye, but I still think it's going to be tough. The Chargers have some key guys back offensively, and our defense can definitely be scored on. It's going to take 30 pts easy to win this one..

Its starting to look like no team is safe from the "playing below average after the bye week" phenom this year. just saying...

Every team coming off its bye won this week, except NE.

 

[Gr00vus]

The Chargers are pretty banged up right now. G Dielman (probably their best offensive lineman) and Phillips (probably their best defensive player) will be missing the game tonight. Tolbert is doubtful which means its all down to Matthews in the running game - fine if he can stay healthy, which he seems to have a hard time doing. Rivers needs to get things figured out here, hopefully a healthier Jackson and Gates will help with that.

There's a solid chance they lose tonight even though the Chiefs have also lost some of their best players to injury earlier in the season.

 

[SeniorVBDStudent]

Rick Flair:Green Bay

This made me ..Anyhow as far as this week's game, I like the fact the Chargers have a short week and we're coming off our bye, but I still think it's going to be tough. The Chargers have some key guys back offensively, and our defense can definitely be scored on. It's going to take 30 pts easy to win this one..

Its starting to look like no team is safe from the "playing below average after the bye week" phenom this year. just saying...

Every team coming off its bye won this week, except NE.

fargin lurking troll jet fans. lol; j/k.

 

[SeniorVBDStudent]

Fading or dead:Indy ex PeytonDallasChicagoTampa BayMinnisotaSeattle

I get this list except for Chicago. They had a brutal early schedule. They have road losses to the Saints and the Lions, and a home loss to the Packers. If they can split their next two games (@Philly, Lions), the schedule sets up nicely for them to make a playoff run, they play the entire AFC West in four consecutive weeks, then the Seahawks, Packers, and Vikings. 10-6 wouldn't surprise me at all, and with a head-to-head edge over the Falcons and Bucs it could be enough to make the playoffs.

yeah...its probably just my contempt for their unwillingness to pay forte coloring my judgement.

 

[Stinkin Ref]

as a KC fan I think in the end SD will be the last man standing in the AFC West.....the Chiefs have beeen playing better but their schedule gets absolutely brutal here in a few weeks...hoping the Chiefs put on a good show tonight and allow us to be in first place for a little while anyway......after the 0-3 start and the complete beatdowns they endured the first two weeks, I never thought the words "KC in a tie for first place" would ever be possible this year....I think KC and OAK will fade away as the season moves forward and the West is there for the taking for SD, but I will say they haven't been overly impressive so far so you never know....8-8 could win the west this year....

 

[Modog814]

The problem imo with San Diego is that they are the ultimate play to the level of their competition team (with the NYG a close 2nd). All there games are pretty close regardless of the talent they play. And when that's the case you tend to put the game into the hands of a bounce here or there. They could very easily be 6-0 (remember they were down 6 in the 4th vs NE and driving before Tolbert fumbled and the pats pulled away), but they'd be a deceptive 6-0.