Worried While Winning - The San Diego Chargers

This weekend bore several tidbits that make the weekend seem like a solid step for the Chargers.

Denver lost for the first time.  The Chargers won two in a row.  Because of this, San Diego is now only two games back and are finally back over .500 again. 

LaDainian Tomlinson scored two touchdowns, both of which were off of actual runs, not just one-yard plunges.  Antonio Cromartie and Shawne Merriman finally did what they were put on the field to do, intercept passes and sack the quarterback, respectively.  

Opposing running backs combined for just over half of what the Chargers defense had been averaging.

However, after watching this game I came away feeling more nervous rather than feeling sated. Several things happened that really served to temper my enthusiasm. 

I know I’ll probably be blasted by fans for not supporting my team, but the reason for the critical analysis is because I genuinely do want success for the Chargers, and want to see this team around in the playoffs. 

Call it realism or negativity, but here’s a few thoughts on this weekend in Chargerland…

1. Denver gets stomped

This is one of those ‘a little rain must fall’ items where even before the game I wasn’t completely sure who I wanted to win.  Denver is now sitting at 6-1 two games up, Baltimore at 4-3 with the same record as the Chargers. 

If Denver does not suffer a collapse, and plays .500 ball the rest of the year they go 10-6 or 11-5.  The Chargers are in a position to catch them provided they beat all the teams they are ‘supposed’ to beat, and then take one or two of the tougher matchups. 

In other words, it is still more dependent on Denver faltering a bit then on San Diego’s success.  It would take a major collapse for 9-7 to win this division.

That having been said.   Let us look at the possible wildcard scenario.  With the Steelers, Bengals, and Ravens all lumped together, at least one wildcard team is likely to come from that division. 

The question is, will the second?  The Ravens were in a rut, this puts them back on track for the wildcard spot.  The more human they look, the better it bears for a wildcard spot for the Chargers.

If Baltimore gets back on track, then again we have a situation where 9-7 falls short of the wildcard, even 10-6 might depending on performances.

Overall it is still preferable that Denver being the divisional opponent be the team to lose and Baltimore the one to win. 

It is par for the course however, that even in watching your division rival fall, you have to watch a team you may be competing against for a playoff spot take the win. 

In other words, if the Ravens lost, then that wildcard spot is about the Chargers and the performances they put on the field.  With Denver losing, now taking the division becomes about both the Broncos and the Chargers performances the rest of the year. 

Taking the division beats the heck out of the wildcard, but it’s a little more nerve-wracking to have to scoreboard-watch Denver for the rest of the season.

Now onto the actual Chargers game…

2. LT scores two touchdowns

This is all well and good.   He even sprang a couple nice little mid-length runs to go with it.  Unfortunately, the team still can’t consistently run the football. 

The run blocking is not very good for one, whether it be Darren Sproles, Jacob Hester, Mike Tolbert, or LT, every running back is taking contact at or behind the line of scrimmage far too often.  LT of two or three years ago still has trouble running with this kind of protection. 

This is what happens when you go with a fairly young/inexperienced offensive line (yes, some of the issues come from injuries but I’ll counter that before the season even started you could see they needed one more veteran depth guy). 

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