San Diego Chargers Have Many Wishes Granted During Bye Week

Right after the Chargers beat Houston, Norv Turner and A.J. Smith took a little walk to discuss the rest of the season.

Since Norv is not allowed to look A.J. directly in the eye, he kept his gaze downward and stumbled upon a lamp. Norv picked it up and showed the lamp to A.J. “Rub it,” said A.J.

Norv rubbed the lamp, and a genie came out, sang some elaborate song (because that is what genies do) and granted them three wishes. 

"What are your three wishes, Master?" the genie said to Norv and A.J.

Well, after that, the rest is history. Their wishes clearly came true, and an almost perfect bye week resulted. What did they wish for? 

Wish one: Norv quickly shouted, "Give me some time to teach these clowns how to block on special teams!" POOF! The Chargers were granted an entire week off with little work to do other than work on correcting special teams mistakes. The bye week means that the Bolts had from November 7th to Monday, November 21st to figure things out. I like how the genie threw in an extra day. That was a nice touch.

Wish two: A.J. Smith jumped in and said, "Just give me back my starters! It's really getting old to have to keep driving downtown to The Tilted Kilt looking for guys who look athletic."

POOF! The genie informed A.J. that the time off granted for wish No. 1 would be ample time to get the vast majority of his team off the injury list. Brandon Siler, Larry English, Malcom Floyd, Legedu Naanee, Kris Dielman and possibly kicker Nate Kaeding should all be back and ready to play on Monday night!

A.J. was thrilled until he found out that the genie couldn't help Antonio Gates and Ryan Mathews. "They will have to make it back on their own. I have to be fair to the Broncos. We want to see a good game, not a blowout."

As it turns out, Gates is likely to play but is listed now at 50-50. Mathews' ankle does not look like it will be ready by Monday, but the young back is claiming that he will be ready to play in his first home Monday Night Football game.

Wish three: Both men quickly yelled, "Have the Raiders lose to the Steelers and the Chiefs lose to the Cardinals!"

"Just a moment!" said the genie. "I don't mind helping you out, but I'm not going to hand it to you. The last thing you want is to go into the postseason without being challenged (again). I may be able to help you out with the Raiders this week, but it may take a genie with far more power than I to help the Cards win in K.C."

Well, there it is: the three wishes that were made after Week 9 by the San Diego Chargers. To go with them, there were some other positive things that happened recently. For instance:

1. The Bolts, through necessity, had to find out that there are a few guys on the bench, and practice squad, who can actually play this game. Offensive lineman Tyrone Green stepped up quite nicely for Dielman. Veteran tight end Randy McMichael did an outstanding job of filling in for Antonio Gates.

Of course, the sub that everyone is talking about, and trying to pronounce, is undrafted rookie receiver Seyi Ajirotutu. “Tutu” did an outstanding job of taking over the receiver duties for both Legedu Naanee and Malcom Floyd.

No matter what happens from here on out, it is nice to see that there is some depth on the Chargers.

2. Hopefully a recent signing by A.J. Smith will pay off in the special teams department: Patrick Watkins, former Dallas Cowboy strong safety. Watkins is a good-sized defender who could help on defense, but more likely he was brought in because of his ability to make tackles on special teams.

3. The Broncos winning, in a big way, against the Chiefs last week will force the Chargers to take them seriously. Looking past teams has been a big problem for the Bolts this year and in years past.

4. Another positive that has come to the Chargers lately is the rediscovery of Darren Sproles in the passing game. With so many receivers being hurt, Norv was forced to find someone to throw to. Turns out that Sproles still has some skills in that department and should continue to make teams prepare for him (especially Indy in Week 12).

The only negative that I see going into Week 11 for the Chargers is that it has been a long time since they have played, and they may start out rusty. The players coming back from injury have been out even longer than the rest of the team. A slow start against the Broncos put the Chiefs in a 35-0 hole before they knew what hit them.

Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for some football! I may have to listen to Hank Williams Jr. all weekend and just pretend that it is an extended version of the Monday Night Football theme song.

Enjoy the game!

Feel free to comment—I would love to discuss the Bolts with you.