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This is the way the San Diego Chargers are supposed to play, right?
Dominate on both sides of the ball. Make winning look laughingly easy.
When you come right down to it, the Chargers should be playing a lot like, well, the New England Patriots.
Sunday's 31-0 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs was precisely the type of game one should come to expect from a team that entered Week 14 with the NFL's second-ranked offense, led by one of its most prolific passers, and No. 1 defense. Never mind that the Chiefs were without starting quarterback Matt Cassel, who was back home recovering from an appendectomy. Kansas City wins with the league's best rushing attack, which the Chargers stuffed, and with defense, which they embarrassed with a perfect blend of running and passing that at times made it look like a game of 11-on-none, where to buy Cheap NFL Jerseys? maybe ujersy is a good choice.
So why are the Chargers holding on for dear life on the fringes of the playoff picture?
"You look at rankings and you look at numbers, and you can make it say whatever you want," veteran defensive tackle Luis Castillo said, attempting to make sense of it all. "But it's a matter of stepping on that field and winning games. It doesn't matter what the rush yards are or what the pass yards are. It's about finding a way to win a game when it counts."
The Chargers did that about as emphatically as they cold Sunday. Too many other times this season, they didn't, which is the simplest explanation for why, at 7-6, they trail Kansas City by a game and are farther behind in the wild-card chase (playoff picture) as they prepare for Thursday night's game against San Francisco on NFL Network.
Yet, getting to the heart of why the Chargers have fallen so far short of lofty preseason expectations isn't quite that simple. For most of the season, the blame was placed on horrendous special-teams breakdowns. But last week, after ripping off four straight wins, the Chargers allowed themselves to be absolutely trampled by the Oakland Raiders' running game. It was the kind of performance that strongly suggested that the hole the Chargers dug for themselves early in the season wasn't contradictory to their statistical achievements after all.
These guys simply didn't want it as much as their opponent, which is shocking for a team that had four consecutive seasons of perfect Decembers. But that was the drift you got from talking with straight-talking safety Eric Weddle.
"Oakland came at us and we didn't answer the call," he said.
It was only when the Chargers faced the real prospect of playoff elimination from a loss to Kansas City that they found all kinds of answers on both sides of the ball. Here's a classic example of the power of desperation: Chargers, 426 yards; Chiefs, 67.
"When your season's on the line, obviously you're going to play a little bit better," Weddle admitted. "And what happened the week before definitely had a huge part in the way we played (Sunday)."
Yet, it never should have come to this. Not with the enormously talented Philip Rivers at the helm one of the NFL's most dangerous passing attacks. Not with tremendous depth at running back. Not with a defense that is stout enough to do what it did against Kansas City's dynamic backfield duo of Jamaal Charles and Thomas Jones on a weekly basis.
That leads to the following question: With only a short time to prepare, can the Chargers' defense put together another masterful performance against a 49er offense that looks revitalized with Alex Smith back at quarterback and just as powerful with at running back with Anthony Dixon with injured Frank Gore?
"It's definitely a challenge," veteran cornerback Quentin Jammer said. "You don't get the days to practice, and after a game like (the one against Kansas City), your body hurts, you need your rest. But I think most of it is focus in your preparation. We know that our backs are still against the wall, so it's going to be big to focus this week."
Because when the Chargers are focused, when they want it badly enough, they play the way they're expected to play -- the way they played Sunday.
They've got answers
The Philadelphia Eagles, because with an explosive running game (LeSean McCoy has rushed for 100 yards in two of his last four games) to go along with Michael Vick's magic, their offense looks virtually unstoppable.
The Jackonville Jaguars, because of Maurice Jones-Drew's six consecutive 100-yards rushing games (which have helped them go 5-1 during that stretch; they're 6-1 overall when he hits the 100-yard mark) and the grit they displayed in rallying to beat Oakland.
The Dallas Cowboys, because despite Sunday night's loss to the Eagles, they clearly have struck gold in an unlikely place with veteran quarterback Jon Kitna giving a huge spark to their offense in place of injured Tony Romo. When Romo is healthy, the Cowboys figure to have as good a quarterback situation as any in the league ... and maybe a little bit of controversy on which that franchise seems to thrive?
They've got questions
The New York Jets, because they clearly never got over that beat-down in Foxboro. The Jets seemed to lose a lot more than a football game during that Monday night massacre. You wonder if, perhaps, some of their will was taken away. From coach Rex Ryan on down, these guys are classic front-runners who just might not know how to respond to extreme adversity. Or maybe they simply weren't as good as a lot of us thought they were.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, because even though they beat the WashingtonRedskins and still have a playoff pulse, they have now lost six players for the season. Two of their latest losses were defensive tackles Gerald McCoy and Quincy Black. It's hard to imagine the Bucs being able to able to overcome these repeated blows and reaching the postseason. But it's impossible not to admire the massive collective heart of this young, banged-up bunch.
The Green Bay Packers, because even before Aaron Rodgers left the game with a concussion, their offense wasn't functioning well against the DetroitLions. And the fact Rodgers has suffered two concussions this season certainly raises some concerns about the status of the Packers' most important player, if you want to buy Cincinnati BengalsJerseys, go to ujersy.
Observation points
Let's just say it: Tom Brady, MVP. Everyone else, including Vick, is everyone else.
Let's just say it, Part II: Troy Polamalu, Defensive Player of the Year. Everyone else, including Clay Matthews, is everyone else.
Let's just say it, Part III: Mark Sanchez is, at best, an average quarterback. In his last three games, he has thrown five interceptions and completed only 48 percent of his passes. The Jets, who have scored only nine points in their last two games, need much better.
Let's just say it, Part IV: Carson Palmer ... see Part III.
Do you get the feeling that ...
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