SD was 4 of 11 on third downs. 3 of which went to Gates in the 2nd half. I hardly call that getting killed.
I think that the Punt Return blocking still needs a lot of work.
The Patriots didn't form up their wedge very well on the kick-off where Hobbs fumbled.
One of those non-conversions was a 3d and 30. On one of the other non-conversions, SD got to within inches of the line of gain and made it on fourth down, which is as good as a conversion. One of the non-conversions was at the very end of the game after it was over.
The reality is that, despite the lopsided score, the defense did seem to have a bit of trouble getting off the field on third down. Chargers converted 5 straight situations, if you include the one where they got to the one-foot
line, in the second half. They gained tremendous amounts of yards on those plays too.
But that was all in a context where the patriots had a big lead. The reality was that forcing the third downs was almost as valuable as stopping them on third down, becuase it took the Chargers more than half of the third quarter to score. While they needed seven points, trading 8 minutes off the clock for 7 points when they had a 24-point lead was a good deal.
The Jets also converted a couple of third and longs, although the overall percentage for the game was excellent. (Then again, we were cheating.) I think many of us our traumatized by the Indy game still, and even by the Chargers game a bit, where it seemed like there were a number of those big third down conversions, so when the Chargers put that little string together, it seemed a bit like a let down. Obviously, approaching 50 percent on third down conversions is not good -- especially when several of them are 3d and long -- but you can't really judge one game that's mostly a blowout. There were really only a couple of possessions where the game was legitimately in doubt: two in the first half and the possession right after the Hobbs fumble, and in both we bucked up on d.
The best "defense" we played in the first two games was putting together two 10-minute drives of mostly runs in the second half that ended in points. You can't play better defense than keeping the other team's offense off the field when you have a lead.
My only real "concern" at this point is the kicker position. Not enough info to judge yet, but he's teetering at a point where a few more miscues could get to him mentally and cause a spiral. Needs to make a couple in the 40-49 range.
