SD's baby-blueprint for victory

[VJCPatriot]

of course its weak, its giving the chargers a chance.

Hey if it makes you sleep better at night, keep believing that.
The Chargers hopes will be shattered for good come Sunday.
That kind of reminds me of a certain playoff dream last year.
Lights Out... Indeed.

 

[Dojo Chargerfan]

Without yet opening the link let me guess...

1.) pressure Brady
2.) rough up the Pats receivers off the line/don't let the get off clean
3.) establish the ground game/kill the clock
4.) win the turnover battle

Gee, now that would be new stuff. We keep seeing the same freakin' blueprint every week, just on a different team's letterhead but with the same end result. Now I'm off to read the link.

isn't that the blueprint for every game?

 

[csfoster]

I predict a close game through 3 quarters with the Pats pulling away late. Hardly a blowout. Outside of Philly (again, not a typical result for how the game went), the Pats beat everyone at home by 10+ points. The Bolts haven't shown enough on the road to think they will show up dramatically better than PIT (when they were healthy) or JAX. Add in the freezing temps (winds won't be terrible), travel and injuries, it is only logical to predict a 10-17 point Pats' win.

I will say this: there likely will be a moment or two in the 3rd quarter that could change the complexion of the game. If the Bolts can show enough discipline, concentration and intensity to take advantage of those moments, who knows what could happen? I just wouldn't bet on it.

Reasonable but remember the Bolts showed exactly that in the 4th quarter of last Sunday's game.

 

[JoeSixPat]

While its certainly not a "blueprint for victory" I think we've all seen enough games to know what the Charges will attempt to do

No matter who is at QB or RB for the Bolts they are going to have to come out and play VERY agressively - on both offense and defense.

On offense that means trying to make some big plays with the passing game -and Rivers does have the arm for it - I'm less sure Volek does.

They will certainly run the ball too but even where that's been their bread and butter before, a running game isn't going to put the 30 plus points on the board they know they'll need. Expect them to be agressive and test our secondary.

On Defense I expect them to be agressive as well - in the hopes of gaining some turnovers... I expect they'll be agressive on the line as well, but I don't think that translates into extra guys rushing. If they can pressure Brady with their front 4 so be it - but they'll want to have full coverage with agressive defensive stances in the hopes of picking one or two off.

Of course, they know full well that this approach has the great potential to see THEM get burned by Brady and our D - but they know they don't have a chance if they don't use an agressive posture either.

What this means IMO is that there's as much potential for a blowout as there is for a close game.

Of course, given this prescription for the Bolts requires a fresh team that can play at 100% for 60 minutes... a team that isn't tired from getting beat up by the Titans, or tired from two trips across the country in the last week. That - and some key players who were ill at the time - was the Patriots undoing last year.

So if the Chargers are feeling tired from the schedule of the last few weeks, have injuries and have player who are sick, that's going to see all their best laid plans fall apart in the 4th quarter.

We shall see.

 

[JoeSixPat]

How about this last sunday, knocking off the defending SB champs on the road in one of the loudest stadiums, without our starting QB and RB? They were not good competition on the road?

I like that picture! A Calvin Chargers fan peeing on the "third rail" of the Patriots and getting electrocuted! Classic.

 

[madman]

the biggest key to a succesful game for the Bolts is to pressure Brady like no other team has. Many of you forget that early in the season the coaches really didn't know their players. Cotrel unleashes their blitz much more than he did in the first half of the season. The results speak for themselves.

 

[Oswlek]

Many here have targetted some of the issues around this article, but I'm going to mention one more. in the middle of the pice, CHFFs lists the aggregate ranking of each team showing that the rankings are close for each team.

However, that is disingenuous to say the least. For instance, in CHFFs bendability and scorability indexes, NE and SD are 7/1 and 1/2 respectively. This would give an average for those two of 4/1.5 giving SD a significant advantage.

Looking deeper, you see that NE's lead in scorability is nearly as much as SD's edge in bendability.

NE has a 1.07 lead in scorability and 167 total point lead. Amazingly enough NE has that sizable a lead in scorability despite a greater than 1,500 yard advantage on SD.

SD has a 1.2 lead in bendability and actually has allowed 10 more points than NE.

Averging rankings is one of the worst things that you can do in a mathematical model. People who deal with numbers all day should know better than that.

 

[Metaphors]

Reasonable but remember the Bolts showed exactly that in the 4th quarter of last Sunday's game.

Not to take anything away from the Bolts (the Volek drive was pretty sweet) but the Colts collective sphincter tightened as the game neared the end. Here are consecutive plays in the last 2 drives:

1-9-SD 9 (2:51) J.Addai up the middle to SD 7 for 2 yards (S.Phillips, Q.Jammer).
2-7-SD 7 (2:16) (Shotgun) P.Manning pass incomplete short right to J.Addai (D.Florence).
3-7-SD 7 (2:10) (Shotgun) P.Manning pass incomplete short middle to J.Addai (S.Phillips).
4-7-SD 7 (2:06) (Shotgun) P.Manning pass incomplete short middle to J.Addai [S.Merriman].
1-10-IND 32 (1:30) (Shotgun) P.Manning pass short middle to J.Addai to IND 37 for 5 yards (D.Florence).
2-5-IND 37 (1:13) (No Huddle, Shotgun) P.Manning pass incomplete short left to J.Addai.

Six straight plays to Addai. 7 yards. This after throwing for 400 yards in the game. Are you kidding me? That is the best you could do with your season on the line?

I can't explain what happened to the Colts and it isn't the Bolts' fault they coughed up a massive hairball in the clutch. Just hold off pounding your chest for a minute to realize how much the Colts f'ed up that game.

 

[JoeSixPat]

the biggest key to a succesful game for the Bolts is to pressure Brady like no other team has. Many of you forget that early in the season the coaches really didn't know their players. Cotrel unleashes their blitz much more than he did in the first half of the season. The results speak for themselves.

SD - like every other team - is going to have the challenge of putting pressure on Brady without putting extra guys on the line.

Unlike last year when teams quite literally didn't need safeties in the secondary, this year teams have to devote an extra guy to Moss which limits them that much more in having an extra guy rush the line.

So if they want to "pressure Brady like no other team has" they have the choice of leaving Moss in single coverage and/or giving up a short pass with an uncovered RB, TE or WR in the short game... which of course eliminates the effectiveness of putting pressure on Brady.

There will be a strong effort to get to Brady - but not by pulling other guys out of coverage. If they do that it will be a rout.

 

[MadMadigan]

We have many injuries, but i suspect our players will play through them.

The whole nation has given us (the Chargers) no chance to win this game.

Never back a wounded animal into a corner and give it no chance to survive.

You can play with your stats and figures and provide irrefutable evidence as to why the Pats will win, it's all meaningless.

Come Sunday, we will shock the Nation!!

 

[csfoster]

Not to take anything away from the Bolts (the Volek drive was pretty sweet) but the Colts collective sphincter tightened as the game neared the end. Here are consecutive plays in the last 2 drives:

1-9-SD 9 (2:51) J.Addai up the middle to SD 7 for 2 yards (S.Phillips, Q.Jammer).
2-7-SD 7 (2:16) (Shotgun) P.Manning pass incomplete short right to J.Addai (D.Florence).
3-7-SD 7 (2:10) (Shotgun) P.Manning pass incomplete short middle to J.Addai (S.Phillips).
4-7-SD 7 (2:06) (Shotgun) P.Manning pass incomplete short middle to J.Addai [S.Merriman].
1-10-IND 32 (1:30) (Shotgun) P.Manning pass short middle to J.Addai to IND 37 for 5 yards (D.Florence).
2-5-IND 37 (1:13) (No Huddle, Shotgun) P.Manning pass incomplete short left to J.Addai.

Six straight plays to Addai. 7 yards. This after throwing for 400 yards in the game. Are you kidding me? That is the best you could do with your season on the line?

I can't explain what happened to the Colts and it isn't the Bolts' fault they coughed up a massive hairball in the clutch. Just hold off pounding your chest for a minute to realize how much the Colts f'ed up that game.

What I took from the fourth quarter was that the Bolts defense was hitting just as hard during it as it had during the entire game and that it still had the energy to make plays despite having played against the no-huddle for practically the entire game.

 

[TommyD4207]

Teams you've struggled against.

Colts- Played great, but all the calls went against them.

You want to talk mindless smack, that's fine - but this is just wrong.

New England - 10 penalties, 145 yds (Franchise Record)
Indianapolis - 4 penalties, 25 yds

http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/boxsc...box_score&season=2007&week=REG9&override=true

The calls went against who again?

 

[jmt57]

Teams you've struggled against.

Jets- Cold weather slowed you, it will again.

Chargers can run, pass, have 3 good corners, a great front 7, and a great offensive line.

If there is one team that can beat you, its us. And you may not even get our best shot while Rivers, LT, and Gates are hurt.

A: Are you seriously trying to say that the Chargers are a better cold weather team than the Patriots? That cold weather favors a team from San Diego? You can't be serious!

B: Patriots can run, pass (better), have (better) corners, a great front 7, and an even better offensive line.

C: Check your history books and look at the injuries on the Pats three Super Bowl winners before you start making excuses for Sunday's loss.

 

[JoeSixPat]

We have many injuries, but i suspect our players will play through them.

The whole nation has given us (the Chargers) no chance to win this game.

Never back a wounded animal into a corner and give it no chance to survive.

The same thing was said before 17 other games this season when opponents were given no chance of winning.

How'd that work out for them?