Chargers-Patriots Reaction

Wow, what an enjoyable game to watch. As an avid Browns fan and to a smaller extent, a supporter of the Chiefs, it was great for me to watch Bill Belichik square up against marty shottenheimer. What will hold Belichik from going down as the first or second best coach in NFL history will almost certainly be his stint with the Browns in which he coached five years and only had a winning record once before getting fired. my affection for marty shottenheimer had also returned after his last playoff collapse had been fading from my memory, so I knew that I was in for a reminder as to why he is a complete dunce when a playoff game is on the line. As you will see I am going to be very critical of the Chargers in this post outside of LDT and Donnie Edwards. This week we will get the pleasure of hearing once again how Tom Brady "just wins games" and while I generally agree, mr. Brady did his best to not win that game until the Bolts handed it to him on a silver platter.

Perhaps my biggest problem with the decline of the ESPN empire has been that they have completely removed critical anaylsis as part of their m.o. and instead those running the highlights yell stuff like "Bananas" during their highlights. Sean Salisbury started out as a great analyst and after they gave him a running gig ripping apart Johan Clayton, his ego swelled and he decided that he was the be-all of football knowledge. I don't want to get to into this now, but in the future I will write a long post about my issues with how ESPN has changed for the worst since the glory days of Rich Eisen and Kenny mayne.

Back to the game, I am completely disappointed in the Chargers. I myself don't have too much hatred for the Patriots, but I was clearly in favor of a Chargers victory. Their only real weakness as a team heading into the playoffs in my opinion was a first year QB leading the team. Let's make no mistake though, Ladainian Tomlinson is the best player in the NFL and he takes a lot of pressure off of Rivers. Rivers to his credit, did not play terribly, and is certainly not the goat of this game. So let's run through why the Chargers lost this game, and not the Patriots winning.

Eric Parker is my first target. Some people simply cannot handle the pressure of a big game, and if there was anyone on the field today that looked scared or lost, it was mr. parker. Dropped passes in the first quarter that killed drives. A fumbled punt in which he badly misjudged the distance followed by the second dumbest play of the game, in which he tried to pick it up instead of immediately falling on the ball. I'm not sure if Shottenheimer has ever announced to his team that they have the best player in football! Don't do anything dumb, just keep possession and we will run this guy all day. It's a no lose situation! Just a horrendous decision. At that point, I could feel the implosion coming. This airhead play was only to be outdone by marlon mcree, a self-proclaimed future coach in this league. While at first it seemed as if he just got unlucky with Troy Brown making another clutch play, after thinking about this further I realized this: it was fourth down! You don't even need to catch it, knock the ball down and you get better field position! Once again though the Chargers seemed to forget that they had the best back in football on their team. make the patriots prove that they can stop him. if they do, then and only then do they deserve to win that football game last night.

While marty had very little to do with either of those plays, he unfortunately cannot chalk this one up to bad luck. I understand that marty does not call plays on offense or defense, so I am going to blame all 3 of the coaches as a whole for the following decisions. First, that challenge was atrocious. I understand it was unfortunate that mcree made a boneheaded play, and I also understand that if you somehow win that challenge, the game is effectively over. I'm sorry though, terrible challenge. Plain and simple. I know you are up 8, marty, but it's the Patriots, and you might need that timeout later in the game. So after the Pats tied it up, the Chargers had a chance to answer. What would I be doing if i am the offensive coordinator. Well, I'd be giving the ball to Tomlinson, the league mvp, every play and riding my best player. If he can't win this thing for us, then so be it. The series in particular that bothers me was when Ladainian picked up 5-6 yards on first down. Sounds effective enough, especially with a tiring Pats D that hasn't really stopped him all game. Well the next two plays were the worst two offensive calls of the game. Pass, pass? What are they thinking? Even worse, they threw at Asante Samuel on third down. Give credit to Belichik for double teaming Gates on that play and forcing Rivers to go at Asante. The Pats would be wise to re-sign him this offseason. At this point the Chargers deserved to lose despite being the most-talented team on the field and frankly, outclassing the Pats. The last problem I had, which is hard to criticize the d-coordinator for since they were blitzing all game, but on that 3rd and 10 late, I would have had more than 3 DBs and not let Jammer play press coverage. Sit the DBs back at the first down line and make them complete it underneath you. The rest is history. Predictably, the Chargers had no timeouts to work with on their desperation last drive. The 3 yard Gates pass was a terrible decision, perhaps Rivers worst of the game (actually I am forgetting that lob pass that Colvin picked). I liked kicking the field goal with 8 seconds to go instead of running another play. You are facing the best-coached team in the league, too much can go wrong. At that point its a slim chance you are going to win, so let your kicker see if he can make a big time kick. Unfortunately for them, it didn't work out.

Let's make no mistake here, Tom Brady played horribly. He skipped a surefire touchdown at the feet of Ben Watson. He threw 3 picks and it could have been 5 or 6. But if you give that guy a chance at the end, (the guy has ice in his veins) he will forget all of the past and he will come through. You have to admire that. Belichik puts the game in his hands. And this is why the Chargers lost, they needed to put the ball in their best player's hands and they didn't. I am convinced that the Chargers were the best team in the league this year, but if you can't let the best player in the league do his thing, I think you deserve to lose. Eight touches in the second half for Ladainian? Not going to cut it marty.