Tag: Philip Rivers (Page 8 of 13)

      Chargers wax Titans 42-17 on Christmas night

      December 25, 2009 /

      The San Diego Chargers didn’t need to make a statement on Christmas night in Tennessee after winning nine straight coming into the game with the Titans, but they made one anyway.

      The Bolts routed the Titans 42-17 on Friday night to secure the No. 2 seed in the AFC. Their offense racked up 425 yards, including 259 through the air and 166 on the ground. Philip Rivers completed 21-of-27 pass attempts for 264 yards and two touchdowns while shredding Tennessee’s soft secondary. LT also notched two touchdowns while rushing for 59 yards on 16 carries. The Chargers’ offense is a finely tuned machine right now and isn’t having trouble scoring against any opponent.

      But perhaps the most impressive thing about tonight’s game is the way San Diego’s defense stepped up. They weren’t dominant by any stretch of the imagination, but they did force three turnovers, including two in the first half after the Titans had driven the ball to midfield. Chris Johnson (142 rushing yards, 1 TD) still got his, but the Chargers limited his big-play potential after allowing him to break a 30-yard run on his first carry of the game. Of course, it helped that Vince Young was brutal tonight. He threw two horrible interceptions and also lost a fumble in the first half after scrambling for a first down.

      I could note how having home field advantage is huge for the Chargers in the playoffs, but they’ve beaten teams on and away from their home turf this season so it might not matter. And perhaps the biggest thing to keep in mind is that they’ve had great success against the Colts over the past three years, beating them twice in the postseason and once in 2008 regular season.

      Indy might have plenty of reason to be nervous at the moment. (Or as nervous as an undefeated team could be.)


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      Chargers, Bengals heading in opposite directions

      December 20, 2009 /

      Two playoff AFC playoff teams clashed on Sunday, but only one of them is heading in the right direction.

      For the Bengals to have to deal with the death of Chris Henry and then have to travel cross-country to face a red-hot Chargers team was a tall task. But they did it, and they fought hard despite eventually falling 27-24 on Nate Kaeding’s last-second field goal.

      That said, the Bengals have now lost two in a row and three of their last five. They haven’t looked sharp since their win against the Steelers in mid November, which isn’t good considering the playoffs are coming up in two weeks. And since their loss on Sunday was against San Diego, they now won’t have a first round bye.

      San Diego, on the other hand, is scorching hot and has locked up the No. 2 seed in the AFC. Vincent Jackson came up huge with five receptions for 108 yards and two touchdowns in the win. He routinely beat Cincinnati’s excellent cornerback duo of Leon Hall and Jonathan Joseph and is really coming on of late as Philip River’s go to go on the outside.

      It’s interesting how this season has unfolded for the Bolts. They were a lot of people’s preseason favorite to make an outside run at the Super Bowl, but when they struggled early on, many started to hop off the bandwagon. But now that they’ve rattled off nine in a row, people are breaking their ankles climbing back on their bandwagon.

      Every team in the NFL has an opponent that is just a pain in the ass for them, and the Chargers are that team for the Colts. Indianapolis obviously looks incredible this year, but I wonder if Peyton Manning and company are getting a little uneasy with how good San Diego has looked over the past nine weeks.


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      NFL Week 14 MVP Power Rankings

      December 19, 2009 /

      The first four names on here, all quarterbacks, did nothing to hurt their MVP chances in Week 14. Each won their game, and helped their team win. Especially Drew Brees and Peyton Manning, who continue to roll along without a loss this season.

      1. Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints—Against Atlanta, in what turned out to be another game too close for Saints’ fans comfort, Brees still completed 31 of 40 (77.5%) passes for 296 yards, 3 touchdowns and zero picks. His case for MVP keeps getting stronger.

      2. Peyton Manning, Indianapolis Colts—Manning uncharacteristically threw three interceptions against Denver last weekend, but he still racked up 220 yards and 4 TDs, leading his Colts to victory again. Then he went ahead and threw for 308 yards, four more scores and 1 pick that wasn’t his fault Thursday night against Jacksonville.

      3. Philip Rivers, San Diego Chargers—This guy throws one of the best deep balls in the game, he’s extremely accurate and he just wins. Don’t think Rivers’ Chargers can’t upset the Colts again in the postseason too.

      4. Brett Favre, Minnesota Vikings—Not a great game against the Bengals, but the Vikings still won, and at this point in the season, that counts for something.

      5. Chris Johnson, Tennessee Titans—The NFL’s leading rusher just keeps racking up yards and touchdowns. Johnson has 1626 rushing yards, with a realistic shot at 2000 and an outside shot at Eric Dickerson’s record of 2105 yards in a single season. He also has 42 catches for 391 yards and 13 total TDs.

      Honorable Mention— DeSean Jackson, Eagles; Aaron Rodgers, Packers; Cedric Benson, Bengals; Adrian Peterson, Vikings; Reggie Wayne, Colts; Jared Allen, Vikings; Vince Young, Titans; Elvis Dumervil, Broncos; Darren Sharper, Saints; Wes Welker, Patriots

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      NFL Week 13 MVP Power Rankings

      December 12, 2009 /

      The way the Saints have been winning each week has been like a gift to their fans. That is, it’s been a SURPRISE each week. Sometimes they dominate, sometimes they make it more interesting than it should be, and sometimes they flat out get a, well, gift, from the opposing team. Last Sunday it was the latter against a Washington team that let the Saints back in the game by missing a chip shot field goal. Drew Brees and company took care of the rest, and that’s why our man remains atop this list, with Peyton Manning right there behind him.

      1. Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints—He’s got a 111.3 QB rating to lead the NFL—3536 passing yards, 69% completion percentage and 29 touchdowns to 10 picks. Oh, and yeah…his team is 12-0 and has already clinched the NFC South.

      2. Peyton Manning, Indianapolis Colts—Not much different from Brees’ numbers—3685 passing yards, a ridiculous 70% completion rate, 25 TDs and 11 interceptions…and the same 12-0 record for his Colts, with a clinched AFC South.

      3. Brett Favre, Minnesota Vikings—A much more human game for Favre against Arizona Sunday night, but despite those 2 interceptions, he still threw for 275 yards and two scores. It just wasn’t enough, and even worse, the Cardinals may have gotten into the Vikings’ collective head.

      4. Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers—Despite being sacked a league high 45 times, Rodgers had led his team to four straight wins and has them in position for a wild card berth. And he probably hates this comparison, but his numbers are very Favre-esque: 3399 yards, 25 TDs, 7 picks.

      5. Cedric Benson, Cincinnati Bengals—After missing a few starts due to injury, Cedric returned (albeit against Detroit) and promptly carried 36 times for 110 yards. Sure, there are two RBs with more yards per game (Chris Johnson and Steven Jackson), but Benson is making more of an impact for his team…the definition of MVP.

      Honorable Mention—Chris Johnson, Titans; Philip Rivers, Chargers; Adrian Peterson, Vikings; Maurice Jones-Drew, Jaguars, Reggie Wayne, Colts; Jared Allen, Vikings; Vince Young, Titans; Elvis Dumervil, Broncos; Darren Sharper, Saints; Randy Moss, Patriots; Wes Welker, Patriots

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      NFL Week 12 MVP Power Rankings

      December 6, 2009 /

      Well, we can’t ignore what Drew Brees did to the Patriots on Monday night, can we? It doesn’t even really matter what Mr. Manning and Mr. Favre did. Oh, those guys are all bunched up here, but consider that in their biggest game of the season so far, the Saints’ Brees threw for 371 yards, 5 TDs to five different receivers, and zero picks in leading them to a 38-17 dismantling of New England in the Superdome. Yikes.

      1. Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints—See above. Brees now leads the NFL in both QB rating (112.6) and touchdown passes (27). He’s even rushed for 2 scores for good measure. And oh yeah, the Saints are 11-0 and starting to think about Miami in February.

      2. Brett Favre, Minnesota Vikings—Funny how Favre is not getting the love he should from sportswriters in the MVP conversation. Well that’s ridiculous, and you can count this writer among those who think he is extremely deserving. Against Chicago last Sunday, Favre threw for 392 more yards, with 3 TDs and no picks. If you’re keeping score at home, that’s 24 TDs to 3 interceptions on the season, and his team sitting at 10-1 and in line for a first round bye.

      3. Peyton Manning, Indianapolis Colts—Our apologies for dropping Peyton from #1 to #3 here, but he keeps flirting with disaster each week before bringing his team back. Sure, they are 11-0 just like the Saints, but we don’t feel particularly happy about those 11 interceptions so far.

      4. Chris Johnson, Tennessee Titans—800 yards in the month of November. 800 yards. Are you freaking kidding me? Apparently LenDale White was not in uniform against Arizona last Sunday because of being late to a meeting. I think it was more like Jeff Fisher didn’t want to make the mistake of putting White in the game for any reason, so he kept the guy in street clothes. And how about this sick run by the Titans?

      5. Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers—His numbers are damn near close to the guy he replaced in Green Bay, Mr. Favre…a.k.a. #2. 3136 yards, 22 TDs, and just 5 interceptions. Imagine if Rodgers (44 sacks) wasn’t running for his life most of the time.

      Honorable Mention—Philip Rivers, Chargers; Adrian Peterson, Vikings; Maurice Jones-Drew, Jaguars, Reggie Wayne, Colts; Cedric Benson, Bengals; Jared Allen, Vikings; Tom Brady, Patriots; Randy Moss, Patriots; Miles Austin, Cowboys; Vince Young, Titans; Andre Johnson, Texans; Elvis Dumervil, Broncos; Darren Sharper, Saints

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