Tag: San Diego Chargers (Page 15 of 40)

NFL Week 12 MVP Power Rankings

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

Running game powers Chargers over Broncos

For much of the 2009 season, the San Diego Chargers’ running game has been non-existent. But in the past two weeks, it has helped the Bolts recapture first place in the AFC West.

One week after rushing for 119 yards in a win over the Eagles, the Chargers racked up 203 rushing yards in a dominating 32-3 victory on Sunday. LaDainian Tomlinson was solid, rushing for 73 yards with a touchdown on 20 carries while Mike Tolbert finished with 58 yards and a touchdown on seven totes.

The Chargers revived another part of their game today too: Their pass rush. They sacked the combination of Kyle Orton and Chris Simms three times and intercepted Orton once when they blitzed a defensive back on the play. If they can get a similar effort from their pass rush moving forward, than this is going to be a tough team to beat over the final month of the season.

Denver is in a free fall right now. In their current four-game losing streak, they’ve allowed 29.3 points per game after allowing just 11 PPG in their six game winning streak. They couldn’t stop the Chargers’ running game and even when San Diego put the ball in the air, Denver got zero pressure on Philip Rivers.

Offensively, Simms started but was brutal again. Orton came in and immediately started moving the offense, but the drive stalled when Knowshon Moreno fumbled at the goal line and killed a scoring drive. After that, Orton failed to move the ball the rest of the contest and the Broncos’ offense fell flat.

Considering Denver is only one game behind with six remaining, I don’t want to overstate things. But San Diego has completely seized control in the AFC West and they look like they’re going to roll to another division title.


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2009 NFL Week 11 Picks & Predictions

Here are my locks (locks, ha!) for Week 11 in the NFL:

Chargers (6-3) at Broncos (6-3), 4:15PM ET
Denver quarterback Kyle Orton is questionable this week with an ankle injury, which means Chris Simms could make his first start of the season. Simms looked Brady Quinn-like bad in a loss to the Redskins last week and I wouldn’t expect much out of him if I were a Broncos fan. If Simms starts, I fully expect the Chargers to load up to stop Knowshon Moreno and force the former Bucs’ QB to beat them through the air. It’s not going to happen and even if Orton does start, how effective can he be on a bum ankle? About as effective as he was last year for the Bears on a bum ankle? The Chargers are hot, have revenge on their minds and are eyeing sole possession of first place in the AFC West. Plus, Philip Rivers is playing just as well as Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, Tom Brady and Kurt Warner. I’m taking the Chargers to win outright and to cover.
Odds: Chargers –2.5.
Prediction: Chargers 31, Broncos 16.

Redskins (3-6) at Cowboys (6-3), 1:00PM ET
Now that the Cowboys have once again established that they’re still the same inconsistent team under Wade Phillips as they’ve always been, I’m wondering if the Redskins can pull off a huge upset this week in Dallas. Then again, without the brutal play of Chris Simms’ aiding them in victory, I can’t see Washington winning this weekend. In fact, I see this game being a blow out since the Redskins will once again be without running back Clinton Portis and Albert Haynesworth is doubtful to play as well. The Redskins have shown the ability to stop the pass, but if the Cowboys can control this game with Marion Barber and Felix Jones then Washington doesn’t stand a chance. Dallas’ offense should rebound from its horrid performance last week as long as the ground attack can help set things up for Tony Romo and the passing game. Washington just doesn’t have the players to compete with Dallas for four quarters and given how bad the Redskins’ O-line has played this season, they’re going to have trouble stopping the Cowboys’ solid pass rush.
Odds: Cowboys –11
Prediction: Cowboys 34, Redskins 13.

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Is Orton about to make the same mistake twice?

According to ESPN.com, Broncos quarterback Kyle Orton has torn ligaments in his left ankle, but wants to start Sunday when Denver hosts the Chargers in a battle for first place in the AFC West.

When Orton was still a member of the Bears last year, he played on a right ankle injury and wound up doing more harm than good. The ankle didn’t allow him to plant correctly on his back foot and that hindered his throws, which led to turnovers and accuracy issues.

Now it appears that Orton is ready to repeat history, but it looks like he will play on Sunday. That might sound like good news to Bronco fans given how inept Chris Simms was replacing Orton last Sunday in Washington. But if Kyle has similar issues to the ones he had last year than Denver won’t be any better off with him under center instead of Simms.

Granted, the injury this time is on his left foot, which is not his plant foot. He’ll still be able to plant and throw and therefore might have fewer issues than he did last year when he battled the right ankle injury. Still, it’s a situation to keep an eye on because if he isn’t healthy, it could potential sink the Broncos’ once promising season.


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NFL Week 7 COY Power Rankings

Okay, so we can finally separate Josh McDaniels and Marvin Lewis after the former beat San Diego to reach 6-0 and the latter lost a tough home game to Houston. Here is our current power rankings for NFL Coach of the Year:

1. Josh McDaniels, Denver Broncos—Seriously, 6-0? The schedule keeps getting tougher, but it doesn’t seem to faze this team or their confident coach. Dude is a mini-Belichick, the first “offspring” to be worthy of that title.

2. Sean Payton, New Orleans Saints—After beating the Giants to reach 5-0, we can start talking about the very real likelihood of the Saints reaching the Super Bowl for the first time, and this guy is a big reason why. It’s still amazing that he managed to pay his defensive coordinator a quarter mil of his own cash to lure him, but it seems to have been worth it.

3. Jim Caldwell, Indianapolis Colts—Just like his QB, you can’t fault Caldwell for the bye week.

4. Brad Childress, Minnesota Vikings—Now 6-0, there should be no question that Childress did himself and the city of Minnesota a huge favor bringing back #4. He sure wasn’t going to be 6-0 with Tarvaris Jackson, was he?

5. Mike Smith, Atlanta Falcons—A tough win against the Bears, and this team is not fading any time soon. Really, the Falcons and Saints are two of the best teams in the NFC and it should be interesting when they meet.

Honorable mention: Tom Coughlin, Giants; Bill Belichick, Patriots; Marvin Lewis, Bengals

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