San Diego Chargers vs New England Patriots Week 7 Recap

Written by Kyle Wadford | 27 October 2010

Patriots 23 - Chargers 20

The Chargers cant seem to keep the gun from pointing at there toes,  for the seventh straight games played we have out gained our opponents and for the fifth time we lost despite that advantage. Four turnovers, two of which were mental mistakes, giving up on a play and basically handing the patriots the ball. Hester not diving on the backwards pass and rookie receiver Goodman catching a huge gain up the middle and falling to the ground without contact just left the ball on the ground for Patriots defenders to jump on. This seems to be a recurring theme for the 2010 Chargers with 18 turnovers in just 7 games. With the top ranked Offence and top ranked defence this is a "shot in the foot."

despite the mental errors and slow start, again, we managed to bring a 20-3 Fourth quarter deficit to a 20-23 Patriots lead with 23 seconds to go in the game. Giving Brown a chance at a 45-yard field goal to take it into overtime, seem too good to be true?  it is a false start made the Brown's kick now a 50-yard field goal attempt. To no ones surprise Brown did what  got him to San Diego and missed the field goal, with the ball going off the outside of the right pole. distance was no issue.

Philip Rivers - 34/50 336yrds 1td 1 int 2fumbles 1lost. For the 5th time this year Rivers did all that he could have to give the Chargers a win, only to have mistakes ruin his efforts. Dropped balls, fumbles and interceptions are what will kill a teams momentum. Rivers did his job and played another stellar game. if only the rest of the ofence would jump on the same page

Running Backs -  Mathews(8/15), Sproles(2/7)and Tolbert(2/5) had absolutely no chance this Sunday as the Chargers, again, fell behind early and according to Turner had to abandon the run game. Tolber had the lonely rushing touchdown of the game.

Wide Receivers - Crayton(7/82) had yet another good game for the Chargers, maybe he will become a bigger target for Rivers. Sproles(9/70) finally  got used in the passing scheme of things, was great when we needed the first downs. Davis(6/53) still has a hard time catching the ball when it hits him in the hands. Gates(4/50) who played with is hurt toe was missing most the game, but blew up in the late minutes of the fourth quarter, posting the only receiving touchdown of the day.

O-Line - The big boys up front did a great job, as apposed to last week, in protecting Rivers and wasnt given the chance to open the holes for the running backs.

Defence

D-Line - Didn't have a huge statistical day, but did there jobs. The Patriots didn't get anything going on the ground, gave Brady a hard time in not giving him time to set back and let his receivers get open. The front 3 allowed our backers to cause the damage. Garay registered the only sack for the front 3.

Linebackers -  This core of guys did a masterful job in containing the Patriots Offence from getting anything going, even with the Patriots getting the ball in such short fields with the Chargers turnovers, though the Chargers didn't force any themselves. Cooper(9), Burnett(6), Phillips(5/1sack), Applewhite(5), Barnes(3/2sacks) all did great in upholding the top ranked defence.

Defensive Backs - Jammer(3), Cason(2), Weddle(5), Oliver(4) did a great job in holding Brady to 19/32 for only 159 and 1 touchdown. No Patriots reciever had more than 5 catches or more than 54 yards on the day. The backs also did a great job on run help, 9 yards being the longest for the Patriots all day.