Rams at Chargers

[bwgood77]

Time to take advantage of that Chiefs loss by taking care of business and moving even with the Chiefs! One of Miami and Denver has to lose too, which will also help us one way or another. If Miami wins, we are suddenly in a three way tie for first, though we lose the tiebreakers.

The Chargers are so weird in that they always seem to rise up to the occasion in December (ok, not always, but often except for 2-3 years ago) regardless of who they play. They often play better against the really good teams than the not so good teams. NE, Denver and KC don't really scare me. Games like the Rams kind of do, though I wouldn't necessarily call them a bad team as they've been playing people tough and beating some good teams.

But this is a home game we need to take care of. I think after the way we played last week, they will come out and play well. They seem to have more motivation after a bad game like that.

[matt131]

Sorry I haven't been around lately guys. College has taken control of my life

But anyway: Let's get back on track, Bolts!! Broncos and Chiefs have lost recently. Time for us to gain some ground. Unfortunately, even the Wild Card spot is looking slightly out of reach, but as we learned last year, anything is possible. (It's also annoying that DEN plays MIA this week - we need Denver to lose but I don't want Miami getting any further ahead of us in the wild card race)

Our offensive line NEEDS to show up this game. It all starts with them. Pass protection, run blocking, and setting the tone physically. Without their pass blocking (like agains MIA) Rivers turned into the worst QB I've ever seen. Without their run blocking (like the past few games) we are unable to control the clock and play our style (and win). And without setting the tone, we set ourselves up to be overpowered.

At this point, the playoffs are secondary to me. I just want us to restore the magic from the beginning of the season. Rivers was playing so incredibly well, our offense was rolling, our defense was stingy as heck, and it was FUN to watch us play. As of late, the games have just been...uninteresting.

With all that said...

LET"S GO BOLTS!!!!! GET THAT W!!!

[matt131]

Actually, you know what? Screw the Broncos. I hope the Dolphins kick their ass. It would even up the AFC West (assuming we win) and the Chargers would essentially control their own destiny. Just focus on winning every game (including the next Chiefs and Broncos games) and we might be okay. Granted, the end of our schedule is brutal, but if we could win 5 or 4 more AND make the playoffs, we'd be pretty confident and pretty hot.

Ugh I love this team, I want to see us succeed!

[Revived]

Holy crap what a game!!

We basically gifted St Louis 21 pts with the pick 6, then the punt return fumble in which they scored off of and the KA fumbled which they scored off of.

Marcus Gilchrist is awful and was picked on all day but finally made a play in the end. Thank the lord.

We can't continue with these kind of mistakes against better teams.

But holy crap my heart is still beating from this game, it was way too intense.

[bwgood77]

Actually, you know what? Screw the Broncos. I hope the Dolphins kick their ass. It would even up the AFC West (assuming we win) and the Chargers would essentially control their own destiny. Just focus on winning every game (including the next Chiefs and Broncos games) and we might be okay. Granted, the end of our schedule is brutal, but if we could win 5 or 4 more AND make the playoffs, we'd be pretty confident and pretty hot.

Ugh I love this team, I want to see us succeed!

Yeah, I just saw your first post....and was thinking I was going for the Dolphins because we could possibly win the division if we just got hot and ran the table.

Today's game was the most nerve wracking game ever. I've never seen momentum shift so hugely in a game. I kept thinking that if we can come out of this game with a win overcoming so many terribly costly blunders, that it could give you the type of confidence you need going into this last stretch.

I have never felt so relieved as I did with that last interception. Of course I never was completely relieved until the clock hit zero

[bwgood77]

Holy crap what a game!!

We basically gifted St Louis 21 pts with the pick 6, then the punt return fumble in which they scored off of and the KA fumbled which they scored off of.

Marcus Gilchrist is awful and was picked on all day but finally made a play in the end. Thank the lord.

We can't continue with these kind of mistakes against better teams.

But holy crap my heart is still beating from this game, it was way too intense.

I have never had such a wide range of emotions...it seems like every time we were about to take control, it flipped. The 14 pt swing with the int return. Then after our defensive td and holding them, the muffed fair catch.

I thought the team showed resilience, and I was glad Rivers didn't crater into more mistakes....when things are going bad for him, he usually doesn't turn it around but he did.

It felt like I could see things coming too....like when Allen was running that catch early I was saying "just take care of the ball" and then he immediately gets stripped.

[matt131]

Man this one was tough. But at the end of the day, we got the W. If we can just beat the chiefs and the broncos, we'll be on a good path, but our schedule is TOUGH (the dolphins were right there this week! but at least we're one game ahead of them now, even though they blew us out).

Still, our defense is giving up too much and our offense needs to take care of the ball. Also, if Mathews could just freaking stay healthy, we'd be such a better team. I enjoyed his running today, but I'm praying his injury isn't too serious (haven't heard anything up to this point).

(Also, that 99-yard pick six absolutely killed me emotionally haha stupid Rivers )

[Revived]

They need to give RM the ball more, its unacceptable for him to have just 12 carries.

He was hurt but he came back within 3 plays.

They don't trust him near the endzone and its stupid. His fumble problems are behind him.

[bwgood77]

Man this one was tough. But at the end of the day, we got the W. If we can just beat the chiefs and the broncos, we'll be on a good path, but our schedule is TOUGH (the dolphins were right there this week! but at least we're one game ahead of them now, even though they blew us out).

Still, our defense is giving up too much and our offense needs to take care of the ball. Also, if Mathews could just freaking stay healthy, we'd be such a better team. I enjoyed his running today, but I'm praying his injury isn't too serious (haven't heard anything up to this point).

(Also, that 99-yard pick six absolutely killed me emotionally haha stupid Rivers )

The weird thing is the tough games always worry me less than the ones we are supposed to win, because if we lose I won't feel as bad, and we seem to bring our game to them. I think Rivers loves going up against Brady and stuff....honestly out of our last five games, the SF and KC games worry me the most because I think good D's especially at rushing the passer hurt us the worst.

Denver bottled up our run game last time too, but Rivers seems to be on his best game against NE and DEN. Maybe he has a grudge on Flacco too having won a super bowl and the Chiefs beating us at home.

[bwgood77]

They need to give RM the ball more, its unacceptable for him to have just 12 carries.

He was hurt but he came back within 3 plays.

They don't trust him near the endzone and its stupid. His fumble problems are behind him.

He must have been hurt because they were going to him often and early last week and this week until whatever happened, and then he never came back in.

The one thing I can't figure out is WHY the hell they run Oliver up the middle so much and don't create more plays to get him into open space...screen passes particularly. I noticed they gave Royal one screen pass and he did well, and Oliver a couple of plays close to screen passes, but running him up the middle just is a waste. He needs to get screen passes, or run short routes and hopefully get open. He can be an awesome weapon but it seems like they are not utilizing him correctly.

[Revived]

They need to give RM the ball more, its unacceptable for him to have just 12 carries.

He was hurt but he came back within 3 plays.

They don't trust him near the endzone and its stupid. His fumble problems are behind him.

He must have been hurt because they were going to him often and early last week and this week until whatever happened, and then he never came back in.

The one thing I can't figure out is WHY the hell they run Oliver up the middle so much and don't create more plays to get him into open space...screen passes particularly. I noticed they gave Royal one screen pass and he did well, and Oliver a couple of plays close to screen passes, but running him up the middle just is a waste. He needs to get screen passes, or run short routes and hopefully get open. He can be an awesome weapon but it seems like they are not utilizing him correctly.

I hate that SD never RB toss plays.

And RM was hurt but he came back right away within 3 plays.