Bolts From The Blue: What Chargers Team Was That?

The guys over at SB Nation’s Chargers blog, Bolts From The Blue, have seen better days, as you might imagine. But they’re not even angry, just ... surprised.

What team was that? The team that has made a reputation for not turning the ball over, not killing themselves with penalties and having an un-stoppable offense led by Norv Turner and Philip Rivers was not on that field on Sunday. Rivers played bad (as did his offensive line). Norv’s play-call was uncharactarically bad. The offensive line was dominating in pass protection. Vincent Jackson committed the world’s stupidest penalty.

The Jets team was better than I expected. Their defense stopped the unstoppable offense and their offense got progressively better throughout the course of the game. Norv Turner seemed to be completely outcoached for the first time in the playoffs with the Chargers (that’s just my opinion). Nate Kaeding looked like Nick Folk Jr. Philip Rivers looked like the shaky QB with bad receivers.

I’m not even angry. I’m stunned. Since halftime, when I was feeling very confident, I watched the game with amazement. I never imagined that Rivers would be having problems with leading his team (why was it taking so long to line up) and communications (nobody seemed to be on the same page). I never imagined that the defense would play such a strong game and the team would lose. I never imagined that Norv (who never got that extension, by the way) would look so ridiculously helpless to motivate his team.