Chargers vs. Eagles 2013: San Diego offense carries team to 33-30 victory

The San Diego Chargers were underdogs for their cross-country trip to play the Philadelphia Eagles, but earned one of the most surprising wins of the week with a 33-30 victory. The win was largely due to a strong offensive performance in which the Chargers possessed the ball for more than 40 minutes.

John Gennaro of SB Nation’s Chargers blog, Bolts From The Blue, gave credit to the game plan devised by the coaching staff for the strong performance on offense:

Mike McCoy, Ken Whisenhunt and the San Diego Chargers offense did exactly what we hoped they would do, run the ball and win the time of possession battle. Actually, San Diego had the ball for over FORTY MINUTES of the sixty minute game. That helped keep the Chargers defense fresh, which didn’t really matter....but the Eagles made enough mistakes on offense to give the Chargers a chance.

As Chargers fans raved about the team’s offensive performance, Eagles fans were unsurprisingly unhappy with the defensive performance shown by Philadelphia. One year after allowing the fourth-most points in the NFL, Mike Kaye of SB Nation’s Eagles blog, Bleeding Green Nation, said that there wasn’t enough talent added to fix the unit in 2013:

I just don’t think the defense has been upgraded and the secondary is somewhat neglected. Today’s game proved that statement correct.

Too many times during Sunday’s game, the Eagles offense would respond to a Chargersstrike, only for the defense to give up another good drive to the Bolts. I have defended Nate Allen almost religiously, but I am extremely sad to say that I am 100% incorrect when it comes to his Philadelphia career being salvageable. He was embarrassing.

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