Yet, no one would mistake San Diego's immense talent, which makes this weekend's Patriots-Chargers battle by the beach so intriguing. To get some more answers, we went to John Gennaro of Bolts from the Blue and discussed Philip Rivers, San Diego's injuries and the team's wacky play through six games.
NESN: Philip Rivers earned a ton of respect in the Patriots' locker room for the way he played through injury three seasons ago in the AFC Championship. Even in defeat, do you feel like that was a turning point, or a major stepping stone in his career?
John Gennaro: I don't know if I'd call it a turning point, because he was already on the rise and just continued to rise. A stepping stone would certainly be more accurate, because it solidified his position as the leader of the team (especially with LaDainian Tomlinson sitting on the sideline with a lesser injury). Arguably even more impressive was the fact that Rivers never missed a snap, not even in mini-camp, in the year afterwards. He took an injury that usually has a one-year recovery time, played the day after getting surgery, then recovered in roughly eight months. Any time you can immediately throw yourself into the conversion of "toughest football players," it's going to be a major point in your career.
NESN: It sounds like Antonio Gates will be able to play Sunday, but Malcom Floyd won't. How will those injuries impact the Chargers' passing game?
J.G.: In a very big way. I think about 90 percent of the reason the Chargers lost the game in St. Louis last week was that Gates, Floyd and Legedu Naanee all missed big parts of the game. Philip Rivers couldn't seem to get on the same page with any receiver besides Patrick Crayton, which made it difficult for the team to convert on third downs (4-for-12 for the game). With each receiver down, it makes the Chargers slightly less effective passing the ball. If the Chargers' top-three receiving targets are down, it hurts a lot.
NESN: How is the running game coming along with Ryan Mathews?
J.G.: I guess the best way to describe it would be "up and down." It has been effective at picking up yards, whether with Ryan Mathew or Mike Tolbert, but fumbles by both guys sort of erased the good feelings early in the season. For as good as the running game looks, especially now that Mathews seems to have gotten over his issues with holding onto the ball, it doesn't get nearly enough chances to show off because the team finds itself in early holes almost every week. In the two previous home games, against the Jaguars and Cardinals, the Chargers showed that when they get a lead, the running game and pass rush come alive and create a lot of problems for the opposition.
NESN: Have the Chargers been a frustrating team to watch this season? Statistically, they've been great, but the mistakes have obviously hampered their record.
J.G.: Yes, absolutely. This has been the case of two teams. At home, the team has been nearly flawless. However, as soon as they step on the plane to travel to another city, it's as if the team loses all discipline and leaves itself vulnerable. The special teams errors (three blocked punts, one blocked kick, three return touchdowns, many more big returns) have been caused by mental mistakes — every one of them — and that's what has been so frustrating. Everyone knows this is a talented team (one of the league's better running attacks, a very good defense and the league's best passing attack), and everyone can see that at least three of the losses were caused by the Chargers shooting themselves in the foot because of a lack of focus and discipline.
NESN: Kind of building on the last question, what is the confidence level heading into this weekend?
J.G.: One-hundred percent depends on the person. Some people believe that being at home means the good Chargers team will show up, and that team seems unstoppable. Some people believe that the good Chargers team was the result of playing the Jaguars and Cardinals at home, and that they're not good enough to match the Patriots. I think the most popular opinion at the moment is that the Chargers will play well, stay in the game and lose late, due to some dumb penalty or play call, the way they have lost in the past to New England. I'd say the fan base, which is treating this like a playoff game, is going in with nervous optimism — which unfortunately means the Pats could probably take the crowd out of the game completely with a good first quarter.
