Preview, Patriots at Chargers

I would like to apologize for the lack of updates, I have had some stuff in real life which has taken away from my writing.

Anyway, this weekend on NBC’s Sunday Night Football, there is a rematch of the last AFC Championship as the Patriots travel to San Diego.  Now some of the luster that might have been in this game before the season might be lost, as each team is dealing with injuries to their star players, the Pats missing Tom Brady and possibly Lamont Jordan, the Chargers look like they will not only be without Shawne Merriman, whois on IR, but Chris Chambers might miss this game along with Antonio Gates and LaDanian Tomlinson not playing up to their standard of play.

The Pats on offense last week looked like the opened up the playbook a little bit more, with Cassel attempting the deep pass and Randy Moss catching a huge bomb which helped jump start the Pats offense at San Francisco last week.  The Chargers will be the toughest defense the Pats have faced to date.  The Chargers have one of the best corner tandems in the league with Cromartie and Jammer, and still have a decent front seven against the run even without Merriman.  The Pats running game will be tested for sure Sunday night.

The Chargers come into the game with a 2-3 record, with two of those losses coming in the last thirty seconds of the game, including the infamous Ed Hoculi blown call week two.  The Chargers started last year 2-3 and still won the AFC West.  The Chargers offense for so long featured Tomlinson and his ability to score from almost anywhere on the field either from a run or a pass.  But Tomlinson is suffering from turf toe and looks like a shell of himself.  Darren Sproles has looked good in spelling Tomlinson.  Philip Rivers continue to mature into a good NFL quarterback, but with two of his targets dinged up, he will be looking a lot towards Vincent Jackson and “Buster” Davis.

These teams have a history the last few years.  The Patriots have eliminted the Chargers the last few years from the playoffs and the Chargers have attacked the Pats in the media many times the last few years after their losses.  While this game is lacking the start power of some of their match-ups the last few years, both teams need this win, San Diego needs it more but they won’t get it, as I think the Pats have enough to win on the road in a squeaker.