Vs. Kansas City

When the Chiefs and Chargers tussle at Qualcomm this afternoon, the Bolts won’t be the only team coming in on a winning streak. Kansas City has won back to back games for the first time this season and is coming off of a monumental victory over the defending Super Bowl champion Steelers in which they looked quite impressive. The Chargers have not lost since beating up on the Chiefs in week 7, but the team still feels that there is plenty of room for improvement heading down the stretch of the NFL season. Head Coach Norv Turner commented on the recent success saying: “The best thing about it is that we’re not anywhere near where we can be.” Although last weekend in Denver the Bolts looked like a complete team handling the Broncos quite easily in their own building, but the fact of the matter is that the defense still has a lot of room for improvement and the offensive line is still dealing with some consistency issues. Today’s game will test the Chargers rush defense that is still ranked 21st in the league allowing 118.5 yards per game as since taking over for the much maligned Larry Johnson in the KC backfield, Jamaal Charles has looked like a potential starting back in this league.

This game will be a good measuring stick for the Bolts team focus as well coming off of that huge win in Denver a week ago against a down team with some positive vibes from week 11 as well. San Diego has been winning with the bend but don’t break defensive approach so “dance with who brung ya” as they like to say and hopefully the Chargers just focus on holding the Chiefs long drives to field goals. This one gets going on another gorgeous day in southern California with mostly sunny skies and temperatures in the low 60s here for game time. If there has been one issue with Darren Sproles returning kicks this season it has been his tendency to bring balls out of the end zone that he has no business trying to return. As has happened many times this year, Sproles backs the Chargers up inside their own 10 after bringing the opening kick from five yards deep in the end zone and a three and out to start for the Bolts. The Bolts defense steps up and forces a punt from Kansas City, but they remain behind the eight ball in the field position battle backed up to their own 6 to start this possession. The Chargers have yet to get a first down on two drives today as the Chiefs receive another Mike Scifres punt and their ensuing drive results in the first positive momentum for the Bolts as Quentin Jammer picks a Matt Cassel throw intended for Chris Chambers to switch the field position a bit giving the ball to Philip Rivers and the offense at their own 39. San Diego develops some rhythm on this drive with a nice distribution of running and passing into the red zone before an underneath strike from Rivers finds Antonio Gates who takes the ball to the end zone to draw first blood for a 7-0 Chargers lead. The Chargers defense forces another punt from Dustin Colquitt of the Chiefs and thanks to a holding call on the return the Bolts will again be backed up to their own 10.

Quarter one comes to a close with the Chargers continuing their balanced attack as they work their way to midfield as the 2nd quarter begins. The drive stalls out near the 50 and Scifres comes on to pin the Chiefs inside their own 10 and completely reverse the field position. KC comes out firing as Cassel leads the Chiefs out of the shadows of their own goal posts to near midfield before the Bolts defense is sliced for a huge gain by Charles who goes around the right side of the line before he is dragged down by Antoine Cason and a facemask penalty is assessed setting the Chiefs up in the red zone for the first time today. A bit of payback on third down inside the Chargers 10 yard line as Cassel hooks up with former Bolt Chambers who has to feel good after being released by the Chargers less than one month ago for the game tying touchdown knotting this one up at 7-7. After their defense was driven the length of the field on, the San Diego offense needs to come out and respond by giving the defensive unit a rest and some more points to work with after this possession. Responding would be an understatement for this three play, 70 yard quick strike for Rivers and the Bolts highlighted by a 53 yard bomb to Malcom Floyd to setup a one yard plunge into the end zone for LaDainian Tomlinson to put the Bolts back in front 14-7. Despite the shot in the arm provided by the quick score, the defense returns to the field and sustains further abuse from the Chiefs offense with Cassel through the air and Charles on the ground gouging the Bolts for chunks out to midfield before a costly turnover bails the Chargers out again. A fumble by Charles caused by Jammer is recovered by Brandon Siler and Jammer has come up large to stop the Chiefs in their tracks on two occasions so far in this first half. San Diego looks to cash in on this turnover as they come out throwing as Rivers leads the team into the KC red zone where he hooks up for Gates for their second score of the first half on a 15 yard strike over the middle to give the Chargers a 21-7 lead. The suspect special teams unit for the Chargers rears its ugly head on the ensuing kickoff as Charles brings it back to near midfield for the Chiefs. That momentum change is short lived as on the first play after the return, a blitz from safety Paul Oliver connects with Cassel and dislodges the ball from his grasp and Oliver returns it 40 yards for a Chargers touchdown and a 28-7 lead.

The Bolts carry that 28-7 lead into the 3rd quarter after their 21 point explosion in quarter number two. Despite keeping the stats relatively close for the first 30 minutes, the Chiefs have just been outplayed by the Bolts as San Diego has done more with their opportunities than has Kansas City. The Chiefs start the second half with the ball, but things go downhill in a hurry for KC as Chargers rookie linebacker Larry English comes into the backfield to recover a bad snap by center Rudy Niswanger and set the Chargers up in prime scoring position. The Bolts come out onto the short field and quickly convert the turnover into points with a 3 yard touchdown run from LT to stretch the score to 35-7 San Diego. The Chiefs offense returns to the field and shows some fight as Cassel hooks up down the sideline with Charles for a 49 yard catch and run into Chargers territory. Cassel continues to push his squad in spite of the tall odds against them as Charles takes the handoff and gallops 4 yards to paydirt to pull the Chiefs a bit closer at 35-14 Bolts. Rivers comes out and hooks up with Gates for 22 more yards to start the next drive and that puts Gates over the 100 yard mark on the day moving the Chargers into KC territory. After a series of penalties and miscues, the Chargers are forced to attempt a kick that appears out of Nate Kaeding’s range, but one of the NFL’s more accurate kicker shows off his range nailing a career long 55 yarder to extend the lead to 38-14. The Chiefs start their drive with some positive yardage from Cassel and Charles as the two help KC move out to midfield. Another fumble is charged to Cassel as the Chiefs go for it on fourth down at the 50 and lose 11 yards turning the ball over on downs to San Diego in prime field position once again. Two Rivers passes to Floyd and Brandon Manumaleuna later the Bolts are knocking on the door at the KC 5 yard line.

Thanks to a defensive pass interference call to begin the final quarter, the Chargers will have a first and goal at the one yard line. A rarity takes place as LT takes the handoff and is hit by Chiefs defensive back Brandon Flowers causing a fumble which is recovered by Flowers and the Chiefs keep the Bolts off the board on this possession. The Chiefs take over on the goal line and after two run plays go to the air and Cassel is forced to throw the ball away in the end zone to avoid the pressure which is by rule a safety moving the score to 40-14 San Diego and the Chargers will get the ball back as Sproles returns the free kick to the 35. A few short pass plays get the Bolts back down into KC territory looking to claim the points that they squandered away on the previous possession. The Chargers are again stopped on the doorstep and forced to settle for three from Kaeding to move their lead to 43-14. The final seconds cannot drip off of the clock quickly enough as this one is just five minutes from being in the books. After forcing a KC three and out, the Bolts turn to Mike Tolbert and Jacob Hester to milk the clock down just like last week as 0:00 finally is up on the scoreboard and the Bolts are victorious.

It finally looks like this best team on paper is turning into the best team on the field of play as the Chargers really got after the Chiefs today on both sides of the ball. From the precision passing of Rivers and rejuvenated legs of LT on offense to the ferocious pass rush and strong coverage on defense, this team is looking more and more like the complete package as the season progresses. Antonio Gates really looked like the guy that was just destroying opponents three or four years ago getting open on nearly every play as a safety valve for Rivers keeping drives alive. His presence will be vital for the Bolts if they are going to make a deep run in January. The biggest obstacle between here and the postseason for San Diego is going to be avoiding injuries and getting home field advantage for the most games possible. Outdoors on the east coast in January is not a friendly proposition for the SoCal based Chargers so they would love to get that second seed in the AFC behind only the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC playoff bracket.

Tags: Antoine Cason, Antonio Gates, Brandon Flowers, Brandon Manumaleuna, Chris Chambers, Darren Sproles, Dustin Colquitt, Indianapolis Colts, Jacob Hester, Jamaal Charles, Kansas City Chiefs, LaDainian Tomlinson, Larry English, Larry Johnson, Malcom Floyd, Matt Cassel, Mike Scifres, Mike Tolbert, Nate Kaeding, Norv Turner, Paul Oliver, Philip Rivers, Pittsburgh Steelers, Rudy Niswanger