The only problem I have with that is that the Houston offense had no clue what it was in that opening matchup. They were planning to come out and use heavy doses of Slaton this season and establish a solid running game...and he was terrible. Their offense looked off from that point on, and I don't think we saw the best of Andre Johnson in the game. I think Jackson is going to be as physical as anyone Revis has seen this season, and that's going to somewhat counter a big strength of his game, which is control on the LOS.
We'll have to agree to disagree. You very well could be right...A.Johnson might've been caught flatfooted...but based on how Revis handled the rest of the WR crop he faced...I'm gonna stand by my original theory. Revis's matchup in the upcoming game is the LEAST of my worries. MB's list of concerns -stopping Sproles (punt/kickoff returns, screen passes....we're basically facing Leon Washington) -the San Diego wideouts...superior height, speed. I'm not sure if Lito/Lowery/D.Coleman can handle their assignments. -the East -> West coast trip for the team....SD is a tough place to win.
I didn't say it was a major concern for me. I just said that the people dismissing it as though it were one of the easier matchups for him this season are sorely misinformed.
Trust me, any SD fan thinking Jackson is going to do much against Revis is in denial. I think he will have a few catches for maybe 40 yards. Admittedly, I haven't seen a lot of Jets games, how are you guys against TE's in coverage? Gates is the best in the league and has to come up huge for us in this game with out other main receiving threat tied up. I also think you guys will need to blitz a lot less than you have done so far, Rivers is lethal against the blitz, especially with our great screen game. I have no doubt that your coaches know this and will come up with clever plays to counteract this. With regards to the "how many points we will score" debate, I doubt we make 34, unless we get a defensive or special teams score. I don't doubt your outstanding D, but realise that we do have the highest scoring offense in the AFC. I would think our offense would put up around 24-28 points assuming they find ways to exploit some of the matchups, which is by no means a given. I wouldn't be shocked to see you guys be the first team to hold us to under 20 points this season. However I do think this is your D's biggest challenge yet. How will they handle it? Only time will tell. It is going to be a great game either way.
If the Chargers want to throw toward Revis let them. If their fans want to believe the Chargers will be the more physical team on Sunday, let them. Facts are, the Chargers haven't played a meaningful football game in 3 weeks while the Jets have been out smacking people in the face for respect. Both teams have their strengths and weaknesses but which team will be tuned up and ready for playoff football on Sunday? The margin for error in a pass heavy attack is much lower than in a run oriented attack. Make a mistake and a turnover is up in the air for grabs. Not so with the run. The Jets have to pound away on O and disrupt timing and routes on D. Make Rivers lose his confidence early just like Carson Palmer, and we can score some points on D. All those big receivers don't matter if you shut down the routes and make them pay for every catch, ala what the Pats did to the Colts pass happy offense years back. All those big WR's don't matter if Rivers is running for his life. I know one thing, Rex will be holding nothing back on Sunday, he wants Rivers head on a stake.
Sproles and gates will determine this game. I'm not worried at all about the trip, we weren't very good last year that's why we lost 4 times.
We've given up 3 TDs to tight ends all season, 2 to Miami TEs and the late game disaster to Tony Gonzalez. I think yardage wise, the best performance by a TE was Dallas Clark with 57 yards in limited play. That's a bit of a concern. I think Gates has a fairly good day against us, and if we double him all game long, Floyd could step up. I agree that we're going to have a tough time blitzing Rivers, but I think Ryan is more likely to try to plan blitz coverage pickups based on his tendencies rather than scale back the blitz packages.
Just want to chime in on this thread and say hats off to the Charger's fans that are posting comments. Glad to see most everyone is being realistic about the game and believing it will be close. As for my fellow TGG'ers - glad to see you all keeping it real. This is probably the most realistic and probably the best discussion I have read between opposing team fans in a the last couple years. Everyone debating and keeping it real without going off the deep ends. I love these kind of debates. Keep it going and go Jets!
First, I gotta hand it to the Jets for coming up big with a rookie QB, despite the Bengals playing like crap.. But I gotta think that SD is favoured in this matchup, Revis or no. Norv will gameplan accordingly: don't be surprised if we don't go to VJ that much. There was a span of about 4 games where VJ didn't get the ball much due to being double covered; Gates flourished during that period. It isn't smart to attack an enemy's strength; you exploit weaknesses as much as possible. That doesn't mean River's won't be looking VJ's way. He will be watching that matchup out of the corner of his eye and you just better hope Revis doesn't leave his island for even a moment. River's is an extrememly smart QB who doesn't turn the ball over much and understands defenses as good as any in league.. Speaking of smart, Turner is much the same. Its taken us SD fans a long time to get used to and trust turner. And I gotta say that I'm still not sold on his time management and other such aspects of coaching. But, he knows how to call plays. He's extremely analytical and can break down an opposing team's offense probably better than any coach/offensive coordinator in the league.. However, this is a game of best offense versus best defense and in that battle, the better defense wins, IF and only if the offense is at least middle pack. That's where the difference is. I think that having a rookie QB is going to be your offensive undoing. If you get behind, the pressure will mount and you may begin to see the pics come. This isn't a diss on your team, like Revis being a shut-down corner, these are the facts. Its your main weakness. If you maintain this core team with Sanchez and he keeps growing, the Jets will be truly dangerous in a couple of years..maintaining that D and elevating your offense will win you a SB.. Bolts will more than likely take this one..
Chargers WRs The main issue isn't VJax it's anyone that Lito Sheppard is covering...I know he's been injured this year but he's also been torched when he's been in..Hopefully he covers bigger receivers better than smaller/quicker ones ie Austin Collie, Lee Evans.. Other than that, if we can run another 40 or so times hit a couple of play-action passes we should be golden
BoJanglesMan..That will be your only hope. Keep the score low, keep our offense off the field. Control the clock..not sure if you can do it, but that needs to be your game plan..run run run..
The biggest difference is that VJax WON'T be double covered. Revis can run single coverage on him, leaving us able to run double coverage on Gates. I agree that Rivers is incredibly efficient with the football, as his single digit INTs attests. However, you haven't seen a passing defense as solid as ours this season. He may very well be forced to try to get the ball into VJax by virtue of that single coverage, and that's where Revis thrives. You're assuming that we'll devote equal time to the rushing and passing offenses. That's just not the case. In terms of overall numbers, we're not middle of the pack. However, that #1 rushing offense is going to be an absolute nightmare for your team. We feel confident enough in our rushing attack that we won't start pressing and airing the ball out full time until we're down big in the 2nd half. I just don't see you building up a significant lead early on because I don't see you shutting down our run game enough to do so. Our rookie QB very well may hurt us if we're forced to go to him, but we haven't let that happen in weeks. Ever since we decided to emphasize the run above all else, he hasn't hurt us as much as you'd like him to. In fact, he's been able to thrive in the last few games.
Why, exactly, are you unsure if we can do it? Is there something about your subpar rushing defense that we don't know? I know you guys feel you've stepped up, but you faced the #2 rushing offense in Tennessee a few weeks ago and they managed to run for 182 yards on you even though they were blown out and only had 10 carries in the entire 2nd half thanks to having a bottom 5 defense this season. What do you think is going to happen with the #1 overall defense AND that same rushing attack?
Good points Ignatius. Your run game will need to be on it. However, I think SD will stack the box and try to force the issue with Sanchez. I can't tell you if we will be successful at shutting down the run game by stacking the box cause we don't do it so much..but my guess is that we'll try. I am agreed that you need to establish the run to have a shot at this game.. As for Gates. Even double coverage isn't a problem for him. He'll get his pound of flesh..That guy is the best in the league..he is at the same level Revis is at his position: a freak!!! btw, I like Sanchez. He's pretty good and will get better. But the reality is that he's a rookie and he hasn't faced pressure in a playoff game yet. He didn't need to do much in the Bengals game and there was no pressure on him to win it. I think that his demeanor will be a huge factor in this game. Without the comfortable cushion of a lead, how will he react. I predict pics.. Also, SD has a pretty good ST force. Scifres is unbelievable and Sproles is always dangerous on returns..hows your ST defense? Sproles could get us in good field position or even take one to the house..This game may be won by ST if your D shows strong and neutralizes our offense..(translated, neutralized means our offense only scores 20)..
"Why, exactly, are you unsure if we can do it? Is there something about your subpar rushing defense that we don't know? I know you guys feel you've stepped up, but you faced the #2 rushing offense in Tennessee a few weeks ago and they managed to run for 182 yards on you even though they were blown out and only had 10 carries in the entire 2nd half thanks to having a bottom 5 defense this season. What do you think is going to happen with the #1 overall defense AND that same rushing attack?" b/c, we will more than likely stack the box and force Sanchez to throw. Will that work? I don't know. I think it will, but you may be right. You may have some success. But on another take, that success didn't help Tennessee out much. Why? Because of the Chargers bend but don't break defensive philosophy. We have been torched for a lot of yards, but not a lot of TD's. We stiffen up in the red zone and force field goals. It will be interesting to see if you can run, if Rivera does "stack the box". I can't say for sure. Hard to tell with strength against strength. I think, as I have already said, the X factor is Sanchez and inexperience..
MBGreen: my aplogies, that statment was loosely stated. What I was getting at was that he hasn't faced the KIND of pressure one faces when playing from behind in a playoff game - or even if the game is close. I didn't mean it as, on an absolute scale, no pressure to win. I tend to be wordy sometimes, so I try to limit what I say and sometimes, the inference isn't clearly understood..
