I don't think anyone (myself included) thinks that is the sole reason we lost, but it was a factor. We were also missing our starting center, who DOES have an impact on the offense. What's next? Are you goin to proclaim that your win against the Colts had nothing to do with them pulling Peyton Manning?
Never, I'm not delusional. I know we lose that game if they don't pull their starters. Actually it was your quote... now you didn't say the sole reason but this was your quote My response was that we lost both our offensive and ST MVP as well as our defensive MVP by week 8 so don't cry to us about injuries. We overcame ... no excuses. In fact I think the Jets have only lost 1 game without both Leon and Jenkins in the lineup. We also won a game without our starting QB during that stretch.
Charger's schedule: Losses to Steelers, Ravens, and Broncos Wins: Chiefs, Raiders, Broncos, Giants, Redskins, Cowboys, Titans, Bengals, Browns, Eagles, and Dolphins This schedule does not impress, with the exception of a win over the Cowboys the Chargers haven't beat a strong, physical team. Jets match up well.
Honestly their win at Tennessee on Xmas impressed me. They absolutely dominated that team. Cowboys might be the best team in the NFC and the Chargers not just beat them but crushed them.
exactly! I said on BOTH sides of our line... meaning offensively -AND- defensively. and who is crying? we have had a fantastc season...
i second that. their division is a joke but they dismantled a Titans team who appeared to be on quite the roll after Vince Young took over. they made them look like the same scrub team we managed to sneak a win off of. people can debate all they want but the game boils down to us containing Gates and larger WR's over the middle and Sproles in the flats. the other side of the coin is, IF big IF, our running game shows up in full speed; Rivers and the electricboogaloo scoring convention will be spending most of the game on the sideline. and lastly, no fucking turnovers. thats for both teams. obviously
And like I said we lost arguably more important pieces to our team and we didn't fall apart. I'll give you guys all the credit in the world as your one of the 2 or 3 best teams we've played this year but every team has injuries and only losers cry about them.
One of the two of three best? Given that Indy pulled its starters, I'd say it's 1a and 1b with New Orleans, and I'm not even sure which one takes the first spot.
Can't remember last time I bought food in there... Tailgate: Motorhome, NFL Sunday ticket, 42" flat screen, 2 chests of cold beer, Patron Silver in the freezer, BBQ ribs, grilled fish and too many munchies to count. When we put it away, we grab a beer for the wait to get through security and take 3 Advils to help deal with the pressure of yelling hard for 1.5 of the next 3 or so hours. Hot dogs? YGBSM.
One more image. From the win in cincy... Replace "(COLON)" with ":" http(COLON)//i720.photobucket.com/albums/ww206/MountQ/charger/jet52_01.jpg
Don't forget New England, as much as it pains me to elevate their status. Yeah they just got killed, but that was without Welker, who I consider a key part of their team. Of course he is. Enough if he were there to have beaten the Ravens? Not saying that.... The Pats team the Jets lost to in the second game was certainly among the best teams in the league at that time. Why other than Welker being out they got killed by Baltimore is an interesting question, but I don't think that loss means they were not an elite team when they beat the Jets. Of course the Jets lost that game, so it's not like we can derive much comfort from having faced one other quality opponent than those mentioned.
No team is perfect, and our resume is far superior to the Jets. These losses were obviously early in the season. Teams DO change over time, they are not static...or was the same Titans team that lost to NE by 59 also the same team that won 7 out of 8? I think my Bolts brethren were saying that we have depended on our stud NT for years now with our 3-4...and when he was injured early, we did not adapt well initially. We needed to experiment with very inexperienced players, different schemes, etc., and it just do happened that this experimentation coincided with some very tough teams at the time = losses. Note that even though our offensive line also had just lost an anchor in our center Hardwick, we still lit up the Ravens secondary like no one in the past 4 or 5 years...and we are light years better on both sides of the ball now. I would be more afraid than you guys are right now, but of course I am very biased. Our non-divisional schedule was one of the toughest in the NFL (~54% SOS) and we rocked it 10-2.
At the time of the first loss to Miami, that hurt (in addition to the reasons any loss to Miami hurts) because they then had a losing record. But they ended the season rather respectably. (Thanks to two wins over the Jets!) The Jets also split with Buffalo, but they are another division opponent. In the AFC East division games are usually some of the toughest games played all year, no matter the opponent's overall record at the time.
SD barely beat a team the Jets just handled easily, that being the Bengals. And that was late in the season, at home. If Caldwell had not lost the ball and moved it back 20 yards, Cincy would likely have scored a td instead of an FG and won that game.
How can the Boltz play soft teams. And only the Cowboys are considered good??? Please look it up. Ok. Who did you guys beat this season.
Big Blocker. Losing to the Bills and Dolphins is like the Bolts losing to the Faiders and Chefs. Good reason.
We didn't exactly handle them easily when Benson was healthy and their No. 2 WR was barely able to run in that game. Palmer was clearly having trouble throwing the ball in the cold weather. He misses several open recievers early on balls that sailed on him. Not a likely scenario on Sunday. For all the match ups in this game if were going to win it's still going to come down to the OL blowing the SD defense apart and Sanchez making big throws under pressure.
Well, they don't have a back the caliber of Benson, that's for sure. Rivers is a lot better than Palmer and has more weapons, but he was being pressured all game. The key will be the OL dominating in the running game between the tackles and Sanchez making big throws OFF PLAY ACTION. At least in this offense, the inside run sets up everything, counter runs, slants, deep throws and the old TE fakes a block and gets open play. If we can do that, we're good for 21 points and the defense can hold these guys under 15.
Gotta admit that I've seen some flack about the Chargers schedule... but I just looked at the Jets '09 schedule... No too many world beaters on that schedule beyond NO, NE and Indy. Those three upped the win% of your schedule by a wide margin, but everyone else was either middle of the road or atrocious. Jets really struggled against Miami. Lost to Jax... Seems you might of had some problems with decent running teams... and you played 7 games against teams in the bottom 1/3rd of rushing D's. I just don't see a particularly tough schedule there... Ya didn't play a single team ranked higher than #10 in run D all year till you faced the #7 Bengals. I realize that a good run game and a great defense should give you the edge, but all in all, it was an unsteady season for the Jets. They'll have to play a perfect game to keep it close.
