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Hacksaw’s Holiday Podcast-Monday-1pm
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‘CHARGERS–PATRIOTS–REACTION
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The Chargers are feeling pretty good about themselves right now, and maybe rightfully so, though I am not so sure.

They blasted their way to a (40-7) win over the hapless New England Patriots on Saturday, putting themselves into a wildcard playoff spot.

The chunks of adversity they had to encounter were set aside for 3-hours in pounding out a win against one of the weakest teams in the league.

QB-Justin Herbert was superb, and now has 21-TD-3 Int in a banner season.  His offensive line did not give up a sack.  The return of running back JK Dobbins allowed them to grind out yards in the run game.

The defense knocked around Pats rookie QB-Drake Maye and the Chargers came home with a (10-6) record.

All fine and dandy, but I will ask you a bunch of questions, again and again.

As everyone celebrates the culture build thanks to Jim Harbaugh and Joe Hortiz, and getting to the playoffs is an accomplishment, let us be realistic.

Just asking, who have you beaten this year in this 10-win run?

One team with a winning record, Denver and its rookie QB-Bo Nix, who are (9-7).  The other 8-teams the Bolts put away have a sub .500-record or an (8-8) record, and they deserved to lose but didn’t against Cincinnati and Atlanta.

If you are keeping score at home, the combined record of all the teams the Chargers beat this year is (47-96) heading to the final Sunday of the season.  Yes (47-96).

The teams the Bolts lost to, the good teams on the schedule have a combined record of (52-28) at this hour.

And by the way, when you get to the playoffs, you won’t be playing the likes of Carolina-the Saints, the Raiders starting in the widcard round.  It’s the likes of the Ravens-Chiefs-Bills in the AFC, and a consortium of Lions-Vikings-Packers-Eagles from the NFL street corner.

Not sure the Chargers are in their galaxy.

And speaking of a fall from grace, some performance by the Saturday opponent, the former 6X-Super Bowl champion New England Patriots.

The homefield loss was pitiful in Foxborough, a setback that was bad on the field, and worse for what it represents on behalf of once famous owner Robert Kraft.

Did you see the empty seats around Gillette Stadium?  Did you hear the chants from the fans thruout the second half ‘Fire Mayo’…Kraft’s hand selected head coach.

You had to feel bad for rookie QB-Drake Maye who got hounded-pounded all day long.  A roster without playmakers on either side of the line of scrimmage.

Bill Belichick is gone, and what he left behind is a woeful roster without talent or quality draft picks.  Since Tom Brady exited with his rings, the Pats are (31-53).

Saturday’s game was ‘pitch and catch’ all day for Herbert and the Bolts.  There was no pass rush, only 1-QB pressure.  The Bolts had a (428-181) dominance in yards, a (40-20) edge in time of possession minutes, and a (77-48) edge in snaps.

It was like watching the varsity play the freshman in that game.

No talent in New England and a Patriots team that has shown no improvement.

Right there infront of you was an example for the nation to see.  The once proud Patriots dynasty had become a disgrace.

Robert Kraft has to own this because he let it happen on his watch, let Belichick control every football decision to be made, and now it has all come due.

It’s a long winding road coming home up Route 1-in New England after games in that stadium.  Imagine the long winding road to rebuild this franchise.

Oh, one final thought.  As Team Spanos walks around LA this week, strutting  over their accomplishments, taking credit for everything, remember it was the NFL who did an intervention and told them to quit failing, pay the big money, hire the right coach, and hire Jim Harbaugh.  The so called ‘`1st Family of Football’ was ordered to quit making mistakes in the 2nd biggest market in the NFL.

And one other item, the Chargers need to approach the final Sunday of the season, this road game against the Raiders, as a ‘payback game’.  The Bolts should not forget the (63-21) hammer job inflicted on them late last season, in which I wrote in a column that night, ‘I expect your resignation on my desk by 9am in the morning’, something that happened to Brandon Staley-Tom Telesco.

The Bolts need to inflict a ‘Payback’ beating on Antonio Pierce who left his starters in the game right to the end and never took his foot off the pedal.

And once the Chargers repay that debt and get ready to go to the playoffs, they then can  answer my question.

‘Again, who have you beaten this season?’

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