That was a different Sunday afternoon for the Chargers, the players, the fans, even the coach.
The woeful last place Bolts finally won a game, edging out a very young and struggling Jacksonville Jaguars team.
For one day and for the upcoming week, everyone can feel better about themselves.
Philip Rivers was Philip Rivers, making play after play down the field, and running out of trouble, out of the pocket 5-times in the game. Included was a 4th and 7 scamper trying to keep a drive going in Jaguars territory.
Antonio Gates reached back to yesteryear and caught 2-TD passes. Limited by knee problems, he caught 2-short yardage TDs, critical catches too. He may not be any longer what he used to be because of knee issues, but he is still a load to cover.
Stevie Johnson showed flashes of what he used to be, a big yards after catch guy, the kind of stuff that made him a thousand yard receeiver once upon a Sunday in Buffalo.
Melvin Gordon banged and grinded for 80 all purpose yards, run and catch.
On defense, they blitzed alot, and seemed to freak out Blake Bortels. There wasn’t alot of flow to the Jaguars offense after the early going, and Bortels did something no-one ever sees in the NFL, drawing two penalty flags for scrambling over the line of scrimmage and then throwing a pass.
The mistakes were fatal, one at the Bolt 7, the other at the 5, wiping out potential TD drives. In fact, the Jaguars young gun drove his team to the 4-6-7-28-and-33 and just could not get them in the end zone.
Denzel Perryman played really well at inside linebacker. Jason Verrett was tested, beaten, but fought back on plays on the corner too..
And for the first time since early September, the Chargers were starting drives outside their 20-yard line, even once in Jags territory.
It was a struggle of a win, but it was a “W”. Everyone felt good, including a strange looking Mike McCoy, who even tried to be funny with a San Diego media he has treated with disdain for nearly 3-seasons.
Maybe there is a hope for change, that the team can put together a mini-winning streak is their lost season, and that McCoy will actually quit scowling, and start enjoying his job, and the people who cover him.

Everyone needed this win, the fans, the hard-working playes, the troubled coach.
It was only one win, and looming next, the suddenly rejuvenated Broncos and the kid QB-Brock Osweiler. We may never see Peyton Manning again.
We will see the Bolts next Sunday to see if they can make it 2-in a row, now that they’ve finally won a game in this lost, and sadly, last season in San Diego.
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Heading towards another NFL weekend, you have to look at the standings, and ask this NFL question.

How did they get so good, while the Chargers got so bad? How did they wind up who they have and the Bolts wind up (2-8)?

The Carolina Panthers are unbeaten, a complete team, with a firebrand leader, and an (11-0) record.

The Arizona Cardinals are for real. Good players, good coaching, good scheme.

It appears Carolina and Arizona are on a collision course in the NFC-Championship game. The Chargers are headed to the top of the draft board.

The Chargers? They thought they hired the best coach on the open market just three years ago, and that coach was walking into the best situation of any of the new coaches who inherited players, led by Philip Rivers.. Mike McCoy is (2-8), his team on a terrible tailspin since last December, a roster ruined by injuries, with 11-losses in the last 14-games.

Just think who the coaches are of the teams mentioned above. Bruce Arians-Arizona. Ron Rivera-Carolina. 1-walked into a franchise that had a history of horrible ownership-leadership, the Bidwell family. The other came on board to a franchise that was once (1-15), and more recently was failing..

And think about this, the Chargers had the chance to hire both, and didn’t.. Arians never seemed to be a serious candidate here. Rivera was here as an assistant and was swept out in coaching changes.

Carolina is led by gifted quarterback Cam Newton, polar-opposite of the other quarterback taken high in the draft, the Redskins Robert Griffin III. The Panthers play ferocious defense, have a violent front, tremendous linebacking, and a diverse offense. Luke Kiechly and the gang are everywhere making plays. Newton’s diversity makes him dangerous run and throw, and others even more dangerous.

Arizona has a recycled quarterback, Carson Palmer, a scrap heap running back, Chris Johnson, and quality draft pick receivers in Larry Fitzgerald, Michael Floyd and others. Calais Campbell leads a defense upfront, with Patrick Peterson and the Honey Badger Tyrann Mathieu on the backend.

So those teams move on from the calamity of what they were just three years ago. The Chargers trudge on playing out the string.

2-franchises that were pretty bad, are indeed now pretty good. One team, that used to be pretty good, has gotten pretty bad.

And to think, the Chargers could have had either of those coaches, and could have drafted some of those type players too.

We know who got good. We know who is bad, and now probably, who should be blamed..

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This & That on Thanksgiving Day….
Taking a break from grind of covering out teams and the storylines to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving and give you some random thoughts. .
The Padres celebrating a rebirth of baseball interest in the community, though coming off a disappointing season. Owners Ron Fowler and Peter Seidler are special people and will give this new baseball leadership time to fix the franchise. It is doing very well financially off the field, and with the creative non baseball events at Petco Park. Mike Dee and Wayne Partello are not afraid to think outside the box.
The Chargers are in a sad state. Outside of the Spanos family themselves, no one can feel good about the state of the franchise, the product on the field, the business community, and what ownership has done to its relationships. There are some really good guys on that team. I feel sorry for what the team has become around Philip Rivers, and feel bad for Mike McCoy, whom I’d really like to see win. This ‘move to LA’ drive has sullied the family reputation, and soiled the great history of the Lightning Bolt..
The Aztecs are all smiles, in what has become a series of very good seasons. Very good leadership with Jim Sterk, and superb people running teams, led by Rocky Long and Steve Fisher. This is turning into a special time in the Aztecs Athletic Center. On campus knows about it, wish the city and the alums would get the spirit too.
The Gulls have been a business success, averaging 10,000-fans a game, and hope to be a hockey success, if they can get all their young talent back from he Ducks shortly. Impressed with Coach Dallas Eakins leadership, and like being around GM-Bob Ferguson. Interested to see if President Ari Segal can grow the brand and make it feel major league, even if it is minor league hockey. They are sitting on a gold mine here if done right.
USD is in such a strange situation. Good leadership in the AD Ky Snyder, an amazing job done by a football coach you don’t know in Dale Lindsey, but a really down period in the sports they need to grow, hoping Lamont Smith can fix basketball. It is odd though, USD seems only to care about selling its programs to its alums, and not the community.
Holiday Bowl-Poinsettia Bowl…They are still anchors in our community and with leadership changes upon us, you only hope this communities economic cornerstones will step up and help them with the business of putting on these bowls games. The bowl games are our calling card to the nation when those games, and this city are shown on ESPN-TV.
Sockers-once upon a time it was electric to be in that arena with names you could recognize. Times change, and yes they have good players, but it is more semi-pro than major league. Maybe World Cup, MLS, English Premiere League telecasts have blown by them and taken interest away.
The media. I cannot go anywhere in town without crossing paths with some veteran sportswriter or broadcaster, out of a job these days. Disappointing so many of us have been cut loose in the ever-changing landscape of time. All you can do is hope to reinvent if not retire outright. The Union Tribune and 1090 are trying to keep their heads above water, but chopping heads off leaves you with alot of disappointment about how veteran media people have been dealt with.
Pass the Pumpkin Pie please….Happy Thanksgiving.

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What I see-What I think about the San Diego Chargers

Game Planning….I thought this during the early going of the Chargers-Chiefs game on Sunday. The Bolts came out running the ball in a rarely seen “I formation”….Understand that-trying to unleash Melvin Gordon and his running talent…Giving him help…..But the burning question-by trying to make it a ball control game were you know playing into the hands of the Chiefs? You know Kansas City, loves to play defense, low scoring games, win it their way? Would it not have been better throwing, getting a lead, and making the Chiefs play catchup?

Wishing Weddle Would….For a guy with big money free-agent acquisitions, Eric Weddle’s season has been disappointing, just like the entire team. Weddle isn’t making many plays, is missing alot of tackles, and got dinged up. You watch the safeties of other teams, from the sure tackling Patriots, to an aging Charles Woodson in Oakland, and you see lots more plays out of them than we see from this safety.

Hurting for those hurt….The Bolts have now had 12 players go down with concussions this year, and the latest is the scary DJ Fluker issue, two sets of symptoms in a five day span-cleared Saturday to play-has symptoms come back after Sunday’s game.  You wonder about the NFL protocol if it is actually working, especially with this coming on the heels of the debacle with Rams QB-Case Keenum.

Wondering Whatever Happened…Donald Butler is no longer what he was initially or what the Chargers are paying him for. Maybe it’s the early injuries in his career that have slowed him down. He hasn’t made many big plays the last couple of years. He gets beaten badly in pass coverage on guys crossing infront of him. There are few quarterback sacks whenever he comes on a blitz. Something is missing, don’t know if it is health or desire.

Spear of Influence…Jahleel Addae comes to lay the lumber, but the problem is he uses his helmet. He had two heavy helmet hits in Sunday’s game, and I believe they were intentional. He should be fined. He did get hurt again. I don’t see many big plays by him, but him instead just blowing up guys after they have made the catch and the run. He’s going to wake up one day badly hurt by the way he plays. Guess he finds that acceptable and the Chargers find it tolerable.

Praise the Kickers….Josh Lambo has had a special season, see the stats on field goals and kickoff touchbacks. Mike Sciefres can still boom it, but when your coach leads off his Monday press conference talking about all the positives from your kickers, when your team just got mugged (33-3) it’s not good. Lambo has a world of confidence, seems mentally tough, and has had a fine season, one of the few on this roster.

Changing Roles….Heading to the final six weeks of the season, the ravaged Chargers roster probably needs to do some shuffling of roles. Antonio Gates ability to get open has been lessened by the sprained knee suffered a couple of weeks ago. Maybe it is time to make him a 3rd down pass catching-role playing tight end, no longer a starter. Ditto a change for Danny Woodhead. With the losses at wide receiver, why not make Woodhead an inside slot receiver, who would be tough to cover. You’re paying Donald Brown still, so why not run him in tandem with Melvin Gordon.

Perryman-the-Pounder….He’s not afraid to stick his nose in there at linebacker, filling holes, making tackles, so Denzel Perryman should start ahead of Mantei Te’o or Donald Butler. He is a hitting machine, and though small, he is active, much like London Fletcher-Sam Mills from back in the day.

Use-Misuse…Melvin Gordon is struggling, though not much of it is on him. There are no holes to run through because of the poor run blocking of the offensive line. He doesn’t have a fullback or blocking tight end lining up with him, and that’s on the coaches. He is far from a bust, just a kid learning on the job, and who does not have much help, from teammates, or from coaches, who cannot figure out how to package this stick of dynamite.

Cleaning up this Mess…For all the coaches and the videos they look at, nobody on the second floor at Chargers Park has been able to clean up the woeful punt return-kickoff return problems. Can you imagine this, a team averaging 0.5 yards-per punt return thru 10-weeks of the season. This coaching staff can help the punt return guys, by doing a better job of teaching jamming and blocking the ‘gunners’ on the outside trying to get down the field. A terrible job by this staff, coupled with fumbles and penalties on top of it.

Woe is me….I’ve been covering the NFL going all the way back to my time working on the Cleveland Browns network, thru being the Voice of the Chargers and Seahawks. I’ve never seen a siege of injuries like this at one position, the offensive line. From King Dunlop’s three injuries, to the two suffered by Orlando Franklin, to the broken arm of Johnny Troutman, to ailing DJ Fluker, and the loss of center Chris Watt, it’s been never ending. Six of their top 8-lineman have been hit with major injuries this year. If it were groins or hamstrings, you’d say it’s a conditioning training problem. These are football hitting in game injuries.

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You could always tell where he was, what he had done, and what to expect.

Just look for the guy with the dirt on the front of his uniform. That’s who he was, how he played, and how we should forever remember him.

Things haven’t always come easy for Dave Roberts, the incoming manager of the Dodgers.

The small option quarterback at Rancho Buena Vista, a proud Longhorn, from the North County. A prouder UCLA Bruin. And a dedicated major leaguer, doing anything to help produce and win games, whether he wore the Chief Wahoo patch on his shoulder, wore the Giants Orange & Black, Dodger Blue, or Padres brown.

A decade long career of stability and consistency in the show; a lifetime (.266) hitter; a solid glove; daring on the base paths.

And all the traits he showed as a player, became his calling card as a trusted coach on Bud Black’s staff. A confidante to the manager; a liaison guy to the players; an intellectual when it came to strategy.

It’s a shame he had to go away to become a manager, but this new breed of baseball leadership, the AJ Preller-Andrew Friedman’s of the world, all want their own guys running their clubs. So “Doc” doesn’t become the Padres bench boss, but instead moves to Chavez Ravine.

And like the grinder he was as a ballplayer, so to was the fight he put up against cancer, never once complaining, never once giving in, but ready for the battle, just like stepping into the box against Roger Clemens. He believed in the Almighty to see him thru. He got support from other cancer survivors like Larry Lucchino. He embraced the greatness of the friendship of Tony Gwynn.

He will manage players, he will handle egos, he will accept the advice of the people upstairs, and he will manage games inning-by-inning, just like he managed his career and personal life, with dedication and excellence.

The front of the uniform will be clean from this day forward. He earned the Blue script with the red number beneath it.

Dave Roberts, always diving head first for a fly ball, for a stolen base, or an extra hit, now dives head first in as the Dodgers new manager.

He looks great, think he’ll do great.