Thanks for being part of our team on the website.
Rejoin us for all the sports stories on Friday–December 26th!
Wishing you a Merry Christmas!
Poinsettia Bowl: Awful and Exciting or Just Awful
“I’ll take ugly”.
That’s what the guy sitting behind me in the end zone seats was yelling with (:07) left in the Poinsettia Bowl game last night.
It was ugly, this Navy win over San Diego State. The nation wide television audience sat thru turnovers, flagrant penalties, missed kicks, and weird play-calling.
When it was done, Navy made a field goal late, and San Diego State missed a field goal at the end, and Middies had a (17-16) win over a disappointed State team.
It was a strange game. Navy could not run its option package with record setting QB-Keenan Reynolds seemingly paralyzed by the sideline to sideline speed San Diego State presented.
It was only after they went fullback heavy in play calls, that Navy climbed back into the game, and yet Coach Ken Nuimatalolo only went big back package for just two series. They kept trying to get the edge only to be chased down by the SDSU linebackers.
Rocky Long and Bob Toledo matched the Navy coaches mistakes, especially on the final drive, deep in Navy territory, trying to run 3-sweeps wide for little yardage, leaving kicker Donny Hageman to try a game winning field goal from a far side hash mark at an acute angle. He missed.
Reynolds, coming off a brilliant option run-pass season, got nothing done for Navy at quarterback. The Aztecs Quinn Kaehler was even worse, just (11-27), missing receivers, throwing interceptions and just not being able to make any plays consistently.
Running back Donnel Pumphrey blew past SDSU record setters Marshall Faulk and George Jones, finishing with 112-yards rushing, giving him a season long record total of 1,817, amazing considering he was a marked man all year with an offense that showed no consistency throwing the ball.
For a bowl game, it was sloppy. 7-turnovers; fumbled punts, dropped balls, flagrant penalties, leaky kick return coverage, and the missed field goal from a kid who made great kicks all year long.
San Diego State puts away the helmet today with a (7-6) record, with all six losses coming against the only quality teams they played. Navy goes back to Annapolis at (8-5), having won 6-of its last 7-games.
As games goes, it was not a work of art, more like a smudged finger painting. Maybe we are spoiled by seeing the greatness every week of NFL talent on the field, and think the guys wearing Red & Black, or Navy & Gold, should play like that every down.
It was classy at the end, as both the Aztecs and Middies went to the corner end zone of the stadium to salute the Midshipmen and its band, with the Navy Alma Mater. It was fun to watch. It was great to see the fans salute the Navy band too. And behind the Middies bench, 3-goals, wearing Navy blankets paraded up and down all night long, a long standing tradition of Navy football going back to the 1950’s.
It was fun to hear Navy grads argue who was better, Roger Staubach back then, or Keenan Reynolds today.
It was color and pageantry and hard play. It was a loud crowd of over 33,000. It just wasn’t a good game.
As the Navy man-fan walked up the steps from his seat at the Q-he felt good, as he said again ‘I’ll take ugly”. It was.
Rivers to start – how long does he last?
No one is healthy at this point of the NFL season, with just one week to go before the playoffs begin.
If this were early October, it would have been catastrophic for the San Diego Chargers, but with the season ending, and a playoff game or two just ahead, the Bolts can find a way to keep Rivers on the field, and hopefully standing upright, with no further damage to his back.
An enlarged disc in his lower back, could become a herniated disc, but with proper rehab, an epideral injection again, additional flack jacket protection, Rivers can play, and will play, because that’s who he is.
If there were 13-weeks left in the regular season, it is doubtful he could make it thru the campaign, not with the wear and tear factor, sacks, hits, practices. The Chargers can nurse him thru this, with the hope he does not go down.
Four weeks ago, he was sacked 4X in the loss to the Patriots, and took 8-additional hits in the game. It may be that was the point in time in which he suffered the injury.
A bulging disc presses against a never in the lower back, causing stiffness, and pain. An injurection helps solve the problem on game day, though there is a limit in how many injections you can give a person, before the epideral stops working. A herniated disc is much more serious, with fragments, fluid leakage and intense pain.
Once River’s wild ride of a season is over, the Chargers will face a different type of game, wait and see. The normal process is to do rehab for 2-for-4 weeks to see if the hot spot with the disc can be calmed down. The Mayo Clinic reports 71% of people, granted they are not quarterbacks, who have bulging discs, never have surgery, but rehab.
If Rivers needs surgery, they proceed with a scope disectomy surgrey, with a small incision, removing whatever fragment is there. Rehab on that is 2-to-4 months. It does not appear we are talkiing about a much more serious fusion of discs, which can be career threatening.
Coach Mike McCoy did not want to talk, and has never talked, and never told the truth, about Chargers injuries. But he does say Rivers will practice, likely in walk thrus this week, then play in Kansas City on Sunday.
Rivers looked stiff, not very fluid, not very strong, nor accuarate in the first half of the game against the 49ers, when the Chargers went down (28-7) at one point. He was blazing hot in the third and fourth quarters, had velocity and was pin point with passes. Going to the no-huddle offense, wearing out the Niners defense, had something to do with it. Maybe there was an epidural injection at halftime that kicked in and helped him too, a distinct possibility. He finished with (356P) and four scores. In the second half, the Rivers-led offense had 15-plays of 10-yards or more..
A Chargers win gets them a game in the postseason. With the right rehab, and protection, Rivers can stay on the field this weekend, and maybe in a wild card game.
Of course Kansas City’s fierce pass rush has something to say about the quarterback’s ability to stay upright. And an offensive line with a fifth string center and a street free agent right guard, will have something to say about keeping thier quarterback clean.
Rivers makes everyone around him so much better. He exhibits all the traits of the Hall of Famer Dan Fouts, in terms of toughness, leadership and big play ability.
If he is standing at the end of the game at Arrowhead Stadium, then the Chargers have a great chance to win. If he cannot holdup, his off season will begin immediately, to get him healthy for next season.
No one in the NFL is healthy at this point of the season. You hope Rivers health can be extended another four quarters, or eight into postseason. If he has anything to say about it, he will come out throwing, take care of Kansas City, as the trainers and doctors take care of him.
Chargers – Remember the Numbers: 53 & 60
NFL teams have a 53-man roster and the rule book says you have to play all 60-minutes of the game and if need be, overtime. San Diego needed everyone of those men, and needed every minute plus more on Saturday night.
The Chargers (38-35) come from behind, stay alive, win over the 49ers paid heed to those two rules. They beat the 49ers in overtime, despite trailing (28-7) at one point. And thy used virtually everyone on the roster to find a way to get the win.
It was a team win for a team that had to win to stay alive in the NFL playoff race.
Philip Rivers reached back to find a vintage performance of heroic standards. He stood in there against pressure, survived 3-early interceptions, threw four touchdowns and was relentless in throwing for (356-yards) in the emotional victory. This after a first half of QB hits, errant throws, interceptions, inaccuarcy, and no run game.
It was a war of attrition, with players from both teams going down with injuries, and now the report Rivers has played for three weeks with a herniated disc..
The 49ers lost their lead pass rusher Aldon Smith, one of their top cover corners, and had lost 3-starting linebackers, already on injured reserve. The Chargers entered the game without their top two running backs, their leading receiver, and a host of lineman gone for the season.
But the Chargers lost center Chris Watt, guard Johnnie Troutman, both corners Brandon Flowers and Shareece Wright, and Melvin Ingram got shaken up twice on cut blocks. They won with a 5th string center, and a guard who was on the streets just two weeks ago.t
San Diego invoked that rule about the 53-man roster, the ‘next man up philosophy.
And the spark to light the fire, was a refugee from the Canadian Football League, Dontrelle Inman, who caught 7-passes for 79-yards in his debut in the second half. And it was tight end Antonio Gates hauling in key TD catches that allowed San Diego to keep coming back. And it was the slot receiver Eddie Royal’s brassy 4th down catch, amongst other, that kept the flame flickering
Between them, Gates, Royal, Inman, they caught 24-passes in the game. And it all was triggered when San Diego found the missing pages at the back of the playbook that read “No Huddle Offense-no chance for the 49ers”.-
It could have been, should have been over. The Niners ran roughshod, finishing with over 300-yards on the ground. But for every huge run by Frank Gore or mad scramble by Colin Kaeperneck, there were setbacks.
The Niners lost 3-fumbles, one at the one yard line going in for a score, another at their own one, and a third in overtime at the 50. And their gassed defense, got gashed, having to be on the field for 32 of the final 43-snaps of the game.
Mike McCoy’s offense rallied, John Pagano’s defense cheated against the run and wrecked the Niners offensive flow.
The Bolts wound up with 447-yards in offense, San Francisco had 446 on the night. It was give and take, back and forth, all night.
There have been other important great wins in Chargers history in the modern day, the Kellen Winslow-led playoff win in the Fouts era in Miami, and the Bolts AFC-Championship win in Pittsburgh that put them in the Super Bowl.
It only counted as one win in San Francisco, but they needed that win, to stand a chance to go get the next win, and hope for help from other teams.
If there ever was a team win, this was it, and for San Diego, one game left, in Kansas City, with still a chance to play into the post season tournament. This 53-man roster got it done. This team played 60-minutes then longer and earned-deserved the win.
Quotes from Padres Deals – December 19th, 2014
Highlights and quotes from the Padres-Matt Kemp press conference.
Padres complete Dodgers-Matt Kemp deal…Tampa-Wil Myers trade…Braves-acquisition-
AJ Preller-General Manager
- Ownership has shown how much they want to win.
- My goal from day one was to improve the offense.
- Matt Kemp is a max-impact player
- He can hit to all fields at Petco Park
- Our rebuilding began with the Kemp acquisition.
- The other deals happened because we had the pieces other people wanted.
- We now have surplus OFs to use in other deals if the right deal comes around.
- Kemp-Upton-Myers-young players who are grinders-I like that.
- It is important to have core players..Kemp 30..Upton-at peak..Norris 25…Myers 23.
- I want to win now and win later..these deals help us do that.
- This was not chaos in our war room…make deals..continue to put ideas together and make calls.
- My wish list was to start with a bat-I thought it was unlikely we’d get all we wanted-but we really did.
Matt Kemp-Padres RF
- This is a new chapter in my life.
- I thank the Dodgers-I learned how to become a complete player.
- I was numbed when I first heard the rumors-but there is a reason these things happen.
- I was initially shocked-but change is good.
- AJ Preller has become a ‘Rock Star-GM’ with all these trades.
- Last year I had no spring training coming off the injuries-the first half of the season was my spring training.
- No one is every 100% healthy-I learned to work thru the injuries…
- I didn’t know I was a .322 career hitter at Petco…I just see the ball really well..the hitters eye in CF helps.
- The injuries I’ve had test your soul…I learned to stay positive in rehab-got thru them.
- It was hard in LA-all those outfielders deserve the chance to play everyday.
- Baseball is not easy on the mind-baseball is hard on players..you just want to know where you stand.
- Coming off Labrum-Ankle surgery-everyone told me it would take two years to get healthy..I made it back in less than a year.
Bud Black-Padres Manager
- Petco Park will become hitter friendly now with the new dimensions.
- Good hitters can hit anywhere-Matt Kemp has.
- Matt Kemp-Justin Upton…impact players with power to all fields.
- We just got players in the wheelhouse of their careers-what a day.
- Matt Kemp is my RF….Justin Upton is my LF…Wil Myers will play CF.
- I project Yonder Alonso-Tommy Medica at 1B.
- Will Middlebrooks-Y Solarte will battle at 3B.
- What I like is we now have key players penciled into this lineup for a longtime.
- These three OFs-never want a day off-that is a comfort zone for a manager.
- Once we got Kemp, I knew we would go get more bats-Kemp was the starter.
- What a great feeling we made all these trades and did not surrender any of our front end starters or touched the bullpen.
Mike Dee-Padres CEO
- Our budget is going up-we do not have a set figure.
- Now we play-win-convince Justin Upton this is place to stay.
- You have to give up talen to get talent-we gave young players for established players.