Here is the Patrick Perspective on the Chargers-giants game.  The day started bleary-eyed and slow.  My fiancé worked till 5 in the morning and I had spent all night studying for work and absolutely giddy about the day ahead.  At moments like this, it does not matter how tired you may be; it’s game day.

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Yesterday's game was glorious.  I am still exhausted from getting on the limo bus at 10 am and then tailgating until 4pm and getting back to Brooklyn at about 11.  After working today it has been two full days.  A longer narrative about yesterday will be forthcoming but I wanted to give my keys to the game.  We won where we had to and took every advantage we could.

Penalties

                We had 3 for 20 and they had 9 for 104.  Our total offense was a mere 226 to their 304, but add the penalties and things look a wee bit more even.  As the game continued, I noticed that the penalties kept us in the game. 

Sproles

                I am having a hard time finding the average starting yard-line for our drives but I would wager it was past the 30.  By my count they only kicked to Sproles three times.  Two kick offs and one punt.  Every other time they kicked away from him and we made out like a bandit because of it.  There were a couple of times we started our drives at or near the 50 yard line for no other reason that that they did not want the ball in Sproles’ hands.  They have no confidence in their special teams.  And we probably gained 10+ yards on most kicks because of it. 

Defense

I love the Boricua himself, Ron Rivera, but have been really down on him lately.  This game gave me a glimmer of where this team could go within the limitations of our players.  I have been focusing on learning more about defense and defensive schemes as of late.  I thought we ran a 3-4 and so did everyone else but during the first half there were many snaps where we had a 4-3.  I was specifically watching to see what Rivera would call and (mostly) in the first half there was at least one extra person on the line.  They may or may not have been in a three-point stance but the line had 4 or five people on it for most of the first half.  Our outside linebackers were playing a glorified defensive end.  This increased the pass rush and shows the confidence Rivera had in Jammer and Cromartie and Weddle.  The second half things changed a little but the flavor was still there.  Running a 4-3,3-4 hybrid.  This makes a lot of sense to me as we lost the most important position to a 3-4, Jamal Williams.  To compensate we posted a rotating nose and stacked the line with 4-5 people.  Interestingly I only counted one time where four people actually were in the three-point stance in the game for a true 4-3. 

In all, it was a scrappy game and I’m glad we came out ahead.  This finish in this game reminded me a lot of the game in Seattle three or four years ago.  We were losing, and a throw to Jackson in the waning seconds stole the game for us.  I’ll post pictures and stories (of which there are many) tomorrow or the following day. 

            Now is the time, my friends.  I consider this coming Sunday’s game against the giants a make-or-break game.  For us here in Charger land it is a must win game.  Let’s face it; we are not an elite team.  We cannot win against the raiders (albeit with good statistics for individual players) and expect that to translate into the Chargers being a competitive football team.  We are an underachieving team. 

But I am an optimistic man and I think we match-up well against the giants.  I usually like to focus on the Chargers defensive side of the ball but I think the key to next week’s game is the giants d.  The giants run a 4-3.  This will clog the line and shut down our running game.  Guess what?  Our running game is staggering in its ineptitude.  We have not been able to run all year and I lay the blame squarely on our o-line.  We cannot block, and we are outmatched without our pro bowl center.  The only reason we have gotten this far is with the work of Dielman.  With four defensive linemen we simply cannot compete with smash-mouth football.  I hope that Hardwick can play next week and get his excellent line-calls up the middle, but barring his return we will not be able to run.  I will be looking for Rivers to eat up the secondary but still get a lot of pressure.  Look for plenty of outlet passes to the flat.  Which brings us to tonight’s word.  

It cannot go without saying that little eli is a total b-word.  For those who don’t know, I used to live in NOLA when I went to Tulane.  Great place to be, but it’s also a small world and people talk. I was living there when little eli decided that he didn’t want to play for the Chargers, or I should say, daddy archie decided for him.  I won’t repeat the direct stories about little eli but I think everyone can agree that his daddy runs his life.  Ok, I’ll repeat one story.  Hey little eli, what ever happened to that confederate flag tattoo you had on your ankle?  Just asking.   You give New Jersey a bad name.

Also, the NYC Charger fans have organized a couple of buses to take people from manhattan to New Jersey to see the game.  It is a group of about 50 people or so and it should be a rockin time.  If anyone is going to the game let me know and hopefully you can stop by before the game and meet some really cool Charger fans.  I personally don’t know many of them well but they are kind souls.  Unlike little eli.

I just got this email from the Chargers:

Dear Patrick,

EXCLUSIVE INVITE TO CHARGERS SEASON SEAT HOLDERS
Interactive Fan Conference Call Featuring Darren Sproles

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24 AT 5:00 PM PST
As a valued Chargers Season Seat Holder, we invite you to join the electrifying Darren Sproles for the first-ever live Chargers Fan Forum. We encourage you to participate in this 30-minute conference call where you will be able to ask questions and hear directly from Darren.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE
On Thursday you will receive a phone call to the phone number(s) listed on your Chargers Account at 5 pm. When you answer the phone you will automatically be connected to the Fan Forum.

We’re happy to make this unique experience available to you and hope you’ll join Darren on the call.

If you miss this call and would like to join the event in progress, please call 1-877-269-7289 and enter PIN 15200 to be connected.

One would think a conference call would allow us to ask Mr Sproles whatever we want.  What would you ask him?  I would ask him about his inner strength and perseverance be one of the smallest players in the league and to go from a player who was out for a year and almost being cut two seasons ago to starting.  It's a great story.  It really makes you want to root for the guy.

Like many forms of art and music, sports allow us to feel emotions in a way that we may not get to in other forms.  I think this tends to go unnoticed sometimes.  Whether it’s Glen Miller or Pablo Picasso’s Guernica, there are a wide variety of emotions to express and an even wider variety of triggers of our emotion.   

When I was younger, I probably couldn’t use all my fingers to count the emotions I could name…which brings me to football.

I am not an angry man.  Indeed, I just graduated from medical school (in May) to use my talents to heal.  But if there is anything I hate in this world it is the Raiders.  They are the epitome of undisciplined ineptitude.  It is almost never ok to blindly hate a group of people, unless it is an institution such as the Raiders.  If they are not at work, then I have no problem with them.  As soon as they enter the stadium on Sundays my tolerance slips away.

When I was younger I wasn’t allowed to go to the Chargers v Raiders games.  Too dangerous they would say.  I didn’t think that was true until I had the pleasure of being young and harassed by older Raiders fans.  It wasn’t fun, but it allowed me to enjoy this rivalry/hatred that goes on today.  Some might say that if I still hate them then it shows they matter.  I absolutely agree.  And I enjoy that fact.

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This makes me sad. 

At the time of his arrest, Jackson was on probation for a 2006 DUI arrest and conviction in San Diego. He eventually pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor.

He was placed on five years' probation and ordered not to drive with a measurable amount of alcohol or drugs in his system during that time.

He had a 0.17 when he was arrested. That is A LOT.  To put the physiology in perspective for the non-drinkers: at this point you hit slurred speach, confusion, problems in perception and a great decrease in muscle coordination/response time.  At about .30 you start hitting coma.  That was very irresponsible and dangerous of him to do and is going to cost him legally.  Maybe DaBolts was right when he said VJ should have been suspended for this when it happened (during the playoffs.)  Nonetheless, this almost certainly will result in a suspension next season.

I was thinking the other day about how much I love the Chargers and hate the Faders.  It’s simple; I like to hate on other sports teams.  Is hate ever a good thing?  Yes.  It is.  And now I bring you my defense of hate (in sports.) 

It makes me feel good to have loyalty to my team and fellow fans.  Part of that loyalty is to stand against anyone who spreads negativity about San Diego sports.  Let’s face it, we have never won a superbowl nor world series and don’t even have a pro basketball team anymore.  Almost by necessity we have to be a little bit forward sometimes when people bread negativity about the Chargers.  It’s also a great outlet of a lot of repressed anger. 

There are a lot of emotions that go into the football fan: anger, happiness, anticipation, joy, optimism, disappointment, aggressiveness, relief.  In the same realm of emotions are defense mechanisms which can motivate us.  Repression is a defense mechanism that many people use to cope with reality and maintain their self-image.  Another defense mechanism people use in called sublimation.  It involves taking emotions that you cannot point at the proper target and using that emotion in a way society deems appropriate.  For example, someone with a background of physical trauma may channel those emotions into playing a physical sport, or becoming a surgeon who spends all day cutting into people.  I let go of a lot of my emotion through sports.  It feels good and society says it’s ok.

Yet, one thing I love about DaBolts (besides being a talented writer) is that he is very diplomatic about other teams.  No repressed emotion coming out there.  I haven’t heard him sat nary a cross word about anyone else.  After the broncos fans trolled us to death after Mr Hoculi gifted the game away, he played policeman but did not join in the fray.  He’s like President Obama in his quest for post-partisanship.  But because he has to deal with all of us who could spend days talking about out contempt for the faders or Mr Cutler, I think he may keep some of his more cross words to himself.  For all I know he has a Tony Soprano underneath that we don’t get to see. 

            All this emotion helps us to yell when we’re on D, cheer when we score, and boo when the situation calls for it.  Incidentally, those jeers also make Mr Rivers tell us to shut up.  Something all Charger fans have in common, especially here, is heart.  We fight even after we lose.  Anyone who remembers the late 80’s can testify to that.

So maybe both sides are right.  There is a time for raw emotion and a time for discourse.  I’m glad we have both here in our community.  But remember to let your emotion out.  Be great fans.  Remember that Al Davis has a drive to be hated and we should help him out. 

In closing I want to say: I hate the Faders, love the Chargers.  I hate the broncos, love this blog. 

There is no spoon.  There is no Dana, only Zuul.

Zen.

Today is the day.  It is a gorgeous day in San Diego, not a cloud in the sky.  But over yonder there is trouble brewing.  But we in San Diego get blue skies because this is our year. 

I hate to say this is public as I always would rather keep these things to myself.  But everything that we needed to happen to us this season has happened.  We won four in a row to get to the playoffs.  The broncos lost 3 in a row to lose the AFC West title.  The Ravens have won twice in the playoffs giving us a potential home game next week.   We needed help and then some for this moment to come to pass.  And now we stand on the precipice.   None of this has been easy and it makes them better players and us better fans.  Last week at the stadium was out of control because everyone understood how important every play was.  Everyone started to believe we could do this.

I am a huge fan of Italian soccer.  When we won the world cup a couple years back there were a couple matches where I was nervous and quite.  My sister was living in Italy and would call me during the game to remind me that this is our year.  This might just be our year, too.

Yesterday, I got that feeling from watching the Ravens at halftime.  There way no way they were going to lose.  They just had to win.  The Chargers just have to win.  Why?  The Ravens didn’t believe anyone who told then anything except “you are going to win” and neither do we.  There is no spoon.  There is no Dana, only Zuul.  If someone asks you if you are a god you say “yes!”  See where this is going?

On to today’s game:  I expect the Chargers to play deliberate football.  Rivers doing his check-downs and lots of small yardage passes to keep the Steelers honest and a few long bombs to keep them guessing.  The Steelers like to do their “zone blitz.”  This allows their defense to confuse us but it allows something I think we can exploit.  If they zone blitz, that can be very effective against the screens I expect to see the whole game.  So why do I still expect to see many screens to Sproles, et al?  The zone blitz is particularly vulnerable if Rivers can complete the pass.  You can’t have linemen trying to cover Sproles.  Expect to see a lot of quick passes and screens from Rivers.

I expect the Steelers to have a similar game plan as the Chargers.  Big Ben is in a world of hurt.  He’s playing through it but he won’t be as mobile and he will be looking to avoid contact.  He will do his check-downs and just try to grind out yards.  Look for us to blitz more often than usual for and Ron Rivera (boricua) to disguise the blitzes very well.  We are not a team that pressures the quarterback a lot this season.  But Big Ben loves to hold the ball and take the sack.  Since he doesn’t want to get hit look for him to make some bad throws and for the Chargers to pick off one or two.  If it works like I have designed, final score Chargers 28-20.

Bring.

It.

On.

Hey y’all.  I've been in Europe for the past week or so and I know it’s about a week late but even over there you want to talk Chargers.  I thought I'd share my experiences. 

First off, we beat the broncos.  I went to the game.  It was phenomenal.  It was loud.  My tickets are in the upper view section, last row which allow me to stand the whole time.  There were some denver fans who sat in front of me and to the left.  They were nice enough with enough joshing back and forth where we were laughing the whole game.  Interestingly enough, I was serious the whole approaching week.  I was only able to relax after we started to pull away.  I was so impressed by our defense.  Life is different under Ron Rivera (boricua).  This is a better team.  Its almost as if he has the whole d-line in front of the mirror saying  I am...somebody.  I am...somebody.  We were only down at 6-3 and the game never felt like we were or were even capable of losing.  The broncos fans shook my hand and wished us luck in the playoffs. 

Late 1/3/09: So this evening is the game.  I’m in Paris and have been an eager school boy to our game.  In the context of life, you realize that a lot of what we see everyday is not as important and it should be.  But I have also seen how competition has been important for millennia.  Ancient Rome built a coliseum.  Having a football team is something special.  Our sense of community and belonging coming from the Chargers is something to be cherished.  I do, everyday.   Our problem is that we don't have a Michelangelo sweating over a Jamal Williams statue from the quarries of Carrara.  Yes, Jamal Williams is that important. 

 1/4/08 1am: I’m heading over to The Great Canadian  near St Germain…

...and then we won!   Ron Rivera is the man.  We never knew what the defense was going to do.  It might be eight on the line and then we rush 3.  He's a genious mastermind.  A Cam Cameron on the defense.  Rivers was calm and solid in the clutch.  Also, I get the impression people like the Chargers.  There were maybe 30 people at the bar with maybe about 20 for the Chargers.  Don't ask me how that happened but they did love the Chargers.  There were maybe 3 or 4 colts fans who were a little quite.  Heck, I was nervous until Sproles shocked the world.  I said shocked and I mean it.