Week 15 - Finally

I'll get this out of the way...it was a terribly officiated game, but it wasn't as one sided as Chiefs' fans have been declaring (I'll get to that later) and as I have said many times in close Charger loses, yea the call could have gone another way, but there were just as many other reasons for losing the game.

For some reason the Chiefs just have Philip Rivers number. Including Thursday, he's been picked 8 times this year and 3 have come in the two KC games. In 2017, Rivers was picked 10 times and 6 were by the Chiefs. I guess the silver lining is that he's cut the int% vs the Chiefs in half. Despite the two extra possessions, the Chiefs only had 9 total drives for the game. Despite losing the turnover battle 0-2, the Chargers won time of possession 33:16 to 26:44 and total yards 407 to 294. Chargers only punted twice.

In the last Chiefs TD drive in which they used up almost 8 minutes and took a 28-14 lead, there were two terrible calls against the Chargers that kept the drive going. On the first, WR Tyrek Hill runs into LB Jatavis Brown, who had his hands out to his sides, pretty much signally "I'm not holding him." It looks bad because Hill is so much smaller than Brown so Brown gets flagged. Worse was the holding call on Desmond King. He didn't grab Kelce's jersey, didn't turn him, didn't impede him in any way. It was 3rd and 10, so the Chiefs would have had to punt with the score still 14-21. Instead they get the first down and end up going up 14-28. I can come up with a few more...so yea, not as lopsided as Chiefs fans felt.

I understand though. Although I wouldn't blame the loss totally on the call, that last pass interference call on Mike Williams was pretty ticky-tack. I'll make a basketball analogy...when a defender swipes at a player taking a shot, the refs are going to call a foul 9 times out of 10 whether there's contact or not. In this case, the Chiefs DB swiped at Mike Williams arm before the ball got there...and while I agree it shouldn't have been called especially since Williams had no chance to catch that ball unless he one handed it so he had no intention of reaching up with the other hand...refs are going call that swipe to the arm 9 out of 10 times. I don't like it, but that's the way the NFL is now.

Oh and there's that helmet-to-helmet hit on Rivers. Again, let me make myself clear that I hate many of the new rules and this is one of them. The defender has no control over what the runner does with his head. The Chiefs defender went low and attempted to make the tackle with his right shoulder. Philip slid and his head went to the defenders left side. While I disagree with the rule, at the same time, I've seen much less helmet contact get called especially when the QB is involved. Tell me a Chiefs fan wouldn't be upset at the no call if that was Mahomes.

What I was really upset about was that Rivers was complaining to the refs and the clock was running. It went down from 28 seconds to 13 before the Chargers used their last timeout, which also was unnecessary and took away any pass in the middle that wasn't a TD.

As for going for two, I've said it here before that I would take my chances trying to score from 2-and-a-half yards out over kicking and going into OT. Heck, even the kick isn't a guarantee and that statement has nothing to do with the Chargers kicking woes. Many prominent kickers have missed extra points since it was moved back. In fact, Mike Badgley has been money since joining the Charges, hitting 14-15 (93.3%) in FGs and 23-24 (95.8%) in extra points.

When the Chargers got the ball back for the last drive I started to think about whether they should go for two should they score. I don't know if Anthony Lynn new the numbers going in or whether he asked one of his assistants to look it up...or maybe he went on his gut feeling, but this season, the Chargers had converted on 5-7 of their two-point attempts and Chiefs opponents were successful on 4-5 attempts. Add to that, the probability of the Chiefs scoring if they win the coin toss and I felt going for two was a no brainier.

Chargers still need help to win the division so I'm a big Seattle Seahawk fan this week.

Thoughts on the rest of Week 15

Chargers did two things with the win...1st they accomplished the first goal of making the playoffs. 2nd, in at least locking up one of the Wild Card spots, that puts the four remaining 7-6 teams in a winner take all dog fight. One of those four happen to be the Ravens which is the Chargers' next opponent. It's said that the most dangerous animal is a cornered one and if the Chargers want to keep their hopes of winning the Division alive they have to beat a desperate Ravens team next week.

Sportscasters have to start admitting this is not the same old Pats. 13 penalties, many of them pre-snap. Pats are supposed to be too well coached, too disciplined for that. Late in the 4th quarter, the defense gets the big interception and Tom Brady drives them down into the Red Zone only to throw one up for grabs. Brady gets another chance. Plenty of time, 2:30, but not this year. Two back-to-back drives into the Red Zone for Brady, no points.

Cross Miami off the list of AFC Wild Card contenders. Dolphins get routed and with the Ravens, Titans, and Colts winning they may still be mathematically in it, but with 3 teams to leapfrog for 1 playoff spot, the odds aren't good.

Defense isn't dead in the NFL yet. Both the Colts and Titans keep their playoff hopes alive by shutting out the Cowboys and Giants. Cowboys are the puzzling one as they were one of the hottest teams.