Chiefs vs. Chargers: Inside The Enemy Camp

The Kansas City Chiefs and the San Diego Chargers will square off in a battle of good vs. evil Monday Night on Halloween.

To help get you ready to face the wicked Chargers, we’ve gone Inside the Enemy Camp with Ernie Padon, Senior Editor of Bolt Beat, FanSided’s San Diego Chargers site. Ernie runs the best Chargers site around and he provided me with some inside insight into the lightening dolts.

Be sure to check out Bolt Beat throughout the weekend and Monday for enough Chargers news and views to make you vomit.

Now let’s go Inside the Enemy Camp with Bolt Beat.

What the hell is wrong with Philip Rivers this year? He seems to be playing way below his normal level. Just a bad stretch? At 29, he shouldn’t be declining due to age. What’s up? 

There are all kinds of theories that are floating around right now. Here are some of them: the loss of Darren Sproles has a big factor, he just had kid number six and the kid has been keeping him up at night, his mechanics are off (he has had that UGLY delivery for years) and he is fighting through some injuries that he doesn’t want to disclose. The ridiculous San Diego fans are already talking about drafting a new QB OR even playing Billy Volek.

My reason: He is just in a little funk and should get back on track. He has not been able to get a lot of work with his receivers during practice because they are always down with an injury. Every week, either Vincent Jackson, Malcom Floyd, Patrick Crayton or Antonio Gates are missing some practices. This week, Malcom has already missed the Wednesday practice. He will get back on track.

The Chargers are 4-2 but they don’t seem to be playing as well as most thought they would. Is this team suffering from some recent spotty drafting? Is it Norv? Are they just getting old? Or is this just typical underachieving Chargers football that will pick up later in the year?

It’s the typical early struggles that we have every single year. That definitely puts blame on the head coach for not getting the guys ready out of the starting gate. His playbook usually opens up as the season goes on and we will pick it up. It is HUGE that we were able to pull out wins during our poor play this year though, instead of our typical 2-3 start.

As a fan of a division rivalry, I obviously hate the Chargers. I would be a fool, however, to not have recognized all the talent the team has had over the years. Rex Ryan’s comments from last week, while classless, kind of ring true. I also feel that the Chargers should have at least one, maybe two Super Bowl rings in the Rivers era. Blame has to go to Turner, right?

I would love to put all the blame on Turner, but there are a lot of playoff games that we should have won and a certain kicker couldn’t get a chip shot through the uprights. Philip has not been spectacular in the playoffs either. A lot of blame goes on Norv, but at some point, the players need to step up and produce.

What would you say the team’s biggest weakness is right now? 

Our run defense. Shonn Greene and the New York Jets have not been able to produce on the ground all year and they open up with a big game against us. The defensive front is getting pushed around and the safeties have to make the tackle 5 to 7 yards down the field. D-line play has to step it up for us

What is going on with Vincent Jackson this season? I drafted him to my fantasy team expecting a big year and he is really letting me down. 

Teams have a game plan to take him out of the game and it becomes easy when Malcom Floyd has to leave at half time with an injury and Antonio Gates is sitting on the sideline resting his foot. Philip Rivers has been a little off with his deep passes this year too. With Gates back in the lineup, it should open up the field more for VJ.

Lastly, your prediction for Sunday’s game?

It’s gonna be loud and there is gonna be a lot of hard hits. It will be another close one, but I think Philip Rivers silences all the speculation and gets the win.

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