SAN DIEGO ? Tim Tebow is once again making Philip Rivers and the San Diego Chargers seem like an afterthought.
It's not hard to see why.
Tebow and the Denver Broncos are hot. Rivers and the Bolts are not. Tebow has the Broncos (5-5) winning and in second place in the AFC West, even if his play is unconventional by NFL standards. The Chargers (4-6) have bumbled their way to five straight defeats ? their longest losing streak since the start of the 2003 season ? and a last-place tie with Kansas City.
Sunday's matchup between original AFL teams will be big. With livid Chargers fans howling for coach Norv Turner and general manager A.J. Smith to get the heave-ho from team president Dean Spanos, the Chargers' season seems to be on the brink if they don't win Sunday.
"It's hard to deny that in a lot of ways," said Rivers, who's set a career high with 17 interceptions and has lost four fumbles. "Is the season over if not? No. Who knows what can happen. But certainly we know how big this game is, just how we knew how big Chicago was and how we knew how big Oakland was and how big Green Bay was. They're all huge. ... If there's such a thing as digging any deeper, certainly we all need to do that."
The Chargers haven't won since Oct. 9 at Denver, when Tebow relieved Kyle Orton a little too late to rally the Broncos all the way back from a 16-point, fourth-quarter deficit. The Chargers escaped with a 29-24 win after a desperation pass by Tebow fell incomplete in the end zone.
Despite the win, the Chargers were overshadowed by Tebowmania.
Tebow was elevated to starter two days later and is 4-1 since, including three fourth-quarter comebacks. Orton was waived on Tuesday and claimed by the Chiefs.
"Obviously you want to win, so I was discouraged because we couldn't get a win, but at the same time it was a lot of fun for me to get an opportunity to play," Tebow said of the close call against San Diego. "I thought we made a pretty good comeback and we just came up one play short. Hopefully we've gotten better every week and hopefully we'll be able to put out a little bit better overall team effort this time."
Tebow almost rallied the Broncos against the Chargers in the last game of 2010, a 33-28 San Diego victory.
The Broncos have been running the read option Tebow honed at Florida. Defenses have been trying to figure out how to stop it.
"We've seen a lot of different looks over the past five weeks," said Tebow, who capped a 95-yard drive with a game-winning, 20-yard TD run against the New York Jets last week. "You've got to try to prepare for a lot of different looks because you never know exactly how a team's going to play you. We try to be ready depending on what looks we get in a game. ... The biggest (thing) for us is being able to go in a game, go through the first series and come to the sidelines and say, `OK, this is what they're doing and this is how we can adjust.' If we're able to adjust on the sideline, I think that is crucial."
Chargers linebacker Takeo Spikes said Tebow presents a unique challenge.
"It's not a typical offense, so it's not something that you would have carryover," Spikes said. `'For the most part, we haven't seen this or even played against it, depending on what division you were in, in college. That's going to be the biggest challenge.
"In the SEC, in my time, we didn't get that," said Spikes, who played at Auburn in the 1990s. "So you go back and look at college tape and try to find the best things, the best ways to make sure you're ready."
Spikes said Tebow certainly has substance.
"Whether you like it or not, he's able to rally the guys around him. I think he gets a lot of credit, but the entire football team is playing better, special teams and even defensively, to put him in that position so he can make the plays and chew up the clock and be able to make the plays in crunch time."
The Broncos' defense is playing better, too, led by the pass-rushing duo of rookie Von Miller, the second overall selection in the draft, and Elvis Dumervil.
The Chargers, meanwhile, appear to have taken the first off-ramp on the freeway of excuses. In their weekly news release, the Chargers bemoan the injuries that have hit the team. That's somewhat of a surprise, considering that Smith, the supposed tough-guy GM, has been fond of saying, "Line `em up three deep and let `em compete."
The quality of San Diego's backups also is in question. Turner raised some eyebrows during the week when he said some players, particularly on defense, shouldn't be playing as many snaps as they are.
Smith hasn't said much of anything to the media recently. Same with Spanos, who will have to decide whether to fire Turner ? Smith's signature hire ? or even the GM himself. Sitting two games behind Oakland with six to play, the Chargers could miss the playoffs for the second straight season. As it is, they have only one playoff victory the previous three seasons.
What ails the Chargers as much as injuries is the awful job Rivers and running back Ryan Mathews ? he had a crucial fumble in Sunday's loss at Chicago ? have done in taking care of the ball, as well as questionable personnel moves by the polarizing Smith. The Chargers have only three of their last seven first-round draft picks on the active roster, and none are making big contributions.
One of Smith's glaring misses was drafting outside linebacker Larry English in the first round in 2009 while Clay Matthews was still on the board. Often hurt and not playing up to his billing, English is on injured reserve.
Rivers hasn't hidden behind excuses.
"Sulking about it, feeling sorry for ourselves, certainly is not going to get us out of it," he said. "It hasn't gone the way we've wanted. Nobody's pleased. We're all disappointed, so far. But, the book's not over. We've still got work to do. We really are going to determine the ending to the story. A lot of people may have already put the book down. But we're going to fight like crazy to make this a special season and the only way that's going to happen is to win a game."
justin bieber paternity justin bieber paternity denver news kym johnson how old is justin bieber how old is justin bieber north dakota jobs
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.