San Diego Chargers 17, Tennessee Titans 6: For being criticized all year, 2nd year starter Philip Rivers has sure played well the last few weeks. With LaDainian Tomlinson shut down for much of the afternoon, the Titans made Rivers beat them. He did just that, throwing for 292 yards and a touchdown. It wasn’t pretty, but the proverbial monkey that finally came off the Chargers’ backs should allow them to play more relaxed against the Colts. For as lousy as Norv Turner has been during parts of 2007, his staff never panicked over a halftime deficit. Unlike Marty Schottenheimer’s playoff efforts, the Chargers finally found the discipline needed to close out a playoff game. Can they go into Indy and beat the World Champs? It’s certainly a possibility. The Chargers have beat Indy two of the last three meetings, including the 2005 victory that derailed the Colts’ undefeated season.

Jacksonville Jaguars 31, Pittsburgh Steelers 29: The dream upset scenario of “Jags over Pats” almost didn’t happen, as the Jags squandered a huge lead in the 4th quarter, only to win it with less than 30 seconds left. You have to admire the testicular fortitude of Jags coach Jack Del Rio, who called a quarterback drew on 4th and 2 that put the Jags in position for Josh Scobee’s game winner. So, now we have the next test for the Jaguars: The undefeated Patriots. A win at Gillette Stadium could go down as one of the biggest upsets in the NFL history.

Now that the playoff seeds are set in stone for the AFC, lets take a look at all the teams and see what’s in store for us as the 2007 NFL playoffs are set to kick off.

New England Patriots: The NFL’s first 16-0 team is riding high, having not lost since about this time last year. They’ll be staying put at Gillette throughout the playoffs and will undoubtedly be tough to beat. If the weather starts to turn frightful in New England, however, look for other teams to have a considerable advantage. The Patriots won’t throw the ball 50 times in sleet and snow, so it’ll turn out to be a battle of running games. The AFC has plenty of fine running backs (Fred Taylor, Joseph Addai, LT, Maurice Jones-Drew) that are all considerably better than Laurence Maroney.

Indianapolis Colts: My oh my, look who has returned. The World Champions from a year ago have returned as the number two seed yet again and, unlike last year, have gotten absolutely no hype whatsoever due in part to the whole “Patriots not losing a game” thing. The Colts have been riddled with injuries all year, having to resort to guys like Crasphonso Thorpe (I know, who?) to play wide receiver and guys who I’ve never heard of on their defensive line. The good news is that they’ll be fully healthy (with the exception of Dwight Freeney) come two weeks from now when they host their playoff game in the sterile environment of the RCA Dome. Nobody’s talking about them but look out for Indy. With Bob Sanders back and the always dangerous Peyton Manning the Colts might quietly put the rest of the AFC to shame.

San Diego Chargers: The first seed from last year returns as the number three seed in a season that was riddled with inconsistency and confusion. How good is this team? Nobody really knows. They still have the best running back in the game (sorry Adrian Peterson) and their defense is one of the best in the NFL. In the playoffs it comes down to a team’s ability to establish the run and stop the run; both things the Chargers do well. Thus the pressure will be on second year starter Philip Rivers who hasn’t had a great season but has come on strong as of late. People talk about teams they do and don’t want to play; can we consider the Chargers one of those teams? They’ve won 10 of their last 12 games. Read the rest of this entry »

For the entire month of August, the Sportable Staff will look at one National Football League team a day. We?ll look at their offense, defense and in the end, assess their playoff chances. Previews will be done by division, starting with the NFC East. Each new division will also feature a new podcast devoted entirely to that division.

Show me your lightning bolts!!11. LaDainian Tomlinson and the San Diego Chargers cruised to a 14-2 record last season, best in the NFL. With a second round exit in the playoffs after losing to New England at home, however, the Chargers realized that winning the battle in the regular season doesn’t mean squat in January. Marty Schottenheimer was fired as the head coach and replaced with Norv Turner, the man who originally created the design for the San Diego offense when he was their offensive coordinator in 2001. With arguably the most talented roster in the NFL, it’ll be interesting to see how Turner handles this team and if he can repeat their success from 2006.

Offense. Unlike most team previews where we jock the quarterback being the center of the offense, the Chargers run through their running back. LaDainian Tomlinson broke 13 different NFL records last year on his way to one of the most phenomenal seasons ever by a running back. LT is the best running back in the game and there is a strong case for him being the best player in the game so why not run the offense through him. It’s not worth predicting if he’ll have a good year or not this season. Instead, I’ll just predict something like 1700 yards rushing and 20-something touchdowns. Phillip Rivers will be coming into his second full season as a starter this year. Last year he threw 22 touchdowns to just 9 interceptions on his way to a Pro Bowl berth. Rivers should only get better on an offense that is loaded with guys who can catch the ball. Read the rest of this entry »

Hosts: Sonny, Ryan, and Rich.

In this episode, we discussed the AFC West. With Norv Turner now running the show in San Diego, can the Chargers get past last year’s chokejob and go all the way? Or will the rising Jay Cutler shift the balance of power in this division back towards the Rocky Mountains? We also sort out the bottom of this division. Can Larry Johnson survive another year of being overworked? Or will the Raiders’ improving defense keep them out of the cellar? All of this and more on our continuing coverage of the NFL.

You can find Episode 34 here. (Download mp3)

Way back in March, we wrote an article that discussed the uniform change made by the San Diego Chargers. With the NFL season now upon us, we thought it’d be appropriate to run that article again and refresh you on the changes. The uniforms have seen game action and they look impressive. It’s been announced that they’ll wear their white jerseys for the September 9th Season Opener against Chicago.

It?s fitting that a team with a completely new coaching staff will take the field with a completely new uniform. That?s the case with the San Diego Chargers, who will officially unveil their new uniforms on Wednesday. Thanks to a mistake by the Chargers? web design team, the jerseys were shown on the team?s website for three minutes on Thursday, which gave enough time for fans to get an early peek at the new unis. With all suspense out the door, the Chargers? LaDainian Tomlinson officially announced the news.

I think it is time for us to have our identity, with our jerseys. This is our era. We’ve got great guys on this team and this is going to be the San Diego Chargers for years to come. So I think it is only right to have our own new jerseys and create our own era and our own identity.

Unlike the previous uniforms, the Chargers? new gear will feature numbers on the shoulders instead of their sleeves. They also have plans to wear white helmets, which is a definite tribute to those great powder blue uniforms. As opposed to having the lightning bolt on top of the shoulders, the bolt will now wrap around the entire jersey. An updated Chargers script will also be added above the numbers on the chest.

All in all, I think San Diego has done well here. It?s not like their old uniforms were in need of change. But this is a team that?s definitely entering a promising era in their history. This is a team that used to be an NFL doormat. But in the last three years, they?ve gone 35-13 and have had Super Bowl aspirations. It?s only fitting that they usher in a new uniform for a new era. It?s not a change back to the powder blues but the Chargers still plan to wear a redesigned powder blue jersey twice a season.

They’re two players that will be linked for a number of reasons, most notably the resounding difference of careers they had. Their names are Peyton Manning and Ryan Leaf, the top two selections in the 1998 NFL Draft. We all know what happened. The Colts’ road to resurrection began with Manning, while the Chargers’ selection of Leaf set them back years. But what if the two selections were flip-flopped? What if the Colts went with Leaf’s arm strength and athleticism over Manning’s…well..Hall of Fame pedigree? Would things have turned out any different?

To fully understand each team’s situation, you need the look at the rosters. It was apparent that both the Colts and Chargers (who traded up to the 2nd overall pick) were in desperate need of a young quarterback. The Colts’ duo of Jim Harbaugh and Kelly Holcomb was mediocre complete ass, while San Diego’s Stan Humphries, Craig Whelihan and Jim Everett were even worse. Humphries’ brains had the consistency of scrambled eggs by that time, so the Chargers needed someone new.

Despite having a 3-13 record in 1997, the Colts appeared to be headed in the right direction, which is why the Manning pick made sense. Marshall Faulk was a budding superstar and the Colts had just hired a guy by the name of Jim Mora to be head coach. Meanwhile, the Chargers suffered through a year of Kevin Gilbride and Gary Brown at runningback. The Manning pick was safe and ultimately, it was the right one. There were some knocks on Leaf’s character, knocks that Manning didn’t have.

Read the rest of this entry »