Four Down Territory: NFL Week 6

First Down

The Chargers are……a mess.

They’re 2-4 and they’ve lost each game by 7 points or less. The most frustrating part? Each loss plays out the same way; a groundhog day effect if you will.

The Charges dig themselves into a massive hole, the Chargers amass a spectacular comeback and almost pull it off.

Until they don’t.

Kennan Allen knows.

The Chargers have many problems. Their offense is middle of the pack yardage wise and they can’t stop the AT ALL. They rank 22nd overall in that category. The only bright spot for this team is their secondary. Even without stud safety Derwin James the Chargers still rank 5th in passing defense.

On top of that Philip Rivers is 37 years old and the Chargers don’t seem to have a successor for the NC State legend. Tyrod Taylor is his backup and has shown he can start in the NFL but he just turned 30.

Speaking of Rivers; he went off the rails and got into it with Steelers corner Mike Hilton.

Rivers is known for being spicy but c’mon bruh; he’s lucky Hilton didn’t drop him for that. Better yet, he’s lucky James Harrison isn’t still in black and gold or we’d be talking about his retirement. It’d be irresponsible to that if Cam Newton behaved in that manner ESPN, FS1, CNN, NPR, Fox News, New York Times, Charlotte Observer, and the your local small town quarterly newspaper would be asking about his childhood with every racist dog whistle attached.

So, where do the Chargers go from here? They’re too good to tank but not good enough to make the playoffs. They’re essentially in sports purgatory.

With that comes bad news, Chargers. You’re going to have to play this out like the Giants. This team won’t win with Rivers at the helm. You’re always going to be between 7-9 wins and all that gets you is a pick outside of the top 10. Is it possible to get lucky and “fall” into a Deshaun Watson? Sure but highly unlikely. It’s going to get a lot worse before it gets better.

Unfortunately, with a new shared stadium opening up in 2020, losing just isn’t in the cards.

P.S.

Chargers fans, can you at least make an attempt to attend games? I know the Rams are the hot ticket right now but there’s better attendance at high school games.

Second Down 

All the Saints had to do was take their L and move on.

Yes, the refs missed the obvious PI call in the NFC championship but how quickly they forget that Drew Brees got the ball first in overtime and THREW AN INTERCEPTION that sealed their fate.

Since then the Saints, and their fans, whined and complained about pass interference and the NFL obliged by creating this rule that pass interference calls can be challenged.

That’s working out well.

Not only are referees not overturning obvious pass interference calls it seems that the overall officiating has been horrid all season.

Conspiracy theory Twitter suggests that the league isn’t nudging as a middle finger to the Saints and that hopefully coaches will stop challenging pass interference. I tend not to believe in this foolishness but it’s hard not to agree with it. Seriously, look at this.

And this

Wait, there’s more.

 

Maybe, just maybe, if the NFL hired officials as full time employees the fans will get a better product. Just a guess, though.

 

Third Down

Cam Newton has been injured and his backup, Kyle Allen, has done a good job as a replacement. So good that the conversation of trading Cam is actually gaining traction.

 

So let’s spell this out; you want to trade a former MVP that led you to a Super Bowl for a rookie. Stop it. A healthy Newton is leaps and bounds better than Kyle Allen on his best day playing against college competition.

Scratch that, even a Cam Newton that has lost a step is exponentially better. Have y’all really forgotten just how good he is?

Fourth Down

Time for picks!

Last week I broke even with a 7-7 record. That’s 24-17 for the year. Let’s keep this train rolling. Winner are in red.

Thursday Night Football 

KC @ Denver

Sunday Afternoon 

Oakland @ Green Bay 

Los Angeles Rams @ Atlanta

San Francisco @ Washington

Houston @ Indianapolis

Minnesota @ Detroit 

Jacksonville @ Cincinnati

Arizona @ New York Giants

Miami @ Buffalo

Los Angeles Chargers @ Tennessee

Baltimore @ Seattle

New Orleans @ Chicago

Sunday Night 

Philadelphia @ Dallas

Monday Night 

New England @ New York Jets

Extra Points 

Eagles fans unite.

This is accurate.

@madads14 

As always, thanks for reading.

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