Deja Vu All Over Again

Well, the Chargers are nothing if not consistent. They took the lead yesterday early in the second quarter and held it until there was just 4:11 left in the game. At that point Philip Rivers managed to get himself sacked and fumble the ball to the Bengals on the Charger 13-yard line, resulting in a field goal and a seven point Bengal lead. Rivers then pitched an interception, cementing the Charger loss.

To heighten the sense of continuity, the offense went another full game without scoring a touchdown, managing nothing other than two field goals. So the defense scored seven points on the day, while the offense scored six points, which could be considered role reversal except that the offense did nothing to slow down the Bengals.

Local sportswriter Nick Canepa is claiming today that coach Norv Turner did a fine job of coaching on the day and that he “outcoached” the Bengals head coach. He also gave a “B” rating to quarterback Philip Rivers, an “A” to the receivers and a “U” to the offensive line. The “U,” oddly enough, is not for “unsatisfactory,” but is for “unknown” because some of them are substitutes due to injuries. I’d like to know what Canepa is smoking.

Running backs, by the way, got an “Inc” for “incomplete.” Maybe it’s just me, but I think nine carries for 26 yards is plenty to determine a failing grade. It’s also a bit contrary to his assertions about the quality of the coaching, because calling only nine running plays for the entire game is not particularly clever.

There is also, of course, the fact that the offense has not scored a single touchdown in more than two full games. It’s a lirrle bit difficult to associate that with high caliber coaching.

All of the sportswriters are raving about the fine job that the defense did, and they did get several turnovers. A couple of those turnovers were even forced turnovers, and one of them was returned for a score, but they also gave up an 80-yard touchdown drive and a 55-yard touchdown drive. Decent, certainly, but not stellar.

Norv Turner himself had the usual vapid blather about how “they did some things that stopped what we were trying to do.” Oh really? I think we noticed that. My favorite is that when asked why the Chargers are losing he says, “Well, we’re playing some good teams.” No reporter ever calls him on that and asks him if his aspirations consist of only being able to beat bad teams.