Robin Miller
10-07-2008, 03:16 PM
Chargers are still searching for a consistent performance
Kevin Acee
Sunday, October 5, 2008
MIAMI - It might well be only a fractional problem, a half a game being the
issue.
"It would be scary if we ever play four quarters," linebacker Shaun Phillips
said. "It's going to come."
Until it does - and at this point such constancy is just a fantasy - the
problem is even scarier.
Sunday the Chargers were talking like a team that knows it.
"You come out and play as flat as we did, you find yourself down 17-3,"
Antonio Gates said Sunday after the Chargers did just that before falling
17-10 to Miami. " You can't keep playing catch-up. Eventually, it's going to
catch up with you."
When a player says his team came out flat, it is a way to convey the team
got pushed around without actually saying such a thing, getting pushed
around being perhaps the cardinal sin in football.
But Gates actually came right out and said this, too, regarding the Miami
Dolphins: "Today, this team was a more physical team. It just showed up in
every phase of the game."
Gates was far from the only one.
"Honestly, they just came out with more attitude than we did," linebacker
Stephen Cooper said. "They were ready to play, play with attitude, and we
didn't do that."
The Chargers are not an unphysical team. They rolled the highly combative
Raiders in the second half last week.
But the Chargers sure do take their time getting around to their aggressive
side.
"We gotta get geared up to play a physical game instead of wait for the
second half," Cooper said.
It's not all about being physical, it's about executing. And the Chargers
have mostly waited to do that until the second half in all but their easy
victory over the Jets.
The Chargers trailed by 14 at halftime yesterday, the third time in five
games they have been down by at least that big a margin when the second half
began. Against the Raiders, they overcame a 15-point deficit. Against Denver
and Miami, they could not come back from 14 down.
The Chargers have scored the most second-half points in the NFL this season
while allowing the most first-half points. They have gained the second-most
second-half yardage while allowing the second-most first-half yardage.
Acknowledging there other more complex issues, it is that contrast that best
encapsulates why they are 2-3 and again two games back of Denver in the AFC
West.
"We've got to be ready to start games," safety Clinton Hart said. "And we
just haven't done that."
They don't have an explanation.
"It's pretty frustrating," running back LaDainian Tomlinson said. "We don't
know exactly what the reason is."
Quarterback Philip Rivers and others flatly denied the coaches could better
prepare or motivate them.
"Just go out and execute," Rivers said. "I take a lot of responsibility. As
a quarterback, you're rolling and going, everybody else is going to go. It's
not like I've started off fast in these games."
That's the only solution they offer - an assertion they need to play better.
"We can't keep starting out slow and putting ourselves in a hole," safety
Eric Weddle said.
It's true, though they are battling back. But the endings of games have been
a little rough for the Chargers, too.
For the first time this season, the offense could not convert a
goal-to-go-situation into points and also for the first time failed to take
a fourth-quarter lead.
On the final play of the third quarter, Chris Chambers caught a third-down
pass and fought for an extra yard to the Dolphins 1 but could not get in the
end zone. On the next play, Tomlinson tried to go through the left side but
was met by a wall of Dolphins and didn't get close to the goal line.
After that play, the Chargers had the Dolphins on the 2 with third-and-9 to
go. A bomb by Pennington to David Martin was well overthrown, but Hart was
called for pass interference, giving the Dolphins a first down at the 30.
The Dolphins would punt then and once more before getting the ball back with
5:55 to play.
On a clock-killing march down the field, they converted third downs of 2, 4,
1 and 2 yards.
"We're just starting too late," cornerback Quentin Jammer said. "And we need
to get them off the field when it's time to get them off the field."
Or else.
"Hopefully we get on a roll somewhere," Tomlinson said. "We lost two
straight, won two straight. We're this team that is up and down. This is not
fun. This is not the kind of football we want to play. We're inconsistent.
We need to find some consistency."
Find this article at:
http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2008/oct/05/dolphins-stage-big-time-upset-miami/?chargers
Kevin Acee
Sunday, October 5, 2008
MIAMI - It might well be only a fractional problem, a half a game being the
issue.
"It would be scary if we ever play four quarters," linebacker Shaun Phillips
said. "It's going to come."
Until it does - and at this point such constancy is just a fantasy - the
problem is even scarier.
Sunday the Chargers were talking like a team that knows it.
"You come out and play as flat as we did, you find yourself down 17-3,"
Antonio Gates said Sunday after the Chargers did just that before falling
17-10 to Miami. " You can't keep playing catch-up. Eventually, it's going to
catch up with you."
When a player says his team came out flat, it is a way to convey the team
got pushed around without actually saying such a thing, getting pushed
around being perhaps the cardinal sin in football.
But Gates actually came right out and said this, too, regarding the Miami
Dolphins: "Today, this team was a more physical team. It just showed up in
every phase of the game."
Gates was far from the only one.
"Honestly, they just came out with more attitude than we did," linebacker
Stephen Cooper said. "They were ready to play, play with attitude, and we
didn't do that."
The Chargers are not an unphysical team. They rolled the highly combative
Raiders in the second half last week.
But the Chargers sure do take their time getting around to their aggressive
side.
"We gotta get geared up to play a physical game instead of wait for the
second half," Cooper said.
It's not all about being physical, it's about executing. And the Chargers
have mostly waited to do that until the second half in all but their easy
victory over the Jets.
The Chargers trailed by 14 at halftime yesterday, the third time in five
games they have been down by at least that big a margin when the second half
began. Against the Raiders, they overcame a 15-point deficit. Against Denver
and Miami, they could not come back from 14 down.
The Chargers have scored the most second-half points in the NFL this season
while allowing the most first-half points. They have gained the second-most
second-half yardage while allowing the second-most first-half yardage.
Acknowledging there other more complex issues, it is that contrast that best
encapsulates why they are 2-3 and again two games back of Denver in the AFC
West.
"We've got to be ready to start games," safety Clinton Hart said. "And we
just haven't done that."
They don't have an explanation.
"It's pretty frustrating," running back LaDainian Tomlinson said. "We don't
know exactly what the reason is."
Quarterback Philip Rivers and others flatly denied the coaches could better
prepare or motivate them.
"Just go out and execute," Rivers said. "I take a lot of responsibility. As
a quarterback, you're rolling and going, everybody else is going to go. It's
not like I've started off fast in these games."
That's the only solution they offer - an assertion they need to play better.
"We can't keep starting out slow and putting ourselves in a hole," safety
Eric Weddle said.
It's true, though they are battling back. But the endings of games have been
a little rough for the Chargers, too.
For the first time this season, the offense could not convert a
goal-to-go-situation into points and also for the first time failed to take
a fourth-quarter lead.
On the final play of the third quarter, Chris Chambers caught a third-down
pass and fought for an extra yard to the Dolphins 1 but could not get in the
end zone. On the next play, Tomlinson tried to go through the left side but
was met by a wall of Dolphins and didn't get close to the goal line.
After that play, the Chargers had the Dolphins on the 2 with third-and-9 to
go. A bomb by Pennington to David Martin was well overthrown, but Hart was
called for pass interference, giving the Dolphins a first down at the 30.
The Dolphins would punt then and once more before getting the ball back with
5:55 to play.
On a clock-killing march down the field, they converted third downs of 2, 4,
1 and 2 yards.
"We're just starting too late," cornerback Quentin Jammer said. "And we need
to get them off the field when it's time to get them off the field."
Or else.
"Hopefully we get on a roll somewhere," Tomlinson said. "We lost two
straight, won two straight. We're this team that is up and down. This is not
fun. This is not the kind of football we want to play. We're inconsistent.
We need to find some consistency."
Find this article at:
http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2008/oct/05/dolphins-stage-big-time-upset-miami/?chargers