Bolts Need To Overcome History, Rivers And Norv
WILDCARD-TENNESSEE @ SAN DIEGO, 1PM PT
Tennessee is in poor health going into wildcard weekend. Their franchise QB Vince Young is a game-time call and they lost two wideouts this week.
They beat Indianapolis last week to win the last playoff spot, but struggled against two halves of Jim Sorgi and Indy's second-stringers. To be honest, Cleveland versus San Diego looked far more exciting for an early January Sunday afternoon than the 10-6 Titans.
San Diego is the anti-Tampa of these playoffs. Their marquee screams the names of some of the biggest stars in football. Shawne Merriman and LaDainian Tomlinson. But, are we to guess that their overrated coach, Norv Turner, will be the man who gets San Diego over the playoff hump. They haven't won one since their Super Bowl run of 1994.
If Young can't start or reinjures his leg, backup Kerry Collins isn't such a bad thing. Many times backups are able to confound experts when they enter the game in relief because the opponents hasn't spent practice time on that player.
This is going to be a hard fought game because of numerous errors. San Diego's Philip Rivers does not warm the confident hearts of Charger fans and he might sink even farther in their minds.
Even with Rivers bungling the operation and the Chargers jinx coupled with the coaching of good ol' Norval, the Chargers still have Tomlinson's acute nose for the endzone and should comeback late in the game to win just as they did earlier in the season. CHARGERS 31-26
TITANS WIRE REPORT
Titans' QB, WRs are MIA in playoff run-up, USA Today
The Titans are seriously banged up at wide receiver and their starting QB Vince Young is day-to-day.
The Middle Tennessee newspaper takes the pity angle as the Titans are nine-point underdogs
West Coast woes haunt Titans, Tennessean
Tennessee haven't won in seven games west of the Rockies since 2002, including five straight in California. San Diego is in Southern California. How unfortunate.
CHARGERS WIRE REPORT
Tennessee's Keith Bulluck discounted the fear the Titans have in San Diego QB Philip Rivers, but remember LaDainian Tomlinson's 146 yards against them, Dec. 9.
Quarterback Philip Rivers has been on at times, off at times this season, San Diego Union-Tribune
"His stock with Chargers fans selling most days somewhere between Ryan Leaf and Craig Whelihan", that pretty much illustrates the inconsistent play of Philip Rivers. He might not win the game by himself, but he could possibly lose it.Smash-Mouth II: Titans, Chargers get rematch in playoffs, San Diego Union-Tribune
The Dec. 9 battle between these two teams was torrid affair. San Diego came back in the fourth quarter to beat Tennessee 23-17 in overtime. But a hit by Shawne Merriman on Vince Young is still being discussed.
Labels: Chargers, NFL Playoffs, Titans
