Official Game Day Thread: Chargers @ Seahawks - 9/26: LOSS 27 - 20

Five Things to Watch: Chargers at Seahawks
BY CHRIS JENKINS
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2010 AT 11:06 P.M.


Chargers (1-1) at Seahawks (1-1)

Qwest Field

Kickoff: 1:15 p.m.

Caliente line: Chargers by 5 1/2.

Series: Seahawks lead, 25-23.

TV; Ch. 8 (Ian Eagle, Dan Fouts)

Radio: 105.3FM, 1360 AM. 107.3 FM (Spanish-language)

1. Pick ‘em. Doing the simple math and applying simple logic, the Chargers will catch every pass thrown by the eminently intercept-able Matt Hasselbeck, who was picked off thrice at Denver at roughly the same time the Chargers were hauling in four errant Jacksonville passes in San Diego . Of course, math and logic seldom work in cahoots in the NFL. But the fact is _ while the quality of the offenses the Chargers have faced to this point may not be too impressive, and while there’ve been some third-and-long lapses _ San Diego overall has played some terrific defense.

2. Little Bull. Mike Tolbert and Michael Turner may have more in common than their first names. (Well, kind of.) Tolbert shocked some folks, the Jaguars included, by going from short-yardage battering ram to multi-tasking breakway threat last week. He leads the Chargers in rushing with 108 yards and two TD’s on only 18 carries. With the injury to Ryan Mathews’ ankle, the 243-pound Tolbert likely will start today and probably get the ball even more. A game like he had against Jacksonville should enable Philip Rivers to better exploit a defense with a weak secondary and little in the way of a pass rush.

3.Chuckin’ Charlie? It must seem like much ado about a quarterback who until this season was strictly a No. 3 on the depth chart, who’s now in his fifth NFL season and yet to throw his first official pass, but how interesting things could get if Hasselbeck self-destructs again and Charlie Whitehurst actually has to strap on his helmet . He’d be playing against the team that’s already seemed to have gotten the best of the Seahawks by trading Whitehurst. No doubt his brain has been picked clean of Chargers intel in Seattle, but he’s almost never had to actually execute the Chargers playbook himself, and there can’t be that much about Whitehurst that San Diego’s defenders don’t know.

4. 4th –and- Hmmm. Right up there with quarterback and tight end, the Chargers’ punting game began the season as one of the absolute Unquestionables, given the dependability of Mike Scifres. But the season-opener was an abomination of punt coverage, and while Norv Turner said his team was vastly better in special-team coverage in Game Two, the Chargers and Jags attempted a single punt between them and that one was blocked soon after leaving Scifres’ right foot. At the same time, the Seahawks seem to have found a lethal punt-returner in rookie Golden Tate to go with veteran kick-returner Leon Washington.

5. Rain, rain. You can’t go to Seattle and not talk about the weather _ 70 percent chance of rain at game time Sunday _ especially since not enough time has passed to forget how the Chargers performed in the wet and windy conditions at Kansas City. Fact is, though, the Chargers showed last week that they can turn the ball over just as much in brilliant sunshine. With their superiority in talent over these first several weeks of the season, it’s seriously time for the Bolts to get a grip.

I do not feel uneasy because of Norv. I have a sense of concern over the size of the cleat they wear today...

Agree!

I cant help but root for the Texans to beat the Cowboys this morning...

The voodoo DirecTV commercial is funny!

They who?

Happy Birthday man!