Surpising high stakes in AFC title rematch

If someone had told you at the start of the season that this matchup between San Diego and New England would feature three losses and not a single division leader there would have been laughter involved. Both of these teams now find themselves in similar situations. The Pats find themselves trailing the surprising Buffalo Bills and have lost most if not all of their swagger following a clinic put on by the Miami Dolphins. The Chargers attended their clinic last week in Miami. Ronnie Brown and the “Wildcat” formation sliced the Chargers defense and left them at 2-2. The Chargers now trail the Broncos by a game and a half for the West division lead. In a perfect world for Norv Turner the Chargers would defeat New England and the Pats would rebound with a win next Monday against the Broncos. Which would of course leave the Chargers in first place.

Obviously though as Bill Belichick is fond of saying you have to take things one game at a time. For the Patriots that means their offense must build on its strong second half performance last week in San Fransisco. For the first time all season Matt Cassel stretched the field, connecting with Randy Moss on a 66-yard touchdown pass. With the 49ers defense off balance the Patriots were able to utilize all of the weapons in their arsenal. Suddenly the Patriots running backs, particularly Sammy Morris were freed up. Morris rushed for 63 yards on 16 attempts, his production gave Matt Cassel much needed time in the pocket. For the first time all season Cassel was able to find Jabar Gaffney and Wes Welker, and the Patriots offense rolled up 31 points almost half of their season total of 79. For the Patriots to have any shot in San Diego their offense must continue with a balanced attack.

That being said I think this will be a Chargers win this week. The Patriots have beat San Diego 13 of their last 15 meetings but with home field and sans-Tom Brady the Chargers will take advantage.

Chargers by 3-10

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Last post (s) by Nich Hall

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