The keys to unlocking a victory over the Colts

Sunday Night Football! Once again the Chargers are looking to make a late season run after a slow start. At 5-5 with one game behind the Chiefs, every game counts whether its an AFC west rival or not. The Colts are 6-4 coming into this game but plagued with injuries at the running back and wide receiver positions. Although statistically the Colts look good on paper, late quarter turnovers have held the team to 2nd in the AFC south division. So look for the Colts to not give up without a fight on their own turf on Sunday. Now coming off 3 wins in a row the Chargers are looking to  make a statement and reach the playoffs, with or without some of our big name players. These are the keys they have to execute in order to keep our playoff dreams alive.

Keep Rivers on his feet.

We all know the power that the Colts defensive ends Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis possess is a huge threat to our passing game. So keeping these big guys off of Rivers will be a huge deal. The Colts have out-sacked their opponents 21 to 12. The Chargers offensive line will have to communicate to pick up the blitzes. I’m sure they will throw at us, and ensure Rivers has enough time to throw the ball down the field.

Run the ball

Good things happen when you run the ball, just ask Mike Tolbert. Last week we controlled the clock, and completely wore down the Broncos defense. This will be key because it will keep Peyton Manning off the field where he is less effective.

Pressure

Again you see the way a game can come out in our favor when the defense keeps the pressure on the quaterback. Kyle Orton was completely ineffective last week as we kept him guessing where he would be hit from next. Shaun Phillips is a beast and Ron Rivera needs to release him to keep the pressure on Peyton. We all witnessed that when pressured Peyton is pretty much out of the game.

Rotation

The Chargers have a lot of great talent on the team, so we need to let them get some reps and give them a chance to make a play and keep having fresh players in the game.

• Let it go Norv!

Let’s be conservative, but have fun. Last week we saw Norv get out of that Tony D’amato sense of playing straight football and go for it, which changed the whole game momentum (Thats an ‘Any Given Sunday’ reference by the way). Open the playbook, let these players play and make the plays we know they are capable of making.

Special teams

Don’t let you heads get big after one game, keep doing what your doing, and don’t take a play off when you know the other team wants to block that punt.

Hopefully we can execute each one of these keys and keep rolling, GO BOLTS!

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