The Los Angeles Chargers’ plodding tiger hunt became a final indicator for Thursday Night Football’s upcoming wild west shootout with the Kansas City Chiefs. So what does the Chargers’ clumsy win against Cincy forecast: Red sky at morning, — or red sky at night?
The Good
- The on-again, off-again, gone-again Chargers won the game. So there is that.
- Their kicker won it for them, with a 59-yard arrow that could have slain Smaug the dragon. Mike Badgley scored 14 points – – more than all the receivers and running backs combined. His last-second success against Pittsburgh seems to have imbued him with confidence. And vibranium.
- Psst, Phil Rivers: why would you tell the media that Badgley can “throw the heck out of the ball”? The Kansas City Chiefs can read, ya know.
- The Defense made just enough big plays. Joey Bosa is still bashing. Defensive Rookie of the Year front-runner Derwin James is still the superhero Black Panther. Crippled without Brandon Mebane, Cory Liuget (IR) and Denzel Perryman (IR), the front seven made some terrific plays.
- At the time of this report, no significant injuries.
The Bad
- The second half of the Bengals game looked like, talked like, walked like — and smelled like — the second half of the last Broncos game.
- The 10 -2 Kansas City Chiefs are not the Cincinnati Bungles. Said Chiefs are the Chargers opponent in four days. At their home.
- The Bolts’ wide receiver corpse — er, corps — made the Bengals’ defense look like the Baltimore Ravens’ league-leading defense (it has not escaped your attention that the Chargers play the said Ravens in 11 days.)
- The Lost Angels Chargers’ team performance is a split-personality behavior, game to game Jekyll and Hyde.
- Cincinnati generated more net yards on offense and easily won time of possession.
- Once again Jahleel Addae took a penalty in the end zone, giving the opponent first-and-goal, which power back Joe Mixom bashed in and cashed in. The Chargers’ website depth chart says Addae is still a starting safety. It should say “Bye Bye Addae”.
The Un-asked:
Questions Three I ask of Thee…
1. As the Chargers won the game and sit at 9-3… Why don’t you feel better than you do about their chances in the playoffs?
2 .If the Chargers very narrowly lose their next game, at Arrowhead this Thursday, and are relegated to the Wild Card road game gauntlet. Will you feel almost as confident as if the Bolts win narrowly over Kansas City this week?
3. The Chargers regularly flash Super Bowl potential, then flash off with a flabby, sloppy game like the Cincinnati slog fest. They should have made rugs out those tigers.
Q: If the on-off-on Chargers beat Kansas City on Thursday, are you all in, or waiting for the outcome against big bad Baltimore?
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Bold predictions for Thursday Night Football
- The Melvinator returns and does what he does: the dancing warrior. 110 yards or more From Scrimmage.
- Under the bright lights, battle tested by the Steelers game, Rivers and receivers thrive. 2+ receiving TDs and 300+ passing yards.
- Achilles’ Addae is highlighted on national TV following Kansas City receivers into the red zone, like a police chase, or rather a police escort, driving a Hyundai Pony after a Porsche.
- The TNF game will later be seen as a foreshadow of the Conference Title game, where the winner advances to face the Los Angeles Rams for the championship.