With the masses polling heavily in favor of a Baltimore victory in my Survivor Pool this week I stood fast with my initial gut reaction to ride the Ravens.
When it was all said and done I felt GREAT.... great like Willis McGahee minus the illegitimate children.
Only one player eliminated this week (on account of laziness) so 6/12 remain. The following S.O.B.s are off the board:
New England Patriots
Minnesota Vikings
Baltimore Ravens
I see those in the poll below as the best options. If you think there's another 'better play' then make a suggestion, with this caveat: I need new socks, the bills are coming due and if I can keep winning I can continue to write these easy posts with polls. Don't disappoint!
I still haven't seen the game so I don't know if I'm qualified to comment on whether or not Norv is as big a moron as he's being portrayed.......but........why don't we all listen to the Ravens' Ray Lewis and then make our judgement (click the third video option):
.....None of the Ravens' stands was more dramatic than the last. On first down from the Ravens' 23, the Chargers (1-1) took their shot at the end zone, but Ravens cornerback Frank Walker (who replaced an injured Fabian Washington) broke up the pass to receiver Legedu Naanee.
Three plays later, on fourth-and-2, Lewis said he knew what play was coming as soon as quarterback Philip Rivers dropped the ball down to hand it off. Calling it a risk, he slashed through the middle of the offensive line unblocked and pounced on Sproles to essentially end the game.
Some players acknowledged that they were shocked at the Chargers' play call. San Diego, which had its starting center and right guard out with injuries, decided to run the ball up the middle with the game on the line.
Another nail biter, this time ending with a negative result.
However, what is one to expect when sitting with a 4th and 2 with a quarterback who is having the most productive game of his career?
I think I speak for every Bolt fan who walks the earth, when I say that handing the ball off deep in the back field was the last possible play that would have been called.
Though the game should have never come down to that play, you have to look to Norv to make a better decision in that position.
With the injuries we encountered in week 1, it is evident that we will be playing wide open over the coming weeks. The learning curve for SD's linemen will be steep and we can not afford to have another penalty stricken game like Sunday. Kicking field goals vs. touchdowns is unacceptable, specifically when you are on the 1 inch line and take a delay of game penalty. WTF was that?
We need to shore up the Defense as well, with them giving up the uncharacteristic yardage in both of the first two weeks. It looks like our Defense, as a whole, have an allergy to any quarterback we face. One sack today is unacceptable, and I would expect a minimum of 3 per game from our guys. If not that, then how about we slow the run down. Stopping it doesn't seem like a realistic expectation after the display shown during the first two weeks.
Moving forward, the confidence prevails and I feel we will take care of the Dolphins next week in our house. I am waiting for the breakout game for the Defense and watching our Chargers run up the score and play up to our potential. It was nice to get our loss out of the way for the season, and we only look up from here.
Keepin the Bolt Pride Alive.
Charger Fan in Donkey Land
Editor's Note: I was out of town and upon return last evening I knew nothing about the game against the Ravens nor did I even know that Jamal was out for the year. As I piece together the home opening debacle from word of mouth and detail deficient UT articles I still can't explain the rumors that we kicked a FG on 3rd down as well as the decision to run .43 cent at the beastly Ray Lewis (I, however, have read that Ray Lewis wasn't at all surprised by the Chargers' play call in that situation.....something about it being predictable based on the previous week's game film. Huh...predictable?). I'm going to get to the bottom of this. Feel free to help me out as I didn't tape the game.
Ed Reed versus Dr. Harry Edwards in the battle for facial hair superiority.
The fact that Ed Reed looks like a a cool Ex-Black Panther/Future Berkley Sociology Professor with his facial awesomeness is not enough for us to choose the Ravens this weekend....
Baltimore Ravens.....Highly Unpalatable.....They're a decade old, already have a Championship and they wear purple...No Dice.
Philadelphia Eagles....Moderately Unpalatable.....They won the World Series last season, their QB doesn't know the OT rules and Cholla is from Philadelphia.
Pittsburgh Steelers....Slightly Unpalatable.....They beat us last week and have won approximately 44% of all Superbowls played...another re-run.....Polamalu is from SC, though.
Arizona Cardinals.....A Slice of Ginger after a Spicy Meal.... Representing the West. Representing God (Kurt Warner). Training camped in our College town where I once rode my Trek through a coaches huddle in front of the School of Business.....a huddle which centered around D-Line Coach, Mean Joe Greene. Zuhlke is a fan. Go Cardinals.
SO.....
We said all week that there would be no football viewing this weekend with the Chargers having been eliminated. Alas, who are we kidding, it's January---when football is best! However we can't be bothered to do an extensive write-up so we will link you to some good stuff we have read this week.
The Legend of Cecilio Guante---A post on the four assassins who man the Centerfield for the final 4. An excellent post with good video footage. We think Berman and the boys stole the story because we saw it this morning on ESPN....Click here.
DCSteeler Nation---Pittsburgh Point of View/Baltimore Raven Hate....Click here.
Deadspin----Will Leitch Answers questions about the team with the fewest fans...Click here.
I got nuthin' on the Eagles. If you care..... go find it....it's out there.
