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San Diego 28, Indy 24: Ten Cold, Hard Football Facts to ponder
Cold, Hard Football Facts for January 13, 2008
San Diego lost its quarterback and its superstar running back, but somehow had enough to take a 28-24 upset over Peyton Manning and the Colts Sunday.
Here are 10 Cold, Hard Football Facts that emerged from a pass-happy AFC divisional tilt.
1. Chargers GM A.J. Smith gets the “I told you so” award for this one. When Smith fired Marty Schottenheimer and hired Norv Turner as his head coach, it was a move that earned him almost universal disdain. Two playoff wins later, Turner is looking like an upgrade over the great but flawed Schottenheimer (5-13 in the postseason).
Smith’s drafts have been beyond brilliant in San Diego, and he made two key personnel moves that paid huge dividends Sunday. Chris Chambers was acquired in October for a No. 2 pick because rookie first-round pick Buster Davis wasn’t working out, and the focus on Chambers in the last two games has allowed WR Vincent Jackson to explode (12 catches, 207 yards, 2 TDs in two playoff games). Chambers wasn't bad himself, with 9 catches and 188 yards in the two playoff games.
The other move was getting backup RB Michael Turner to return with a one-year deal rather than trading him for good draft picks. Turner didn’t play much in the regular season, but Smith looks like Nostradamus after watching Turner pick up 71 big yards off the bench yesterday.
Rivers was on point, to say the least: 14 of 19 for 264 yards, a once-in-a-career 13.9 YPA, three TDs and one INT? What the hell? Rivers might never have a greater playoff performance.
As for Vinatieri, he erased doubts about his leg with a 46-yard field goal that was straight down the middle and into the net 20 feet high. And his kickoffs were huge against San Diego’s dangerous Darren Sproles – he got the ball into the end zone on four of five kickoffs and sent a fifth to the goal line. For the game, he averaged an incredible 73.2 yards per kickoff, almost 10 yards better than the league average.
3. The Big Play Chargers were at it again. San Diego was No. 1 on our Big Play Index this year, and they showed vs. Indy that they are capable of big things in all phases of the game. Darren Sproles’ huge 58-yard catch and run was the Biggest of Big, and the Chargers forced three turnovers while committing just one. And this performance came against an Indy team that was tied for third in the NFL in fewest Big Plays allowed.
Although it doesn’t count as one of our Big Plays, punter Mike Scifres’ incredible 66-yard punt from his own goal line late in the fourth quarter turned Indy's last-minute drive into a real longshot.
4. Peyton Manning’s legend took one small step back. Yes, Manning threw for 402 yards yesterday against the team with the best Defensive Passer Rating in the NFL. And his final passer rating of 97.7 was far from terrible.
However, NFL quarterbacks are measured by wins and losses in the postseason, and Manning now stands at 7-7. Manning had chances to win the game, chances that you expect great quarterbacks to seize, and he didn’t seize them. He had two drives to win the game, and failed to score in either.
A home loss to San Diego in the playoff opener just doesn’t look good on the resume, and if there’s still a Brady-Manning debate it’s swinging pretty hard toward the Northeast right now.
5. We beat the monkey again. Bonzo liked Indy minus the 8.5 points with his random coin flip, but our analysis pointed to a close San Diego loss. This went counter to the vast majority of the pregame hype, which was Indy in a blowout. Our pick of Indy 20, San Diego (+8.5) 17 was based on a game without Antonio Gates, and we felt Indy’s home-field advantage would be just enough to overcome San Diego’s superior talent. San Diego took it a step further and won, but we still feel vindicated in indicating a hard-fought game most thought they wouldn’t see.
6. In the end, Indianapolis wasn’t good enough against the cream of the crop this year. The Colts finished 13-3 in the regular season, outscoring opponents by 11.8 PPG. But with the Chargers loss, they fell to 4-4 against Quality Teams, just +3.8 better than the opposition. The Colts were within a touchdown of the opponent in six of their eight Quality matchups, and when there’s a close game you’re vulnerable to losing – which is exactly what Indy did against surprising San Diego.
7. The NFL’s all-star official system doesn’t work. Sixty-six-year-old Gerry Austin and his crew called a phantom pass interference call on San Diego against Reggie Wayne in the third quarter, and replays showed it was one of the worst calls imaginable. Wayne was barely touched on an uncatchable ball, yet the flag came out. Then, on the next play, Austin returned with an old-school, no-doubt-about-it makeup call, a blow to the head foul on Indy’s Ryan Diem that looked an awful lot like plain old blocking.
That stuff should never, ever happen in a game of this magnitude. There was one other very poor call, the holding on Eric Weddle that nullified what certainly looked like a clean INT runback by Antonio Cromartie at the end of the first half. And the refs missed the call on Reggie Wayne's touchdown catch, saying he went out at the 1 when it was pretty clear even with the naked eye that he did no such thing.
We’re not sure why the NFL puts teams of officials together for the regular season then changes them to all-star units in the playoffs, but let’s suffice it to say that the system didn’t appear to be working in Indianapolis Sunday.
8. The limited status of Antonio Gates might have been a positive for San Diego. Indianapolis shut down tight ends all year (longest pass play allowed to a TE: 21 yards), and with Gates not 100 percent the Chargers didn’t look his way much. He did have a long gainer (23 yards), but only one other catch.
Clearly, the rest of San Diego’s skill players responded, with the running backs and receivers combining for 281 yards and over 20 yards per catch. Had Gates been healthy, would Rivers have tried to force it into the strength of Indy’s defense? Would the results have been different? Only the shadow knows.
9. With the game on the line, Marvin Harrison should have been in there. With the Colts facing 4th-and-5, down by four points, just over a minute to go, how does Tony Dungy leave Harrison on the sideline? We don’t care how banged up Harrison was, for one play, needing five yards, the future Hall of Famer HAS to be in there, even if he comes right out.
Just as a reminder, Harrison has caught 1,104 passes in his career, fourth all time and tops among active players. It's safe to say there are a few five-yard routes in his arsenal even factoring in some subpar legs underneath. Hell, Harrison had his helmet on, ready to go in, but the Colts felt compelled to stick with Devin Aromashadu and his eight career grabs.
A big mistake by Dungy and the Colts staff, who then watched Peyton Manning force one off the fingers of the not-so-sure-handed Dallas Clark (led the league in drops this year) to put the final nail in Indy's coffin.
10. San Diego's defense had better be stronger against New England. If the Chargers are going to beat the Patriots, they're going to need to show that their 70.0 Defensive Dasser Rating during the season, tops in the NFL, was a meaningful number. The Chargers allowed more than 400 yards passing to Manning, but softened the blow with two interceptions. Will they be able to force Tom Brady into mistakes? Or will they be another Quality team that ends up looking quite ordinary against the extraordinary Patriots?
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