It's crazy that 134 yards -- Vincent Jackson's Sunday night total -- is the most receiving yards for a San Diego wideout since 2003. I mean, it's not that crazy I guess, but it does tell you how understaffed the Chargers wide receiver corps has been for the past few years.
Another theme over the past few years for the Chargers has been getting whipped on by the Patriots. The Pats embarrassed the Bolts on national television last year and knocked them out of the playoffs the past two years.
Add in the Chargers inability to be decently consistent and/or consistently decent through most of 2008, and this screamed MUST WIN. (Not really, but I'm on a crusade against this term lately.) Regardless, a victory would not have been bad for San Diego.
And, as it turns out, a win was good. For Philip Rivers -- another three touchdown game, for Vinnie Jackson -- see above, for LaDanian Tomlinson -- only 74 yards but at least he looked explosive, and for Norv Turner -- yay, no hot seat issues. That's right. It was good for all of them.
It was not the case for the Patriots, who scored their only touchdown well after the game was out of hand on a Sammy Morris plunge into the end zone. Randy Moss was again utterly ineffective (three catches, 26 yards) and while Wes Welker caught nine balls for 73 yards, much of it was in junk time.
In short, it was a blowout and the Chargers looked like the team that everyone thought had a good shot of going to the postseason. The Patriots on the other hand ... well, let's just say that Tom Brady isn't a "system quarterback". On the other hand, they are still only 3-2 and well, I've seen enough bizarre business in the NFL this year already to realize nothing's out of hand.
