The San Diego Chargers certainly hope last week’s win means it’s all finally coming together. Because another loss or two and it might be time for San Diego to start looking ahead to next season.
One of the most confusing teams in the NFL, the Chargers will be trying to answer some questions and post their first road victory when they visit the Houston Texans on Sunday.
San Diego (3-5) was the overwhelming favorite to win the AFC West for the fifth straight season after going 13-3 in 2009 and returning strong players on both sides of the ball.
Except for their record, the Chargers have lived up to that billing, ranking first in the NFL in total offense and second in total defense.
Somehow that success has only translated into three victories, leaving San Diego looking up at former division doormats Kansas City and Oakland in the standings. All five of the Chargers’ losses have come by a touchdown or less.
Philip Rivers leads the NFL with 2,649 passing yards and is tied for second with 15 touchdown passes despite being without holdout wide receiver Vincent Jackson the whole season. In fact, with injuries to Malcom Floyd, Buster Davis and Legedu Naanee, Rivers is down to a corps of Patrick Crayton, Gary Banks and Richard Goodman.
San Diego was booed by its home fans going into halftime down five points to the Tennessee Titans last week, but head coach Norv Turner delivered an impassioned speech to his team at halftime and the Chargers came out strong.
Following a field goal, River gave San Diego the lead when he found Antonio Gates for a 48-yard touchdown in the third quarter. Another field goal in the fourth was followed by Rivers’ second touchdown pass of the game - a 13-yard connection with Darren Sproles - that gave the Chargers a 33-25 victory.
Rivers could have a field day against the Texans (4-3), who rank last in the NFL in passing defense, allowing 299.4 yards per game. Houston is 14th in the league against the run but still sits in last place in total defense as well.
The Texans gave up 259 yards to Peyton Manning on Monday in a 30-17 loss to the Indianapolis Colts. Houston fell into an early hole due to some sloppy play from quarterback Matt Schaub, who was just 5-of-15 for 37 yards and had an interception returned for a touchdown in the first half.
Schaub picked it up after the break and led the team on a pair of touchdown drives, but the deficit was too big to overcome.
Running back Arian Foster had a nice game with 102 yards on 15 carries and has helped to balance out an offense that was first in passing yards but struggled with the run last season.