The Chargers dominated the Thursday Night game against the Broncos in Denver, 37°F, controlling the ball for an insane 38 minutes, and finishing drives with scores.
In this article, I'm going to tell you why I was wrong in my post on Thursday.
San Diego's Run Attack
Philip Rivers was just about flawless, but he had a reason to be. He had a solid run attack that destroyed the Denver Defense. The Chargers destroyed Broncos with 44 total runs for 171 yards. Ryan Matthews ran 29 times for 129 yards. Philip Rivers in a post game interview with Rich Eisen mentioned how he had noticed that Matthews was improving because of his footwork. He was doing just what he did in college, and picking up a lot more yards. He has that right. However, the dominating point of that game was the exploitation of 2nd year Defensive End Malik Jackson. Running behind King Dunlap was powerful Thursday Night, and Von Miller is a pass rusher, not a run stopper. Matthews had 10 runs for 62 yards when running behind Dunlap, and it's because of Jackson and Miller's inability to stop the run. The Chargers took advantage of those two being paired together, and ran 70 yards past the two of them. Another quick note about my point there, Matthews only TD of the night was on a left end sweep, where Dunlap delivered the perfect block that failed to allow Jackson from stopping the play, and it was off to the races.
Manning goes long... Incomplete.
Because the Broncos were down in the game from the Second Quarter, the Broncos tried to catch up with more deep balls, and less of that chunk after chunk offense that we see. Yes, they went no huddle, but they wore themselves down trying to run down the field and get that big play too often. Manning was 2-5 going deep last night, and they got 45 yards and no touchdowns. 3 of those deep plays were in the 3rd Quarter. Yes, both of Mannings Touchdown plays were short passes to the left.
Manning throws short... Incomplete.
Manning did miss Wes Welker, that was evident. His RB's did step up, but now his deep threats that he has, his explosive players, were running short routes. This allowed the Chargers to stay in pace with the game. The Broncos went with the slants, but the Chargers Secondary held Denver in place. Manning picked up 109 yards, most of that in the 1st quarter, on short slant plays. After that, Manning was throwing the field trying to get to the sideline, not one of his best talents. On the left side of the field, manning was 5 of 10 attempts. Julius Thomas, Jacob Tamme, Knowshon Moreno and Andre Caldwell got passes thrown terribly on that side of the field, and couldn't make the catches. What I have noticed about Manning is he doesn't have arm strength. His strong points are the receivers running short routes and having yards after the catch. Wes Welker will be welcomed back next week, probably with a TD, when Denver plays Houston week 16.
That's why I was wrong... And That's why the Chargers won last night.
Final Score, Chargers 27, Broncos 20.
My Prediction, Chargers 34 Broncos 41.
Off by, Chargers 7, Broncos 21.
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