That was a long week … Go Chargers
Ten (10) minutes till kick off San Diego @ Cincinnati and baby it’s cold outside
Next week will be Chargers @ Denver and Indianapolis @ New England if all goes well that is …
Go Chargers all the way to the Super Bowl 
Final score San Diego Chargers 27 vs Cincinnati Bengals 10
Denver is next … thanks to Andy Dalton
They sure looked more than “lucky” in dismantling the “home undefeated” Bungals in their house this weekend. It might be rebuild time in the “Nati”.
As for my bolts? House money at this stage. We have beat Denver twice already and a third will be hard. No illusion of a Super Bowl, but we are ahead of schedule and much more than “lucky” 
Not this year - SD won in Denver, but the Broncos won in SD. You have to October 2011 to get 2 wins against the Broncos.
You’re correct, my mistake. I watched both games and have no idea why I typed that 
I have no idea why the Bengals continue to fall apart in big games. It’s mystifying. Playoff games, MNF, Sunday Night games, Thursday night games…they almost never play well when the lights shine brightest.
You know, it’s never used as anything more than an epithet 'round these parts for listless, unimaginative, overly conservative football; but you know what just won that game? Martyball. It became clear as day to me before the end of the first half that the entire game plan was nothing more than Martyball - if we could keep it close, ground and pound, take the air out of the ball and don’t make mistakes, then every minute that went by in the second half would start adding pressure upon pressure on the home favorites with the huge postseason losing streak. And sure enough, when Cincy (used to scoring 40 a game at home this year) found themselves in a low-scoring dog fight at the half, the pressure ramped up, the panic set in, and the turnovers started flowing. By the end of the game the Bengals looked like they wanted to be anyplace else in the world but on that field.
And the more I think about it, the more it seems like they’ll try something very similar against the Broncos next week. Manning feeling the pressure of a legacy on the line? Broncos still reeling from their playoff disaster last year against the Ravens? Going to a place where Philip Rivers is 6-2 all time (and one of those losses was the Hochuli game, which everyone but Ed saw us win)? Run the ball, shorten the game and let the pressure on the Broncos build and build and build and hope they make the same mistakes the Bengals just made.
I’d certainly rather be 14-2 and have the playoffs at home, but this “playing with house money” feeling is making for a delightfully low-stress playoff run. Go Chargers!
Eh…maybe. What really seals the deal on what you are talking about is that the run game HAS to work and get you yards. And it did against my team, much to my chagrin.
You know, I hate that whole “Martyball” reference in a way… I understand what it means and whatnot but I do not think the Chargers employed that plan nor do I think that’s a plan that any team hangs it’s hat on. It’s fluid…if it’s working against a certain team (and by “working” I mean running the ball early and often, something the Bengals actually were doing until they inexplicably abandoned it), you keep employing it until they stop it, if they can. The Bengals never did, and Rivers only threw it what…twelve times? That’s not necessarily “Martyball”, it’s smart football, something the Bengals completely forgot about while they asked their game manager QB to throw it 50 times.
Now I’m sad again. WORST OC CALLED GAME BY BENGALS EVER.
And a bad performance by an otherwise stout run defense, which would have in turn altered the Chargers plan. But no sir.
Fuck.
Still feeling that one…
I suppose I was only talking to Chargers fans when I wrote that, so it probably needs better explanation. The very phrase “Martyball” is just an open wound for Charger fans these days. Where it used to describe a great run game that would impose its will on the opponent, in San Diego its now just a bitter insult for a cowardly turtling of an offense, running it up the middle for 2 yards on 3rd and 9 cause you’re scared of making a mistake in the passing game. Which is, of course, a grossly unfair way to sum up Marty’s career in a single word; but the horrifying end to the 2006 season is still all too evident in the way a lot of Charger fans feel about the franchise these days. A never-ending circular argument about the recent past - that we should have won a title that year, that Marty’s coaching style and ultra-conservatism stole it from us, which shouldn’t have been a surprise cause he always lost in the playoffs, but also that everything that happened since then is all Norv’s fault cause he was the worst coach ever even though he was a great offensive coordinator except that he always ran the ball on first down and we would have eventually won a title if only we’d kept Marty around cause he was the best and why would you ever fire a guy who just went 14-2, except we lost to the Patriots in the playoffs cause Martyball.
If that sounds like stupid rambling, then you now understand what I put up with out of my brother-in-law every season, which is also the reason why I engineered our season tickets so that he sits as far away from me as possible.
But I digress. The point of the original piece was simply that what we saw yesterday was the best example of what Martyball was supposed to mean as I’ve seen out of the Chargers in a decade - impose your will on the other guys with a strong run game and let THEM make the mistakes. It’s not an M.O. you see in the NFL much these days, but it’s still a valid gameplan in the right circumstances. And what never goes out of style is simply sticking with the basics and just executing better than the other guys, which is mostly what Martyball was really supposed to be about anyway.
The open wound for us Charger fans is A.J. Smith… worst guy to have making decisions when we were arguably the single most talented team in the league.
May I present:
A.J. fired Marty after a 14-2 season… WTF? 
A.J. drove Vincent Jackson out of town :mad:
A.J. LOVED Larry English as the BEST available LB :smack:
A.J. would not resign Darren Sproles
I do not like to use the word “hate” often, but it applies here. 
I don’t see the Chargers getting to the Super Bowl, but there’s certainly no reason they COULDN’T do what the Giants did (twice!) and go on a hot streak after squeaking into the playoffs at the last minute. They already know they can win in Denver.
I hate to disagree with someone that loves the Chargers like I do, but I don’t think it had anything to do with Martyball. He’s long gone and never made a come back on any other team. He was well paid for being fired too from what I remember.
chargerrich might be on to something with AJ being a snag in the Chargers past, but I hate to talk bad about someone who died of cancer for crying out loud.
Didn’t AJ come from Buffalo along with Bum Phillips son who was head coach there and became defense coach for the Chargers and then went on to fame with the head coaching job for the Dallas Cowboys and now defense coach for the Texans.
I’m glad he’s gone … this is a new team with a new look. Just look what Mike McCarthy has done for Rivers in slowing him down, wearing a glove, passing better and a lot less, having to play catch up a lot less has improved him overall. The running game is the best it’s been since LT and the defense is clicking even though Dalton was using them for practice shots all last game.
That fumble alone that Dalton made by falling down forward and the delayed slow motion football going right into a San Diego Chargers hands tells you something.
We won and I can’t wait till we play New England or Indianapolis for the AFC conference championship, but the Chargers have to beat Manning and the Broncos first.
Go Chargers
Hmmm… I know I’m probably the only Charger fan on the planet who still defends both AJ and Norv, but let me discuss these points in order.
AJ didn’t fire Marty, Dean Spanos did. Marty brought this on himself when he did the one thing he was told not to do - try to hire his brother Kurt. Marty wanted to force Dean to choose between him and AJ, and Dean chose AJ. Don’t believe me? Read this
Vincent Jackson was a jackass. Also, a great receiver. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers offered him a ridiculous contract and he took it - good riddance. This is the same guy who was arrested for driving on a suspended license… and had to be picked up on the side of the road by Philip Rivers… before a playoff game!
Larry English was a terrible pick. No argument.
I didn’t like losing Sproles either, and he’s certainly been terrific in New Orleans, but there’s a bit of 20/20 hindsight here. Do you know what his stats were in 2010, his final year in S.D.? 267 yards rushing for 0 touchdowns. 520 yards receiving with 2 touchdowns. And this is a guy who the Chargers had Franchise Tagged and then 1st and 3rd tendered to the tune of $14 million over 2 seasons. He’s been great for the Saints, but wouldn’t necessarily have been as good in S.D. But yes, I wish we had kept him too.
Not to start a fight or anything, but I really feel like AJ gets a lot of crap for things that went wrong and very little praise for the stuff he got right - and even now the Chargers are reaping the rewards of stuff he got right in his last couple years. Mathews has turned into the running back he was supposed to be. Melvin Ingram looks like a star in the making. He got all kinds of crap for the Eric Weddle draft day trade, and I don’t even want to think about how bad our defense would be without him. AJ did a lot right for San Diego.
Oh, and Mr. Quatro, I think you’re confusing AJ Smith with John Butler - he’s the one who died.
Some guy with nothing better to do actually filed suit asking for an injunction halting the Chargers’ continued participation in the playoffs.
ETA: Ah! The reason he has nothing better to do: he’s a guest of one of Pennsylvania’s fine correctional facilities.
Ahem… if Rivers and crew wins the whole enchilada, you’re welcome.
Here’s another article, similar to the one I quoted back in June or July from USA Today. This is from Yahoo Sports.
I could be wrong, but I had NO idea that A.J. Smith did of cancer (cite?). Last I knew he was hired by Washington just this last season.
Maybe you are referring to John Butler who came from Buffalo and died in 2003?
Bolteater beat me to it, sorry.
Yes, it was John Butler … I’m sorry and to that man that bet $10 on the Chargers to go to the Superbowl. Did you really do that?
Wouldn’t that come to about $1,500, wow!
Tomorrow is the big day for the Super Chargers, but today New England and Indianapolis get to decide where the San Diego Charger’s will play the AFC championship game at.
Will they play in cold New England or will they play in the dome at Indianapolis?
I say Indy due to the fact that we have already beat them once and I’m not looking for a repeat of the playoff game the Chargers had with New England (years ago) when LT was injured and sitting on the bench all covered up with a frown on his face.
This is one of the best playoff years I have seen … Go Chargers 
And it’s over. A good run, and they had a chance at the end, but they should have woken up a bit earlier in the game.
Totally agree. They did way better than we could have expected several weeks ago and they almost pulled it off today. If they could have stopped them on that one third and long with four minutes left, there could have been more magic.
Oh well.