A True MUST WIN Game

[4bubba]

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Reprinted from the Match-Ups Forum
http://www.madjacksports.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=26

Giants @ Chargers

Eli manning snubbed the Chargers and the City of San Diego in last years draft by saying he would not play for San Diego, even if they picked him. He pouted on national TV after they picked him and he said he would sit out the year.
Now he is back in San Diego.

There should be much electricity at the stadium for tonights game. This is beyond a MUST-WIN game for the Chargers and especially the fans.
The season so far is an insult to the fans. If Eli comes away with a win, it will be devastating to the fans.
The Chargers schedule after today (maybe 0-3)

Oct 2 @New England
Oct 10 Pittsburgh
Oct 16 @Oakland
Oct 23 @Philadelphia
Oct 30 Kansas City
Nov 6 @N.Y. Jets
Week 10 BYE


The Chargers could easily be 0-9 at the BYE week.

To the fans, this will be one of the most important games in years.


This is from an e-mail from a friend who has been a Charger season ticket holder for years and will be at the game........
" Not much riding on this game...only the respect of the nation, future ticket
sales, a new stadium..."

I am not sauing they will win, but,
It is MUST-WIN for the Chargers



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[4bubba]

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GIANTS AT CHARGERS

Eli can go a long way to proving he belongs
First road game, against quality foe, big test for Manning

BY ARTHUR STAPLE
N Y Daily News Staff COorrespondent

September 25, 2005

SAN DIEGO - Tom Coughlin would say every game is a test. Following up back-to-back seasons that contained eight-game losing streaks, it's hard to argue with the logic of the Giants' coach.

However, tonight's visit to Qualcomm Stadium here for a date with the Chargers, the Giants' second national prime-time game in six days, has a distinctly different feel than the Giants' first two games.

This one is on the road, obviously, after two home games - the NFL's designation of Monday's win over the Saints notwithstanding. And it's across the country, in the spot where Chargers fans had hoped Eli Manning would be into his second season as the team's quarterback, not as the visiting enemy.

But the surrounding elements are nothing new. "We play in Philly every year," Michael Strahan reminded on Thursday. If Strahan's balky back keeps him from playing, it'll be an even bigger test.

It's on the field where Manning and the Giants will face their toughest challenge of the season. The Chargers have more weapons on offense than either the Cardinals or Saints, with running back LaDainian Tomlinson, quarterback Drew Brees and tight end Antonio Gates. That none of the three has played particularly well through the Chargers' 0-2 start doesn't mean all three have lost their skills.

"I, quite frankly, don't pay any attention to the 0-2," Coughlin said. "I'm looking at the 12-4 (Chargers record in 2004), the quality of this football team and we know that we are going into a very difficult situation."

A situation made more difficult by the rather high number of passing yards the Giants have allowed despite their 2-0 start. Save perhaps the inconsistency Manning has showed passing the ball, there has been no area of the Giants that has been worse than pass defense.

Much of the fault has fallen on the defensive backs, notably Will Allen, who was pulled from Monday's game at the start of the fourth quarter for rookie Corey Webster, who has practiced only once this week due to a strained quadriceps.

Allen will start alongside his usual cornerback partner, Will Peterson, so there won't be any changes from Monday in the starting lineup. And the Giants have only allowed two touchdowns in the two wins while getting a plus-five turnover ratio. But the 691 passing yards allowed is still an eye-catching number.

"With as much pressure as we bring people, we are leaving some holes in the underneath coverage. It's just natural, you can't cover everything," Coughlin said. "I don't think you can say you are pleased with the amount of yardage . . . We have got to work on better individual one-on-one coverage. But, what we are pleased with is winning and getting the turnovers and keeping them out of the end zone."

Manning has been answering almost as many non-football questions as football ones since the season started. First, it was his sprained elbow; then, the emotional factor of playing the Saints, his hometown team, in the aftermath of the devastation in New Orleans. After that, one would tend to doubt that 70,000 Chargers fans booing the heck out of him would be a big factor.


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[4bubba]

Settling Eli score secondary to a win
By Kevin Acee
SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
September 25, 2005


Eli is here, he who might be the most hated man in San Diego sports history if it weren't for the fact he doesn't matter at this point.

If the baby Manning's refusal to play for the Chargers before the 2004 draft was a slap in the face of a staggering franchise, a loss tonight to his New York Giants would be a kick in the groin of this season that was supposed to be so splendid.


Players acknowledged this week that another week without victory could double them over and make almost impossible the salvage job they feel confident is about to commence.

"You can't go to 0-3," Chargers linebacker Randall Godfrey said. "This first quarter of the season is so important. We have to at least get even."

Too much rides on a nationally televised game this evening.

Too much looms in the month ahead, wherein the Chargers will visit both Super Bowl participants from a year ago, play at Oakland and host Pittsburgh and Kansas City.

"Obviously, we're going to play better teams," left tackle Roman Oben said. "There's no New Orleans in the middle to help us out."

Oben and others insist, however, they are concerned with tonight alone. They know, as running back LaDainian Tomlinson articulated: "We messed around for two games and dug ourselves in a hole already. We can't afford to dig ourselves in any deeper holes."

One of life's beauties is experience. And while the Chargers franchise is not all that familiar with in-season turnarounds ? nine of the 10 Chargers teams that started 0-2 finished with losing records ? there are those on the team now who know about significant turnarounds.

Oben is one of four Chargers veterans who have been on teams that worked through an early-season mire, adjusted mentally and physically and won enough to make the playoffs.

Those players say the Chargers' focus now needs to be inward and immediate.
"Every man has got to look at himself in the mirror and say, 'What can I do that I didn't do the past two weeks?' " said Oben, a member of the 1997 Giants, who began the season 1-3 and finished 10-5-1.

There was a lot of talk about mirrors this week.

Head coach Marty Schottenheimer demanded it.

"They understand in no uncertain terms that ultimately each of us will look in the mirror and decide exactly where we need to go," he said. "And if we find those that maybe aren't headed down the road we're looking for, we'll make sure we address that and get their attention directed where it need be."

Players said this week that, as a whole, they were more focused and lively in practice, when there was at times energy lacking in previous weeks.

Asked how that could be, shrugs took the place of answers. Some players conjectured there was a smidge of overconfidence early on, which reality has replaced.

"We can't go on last year," said Clinton Hart, a special teams standout and backup safety. "Last year is done. We've got a whole new schedule. We have to know everyone is going to try to show us we were a fluke last year."

Hart started nine games for the 2003 Philadelphia Eagles, who went from 0-2 to 12-4 and the NFC Championship Game.

"We buckled down," Hart said of the '03 Eagles. "We knew what was at stake, just like I feel we are doing here."

The thread expressed by the players who have been on teams that turned struggles into success: coming to believe they were good.

Free safety Bhawoh Jue was with the Green Bay Packers last season for a 1-4 start that shifted into a 10-6 finish. He said Packers players finally said after a Monday night loss, "This is getting embarrassing."

Said Jue: "We made up our minds that we were too good to be doing this. This is different in that we've lost by a total of seven points. We know we're good. We've just got to fight and keep everyone together."

The Chargers have chosen to view close losses to Dallas and Denver through a positive lens. Both games were ultimately decided in the final seconds, both could have been decided differently but for a few plays.

They spoke this week of fixing a few things, remaining confident and for the most part just maintaining.

"You keep hammering away," Jue said, "and eventually the nail is going to sink."

They remain stoutly confident that, with primarily the same players on a team that went 12-4 a year ago, they have the talent to win consistently.

They have identified the important work to be done as in their heads.

"We're going to hang tough," said Godfrey, who played for the Cowboys in 1996 when they turned 1-3 into 10-6. "The majority of it is mental. Once you start winning you get confidence going. You can't get used to losing."

 

[4bubba]

Updated: Sep. 23, 2005, 7:11 PM ET
Strahan listed as questionable for Sunday night with sore back
Associated Press
National Football League News Wire

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- New York Giants defensive end Michael Strahan missed practice Friday with a sore back and was listed as questionable for Sunday night's game at San Diego.

Strahan, who also missed some practice time last week with back spasms before recording five tackles and a sack against the New Orleans Saints on Monday night, did not appear too worried about his latest problem.

"I'm fine," Strahan said. "If I don't play on Sunday, then be concerned."

Giants coach Tom Coughlin said Strahan would seek treatment from a chiropractor, as he did before Monday night's game.

"It always concerns me, but he fought his way back last weekend and played and played well," Coughlin said. "So, he's had two good days of practice. Hopefully, we'll get him back to where he can perform as good as or better than last week."

Strahan, the NFL's active career sack leader, has had back spasms in previous years but they have never caused him to miss a game. He missed the last eight games of the 2004 season with a torn pectoral muscle.

Before being injured against Chicago last Nov. 7, Strahan had played in 137 consecutive regular season games.

 

[4bubba]

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The Chargers are 12-1-2 ATS in their last 15 regular-season games (7-1-1 at home)

The Giants are 8-1 ATS in their last nine. However, New York is just 2-7 SU and ATS in its last nine games on grass.



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[gjn23]

poeple forget (and i live here in sd so I KNOW PEOPLE FORGET)

this is almost the same cast of losers who went 4-12 two years ago

this IS the same cast of losers who went 1-5 vs playoff teams last year (see nobody here remembers that.....they all remember winning the games vs the HORRIBLE teams on the schedule last year)

their QB is a noodle arm who had a great season last year because their scheme was totally different and the ol was healthy all year

their wr are actually horrible...they have no speed on the outside and db are finally realizing that and playing tight coverage on the wr

their dl gets little pressure on the opposing qb

their rb and te are studs but their off coord seems to forget this half the game

their coach is the most conservative coach out there when the game/playoffs are on the line....


SO in a "must win" do you really have faith in Marty Moose to win and cover a 6pt spread????????