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But, for those who like to see the glass half-full, here are a few positives you can take from the Chargers-Ravens game.
1. Rivers’ Judgment
All season Rivers has been getting heat for the number of turnovers he’s created. During Sunday’s game he had at least seven throwaways. Up until that game, he had tried to force the ball into nonexistent holes.
The most obvious example of this comes from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers game. Rivers was in motion, running for the sideline and tried to hit a Chargers’ receiver up the line. Instead it was easily intercepted by a Bucs defender.
Sunday, Rivers made an obvious adjustment.
He threw fifty-one passes for a total of 228 yards. The most-improved statistic, however, goes to his number of interceptions. For only the third time in eleven regular season games, Rivers had zero interceptions.
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The change in his stats wasn’t the only thing different about Rivers.
Anyone could see he was stepping into his throws again.
Which brings us to positive #2.
2. Makeshift Line Does Passable Job
The Chargers’ starting offensive line for the Ravens game was created the Friday before the game. Left tackle Jared Gaither went on injure-reserve for the rest of the season on Friday and the Chargers had to scramble.
Their starting line-up was:
Left tackle: rookie Mike Harris, who had played in six NFL games prior to Sunday’s kick-off. Left guard: Rex Hadnot, this was his first start for the Bolts, but before the Ravens he had started in 93 NFL games. Center: Nick Hardwick, ninth-year vet. Right guard: fourth-year Louis Vasquez. Right tackle: Jeromey Clary.
That meant that Rivers was trusting his entire blindside to either a rookie or a Chargers’ newbie.
Now, Rivers did get sacked six times for a total of 39 yards BUT for a line that had just been put together, they did a pretty good job.
Harris attributes that partially to who they are as a squad off the field.
“We’re all good friends,” Harris said. “O-line we’re a tight group. We can’t win if we can’t go out there and do our job. I felt like we had a good game. We kept Rivers as clean as possible there were a few plays I wish I could take back but we had a chance to win.”
