It was a thrilling win in New York.
Earlier last week, LaDainian Tomlinson called the game “very important” and on Sunday Philip Rivers marched the Chargers 80 yards down the field in the final seconds of the game to beat the Giants 21-20. The glory may have gone to Rivers and the offense, but it was the defense that stepped up and let him have the chance. Craig Elsten and Chris Ello with 619Sports.net broke down what the win means for the Bolts in a post game podcast.
“There’s the game we’ve been waiting for,” Elsten said, “the game that every Chargers fan has been waiting for.”
For 58 minutes the Chargers (5-3) struggled to move the ball and arguably did not look like a team that belongs in the post season, but after a late game interception, the Chargers defense was able to hold the Giants (5-4), who had the ball on the 4 yard line, to just a field goal and gave Phillip Rivers a second chance.
“Let’s load up the Super Bowl bandwagon now, there’s plenty of room, just step aboard, here we go, we’re now on course to where we all thought we were going to go in the beginning of the season,” Ello said sarcastically.
On the positive side of things, the Chargers were able to head to the east coast and come away with a big win. The offense may have struggled with a lack of a running game and a few dropped passes, but the victory was the first of the season for the Chargers against a team with a winning record.
In the first half, the Chargers defense had a tough time getting off the field, but they came up big in the second half.
“The Giants went 0-6 on third downs in the second half and that’s a remarkable stat that frankly I didn’t think was possible for the Chargers,” Elsten said.
Ello and Elsten, like most Chargers fans, we’re very pleased with the Chargers third straight victory, but they still need some convincing.
“If you want to be a realistic contender in the AFC they had to have a win like this,” Ello said, “We’ll see in the next two weeks with Philadelphia and then Denver, we’ll find out if this team really belongs.”
