Less than two days after the Chargers imploded, yet again, against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the team is already saying that they can’t look back.
They are only looking forward to Denver.
And Denver is an intimidating opponent. Broncos’ quarterback Peyton Manning is as hot as he ever was.
Against Carolina, Mannning threw for 301 yards and ended up with a quarterback rating of 103.1. After a sputtering start to the season, Denver seems to clicking in all the ways that matter.
And the Chargers know it.
"This is a really big game against an outstanding football team," said Chargers’ Head Coach Norv Turner. “Defensively they’re playing as well as anyone in the league right now. They’re able to pressure the quarterback as well as anybody. Offensively they’re as balanced as you can be and they’re capable of making big plays in the passing game.”
Pressuring the quarterback is something San Diego has a special sensitivity to.
Chargers’ quarterback Philip Rivers has not had the stellar season fans are used to seeing from him. He’s thrown off his back foot a lot more and that’s led to poor decision-making. Those decisions have led to interceptions during key times in the game.
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But still, the team doesn’t want to think about that anymore.
They want to move on.
“We’re definitely pushing on to the next game,” defensive back Corey Lynch said. “And Denver is the next opponent. We keep saying it’s 16 one-game seasons so we have another season to play next week.”
Running back Jackie Battle had numerous reps earlier in the season but got only one carry against the Bucs. He took that carry for 21 yards. But he says if they have any chance of winning the next, they have to forget the last.
“It’s just like any scenario in a game,” Battle said. “If you have a bad play you can’t be thinking about the bad play and move on to the next one. You’re not going to be successful thinking about the last play, the last bad play. It’s the same thing with the whole game in general. You can’t look back at the last game and still be hurting on it. We have to move on.”
The Chargers play in Denver Sunday. They kick off at 1:25 PST.
