National Football League

Still time for playoff charge

Published Dec. 13, 2010 12:00 a.m. ET

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My apologies to the Chargers: Last week I buried them and today I will resurrect them. Sorry, but I think they still have an opportunity to reach the playoffs.

Of course, they have to win out and cross their fingers that the Chiefs lose to the Rams, Titans or Raiders. But that’s not an unrealistic request, especially if Brodie Croyle, now 0-10 as a starter, has to quarterback again for Matt Cassel.

The Chiefs, the AFC West leaders, definitely resembled impostors Sunday in sunny California. They lost 31-0, failed to convert one third down and finished with 67 yards, their lowest offensive output since 1961. Hoping to inspire Jamaal Charles to a big day, the Chiefs gave him a big fat raise on Saturday and he repaid them with 49 yards on 12 touches. This from their leader who had been averaging 126.3 yards a game.

Still, San Diego’s performance begs the question, “Why can’t you always play like this?” Don’t forget that the Raiders humbled them a week ago just as badly as they dominated the Chiefs on Sunday. It’s pretty obvious the Chargers are a great front-running team.

If they get a quick lead, their defense is good enough to smother most offenses. They did it to the Colts and also the first-place Jaguars. Plus, their most redeeming game, the one that stands out now is their three-point loss to the Patriots.

At the moment, the 11-2 Patriots look like a team punching their ticket to Super Bowl XLV, and San Diego had several chances to beat them.

The Chargers’ win Sunday started in typical fashion with Philip Rivers, their MVP candidate, getting in the face of Chiefs defender Shaun Smith. Rivers always says it’s just in fun, but he’s the only superstar quarterback who acts like Ray Lewis or Bart Scott and barks at the opposition like he wants to go into the alley and fight.

“We want to look up Jan. 2 and know we’ve done all we can do,” Rivers said, referring to the final day of the regular season. “Obviously, there are games we’d love to change, have back, but after we got to 6-6, we knew every game became a playoff game. That’s what we’re facing in these final three games.”

We will know quickly where the Chargers stand because they host the fired-up San Francisco 49ers on Thursday. Yes, the team with the best talent in the NFC West is back in contention at 5-8. You may think that’s absurd talk, but maybe you haven’t checked out the teams in that division lately.

There is bad news and good news down the stretch for San Diego.

Pro Bowl tight end Antonio Gates didn’t play against the Chiefs and he might skip Thursday’s game, too. Receiver Legedu Naanee also is out. But Vincent Jackson returned against the Chiefs and caught two passes and not too many boos for his foolish training-camp holdout. Jackson has the ability to dominate a game if he wants to. Also, No. 1 pick Ryan Mathews also finally performed as promised. Mathews and Mike Tolbert combined for 131 yards and two touchdowns.

The Chargers are alive. All they have to do is win three straight and pray for one Kansas City loss. San Diego owns the tiebreaker if both finish 10-6.

What would Elway do?

There is no question that on a public-relations level the hiring of Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway would be a positive move for Broncos owner Pat Bowlen. A lot has gone wrong in Denver since the firing of Mike Shanahan and the shortsighted hiring of offensive coach Josh McDaniels. Even Bill Belichick will tell you McDaniels was not ready to be a head coach.

But Bowlen didn’t listen and before you knew it, two of the Broncos’ most valuable players were out the door, both under rather confusing circumstances.

McDaniels wanted to trade Jay Cutler because he didn’t return his phone calls and also to show him he was the new boss in town. Somehow both the new coach and Bowlen messed up their relationship with their franchise quarterback, basically forcing them to trade him to the Bears.

This year, McDaniels and Bowlen agreed not to trade Brandon Marshall and before you knew it, Bowlen told the receiver he could explore trade possibilities, putting the club in a horrible negotiating position with their one remaining offensive star. Eventually, they were forced to trade him to Miami. There are a ton of miscommunication stories in the McDaniels-Bowlen relationship.>

Which brings me to Elway, and whether the organization is willing to trust in the former quarterback’s work ethic and football decisions. I think Elway, unlike Dan Marino in Miami, is willing to roll up his sleeves and work. He’s proved to be a sound businessman with his late arena league team and the auto dealerships he sold to AutoNation Inc.

But I also believe Elway doesn’t feel Kyle Orton and Tim Tebow are quarterbacks the Broncos can win with. I mean, win a championship with.

And until the Broncos come to the same conclusion —- Orton is merely a very solid backup quarterback and Tebow’s style will never succeed in the NFL —- there is no sense in hiring Elway, who would definitely push for wholesale changes in personnel.

I’ve spoken with two general managers and they agree with my evaluations. Also, you can bet Elway is going to have a hard time accepting a quarterback who isn’t, well, even close to being John Elway.

Granted, there may not be such a quarterback on Earth. The new, improved Michael Vick may be the closest comparison to John’s athleticism coming out of Stanford. Auburn’s Cam Newton is strong and can run like a young Elway, but his throwing mechanics need a lot of work.

The first thing the Broncos should do is either switch Tebow’s position or try to trade him to a team that believes in him as a quarterback prospect. If they can get a third- or fourth-round pick for him, they should do it as soon as they can when trading resumes next year.

The Broncos should cut their losses and move on from the many blunders committed by McDaniels. If they don’t, I’m sure Elway is better off staying home.

Loosen up

You have to love Jets coach Rex Ryan revealing that he considered benching Mark Sanchez during Sunday's loss to Miami. Maybe he should have benched offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer and quarterbacks coach Matt Cavanaugh, too.

Yes, Sanchez looks like he’s going in reverse, losing his confidence and staring down receivers and playing like a rookie again. But the coaching staff deserves some heavy criticism, too, for their overly conservative approach to offensive football. The Jets have three solid receivers — the Rams’ Sam Bradford would give up a few paychecks for players like Santonio Holmes and Braylon Edwards — and a quality tight end in Justin Keller. But the Jets’ offense never seems to be attacking anyone. They like to run and pound you and hope to convert on third down.

This is an offense that lacks confidence, from top to bottom. Schottenheimer, much like his father, Marty, is one conservative play-caller. And I can bet Cavanaugh has ripped into Sanchez many a time for dropping his head and feeling sorry for himself. That’s his style.

Ryan dropped this dilemma on his offense. He always thought his defense would win every game and all the offense had to do was not mess up. Rex has quickly discovered his offense must do much, much more than that.

Well, the Jets better resolve this internal conflict and open up the offense and start attacking or they won’t even make the playoffs.

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