Boo Khaki

Dafuq did I just watch?

Terrifying that she's also regarded as more moderate and liberal than the current Home Secretary.

That defense is horrendously bad. I think they're a great bet for a one-and-done home loss in the playoffs because they can't stop anyone.

Chargers only clinch if they win, Jets lose to Jags, Pats lose to Bengals, and the Raiders lose to or tie the Steelers.

I don't see a problem with the McLaurin call as it's not the side judge's job to get WAS lined up legally. At the point where he asked he actually was lined up legally as he was off the line of scrimmage, so not in the neutral zone. What happens thereafter, more precisely, whether WAS are lined up legally at the point of the snap, is not for the officials to ensure. WAS #2 is in motion at the point where McLaurin enquires with the official, so as far as the side judge is aware #2 might well be about to go and cover up the Tackle making the formation perfectly legal. The fact he doesn't do this means the responsibility for getting himself up on the LoS and making the formation legal rests with McLaurin, not the side judge. Pre-snap penalties occur all the time. It isn't the job of officials to intervene and go 'hold on, you aren't lined up correctly, your formation is illegal', or hold players still for one second before the snap, or prevent player moving in motion towards the LoS. It is the job of the officials to throw a flag at the point of the snap when a technical infraction has occurred. It can not possibly function any other way, because until such point the ball is snapped there is no 'play' and there can not be an alignment infringement. The exception is false starts, but the reason that gets called pre-snap and the LoS reset is because there is safety issue with players reacting to movement and charging at QB's unabated. Again, at the point where McLaurin asked 'am i ok?', he actually was 'ok', even though it's not the Side judge's responsibility to ensure that.

A bit bizarre that the Chargers, who looked to be going absolutely nowhere a couple of weeks ago, can actually clinch a playoff spot next Monday if results go their way at the weekend and they beat the Colts on MNF. What's also bizarre is the way Staley's D has finally showed up in back to back weeks despite being chronically injured and Derwin James being inactive. Fair enough, the Dolphins O is completely out of sync and the Titans are totally one-dimensional, but they've played garbage offenses before and still got completely clowned. I'm still not a Staley believer, and its clear that even with the weapons back Lombardi really has no idea how to get the most out of this Chargers O, but if they can get Bosa back to shore up one edge, provide a pass rush, and Slater comes back and helps the protection, then the Chargers will be more than capable of knocking off teams like the Bengals and Titans in the playoffs, and giving the Bills and Chiefs a fright. Next few weeks will be interesting, because they are slated to play "weaker" opponents, so i'm curious to see whether the last few weeks improved performance is maintained or the Chargers stay true to Charger style and play down to the level of the opponent.

Collinsworth could just be honest and admit that the reason the playoff format was changed was because the Patriots once went 10-6 and didn't get in, and some people have incessantly whined and bitched about it ever since, despite it being a good 10 years ago at least. Samuel got absolutely mugged in the EZ

One of those ones that is the reason I've always thought 'fumble' rules need amended. Defense has been denied any opportunity to advance that purely because the zebras have jumped the gun.

Always think it's weird as hell looking seeing Gillan line himself up behind the Tackle rather than the LS, but it obviously works for him and they seem to be able to keep the rush off him, so

Always think it's hilarious that you can still absolutely clobber a QB from his blind side while he's in the middle of his throwing motion and with his feet planted, and it's not a penalty, yet if you grab him in a bear hug and put him on the ground as gently as you can you'll get flagged for RTP because of your own bodyweight. We're about one injury away from Defenses having to email a polite request to the QB to give himself up a week in advance of the snap.

8-5-1 looks enormously different to 7-6-1

Weird seeing him pop up. I honestly thought he'd drifted out of the league entirely. Was awesome in his first couple of years then really fell away.

That's weird calling that OPI when the pick has become so commonplace that it pretty much is just an accepted way to get WR's open now, and it's never, ever called at any other point.

Henry Ellard. What a player he was. One of my absolute favourites from that era.

As I said, I haven't seen him play, but I think purely from an operational perspective they probably should be trying to get him re-signed. He's the guy you drafted originally so you probably run with him until he absolutely proves he's not the guy, but beyond that, I don't think they'll be in a position to grab a QB in the draft with likely 7 or 8 QB-needy teams drafting ahead of them, the potential FA options like Carr aren't really all that enticing, and I'm uncertain Daboll would really want to be starting all over again in year two of his time with a new QB and and all the bedding-in that comes with that, especially so a rookie. I've always been a big Barkley fan, because I think on pure talent he's the only back of the last 10 years who is in anywhere close to the LT/Peterson echelon of potential greats. I argued elsewhere that despite the trend for not taking RB's high, the Giants were absolutely right to take him over Quentin Nelson or such because he's the sort of transcendent talent that would win a mediocre team games entirely on his own back, whereas a solid or even All-Pro non-skill position player just can not do that unless he's a totally game-destroying Edge or something. It's a pity about his injuries, but I still think he's genuinely the only current NFL back that could potentially end up being talked about with Emmitt Smith, Sanders, LT etc, he really is that talented.

@lichtie23 Do you think DJ has done enough yet to think about sitting down and trying to re-sign him, or do you think they'll let him walk? I haven't watched any NYG games this year so I don't really have anything to go on myself.

WAS sniffing it out right now. You don't see and entire front seven shift in unison like that unless they know precisely what's coming.

I'll never understand why players on the return team get involved in scrambles for the ball inside their own ten yard line. There's absolutely nothing you can do that results in a positive outcome. Just get your arse as far away as possible in the opposite direction.

I've muted the commentary, because the Chargers have been on SNF far too often this year and I am completely Cris Collinsworthed out.

Oh, I forgot to come in here and laugh at Eric Hosmer being DFA'd, so..... hahahahahaha! Enjoy playing in some no-mark shithole like KC for vet minimum next year, you absolute waster. Just a pity SD will still be on the hook for tens of millions you did nothing whatsoever to earn.

Would be quite interesting if this Giants/Commies match-up was week 18, because it would be a repeat of Chargers Raiders week 18 last year when a tie would take both teams into the playoffs. Ascending Washington v's slumping Giants. Big game for both.

There was an interesting youtube vid the other day, basically suggesting that the Titans are in a heap of short-term trouble. They aren't talented enough to compete for an AFC title so are never going to threaten a Superbowl, but at the same time Vrabel is competent and respected enough that he'll drag them to .500 every year with mediocre talent, so unless Willis is a huge improvement on Tannehill and they can unearth a load of weapons in the draft and FA, it's looking like more and more of the Jeff Fisher-like wheelspinning. I don't think it's really as bleak as the guy was implying because they play in a weak division and could probably still make a passable attempt at being competitive while in a mild rebuild, but as you probably know I've been saying for years that paying Tannehill like a top 10 QB was silly because they wedded themselves to a guy who was never going to get them over the hump of trying to compete with AFC powerhouse offences like the Chiefs and Bills. It's the same problem the Ravens have. Great D and a league-leading running game will take you so far, but if your QB is sub-standard and can't be relied upon to make the throws you need to make to win games, you are basically fighting with one hand tied behind your back. Should probably add that I'm not saying guys like Tannehill and Jackson aren't decent QB's, but they're just not upper tier guys and you shouldn't be paying them as such. Do people in Minnesota or Tennessee really honestly believe their QB's will drag their teams to Superbowls one day? Same reason the Raiders may well just let Carr walk. He's not bad enough to stink, but he's not Superbowl winning calibre either, so you really should be looking for the next guy instead of paying them to hang around and make you mediocre. Also, that NE lateral

It's difficult to assess him fairly given the total lack of weapons, but there are a lot of throws where he has plenty of time, no pressure, and he just straight up misses.

Chargers are the 6th seed right now, H2H over the Dolphins, 1 game lead over NE, NYJ, and a better record than the likely AFC South Winner. Remaining are- Colts on MNF Rams in a 'home' game at Sofi Denver in Colorado. None of these teams should be more than a speedbump after putting away Miami and Tenn in back to back weeks, but the Chargers will find some way to Charger it and make it more difficult than it needs to be.

Reverse Jinx Now you hoof the KO straight through the EZ. None of this dribble/squib pish