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Well, Mike Smith is 5-0 in West Coast games. I know, weird. Oakland & SD in '08, San Fran in '09, Seattle in '10 & '11. The only loss suffered by Smitty in the Pacific Time Zone was our playoff loss to Arizona.

I haven't really seen enough of the Chargers to really have a good gauge at how tough an opportunity they should be. My initial thought is that we are a better team than they are, and we should win because I trust Smitty more to get his A or B effort in SD than I do with Norv trying to coax it out of his team.

Will have to look at injury monitor all week since Gates and Matthews are close to coming back. It will be a tough game but I think Atlanta's defense will make more stops than San Diego. San Diego has gone up against Oakland and Tennessee to start off the season, which hasn't tested their mediocre defense. They will get tested by Atlanta and I can see the passing game going crazy. Hopefully Mr.DUI himself can step up against his old team and look half decent.

Hopefully Owens returns this game, I want to see how he plays. Didn't get to see enough of him last night.

Pudge, being in SD I get to see the Chargers a lot so here are my keys to the game:

1. Take advantage of their O-line - We must get to Rivers their O-line is in shambles Gaither healthy isnt and if he doesnt start then expect to see this undrafted guy named Harris in there. They have been shuffling O-linemen and really the only constant is Hardwick who is one of the best centers in the league in my opinion.

2. Bracket Gates- Make there WRs beat us he is the one they are really trying to get the ball to, they use Meachem and Floyd to stretch the D and let Gates work the middle of the field.

3. Block Shaun Phillips- He is playing great he has been really disruptive so far this season but then again the Raider's and Titan's O-lines both leave a lot to be desired.

4. Play for the pass- Their running game has been non existent much like ours but the only difference is that they have been actually trying to establish the run. This might change if Matthews is able to play, but I doubt it Matthews hasnt impressed since he left NorCal(Fresno) to SoCal(The Chargers).

5. Spread them Out- They are pretty stout against the run but their secondary is sketchy. Outside of Weddle (who I think is overrated) they have a lot of players who are known for getting abused while in coverage down the field. Jammer is effective while in Bump and run coverage but struggles to find the ball in the air and has horrible ball skills. Cason is effective in zone but he is notorious for getting turned around on double moves and lacks "make up speed" to get back in the play. Bigby basically is another LB he has played well in the first two games but he likes to come up and play in the box. They play alot of zone and try to incorporate a lot of zone blitzes, Matt has to find the windows and take some shots.

My prediction:

Falcons win 27-17

I'm not expecting a lot out of Atlanta this week... It's a short week and the team is having to travel to the west coast after opening up the season in KC.

It's a trap game and we should be able to beat San Diego but a short week and a long trip dramatically increase the chances of Atlanta dropping their first game of the season.

^^^this.

After not getting a sack against Denver, I expect John Abraham to make a meal out of the undrafted rookie left tackle.

Those were some of the issues I was thinking about Reezy. Without Vincent Jackson, the Chargers don't have that outside threat that is really scary. Floyd, Meachem, Royal, Brown, etc. are all good receivers, but not the types of guys that can single-handedly change the game. So the focus in the secondary should be on containing Gates, and hoping that Matthews (if he plays, and I've heard he will) doesn't run it down our throats.

The Broncos were very effective running the ball. I think much of that was because we were in our nickel and thus made us weaker up the middle because now corners were asked to take on TEs and O-linemen, which is not a matchup they can win. I wonder how the Chargers will deal with it.

I think we should be able to attack their defense. Haven't really seen them to know if they have anybody scary. I know they were high on Melvin Ingram heading into the season, but will be curious if he's going to be effective this week.

Like I said, I think the Falcons are the better team, and if they play like that then they should win. But the thing about the NFL, is that teams on the road can be erratic.

It's tough for any team to go out to the west coast on a short week and win......San Diego aren't who they were a few years ago, but still will prove to be a tough test.

I can't say it's a trap game, because of the quality of the opponent, but I can see the Falcons possibly laying an egg....

Time to coach 'em up Smitty.....

Let's not forget that Robert Meachem knows our team.

If anything plays a factor, it will be the travel. But I think our guys are on a roll. Hopefully the defense isn't too tired from the short week/travel/long physical MNF game. If not, we take this one.

Could we possibly give up another 100-yard rushing game? Could we possibly leave the west coast with another 80 rushing yardage total?

http://www.profootballweekly.com/2012/0 ... rs-offense

WR Floyd still a top target in Chargers offense

Posted Sept. 15, 2012 @ 11:58 a.m. ET
By Kevin Fishbain

Despite all the preseason talk about free-agent additions Robert Meachem and Eddie Royal, Chargers QB Philip Rivers relied on two pass catchers he knows well in Week One.

Of Rivers’ 33 pass attempts, eight went to TE Antonio Gates and six went to WR Malcom Floyd. Meachem and Royal each had two apiece. We had heard earlier this summer that Gates looked as good as he had in recent years — though a rib injury suffered in Week One may slow him — so his targets come as no surprise, but Floyd was flying under the radar during camp. We hear one reason for that may have been that Rivers spent a lot of time working with Meachem and Royal, as Floyd needed the fewest reps with Rivers of the group.

Eventually, Meachem and Royal will become bigger parts of the offense, but early on, Rivers is certainly more comfortable with Floyd, who was on the field for 15 more snaps than Meachem in Week One. Moving forward, Meachem and Royal will certainly see more snaps as they get acquainted with the offense, but it may not come at the expense of Floyd.

I have my tickets so me and my Bird Gang will be in attendance so I will be able to do a "Couple thoughts from the Stands" post come Monday. Like I said being stationed in San Diego I am able to se their preseason and regular season games, and I really feel that the Chargers just dont have the type of team to expose and magnify the Falcons weaknesses. They only have one disruptive pass rusher and they have a secondary that does not match up well against the Falcons WRs. The only thing they do have is they have a top 15 QB and they are at home (Which really doesnt matter because they played great in Kansas City and that is a much more difficult place to play then the Q which is either always full of the other teams fans or empty lol) now if this was the team with LT, Vincent Jackson, Darren Sproles, and a healthy Antonio Gates it would be a different story. So like I stated in my previous post barring that the Falcons dont come out and lay an egg I have the Birds winning 27-17.

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I just read that the game will be blacked out in San Diego....Really? This team is 2-0!

Maybe CHarger fans are resigned to the fact that they know they are moving to L.A.

why does San Fran merit two teams?...Why not move the Raiders to Anaheim, then you've got north Cali, LA and SanDiego covered?

Two cities in the Bay area and two widely different fan bases. Anaheim no longer has a football friendly stadium, the expansion made to the Big A into the Bigger A for the Rams was demolished after the Rams left town, it was returned to the Baseball friendly confines of the Big A configuration.

I dont know if I would qualify 'Oakland' as a 'city'. More like 'Detroit West'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKHPezpi ... r_embedded

Much like the game against the Broncos, this game is a toss-up.

I'm not worried about Matthews, he hasn't been very impressive, is running behind a below average OL, and is returning too early from a pretty serious injury (especially for a RB).

However, Rivers is playing damn good football right now. We NEED to take advantage of their rookie LT. Don't rely on the 1v1, confuse him, make him think what he has to do in thisorthat situation. We do that, and we have a good shot to force Rivers into throws he doesn't want to make but does anyway.

On offense, we NEED to run the ball. They have a very effective pass rush but their run defense and secondary are suspect.