86spike said:
Again, those late passes that torched Denver were when Jammer wound up in because of Harris's injury. If Harris plays (getting an MRI in the AM), Jammer will ride the pine.
As pointed out above, it's definitely not that simple. In the pregame thread I mentioned how one dimensional both of Denver's defensive units are, and you agreed with me. But San Diego did nothing to take advantage of this, at least in the first half. Against the run stuffing package of Knighton, Williams, Ianacho, etc., San Diego didn't throw once on first down until there was 5:00 left before halftime and they were already behind 14-0. This allowed Denver to force 2nd and 3rd and long and use Phillips, Jackson, Ayers, etc. in an effective way. Because of this, they were able to get after Rivers.
We both know, and agreed a few days ago, that Denver has a unit that is quite good at stuffing the run and one that is quite good at rushing the QB, but they don't have a unit that can do both. San Diego should have taken advantage of this and matched their playcalling to Denver's personnel, and didn't until the 2nd half. I think New England will be smarter about these matchups, but then again I expected San Diego to be, too.