Raiders Bushwhack The Chargers

The Raiders are not a good team.  Not by any standards.  They start a quarterback who has not played meaningful football for most of the year.  Their star running back was injured and riding the pine.  But they can be dangerous if you don’t come to play with the requisite level intensity and skill that successful NFL teams do.  And on Thursday night, the listless Chargers played so poorly, they let a mediocre team whip their ass.

The main Raiders culprit…back up running back Michael Bush.  Darren McFadden’s understudy gashed the Chargers for 157 yards and one touchdown on 30 carries.  That’s 5.23 yards per carry…if you ask me, with that kind of production the Raiders should have given the ball to Michael Bush on every play because the Chargers weren’t stopping him.  5.23 yards per carry!  That’s a first down every other carry.

No the Raiders are not a good team, but the poor play by the Chargers certainly made them look like playoff contenders.  So, the question you have to ask yourself is, what do you call a team that loses badly to a mediocre team?  Well, if I am honest…the Chargers.  This team, the Chargers, have some serious systemic issues.  Philip Rivers is playing so poorly, Andy Dalton looks good.  And we start a bunch of players, I’ve never heard of…journeymen at best…players that do not resemble the pro bowl level players that John Butler and A. J. Smith have assembled in the past.  No my friend, this is a different Charger team…a mediocre team….a mediocre team in a weak division.  Gee, now I know what it must be like to be an NFC West fan.

Oh well.  If the Chargers are mediocre, at least the Charger Girls are exceptional…a winning team with a tradition of excellence.

So I’ve thought of something…the Chargers seem to play better when Mike Tolbert is the starting running back.   Hey Norv, bench Mathews and start TOLBERT!  Just an observation…and it has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I have Mike Tolbert in my fantasy league.  But I digress.

So let’s begin this week’s coverage of The Hottest Dance Team in the NFL with the Line Captains: Natalie, Lauren O., Katie and Tiffany.

This week’s Charger Girl of the Day comes from the land down under and consistently gives me some great shots.  Introducing…Aussie Emma, your Charger Girl of the Day.

Let’s continue our coverage with some photos of Alexis, Angela, Anjelica, Ariel, former Jets Flight Crew member Christie, and Clarisse.

The cavalcade of absolutely gorgeous (thought I was going to say “fabulous”, didn’t you!) Charger Girls continues with Courtney, Culture, Emily, CGOTD Aussie Emma, Hannah, and Hayley.

Jackie, Jennifer, Kara, Katelyn, Kimberly, and former Clipper Spirit dancer Lauren P. head up our next group of Charger Girls.

We conclude this week’s coverage of the AB FAB Charger Girls with Marissa, Melissa, Nicole, Nina, Starkesha and Tawnie.

The Raiders are not a good team, but they have the potential to become one.  They are playing better as the season progresses and are in first place in the AFC West, albeit a weak AFC West.

The Chargers are an enigma.  They started the season out fast, but their wins were unconvincing and there were indications that this Charger team was not as good as Charger teams of the past.  The loss of running back Darren Sproles to free agency has hurt this team in ways one could not have imagined and the normally stout defense has been rebuilt around journeymen defensive players, not the All Pro defense of years past.

As we approach the mid point of the season, the Chargers are at a crossroad, a crossroad with long term implications.  Will they turn their season around?  Or is this general malaise, the shape of things to come?  I don’t know for certain, but it looks like to me that this is the beginning of the inevitable decline that all good teams experience.

No, the Raiders are not a good team, but neither are the Chargers right now.

 

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For more Charger Girl articles, please visit my website, thehottestdanceteam.wordpress.com.