Click here to see all recaps on a single page
| Other Week 3 Game Recaps | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ARI at BAL | BUF at NE | CAR at ATL | CIN at SEA | CLE at OAK | DAL at CHI | DET at PHI | IND at HOU |
| JAX at DEN | MIA at NYJ | MIN at KC | NYG at WAS | SD at GB | SF at PIT | STL at TB | TEN at NO |
Week 3 Game Recap: San Diego Chargers 24, Green Bay Packers 31
What you need to know
| San Diego Chargers |
Things are getting mighty testy for the Chargers after their second consecutive loss. As if the loss weren't bad enough, their offensive stars were seen bickering on the sideline. RB LaDainian Tomlinson was seen angrily shouting at Philip Rivers following an incomplete pass, and Rivers responded by shouting and then looking away. The two were later seen apparently making up with a fist bump, but it appeared to be a bit half-hearted. Time will tell if this has any bearing whatsoever for San Diego. For what it's worth, the Chargers offense didn't score another touchdown on their last four possessions following the sideline incident.
RB LaDainian Tomlinson openly vented his frustrations as his stat line and the team suffered once again. He did post 95 yards from scrimmage and a touchdown, but he just can't get anything going in the run game (62 yards on 22 carries, 2.8 YPC).
QB Philip Rivers looked better than he has all season. His final statistics were outstanding, and only begin to tell the story about how efficient he really was. Unfortunately for him, his performance will be remembered by his all-advised interception late in the fourth quarter that all but ended any comeback hopes.
TE Antonio Gates was once again unstoppable. At one point in the first half, Rivers targeted him five times in a row and on nine of eleven passes overall.
| Green Bay Packers |
QB Brett Favre played incredibly well, en route to tying Dan Marino for the top spot on the league's all-time passing touchdown list with 420. He played about as well as he has in years, and seemed genuinely enthused to be out there from beginning to end.
Partly due to the success of the passing game, Green Bay didn't have much of a rushing attack to speak of. While RB DeShawn Wynn was supposed to get more touches, that never really materialized as the team took to the air on 45 of 58 offensive plays.
WR Donald Driver withstood a vicious hit early in the game to turn in a fine performance. His WR partners, James Jones and Greg Jennings also played very well and gave Brett Favre plenty of downfield options all game long.
What you ought to know
| QB Philip Rivers, Pass: 27 - 36 - 306 - 3 TD / 1 INT, Rush: 1 - -1 - 0 |
Rivers played an excellent game from a technical standpoint. His passes were, for the most part, crisp and accurate. He hit players perfectly in stride all game long, and really seemed to have a terrific connection with TE Antonio Gates. Rivers' touchdown pass to Vincent Jackson from 27 yards out was a thing of beauty, and he engineered a very efficient two minute drive to close out the first half that resulted in a touchdown pass to rookie Craig Davis. Unfortunately for Rivers, his day didn't finish quite as well as it began. Following an incomplete pass on third down late in the third quarter, Rivers and LaDainian Tomlinson were seen shouting at one another on the sideline. Rivers, apparently frustrated with what the star running back had to say, turned and walked away disgustedly. The two were later seen making up, but not quite as demonstratively as they had just been arguing. Later, Rivers sailed another third down pass over the head of Vincent Jackson that allowed Green Bay to get the ball back with a chance to take the lead. They did, on a touchdown to Greg Jennings. Upon taking over possession, Rivers tried forcing a ball over the middle of the field to Tomlinson that was intercepted by LB Nick Barnett that all but finished the game.
| RB LaDainian Tomlinson, Rush: 22 - 62 - 0, Rec: 3 - 33 - 1 (5 targets) |
Perhaps the only person more frustrated at this point than a LaDainian Tomlinson owner is the man himself. The normally reserved, soft-spoken Tomlinson lashed out on the sideline against QB Philip Rivers late in the third quarter following an incomplete pass on third down. It was unclear what it was about, but it was very out of character for Tomlinson. Perhaps he was simply frustrated by his own lack of productivity, which once again rendered his rushing duties almost meaningless (62 yards on 22 carries for a paltry 2.8 YPC). Tomlinson did manage to salvage a halfway decent fantasy game by adding another score in the passing game. He took a short screen from Rivers and scampered 21 yards to the end zone about midway through the third quarter. But that was far and away the highlight of his day, as the Green Bay run defense did a very solid job of bottling him up all game long. One other note: one of Tomlinson's receptions/targets was a ball that was batted up in the air at the line of scrimmage and wasn't actually intended for him -- but he gets the target and the stats anyway. The play ended up being a 14 yard gain.
| RB Michael Turner, Rush: 4 - 12 - 0 |
Turner's role was almost nonexistent, despite the repeated struggles of LaDainian Tomlinson. Turner has to remain on fantasy rosters simply because of his upside, but at this point his role on the team is more of a true backup to Tomlinson rather than a complement.
| WR Vincent Jackson, Rec: 6 - 98 - 1 (7 targets) |
Jackson's day began well enough, hauling in a 27 yard strike from Philip Rivers down the right sideline early in the contest. Rather than continuing to go to him downfield, however, Jackson was only thrown to once more the entire first half. It wasn't until late in the contest when the team fell behind that they started looking to Jackson regularly again. He made a great diving catch late in the fourth quarter that really showed off his immense athleticism, but he appears to be stuck in a situation right now where he is a great talent but without a tremendous opportunity to make a lot of plays. His stat line of 6-98-1 looks fantastic, but then again the Chargers aren't going to have a ton of games where they throw the ball 36 times. One thing that is apparent at this point is that Jackson does a great job of making the most out of the targets he does get.
| WR Craig Davis, Rec: 4 - 31 - 1 (7 targets) |
Davis quietly posted four receptions and a touchdown without having his name called all that often. He appears to have a good deal of talent and is a very nice fit for this offense, but as the clear-cut fourth option offensively it is unclear what sort of impact he'll be able to make when the team isn't putting up 300 yards of passing offense. He made a nice diving grab of the touchdown late in the first half, which demonstrated Rivers' trust in Davis in a big spot.
| TE Antonio Gates, Rec: 11 - 113 - 0 (13 targets) |
Early on, it looked like it might be a quick exit for Gates. On his first reception, he was hit awkwardly and came up grimacing and shaking his hand. On the sideline, he appeared to be in pain while trying to squeeze the trainer's hand, and he looked thoroughly uncomfortable while playing catch. But he simply had his right hand wrapped heavily, came back out on the field, and absolutely dominated. He was unstoppable, catching passes in the slot, over the middle, on the sidelines. At one point, Rivers threw five passes in a row to Gates and nine of eleven passes overall. Astoundingly, Gates caught his first nine targets of the game as the Packers had absolutely no answers for him. While he only had two second half receptions, each was a spectacular grab that demonstrated his incredible athleticism. One was a shoestring grab on an out route, and the second was even better as he reached down and in front of the defender to haul in a key third down reception. In other words, feel free to continue using Gates as your starting tight end without hesitation.
| PK Nate Kaeding 1 - 1 FG, 3 - 3 XP, 6 points |
Kaeding finally connected on his first field goal of the season, and it took a coaching strategy decision by Norv Turner just to get that one. With San Diego trailing by ten and needing a touchdown and a field goal still, Turner opted to get the three points first. Kaeding easily connected on the 44 yarder for his first of the year.
| SD Rush Defense |
The Packers had so much success throwing the ball all over the field that there wasn't much of a need to establish a run game. They threw the ball 45 times as opposed to just 13 rushes (one of those being a Brett Favre kneel-down at the end). And when the Packers DID run the ball, they were actually fairly effective. Aside from Favre's two rushes for one yard, the actual runners on the team carried 11 times for 41 yards and a score. Those aren't world-beating numbers, but for a team that has struggled so badly in the run game against one of the league's supposedly better rush defenses, those are pretty good stats. About the only time San Diego was really called upon to make a play in the running game was late in the fourth quarter when Green Bay was trying to go up by ten. After stopping Brandon Jackson on first down, the rookie powered his way into the end zone on second down to put the game out of reach.
| SD Pass Defense |
Even though the statistics do in fact look terrible for the San Diego defense, what's truly amazing is that they are lucky it wasn't far worse than that. From the very beginning, it looked to be a long day for the defense. They weren't blitzing Brett Favre or getting any kind of pressure on him whatsoever, and at times he literally had all day to throw the ball. LB Shaun Phillips was the only player who was able to get any kind of pass rush on Favre, and even those plays were few and far between. LB Shawne Merriman (zero solo tackles) was basically unheard from the entire game, and the only time the defensive backs were mentioned by the announcers was to call out something they had done wrong. Of note:
| QB Brett Favre, Pass: 28 - 45 - 369 - 3 TD / 0 INT, Rush: 2 - 1 - 0 |
Favre tied Dan Marino for first place on the league's all-time touchdown pass list with the 420th of his illustrious career. The toss came on a slant pattern to Greg Jennings, who did much of the work after the catch. As for the rest of the game, Favre was given ample time to throw by his offensive line and he picked apart the San Diego secondary at will. It was vintage Favre, as he never locked onto one particular guy for any long period, and his afternoon was ripe with pump fakes and bullet passes all over the field. At times, it appeared as if he had all day to throw and was very rarely under any duress. About his only mistake was an early pass that he tried forcing into the end zone to the aforementioned Jennings. Fortunately for him, CB Antonio Cromartie was unable to hang onto the ball and it fell harmlessly incomplete. He was also bailed out of a fumble thanks to the tuck rule midway through the second quarter. He clearly lost the ball after a pump fake, but his arm was definitely coming forward and the officials (who originally ruled it a fumble) got the call right after a Packers challenge. In addition to Favre's gaudy stats, it's amazing to think they could have been even better. TE Bubba Franks dropped a sure touchdown late in the first quarter on a relatively simple play in the end zone, leaving the Packers to settle for a field goal. And late in the game, Favre completed not one, but two passes down to the one yard line on the same drive (they got to the one and then were backed up again after penalties). And on both occasions, the Packers failed to punch the ball in for the score. He played pretty much flawlessly, and displayed a youthful exuberance that leads one to think he is having a lot of fun again doing his thing out there.
| RB Brandon Jackson, Rush: 6 - 22 - 1, Rec: 3 - 22 - 0 (5 targets) |
The Packers threw the ball 45 times and ran just 13. That's really all you need to know about how effective Jackson was going to be on the day. When the ball was actually in his hands on the ground, he was fairly effective with it against a tough run defense. But those touches were few and far between due to the enormous success Green Bay was having in the passing game. He did salvage his fantasy game by punching in a tough one yard touchdown run late in the contest that all but sealed the win for the Packers. He had initially been stuffed on first and goal, but HC Mike McCarthy went back to him on second down and he pushed it across the line.
| RB DeShawn Wynn, Rush: 2 - 9 - 0, Rec: 3 - 14 - 0 (5 targets) |
After a lot of noise earlier this week about an increased role in the offense, Wynn's touches were fairly negligible. He ran just twice and caught three passes, one of them coming on a tricky underhand shovel pass early in the second quarter near the goal line. Much like his counterpart Brandon Jackson, the Packers had so much success in the passing game that there wasn't much of a need to run the football.
| WR Donald Driver, Rec: 6 - 126 - 1 (9 targets) |
It's a wonder Driver even survived until the end of the game, let alone posting a game-high 126 yards receiving. He was the victim of a vicious cheap shot courtesy of S Marlon McCree in the first quarter that knocked Driver's helmet clear off his head. He got up and looked a bit woozy at first as he left the field, but came back in the game three plays later. His first reception of the game made him the all-time leading receiver in Lambeau Field history, surpassing Antonio Freeman's mark. Driver also managed to get a bit of payback on McCree in the fourth quarter. He caught a pass in the flat and put a gorgeous move on the San Diego safety to pick up several yards after the catch. Yet once again, he was shaken up a bit after the play courtesy of Drayton Florence hitting him late out of bounds (a play that wasn't officially penalized). Perhaps the most telling moment of Driver's day came on a play that he wasn't even directly involved with. When Favre threw his record-tying touchdown pass to Greg Jennings, he streaked downfield to celebrate with his teammates. Rather than going over to celebrate with Jennings, Favre sought out Donald Driver and lifted him up on his shoulders momentarily to celebrate with him. Regardless of who is currently catching his passes, it was very evident from that moment that Favre's main man on the team is still Driver. Whether or not that is relevant to fantasy stats is debatable, but either way it was a nice moment between the long-time teammates.
| WR James Jones, Rec: 6 - 79 - 0 (9 targets) |
Like most Green Bay receivers, Jones posted a very solid day against a very suspect pass defense. He had a strong reception early in the first quarter and subsequently broke a tackle along the sideline to pick up some extra yards after the catch. CBS announcer Phil Simms mentioned comparisons to another Packers' great, Sterling Sharpe. While Jones is not anywhere near that level at this point, it is clear that he has some outstanding tools to potentially get to that point. He came very close to scoring late in the fourth quarter. He caught a third down pass from Favre right at the goal line and was touched down as he sat on the one yard line, but never actually slipped across the end zone. Green Bay threw incomplete on fourth down and turned the ball over on the next play. With the return of Greg Jennings, Jones may see his touches drop off somewhat, but he certainly looked good enough to warrant being a regular part of the offense.
| WR Greg Jennings, Rec: 4 - 82 - 1 (7 targets) |
In his first game action of the season, Jennings certainly didn't disappoint. He was targeted very early on a deep ball in the end zone that fell incomplete. Jennings was also targeted on an ill-advised pass in the end zone that was nearly intercepted. He then made a handful of receptions here and there over the next three quarters, but really saved his best for last. On a game-saving drive, Jennings streaked over the middle on a slant and hauled in a laser pass from Brett Favre between two defenders. Jennings took off untouched down the right side of the field for the 57 yard score (the eventual game-winner). The score gave Favre the 420th touchdown pass of his career, which tied Dan Marino on the all-time list.
| TE Donald Lee, Rec: 4 - 44 - 0 (7 targets) |
For the third game in a row, Lee caught four passes. While it's not fair to automatically extrapolate that out over a 16 game schedule, the fact remains that Lee is currently on pace for 64 receptions this year. That would've been good for sixth-most amongst all tight ends a year ago, so it is very clear that Favre is looking for him regularly. He nearly scored for the second week in a row, but was down several inches short of the goal line. He came about as close as a player can come to scoring without actually getting in when his elbow touched down with the ball just shy of the white line late in the fourth quarter.
| TE Bubba Franks, Rec: 1 - 5 - 1 (4 targets) |
Despite not being heavily involved throughout, Franks was directly involved in three very critical plays during the course of the game. He dropped what would have been a sure touchdown late in the first quarter. It would have been a somewhat difficult grab as he was fully extended, but it was certainly a catch that could have and should have been made. He later atoned for that play somewhat by hauling in a five yard touchdown from Favre that put Green Bay up 17-7. He wasn't thrown to again until the fourth quarter, when a Favre pass intended for him in the end zone was batted away on a fourth down pass. While it's clear that Donald Lee is the main receiving option at tight end, it's just as clear that Franks is once again going to be a factor down around the red zone.
| PK Mason Crosby 1 - 1 FG, 4 - 4 XP, 7 points |
Crosby connected on his only attempt, from 28 yards out, early in the game. There were several occasions where Green Bay went for it on fourth down and goal only to be turned away, though it's highly unlikely that those decisions had anything to do with confidence in Mason. It's just that the game dictated Green Bay go for touchdowns rather than field goals at certain points.
| GB Rush Defense |
Considering they held a frustrated future Hall of Fame running back to just 62 yards on 22 carries (with a long gain of just 11 yards), it's fair to say they held Tomlinson in check. Of course, stopping Tomlinson meant allowing Philip Rivers to have a big day, but obviously that strategy worked based on the end results. It's difficult to tell whether Green Bay is that great against the run (since they didn't exactly stop Derrick Ward of the Giants a week ago) or if it's more because the San Diego running game has been in shambles for three weeks now. Perhaps it's a combination of the two. Whatever the reason, the fact remains that Green Bay was never even close to allowing Tomlinson to get into any sort of good rushing rhythm at all.
| GB Pass Defense |
Considering Philip Rivers completed 75% of his passes and averaged 8.5 yards per attempt and threw three touchdowns, it'd be difficult to say the Packers did much to stop him in this game. The touchdown pass to Jackson was more of a great throw by Rivers rather than anything the Packers did wrong, but the touchdown to Craig Davis was the end result of a perfectly executed two minute drill that Green Bay had no answers for. Another thing Green Bay had no answers for was TE Antonio Gates. He pretty much had his way with the Packer defenders for the entire first half, and could not be stopped. In the second half when the Packers focused on stopping him a bit more, Rivers simply shifted his attention to Vincent Jackson. No matter who was getting the looks, it was going to be a big tall guy who outmatched every defender on Green Bay physically. And despite the shoddy statistical showing, one of the key plays of the game was turned in by the Green Bay pass defense. With San Diego trying to drive for the game-winning score, LB Nick Barnett stepped in front of a pass intended for RB LaDainian Tomlinson and returned it all the way to the San Diego two yard line. That set up a Brandon Jackson touchdown run that all but sealed the victory.
