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Conference Championships


San Diego Chargers 12, New England Patriots 21 | New York Giants 23, Green Bay Packers 20

San Diego Chargers at New England Patriots
Game Preview & Fantasy | Results & Schedule | Offense Stats | Defense Stats | Weather | History

Game Preview
Mike Krueger

Predicted Score: Patriots 31, Chargers 20

San Diego: What a remarkable victory for the Chargers last week. Without LaDainian Tomlinson and Philip Rivers for much of the second half, and Antonio Gates being used mainly as a decoy, San Diego overcame the officiating and the Colts for the right to face the undefeated Patriots in the AFC Championship game; a tough task considering their three best offensive players are banged up and will have limited practice time this week. According to head coach Norv Turner; Gates didn't suffer any setbacks and Tomlinson will play with a bruised knee but Rivers and his strained right knee will be the major concern; expect all three to play. With injuries mounting the Chargers will need to rely on their defense and continue to take the ball away. San Diego forced 48 turnovers this season and led the league with 30 INTs, and a +24 turnover ratio. It will be interesting to see if San Diego follows the path of other defenses and decides to take Randy Moss out of the game with double coverage or perhaps they let Antonio Cromartie follow Moss all over the field and roll double coverage to Wes Welker… very hard to do since committing a safety to Welker - who generally works the middle of the field - leaves you exposed to the deep ball by the two outside receivers (Moss & Stallworth). Whatever their plan, defense and special teams will go a long way in deciding San Diego's fate this week. The majority of the general public isn't giving the Chargers a chance in this game and I'm following the crowd. Of course, "we" didn't give them a chance against the Colts either.

  • Start: WR Vincent Jackson, WR Chris Chambers
  • Consider: RB LaDainian Tomlinson (inj), QB Philip Rivers (inj)
  • Sit: TE Antonio Gates, WR Craig Davis, Chargers D/ST

New England: The Patriots showed last week why they are the best team in the league. Tom Brady completed 26-of-28 passes including three touchdowns and took advantage of a formidable Jags defense that committed to stopping Randy Moss and deep ball but didn't have enough bodies to account for Wes Welker and New England's running game with Laurence Maroney. The Patriots can win in so many ways its no wonder they didn't go undefeated during the regular season… ohh, that's right, they did. They've also beaten the Chargers 11 of the last 13 meetings. This will be New England's 5th conference championship game in the past 7 seasons and I just can't imagine them losing this game to a San Diego team bitten by injuries, considering all the experience, talent, and coaching ability the Patriots have assembled in 2007. 18-0, here we come.

  • Start: QB Tom Brady, WR Randy Moss, WR Wes Welker
  • Consider: WR Donte Stallworth, RB Laurence Maroney
  • Sit: TE Ben Watson, Patriots D/ST




Krueger's Rankings/Projections 
San Diego Chargers
Rank Player Projections
QB 4 Philip Rivers Risk: Rivers is listed as Doubtful with a sprained knee and will be a gametime decision. Pass: 140, 1 Rush: 0, 0
QB 5 Billy Volek Pass: 140, 1 Rush: 0, 0
RB 4 LaDainian Tomlinson Risk: L.T. injured his knee last week and will be listed as Questionable. Rush: 65, 0 Rec: 3-25, 0
RB 6 Michael Turner Rush: 35, 0 Rec: 2-10, 0
WR 4 Chris Chambers Rec: 8-110, 1
WR 7 Vincent Jackson Rec: 5-65, 1
WR 14 Craig Davis Rec: 1-20, 0
TE 4 Antonio Gates Risk: Gates is listed as Doubtful and has not practiced all week but will likely play. Rec: 2-25, 0
TE 5 Brandon Manumaleuna Rec: 1-10, 0
 
New England Patriots
Rank Player Projections
QB 1 Tom Brady Pass: 315, 3 Rush: 0, 0
RB 2 Laurence Maroney Rush: 80, 1 Rec: 1-10, 0
RB 7 Kevin Faulk Rush: 15, 0 Rec: 3-25, 0
WR 2 Wes Welker Rec: 9-110, 1
WR 3 Randy Moss Risk: The Jaguars doubled-up Moss last week. Will the Chargers do they same? If it becomes clear SD will single-cover Moss with Cromartie, I'll bump Randy up the rankings on Saturday. Rec: 4-50, 1
WR 8 Donte' Stallworth Rec: 4-55, 1
WR 11 Jabar Gaffney Rec: 2-30, 0
TE 2 Ben Watson Rec: 2-25, 0

View all Conference Championships Rankings or Projections
Past Results and Remaining Schedule
San Diego Chargers
Week Date Opp H/A Score Dif
1 2007-09-09 CHI H W 14-3 +11
2 2007-09-16 NE A L 14-38 -24
3 2007-09-23 GB A L 24-31 -7
4 2007-09-30 KC H L 16-30 -14
5 2007-10-07 DEN A W 41-3 +38
6 2007-10-14 OAK H W 28-14 +14
7   Bye      
8 2007-10-28 HOU H W 35-10 +25
9 2007-11-04 MIN A L 17-35 -18
10 2007-11-11 IND H W 23-21 +2
11 2007-11-18 JAC A L 17-24 -7
12 2007-11-25 BAL H W 32-14 +18
13 2007-12-02 KC A W 24-10 +14
14 2007-12-09 TEN A W 23-17 +6
15 2007-12-16 DET H W 51-14 +37
16 2007-12-24 DEN H W 23-3 +20
17 2007-12-30 OAK A W 30-17 +13
WC 2008-01-06 TEN H W 17-6 +11
DP 2008-01-13 IND A W 28-24 +4
CC 2008-01-20 NE A L 12-21 -9
New England Patriots
Week Date Opp H/A Score Dif
1 2007-09-09 NYJ A W 38-14 +24
2 2007-09-16 SD H W 38-14 +24
3 2007-09-23 BUF H W 38-7 +31
4 2007-10-01 CIN A W 34-13 +21
5 2007-10-07 CLE H W 34-17 +17
6 2007-10-14 DAL A W 48-27 +21
7 2007-10-21 MIA A W 49-28 +21
8 2007-10-28 WAS H W 52-7 +45
9 2007-11-04 IND A W 24-20 +4
10   Bye      
11 2007-11-18 BUF A W 56-10 +46
12 2007-11-25 PHI H W 31-28 +3
13 2007-12-03 BAL A W 27-24 +3
14 2007-12-09 PIT H W 34-13 +21
15 2007-12-16 NYJ H W 20-10 +10
16 2007-12-23 MIA H W 28-7 +21
17 2007-12-29 NYG A W 38-35 +3
WC   Bye      
DP 2008-01-12 JAC H W 31-20 +11
CC 2008-01-20 SD H W 21-12 +9
SB 2008-02-03 NYG A    

Offense Stats Comparison
  SD
 Offense 
NE
 Offense 
NFL
 Average 
Points for 27.3 30.0 22.4
Rushing yards 151.5 78.3 113.4
Rushing yards per attempt 4.46 3.93 4.13
Completion % 58.9% 61.7% 60.0%
Passing yards 165.3 287.0 210.8
Passing yards per completion 10.13 11.36 10.44
Passing yards per attempt 5.96 7.00 6.27
Interceptions 0.3 0.5 1.1
Fumbles lost 0.3 0.0 0.7
Sacked 1.5 2.0 2.1
Note: Team statistics are shown as the average per game through Weeks 12 to 17 of the 2007 season after deducting the best and worst value from the data set. The exception is yards per rush attempt, completion %, yards per pass completion, yards per pass attempt and the NFL averages, which are each calculated based on totals through Weeks 12 to 17 with no adjustment.

Defense Stats Comparison
  SD
 Defense 
NE
 Defense 
NFL
 Average 
Points against 13.8 18.8 22.4
Rushing yards 89.5 110.8 113.4
Rushing yards per attempt 3.71 4.65 4.13
Completion % 57.5% 60.0% 60.0%
Passing yards 165.3 190.3 210.8
Passing yards per completion 9.01 9.76 10.44
Passing yards per attempt 5.18 5.86 6.27
INT return 2.0 0.8 1.1
Fumble recoveries 1.3 0.5 0.7
Sacks 3.5 2.8 2.1
 

Weather
Check the current weather forecast for New England from Weather.com.

Team vs. Team History
San Diego Chargers vs. New England Patriots
 Season   Week   Date   Vis   Home   Score   Winner 
2001 5 2001-10-14 SD NE 26-29 NE
2002 4 2002-09-29 NE SD 14-21 SD
2005 4 2005-10-02 SD NE 41-17 SD
2006 DP 2007-01-14 NE SD 24-21 NE
2007 2 2007-09-16 SD NE 14-38 NE
Note: Only playoff games from the 2004 to 2006 seasons are included in the team vs. team history. Playoff games from seasons prior to 2004 are not currently included in the database.




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