(Best E Casino) - Will the real
San Diego Chargers please stand up?
Are they the team that raced through the 2006 schedule with 14 wins? Are they the pretenders who fell on home turf to the New England Patriots just weeks later? Are they the resurgent bunch that won three games in October to seemingly right the 2007 ship? Or are they the stumbling bunch that more recently lost to Minnesota and Jacksonville and barely escaped with a defeat of Indianapolis?
"Some guys may take losing as just, 'We lost, but we still get paid,'" running back LaDainian Tomlinson said, after Sunday's 24-17 loss to the Jaguars. "As long as you have that attitude, you're going to be losers. Those kind of guys are going to come to the forefront and then they're going to be out of here. Guys like that don't last long around this league and certainly won't be around this team, and pretty soon they'll be out of here."
Fortunately for the Chargers - whoever they really are - it's a down year for the rest of the AFC West, too. San Diego's 5-5 record would be considered barely mediocre by usual division standards, but in 2007 it's good for a share of the lead after 10 games with the Denver Broncos, who the Chargers will host in the season's penultimate week.
Kansas City is just a game back at 4-6, while Oakland is the lone also-ran at 2-8.
"First of all, you've got to hate to lose," linebacker Shawne Merriman said. "This game is played with violence, with an attitude. You've got to play aggressive for 60 minutes, not just the first half or just the second half. That's how you play the game. And you've got to hate to lose. That's the way we have to play as a team, the whole entire game."
Meanwhile, in Baltimore, the attitude may be all that's left.
The traditionally snarling Ravens defense has been among the few bright spots of 2007, which began with promise at 4-2, but has since disintegrated with four straight losses amid myriad offensive injuries and general ball-moving ineffectiveness.
Kyle Boller figures to start at quarterback this week in place of aging veteran Steve McNair, who's again questionable with a balky left shoulder.
Boller completed 22-of-41 passes for 279 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions in last week's OT loss to Cleveland, which was originally ruled a Baltimore win before replay correctly reversed the on-field "no-good" call on Browns kicker Phil Dawson's late field goal.
Dawson kicked the game-winner in the extra session.
"You start to wonder, and (it seems) we can't buy a break," defensive tackle Justin Bannan said. "It's like anything that can go wrong goes wrong for us, and that's frustrating. We wanted to win this game so bad. I thought we fought real hard (Sunday). Sometimes the ball just doesn't bounce your way."
The Ravens are third in the AFC North, trailing first-place Pittsburgh (7-3) by three games and the surprising second-place Browns (6-4) by two. They lead last-place Cincinnati by one game.
SERIES HISTORY
The Ravens lead the all-time series with the Chargers, 3-2, breaking a deadlock in the series with a 16-13 come-from-behind victory at M&T Bank Stadium in Week 4 of last season. Baltimore also won in its most recent trip to San Diego, taking a 24-10 decision there in 2003. San Diego's most recent win in the series was a 14-13 triumph at Qualcomm Stadium in 1998.
Ravens head coach Brian Billick is 3-0 in his career against the Chargers. San Diego's Norv Turner is 1-1 in his career against the Ravens, with both of those games dating back to his tenure with Washington (1994-2000), and is 1-0 head-to-head against Billick.
WHEN THE RAVENS HAVE THE BALL
California native Kyle Boller could get the nod again this week, with starter Steve McNair listed questionable with a recurring left shoulder problem. Boller, who was the state's player of the year as a high school senior in 1998, is 84-of-142 for 839 yards, four touchdowns and three interceptions as a starter in 2007. First-year Raven Willis McGahee is second in the AFC with 851 yards rushing on 196 carries, and looks for his sixth straight game with a touchdown. Wideout Derrick Mason is second in the NFL with 72 receptions and has put up 676 yards and two touchdowns.
San Diego's defense wasn't enough to compensate for a mistake-prone offense in the loss to the Jaguars last week. The Chargers have been opportunistic, though, leading the NFL with 17 interceptions while helping to post a plus-9 turnover ratio that's tied for second-best in the league. A two-sack Merriman performance has resulted in a win in nine of the last 10 games, and Merriman and linebacker Shaun Phillips share the team lead with 5.5 sacks apiece in 2007. Cornerback Antonio Cromartie leads the NFL with six interceptions.
WHEN THE CHARGERS HAVE THE BALL
Philip Rivers has been worthy of his first-round draft selection at home, where he's gone 12-1 during his career while completing 61.2 percent of his passes for 2,425 yards and 11 touchdowns. Of course, his arsenal is augmented by perennial All-Pro Tomlinson, who leads the league with nine touchdowns and enters the game just 29 yards short of 10,000 for his career. Two more rushing TDs will get him to 110 and past Walter Payton on the league's all-time list. San Diego is 25-2 in games where Tomlinson scores at least twice. Tight end Antonio Gates has caught 54 passes for 729 yards, and has averaged 72.4 yards per game at home in 2007.
Strength faces strength on the ground, where the Ravens are second in the league with a 78.0-yard per game average. Overall, the Baltimore defense has allowed just 287.3 total yards per game. Linebacker Terrell Suggs has four sacks to lead a unit that has helped the team to a 31-7 record in games since 2003 in which it's gotten at least three. Safety Ed Reed is second in the NFL with five interceptions, and leads all safeties since 2002 with 32. Linebacker Ray Lewis recorded the 25th INT of his career last week and scored for the second time in his career on a 35-yard return.
FANTASY FOCUS
The Chargers might be the single most-loaded fantasy offense this side of New England. Rivers, at least at home, is an upper-echelon passer with one of the game's best tight ends in Gates and an underappreciated talent in the new acquired Chris Chambers at wide receiver. And there's that Tomlinson fellow, too. They're equally as talented on defense with Merriman the pick leader Cromartie. The Ravens, meanwhile, have their defense and McGahee on the ground, but not much else to get excited about.
OVERALL ANALYSIS
The Chargers are angry. They're fed up with losing. And they expect to maintain the quality standards they've recently established. Against an out- manned Baltimore team, it could be the perfect get-well game. Tomlinson gets his yards and his scores, and Rivers rights his own ship while the defense hounds whomever lines up under center for the Ravens.
Best E Casino Predicted Outcome: Chargers 28, Ravens 14
