Editor: Joe Bryant. Game Recap Contributors: Mike Anderson, Michael Brown, Chris Burtt, J.D. Caldwell, David Dodds, Bobby Elder, Jim Enochs, Joel Faulhaber, Michael Flynn, Kevin Goldblum, Clayton Gray, Bob Harris, Fred Hebert, Jesse Hilsenrad, Drew Kendall, Jeff Lewis, Joey Matusek, Justin Oliver, Steve Prosapio, David Shick, Cody Smith, Scott Smith, Jeffrey Stout. San Diego 13 at Buffalo 20 WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW San Diego Chargers: Drew Brees had another bad outing and was benched in favor of Doug Flutie in the 4th quarter. Flutie looked bad and was probably only put in because it was against his former team. Brees' job appears to be safe. LaDainian Tomlinson had what appeared to be an off day, but still rushed for over a hundred yards and a score. He is officially a top tier running back. Curtis Conway was back for the first time in three weeks. His biggest function was to draw the attention of the defense which allowed Tim Dwight to get open. The Charger defense did a great job of limiting the feared Bill passing attack, but gave up way too many ground yards to Travis Henry and made too many mistakes in the form of penalties. Buffalo Bills: Drew Bledsoe had an off day and did not handle the Charger pass rush well at all. Travis Henry carried the offense to victory on his shoulders by breaking tackle after tackle. Moulds and Price were both held in check by the Charger corners. The Bill defense did not stop Tomlinson, but they contained him while dominating the Charger passing attack with blitzes and punishing hits. WHAT YOU OUGHT TO KNOW San Diego Chargers QB: Drew Brees completed 13 of 24 passes for 148 yards. He did not score and he did not turn the ball over. He missed a few passes and didn't deal well with the heavy pressure of the Bills pass rush. He was sacked 3 times. He looked bad again this week and got benched in the 4th quarter in favor of Doug Flutie. Hopefully, your playoff success does not depend on Drew Brees. Doug Flutie completed only 3 of 11 passes for 64 yards. He was put in to replace Drew Brees in the 4th quarter to be a spark plug against his old team. He looked rusty and did basically nothing. Brees' job is safe. RB: LaDainian Tomlinson had 28 carries for 110 yards and made 3 catches for another 13 yards. He did score 1 rushing touchdown that was set up by a nice catch from Stephen Alexander. He also had an 18 yard run called back by penalty. He ran well but did not dominate the game like we are used to seeing. He is the main focus of this offense and is a must start every week. WR: Curtis Conway is a much needed part of the Charger passing attack. He had 3 catches for 58 yards, but failed to score. He is the veteran presence that knows how to get open and often finds the weakness in the defense to exploit. Tim Dwight was the team leader with 5 catches for 81 yards. He ran good routes to get open and was the biggest part of the game plan he has been this year and was the target of several other passes. With the defense focused on Conway, Dwight was left open to move the chains. TE: Stephen Alexander had another good game catching 3 balls for 28 yards. He is a good target with good hands and limited opportunities. Pass Defense: The Charger pass defense held Buffalo to 101 yards passing. They pressured Bledsoe well and blanketed Price and Moulds. Defensive tackle Jason Fisk had the only solo sack while linebacker Junior Seau and defensive tackle Leonardo Carson shared the other one. Rushing Defense: The Charger rushing defense was not as good. They gave up 155 total rushing yards. Linebacker Junior Seau led the Chargers with 5 solo tackles and 5 assists while fellow linebacker Donnie Edwards made 5 solo tackles and 4 assists. /**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/** Buffalo Bills QB: Drew Bledsoe completed 11 of 33 passes for 107 yards and no touchdowns. He was under fairly heavy pressure all day and had trouble finding his target. The sting of not moving the ball threw the air was slightly lessened by the ease of moving the ball on the ground. RB: Travis Henry ran the ball 22 times for 144 yards and 2 touchdowns. He had big holes to run through and broke tackle after tackle. This was a very good effort by Henry and the line against a defense that historically is tough against the run. WR: Eric Moulds caught 5 passes for 61 yards. He led the team in receptions and is Bledsoe's favorite target on shorter passes. He was covered well by the Charger corners and had several passes knocked out of his hands by the defense, but he did draw a couple of pass interference calls. Peerless Price had 3 catches for 31 yards. He is Bledsoe's favorite deep threat, but failed to hook up on a bomb today. The Charger corners kept him from busting the big play, but he also drew a couple of pass interference calls. TE: Jay Riemersma had only 1 catch for 3 yards. He is an afterthought in this offense. Pass Defense: The Bills pass rush sacked the QB three times (linebacker London Fletcher, safety Cory Wire, and defensive end Aaron Schobel). They got Brees sent to the pine by supplying heavy pressure and blitzing often. Then, they shut down the veteran Flutie even better. Rushing Defense: The Bills rushing defense left something to be desired. They let Tomlinson run for 110 yards and score a touchdown. Linebacker London Fletcher did a good job of plugging the holes and finished with a team high 9 solo tackles and 4 assists. They did make Tomlinson fight for every yard, but they sometimes lost the fight and missed several tackles.