Quitting. It’s a harsh reality of human nature and competition that we all hope to avoid.
After all, you only truly lose if you quit. Right?
Well, some clear and obvious quitting seemed to be on full streaming display on Thursday Night Football as the Chargers played the willing victim in the Raiders’ 63-21 beatdown in Las Vegas that certainly looked like the final nail in the coaching coffin for the simultaneously defensive, defenseless and indefensible. Brandon Staley in Los Angeles.
Yes, this is a Chargers team that just two weeks ago took care of its business with an ugly 6-0 shutout of the Patriots at Gillette Stadium. Back when Justin Herbert was still under center and Khalil Mack was making life difficult on Mike Onwenu, backup Bailey Zappe and the entire Patriots offense.
Now, the 5-9 Chargers are the poster team for what quitting looks like on an NFL field. Giving up on a lost season with a truly losing effort. Giving up on their head coach, apparently.
Meanwhile, as Bill Belichick enters what could be the final four weeks of his Patriots tenure with Sunday’s hosting of ol’ pal Andy Reid, a fumingly frustrated Patrick Mahomes and the scuffling Chiefs, one thing feels pretty certain in New England.
No, there’s no guarantee that the Patriots can or will upset the Chiefs.
Or that they even avoid getting blown out.
Or that they score a point two weeks removed from a shutout loss and having been shut out in three of four halves since Zappe took over the starting job from Mac Jones.
Nope. The Patriots could stink on offense on Sunday.
Might turn the ball over multiple times. The defense could struggle to cover Travis Kelce. Might allow him to put on a show for his girlfriend who’s done the same oh so many times on the big musical Foxborough stage.
At best right now the Patriots are a mediocre football team. A roster with its best offensive and defensive players out with injury. Led by a backup QB that the team cut prior to the season and clearly hasn’t valued very highly.
But while hopelessness has clearly settled in with the Chargers, there actually seems to be as much hope in the world of the Patriots as there has been in months. The team broke out for three touchdowns in the first half a week ago in the much-needed win in Pittsburgh. In the postgame celebration players spoke of having Belichick’s back for the “flak” he was getting publicly from media and fans alike. Heck, the game was potentially won on a tackle by fill-in veteran running back Ezekiel Elliott to avoid a would-be pick-6 for the Steelers, keeping points off the board with a pure hustle and effort play.
Elliott, Jabrill Peppers, Jahlani Tavai, Ja’Whuan Bentley, Hunter Henry, David Andrews, Matthew Slater. The list of true professionals, guys who will give their professional best when they step on the field in New England remains long even as the double-digit losses have piled up this season.
There is still some fight in this dog, something that certainly wasn’t the case as the Chargers dogged it on TNF.
There doesn’t appear to be any quit in Belichick or his three-win Patriots.
So we got that going for us. Which is nice.
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