Los Angeles at New England

Two teams that needed a win last week did. New England went into Pittsburgh and silenced the critics, winning as an underdog (solidifying in many people's minds that this is a team that you should never bet against). San Diego avoided 0-3 by handing the then 2-0 Giants a big loss. Both teams are riding some confidence into this game but San Diego has more to be cheery about. New England lost Rodney Harrison, their best defender, for the year. Gone now are Harrison, Ty Law, Ted Johnson and Tedy Bruschi as well as Charlie Weis and Romeo Crenel. This is NOT the same Patriots club that won those Super Bowls. Yes, they still have Tom Brady and Bill Belichick. These guys will help them win games like they did last week. But the point is, they will lose more than they did last year. There's enough stacked against Super Bowl champs as it is but these injuries and the exodus of assistant coaches has left this team in a much worse position. To top it off, both of New England's starting cornerbacks are questionable for this game and offensive tackle Matt Light is now out! Not even this team can overcome this much adversity week after week. Marty Schottenheimer rediscoverd LaDanian Tomlinson last game. As a result, he had a monster game as did Drew Brees. Expect San Diego to move the ball effectively in this one. They are on an emotional high while New England is tired and beat up already in week four. They left a lot on the field last week. The Chargers are 12-1 following their last thirteen blowout wins by 21+ points. Also, road underdogs off a big game in which they gained over 450 yards of total offense cover the spread over two thirds of the time next week. This line is off quite a bit. Yes, I know about the Patriots 21-game home win streak. But, we'll go against that here and back the Chargers for two stars. They may not win but I definitely expect them to keep it closer than this spread.