Start your Friday with a sweet treat"Here it is http://www.chargersfanstore.com/Joey-Bosa-Jersey , guys. Peak offseason writing.In the wake of the recent holiday,ring current Chargers players to the popular Valentine’s Day candy that the masses will purchase in bulk to take advantage of the day after-discount. Whether to fill a nagging sweet-tooth or to fill the void left by a recent love lost, chocolate is always the answer.Philip Rivers: Hershey’s Chocolate BarA true classic. As timeless as anything in the candy and sweets world. Like Rivers, the original Hershey bar will never get old. Just when you think you’re over the traditional candy wrapped in that shimmering silver casing, you take one out of the bowl at your grandparent’s house and take a bite, just be to reminded of how it stills stands with the best of them all these years later.Antonio Gates: Hershey’s KissThe Hersey’s Kiss is almost as timeless as its’ chocolate bar counterpart. Over the years, the delicate morsel has changed in several ways from it’s original form. It’s definitely not the same candy as it was back in the day when it garnered all of its’ respect and loyalty, however. Within the last few years, we have seen the chocolate and vanilla swirl version, the caramel swirl version, and the recent Pumpkin Spice abomination, among others.Like Gates, we’ve gotten a few different versions of the future hall-of-fame tight end over the last couple seasons. It’s obvious that he isn’t the same old Gates from ten years ago, but he can still get the job done. And if you’re anything like me, you can eat a good amount of these bad boys and still find yourself reaching for another, and another. Similar to the team, just when they think they’ve had enough of #85, they just keep going back into the bowl for more.Melvin Ingram: Heart Shaped Box of ChocolatesIn the same way that a box full of chocolate is full of potential and various flavors, so is Ingram but substitute “flavors” for natural athletic abilities.You can open up one of these boxes and see a plethora of treats before you. You can also grab the very first piece and bite into it, only to retreat in distaste as the morsel in your mouth wound up being a maple syrup chunk instead of the velvety raspberry truffle you had your heart set out on from the very beginning.This past season Melvin Gordon Jersey , Ingram was a tad more inconsistent than the fans would have liked. There were several games where Ingram didn’t have the impact the team needed, especially through the first half of the season when Joey Bosa was sidelined. He had six total games where he only had a single tackle, four of those came during the eight-game stretch without the Big Bear.Just like Forrest Gump used to say, “(Melvin Ingram) is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get.”Or something like that.Keenan Allen: Bag of Valentine’s M&MsAllen is one of the best receivers in the NFL. It’s only right that his candy pairing is also one of the best treats in the entire candy world. People eat them by the bag-full, big or small.One could say that, in the same way that people gobble up dozens and dozens of M&Ms in a single sitting, Allen gobbles up targets and catches like a depressed single on the night of February 13th. Over 199 catches over the last two seasons isn’t too shabby, huh?And for what it’s worth, Peanut M&Ms are the best kind of M&Ms and I will hear nothing else about the matter.Derwin James: A hilarious and cheesy Valentine’s Day MemeYeah, yeah, it’s not a candy but it’s a Valentine’s Day tradition that every single person can enjoy and, quite frankly, they can’t get enough of. I mean, come on, look at this:It was more than evident this past season that the fans and the entire nation couldn’t get enough of the versatile rookie safety out of Florida State.Oh yeah, that word “versatile” should be emphasized quite a bit. James played all but the interior defensive line during his rookie season, making him one of the most dangerous Swiss Army knife-type players in the league. When it comes to the hilarious meme, there is no end in sight with what you can do. You can relate it to anybody, anything Craig Mager Color Rush Jersey , and any situation. Sounds awfully familiar to James’ usage in 2018...Jahleel Addae: The Disgusting Chalky Valentine’s Day HeartsI don’t think there is a match more made in heaven than this one right here.I’m not going to delve into Addae’s 2018 season because that would just ruin everyone’s Friday and I don’t want to be that guy.This one is self-explanatory. No one likes it. No one knows why they keep them around.However, I just recently learned that this year was supposedly the first year in almost a century that they decided to NOT make these little conversation hearts. Well, if that’s any sort of sign, maybe the Chargers will take a hint and dispose of a presence that only makes the team worse, in the same vein that the hearts add nothing to the holiday and only bum out the people unfortunate enough to receive this treat on February 14th. For what feels like the third game in a row, the Chargers didn’t seem to have the ball all that much in this game, although the final box score says the time of possession was split pretty much down the middle with Oakland having the 31:10 to 28:50 edge.Obviously the Chargers’ sluggish start didn’t help anything as they started the ball game with two three-and-outs. In fact, Philip Rivers didn’t even complete a single pass until almost five minutes into the second quarter.And although the Chargers held the Raiders to just a pair of field goals, I still felt this game could have been put away much earlier than it was. The 20 points scored does not seem like a lot by this team’s standards. In reality, if it wasn’t for an unnecessary hold by left tackle Russell Okung, Austin Ekeler would have scored a 44-yard touchdown run and the team would have kept up with their streak of scoring three touchdowns in every game this year.I also can’t forget Michael Badgley. THe rookie out of Miami made both of his field goals and extra points in this game to become the the leading point-scorer among Chargers kickers through their first three starts with the team.Not a bad way to start your time with the team, especially after the kicker carousel that has been present within the team.Although I thought the win was rather lakcluster, there were still a number of comendable performances from Sunday afternoon. After nine weeks, including seven-straight wins, here are this weeks players who SURGED and those who stayed STATIC.SurgeWR Keenan AllenAllen found the end zone for the second time this season, putting to rest a scoreless streak that has plagued him since week 1 against the Chiefs.Allen didn’t amass a huge amount of yards in this one but he didn’t have to. RB Melvin Gordon did most of the dirty work on the ground while also leading the team in receiving yards with 72, thanks in most part to a 66-yard catch and score in the third quarter.Allen has found several different ways to help the offense go in recent weeks. When he isn’t getting the targets that he would like, Allen is still able to take a few hand-offs and churn out of some nifty runs as a ball carrier.On the season, Allen has 53 catches for 687 yards and two touchdowns.DT Corey LiugetThis may selection may come as a surprise to some because, aside from his fumble recovery that set up a touchdown Uchenna Nwosu Color Rush Jersey , Liuget only collected a single tackle in this one.However, I felt so bad after leaving him off last week’s article after he had such a spectacular performance that I couldn’t help but stick him in this one.Last week against the Seahawks, Liuget had the highest-graded game of his career, according to Pro Football Focus when he was given an elite grade of 90.7.His three tackles-for-loss were far and away the most on the team and he played a key part in keeping Russell Wilson and the Seahawks out of the endzone.In Sunday’s contest, Liuget may not have stuffed the stat sheet, but he recovered a fumble following a strip sack by Melvin Ingram of Derek Carr that set up the Chargers for their first touchdown of the day.StaticQB Philip RiversIt was an odd game for Philip Rivers as the veteran put out his “worst” performance of the season against the Raiders in a divisional match-up in Oakland.After throwing for 339 yards and a pair of touchdowns in their first contest, Rivers struggled mightily out of the gate as it took him almost 20 whole minutes into the game to complete his first pass. He finished with 223 yards and two touchdowns with a single interception, just his fourth on the season.His interception was questionable when watching live. There were two defenders on Keenan Allen but on my re-watch it showed that Allen did have a step on the defenders but Rivers just didn’t have the arm for this throw. He escaped the pocket and rolled left to allow himself a better throwing angle but, alas, it wasn’t in his cards on the day.Overall, I think this performance can be chalked-up to a hostile environment from the divisional rivalry. I’d expect a bounce-back performance when the Chargers host Denver next week in their first match-up of 2018.WR Mike WilliamsFor the first time this season, Williams was held without a target in the passing game. He logged just one carry for zero yards and failed receive any attention from his quarterback.Over the four games, Williams and seen his production fall off a cliff. In the three games prior to this past Sunday, the wideout had only caught a single pass in each contest. However, two of those three passes went for scores and allowed him to maintain his phenomenal efficiency.It remains to be seen just what is going on with Williams after he started the year on a nice streak of performances, including his two-touchdown performance against the Rams in week 3.
