The Broncos were the last team to beat the Chargers, a 34-23 Monday Night victory way back on Oct. 19 at Qualcomm Stadium. And Broncos outside linebacker Darrell Reid believes the Jets can be the next team to beat the Chargers.
“With the multiple packages and blitzes the Jets are gonna bring, I believe they have a chance to get to Rivers — maybe hitting him, maybe rattling him a little bit,” Broncos outside linebacker Darrell Reid told The Post last night.
Reid was asked whether he would advise the Jets to engage Rivers, one of the league’s cockiest quarterbacks, in trash talk.
“I actually would,” he said, “but the thing is, it can backfire on you. You gotta pick your poison. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it as long as it’s part of your game and it’s something that player does on a regular basis. If you’re not a trash talker, don’t talk trash.”
Can Rivers be distracted by smack? “It’s hard to say,” Reid said. “I think anybody can, but you can’t let your own trash talk get you out of your game if you’re not a trash talker.”
Before that game, Rivers was overheard by Broncos players, something that fueled their fire. “We were coming out of the locker room to warm up,” Reid said. “They were kinda in the end zone stretching or something. It was a big ordeal on TV and everything. He said he was gonna put up so many points on us. I wasn’t sure if he said 50 or 56. It was a real nice, round number.”
Reid thinks Rivers intended for the Broncos to hear the prediction. “I don’t know if it was just to get his guys going — it wasn’t to anybody in specific,” Reid said. “It’s like you say something, but you want somebody else to hear it.”
Reid had his opportunity for rebuttal when he and Brian Dawkins knocked Rivers to the ground early. “He said what he said, then I said what I said after the third or fourth play when we got pressure on him.”
What did you say to him?
“Are you crazy — you really think you’re gonna put 56 on us the way we’re playing right now?” Reid recalled.
Reid believes Kerry Rhodes is equipped to slow tight end Antonio Gates.
“He’s a matchup problem,” Reid said. “He’s bigger than safeties and faster than most linebackers.
“They go to him a lot and Rivers is gonna be looking for him every play. He only runs about three or four routes — a little pivot, a little 7 route, a seam route — he doesn’t do much more than that. Nevertheless, he’s still hard to stop. When Rhodes is on top of his game and he’s focused, if he has that type of game, he definitely has a really good chance of shutting Gates down.”
Darrelle Revis has shut down every other big-time receiver. Now he gets a shot at 6-foot-5 vertical threat Vincent Jackson. “I like that matchup for the Jets,” Reid said.
LaDainian Tomlinson’s average dropped to 3.3 yards per carry this season. He is 30 years old and in decline. But he’s still a proud warrior who can reach down and summon inner resources of yesteryear on any given Sunday.
“At times he showed flashes of what he was capable of doing when he was in his prime,” Reid said. “I think it’s inevitable, especially in an offense like theirs where the quarterback is passing the ball so much he maybe is gonna get less carries.”
Asked if LT has showed slippage, Reid said: “I think only one time this year have I seen him take over a game like he did in his prime.”
Darren Sproles, the 5-foot-6 game-breaker, is more of a threat, both on screen passes and in the return game. “Sproles is a little, tough back who presents a threat to go the distance every time he touches the ball, and they try to get the ball in his hands a lot,” Reid said.
Beyond Sproles’ speed and quickness and vision is the advantage his size gives him. “Or lack of size, I guess,” Reid said. “He kinda ducks behind that big offensive line and it’s just really hard to get a clean hit on him.”
By rattling Rivers, the Jets will have a chance to stymie the Chargers’ big-play attack. “I think limiting the big plays really messes up their rhythm,” Reid said. “When he gets in a rhythm, it’s really hard to slow him down.”
The Chargers routed the Broncos 32-3 in the rematch, but Chris Simms started at quarterback and was yanked in favor of a hobbled Kyle Orton. “They went to a shorter passing game,” Reid said. “I don’t think we got as much pressure on him.”
Special teams will be a key for the Jets.
“I think they gotta do a good job on the kickoff team like they’ve been doing all year,” Reid said. “A lot hangs on the foot of the punter, making sure he gets the ball downfield, or get it out of bounds.”
The Chargers, missing beast Jamal Williams, are 20th in rushing defense. “There’s been a hole, kind of, in their defense; they can exploit that,” Reid said.
Reid was impressed with Mark Sanchez in Cincinnati. “I think I was most impressed by his poise,” Reid said.
But can the rookie put enough points to beat Rivers and Co.?
“If the Jets can keep the score in the low-20s or mid-20s, I think Sanchez and their offense is capable of putting up 25, 30 points,” Reid said.
His first prediction: Jets 31, Chargers 24.
He quickly changed his mind. “You said they [Chargers] haven’t scored under 20 right?” Reid asked. “It’s a tough task . . .. 24-21 Jets.”