Three in the back, two in the head. There will be many autopsy articles written about the New England Patriots’ professional hit on the Los Angeles Chargers on January 13. The deer-in-headlights zone defense will be dissected; the offensive line that was (like Rivers’ body) brutally exposed will be exhumed, and the sheer inability of the coaches to adjust will be analyzed.
In a blink, Los Angeles became Lost Angels, or Baltimore in the Wild Card game: their opponent had the solution. It didn’t help that their top three linebackers were in E.R., Denzel Perryman, Kyzir White, and Jatavis Brown.