Die Planung » Patriots defensive end Trey Flowers says thinking

FOXBOROUGH Joey Bosa Jersey , Mass. (AP) — about how to defend against the Los Angeles Chargers has kept him up at night.“Over the bye I had a dream about not setting the edge,” Flowers said this week. “I woke up and it was a nightmare.”New England’s leader this season with 7½ sacks, it was Flowers who gave opposing offenses fits as part of a defense that’s had its struggles but did just enough during the regular season to earn victories against some of the NFL’s top quarterbacks including Andrew Luck, Patrick Mahomes and Aaron Rodgers.The Patriots’ next challenge is Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers , who will arrive in Foxborough on Sunday still looking for his first playoff victory (0-2) against New England and his first win over the Patriots with Tom Brady as the starting quarterback.Rivers is 1-5 overall in regular-season meetings with New England, with his lone victory coming in 2008 when Brady was sidelined with a knee injury. He has yet to throw a touchdown pass against the Patriots in the postseason.But Flowers said none of Rivers’ past shortcomings are evident when he dissects the 37-year-old quarterback on film.“He’s definitely a veteran that’s been very successful over his career,” Flowers said. “I guess the experience just allows him to know that he can take over the offense, he can change things. It’s just one of those things where you’ve got to be aware that he can come in and take over.”Patriots coach Bill Belichick said in that way the challenge of defending Rivers is not unlike the one Pittsburgh’s Ben Roethlisberger presents. Both are big presences in the pocket, giving them the ability to spot open receivers. Their size also makes them difficult to tackle.“Makes good decisions with the ball, uses everybody — as he always does,” Belichick said.That said Womens Austin Ekeler Jersey , defenses have been able to get to Rivers with the pass rush this season. He was sacked 32 times during the regular season, up from 18 a year ago.A perennial 4,000-yard passer, Rivers is among the NFL’s best quarterbacks at throwing the deep ball. But according to analysis done by Football Outsiders, the Patriots finished the regular season second only to the Chicago Bears at defending passes that travelled at least 16 yards in the air .The Patriots also enter Sunday’s divisional round having forced eight turnovers in the final three games of the regular season.Rookie cornerback J.C. Jackson was responsible for one of those turnovers, an interception against Buffalo. One of New England’s latest undrafted gems, he finished with three interceptions on the season. It’s helped fortify a veteran-led secondary that’s made things difficult for opposing quarterbacks.Safety Duron Harmon leads the Patriots with four interceptions. First-team All-Pro Stephon Gilmore has two picks on the season.Jackson says he’s looking forward to his first bite of playoff football.“Of course, I’m nervous — this is my first playoff game,” he said. “I’m nervous, but I’m ready. It’s a ready nervous.”While New England’s defensive personnel has changed over the years, Rivers said the Patriots have consistently made things difficult on him over the years.“The ability for them to be very multiple and do things very well and really you see how … they do of trying to take away what you do best http://www.thechargerslockerroom.com/authentic-melvin-gordon-jersey ,” he said.Rivers may have to throw the ball even more this week with running back Melvin Gordon dealing with a knee injury he sustained during last week’s wild-card win over the Ravens.Gordon helped take a lot of pressure off Rivers during the regular season. In 12 games, he rushed for 885 yards and 10 touchdowns, while also catching four scores out of the backfield. His 5.1 yards per rushing attempt average was also key in helping Rivers and offense sustain drives.Gordon rushed 17 times for 40 yards and a touchdown against Baltimore.Chargers coach Anthony Lynn rested Gordon at practice on Wednesday and acknowledged he likely wouldn’t be 100 percent by Sunday.Harmon said he is expecting Rivers’ best, whoever is in the huddle with him. He said he’s not trying to overthink the challenge.“Just try to make it hard on him,” Harmon said. “Give him different looks. Try to make him play that game with us and hopefully we can win that mind game against him.”J.J. Jones, Sam Tevi, and banging your head against the wall Hello friends, it’s your friendly neighborhood deputy manager here at BFTB and I’m here to answer YOUR questions about all things Chargers in advance of Sunday’s match-up against the Buffalo Bills.I want to keep the line of communication fairly open between the staff and those of you who give us your precious time on a weekly basis so a mailbag sounded like a splendid idea to fill this glaring omission.Not much to say other than that so let’s get right to your questions.(Long, audible sigh)This is going to be a rough couple of weeks if Joe Barksdale finds himself sidelined. So as to not be negative from start to finish, I have to give Tevi some kudos. He took his lumps against the Chiefs after being forced into the lineup. However, he also helped spring Melvin Gordon for his first chunk run of the game Philip Rivers Jersey , showing some nice poise as he worked to the second level.Tevi is actually more athletic than Barksdale and it’s evident in how naturally he moves around the field. This doesn’t change the fact that he doesn’t have the normal fundamentals down pat that you would want in a starting offensive tackle. Tev is still so raw and we can only hope that reps with the starters will surely help him get up to speed.Do I think Forrest Lamp could step in and be a better right tackle than Tevi, or even Michael Schofield? Of course. Will that ever happen? Probably not. Coach Lynn and co. are still pretty predictable and there hasn’t been a word about Lamp potentially playing tackle since the days following his selection in last year’s draft.I honestly think the more realistic option would be to stick Lamp at right guard and have Schofield play right tackle since Schofield has some experience in that position going back to his time with the Broncos during their Super Bowl season.Oh hello Nick. Good to see you again.You know, I’m not entirely sure. Realistically, no, I do not think Melvin Gordon is “bad” at his job, but I don’t think he’s as amazing as everyone expects him to be, either. There’s only been a handful of notable running backs in history to have averaged under four yards per carry during there career. The biggest nams actually being guys like Archie Griffin, Jerome Bettis, and Cadillac Williams.We can all agree or disagree on what Gordon is actually good or bad at all day long, but the numbers speak for themselves. Backs who average under 4.0 per carry are almost always of the forgotten variety sooner rather than later.If Gordon wants to prove Nick and the other nay-sayers wrong, he’s just going to have to show us on the field each and every week.After the team let us all down after allowing the Raiders to sign DT Johnathan Hankins Womens Kellen Winslow Jersey , I honestly don’t see another free agent that would be of much value to the team in the here and now.Some websites have noted cornerback as a position the Chargers could use some FA help with, but that’s just not the case. Casey Hayward, Trevor Williams, and Desmond King will be just fine. Michael Davis seems to be coming along, as well.Defensive tackle was really the only position I was open to and that got teased in our face before being yanked away as we reached out for it.As much as we all got excited about Jones after his punt return touchdown in the preseason, myself included, the truth is that he is still a UDFA after coming from a division II school where he wasn’t really a game-breaker, anyway.But if anything, it takes a special type of player to come into this team and not fall victim to “charger-ing” and I just don’t think Jones was ever going to avoid it. If he gets another shot against the Bills, then so be it. If there was ever a chance for him to get comfortable back there, this is the game to do it.My dream pick in the first round would be Jeffrey Simmons http://www.thechargerslockerroom.com/authentic-lance-alworth-jersey , a 6-foot-4, 310-pound defensive tackle prospect from Mississippi State. In the episode of our Almost Gameday Saturday podcast, Matthew Stanley and I talked about Simmons and his ability to play almost anywhere along the defensive line while being equally skilled in rushing the passer and playing the run. He is also currently the highest-graded interior defensive linemen according to Pro Football Focus after the first two weeks of the college football season.No matter how you word it, the iDL is underwhelming and strikes no fear in the hearts of their opponents. The fastest way to the quarterback is a straight line and that means that the most devastating pressure is created up the middle, which is why players like Aaron Donald and Geno Atkins are out here getting paid the big bucks.