Steelers vs. Chargers: Five questions with Bolt Beat

The Steelers make the first of their west coast road trips this season to head out to San Diego for some Monday Night Football action against the Chargers.

The Steelers, under Michael Vick while Ben Roethlisberger recovers from an MCL sprain, are looking for their first win in California since a 24-22 victory over the Chargers on Oct. 10^th, 2005. With a full week of practice for Vick, hopefully the offense comes together a lot better including the return of Martavis Bryant from suspension.

Throughout the season Still Curtain will be taking you inside to get the dirt on the opposing team through the FanSided network. We’ll be interviewing the opposing teams’ site to get you the inside info on the opposition.

This week we have Ernie Padaon, editor of Bolt Beat, FanSided’s San Diego Chargers-themed site. Ernie gives us the dirt on the Chargers potential move to Los Angeles from the fan’s perspective as well as if they could draft a quarterback all over again, would they still want to end up with Philip Rivers from the 2004 NFL Draft.

Is the potential move to Los Angeles hanging over the heads for Chargers fans this season or are fans able to put that out of their minds while the games are being played?

We hate it and have been dealing with it for the last few years. I think we have become numb to all the talk at this point. Personally, I am over all the BS talk that is happening and am just happy to see the team playing some football. I wish all the Los Angeles talk would just die. There are a ton of fans in San Diego that hate everything about Los Angeles sports.

What does the return of Antonio Gates bring to the Chargers offense?

Gates is a Hall of Fame type of tight end. Even though he is walking around with a walker, he still can shake his way loose from defenders and pick up the first down on critical plays. He is the biggest threat on 3rd down situations and in the red zone. Philip Rivers gets his favorite target back to play the rest of the season. Philip hasn’t been too bad without him (leading the league in passing yards), he will be better with him on the field.

Have the Chargers found continuity yet with the offensive line?

The offensive line is a disaster. They had their best game last week and that was with 3 starters out for the entire game. It looks like we will get at least one of those starters back for Monday, but we don’t know much more after that.

Although Ben Roethlisberger isn’t playing due to injury, his name always comes up with Philip Rivers and Eli Manning being part of the same draft class from 2004. Just to bring up the debate again, which quarterback would Chargers fans want San Diego take if they had to do it all over again?

ANYONE but Eli Manning. We know that Ben and Eli have rings, but Eli is and will always be thought of as a PUNK. We respect Ben’s skills as a quarterback, but we love our quarterback. Knowing what we know, we would still take Philip Rivers. We would just rather have your head coach.

What is your prediction for the game with score?

The Chargers will find a way to pull this one out. We lucked out that we don’t have to face Ben this week and Philip will get his favorite target back. I believe that he will have another monster game. The biggest concern will be the Chargers ability to stop Le’Veon Bell. In order for the Chargers to win, Philip needs to play like a mad man. I believe he will.

Chargers 35 – Steelers 31

DAMN THAT IS A LOT OF POINTS!

There you have it, Steeler Nation. What would you have asked differently about the Steelers and Chargers matchup?

Be sure to check out Bolt Beat for my answers to Ernie’s questions.

Here we go Steelers! Here we go!

Next: Steelers game day grub

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