NFL Weekend Preview: Who Needs A Win? - Brendan Darr's Blog

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Brendan Darr's Blog

NFL Weekend Preview: Who Needs A Win? Stuck

Posted on November 18, 2012 at 12:48 PM.

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Every week, Matt and Brendan pick a team who needs a win the most in the NFL. Now that we are starting to see the playoff teams emerge, it will be even more vital for these teams to get a win.

Matt � San Diego Chargers
The last time the Chargers met the Broncos, they suffered a humiliating defeat on Monday Night Football after giving up a 24-0 lead.

Now heading into week 11, the Chargers are in a state of disarray. Sitting at 4-5, a loss to the Broncos this week would put them 3 games behind in the race for the AFC West. Furthermore, the Chargers would be 0-2 against the Broncos, which could be crucial when it comes to tiebreakers.

Norv Turner needs to go if the Chargers lose today�s game. How he and GM AJ Smith were brought back in the first place is still the greatest mystery of this season.

Another thing that hurts this team is that these aren�t the same Chargers of years� past. This isn�t the team that ranked 1st in Offense and 1st in Defense, which still failed to make the playoffs for the record. This is far from the team that had LT leading the way into in upset playoff victory over Peyton Manning.

Under the last two years of Turner, Phillip Rivers hasn�t looked like Phillip Rivers. Rivers has made awful throws, but it doesn�t help he has three, often overrated receivers. The loss of Vincent Jackson has hurt this team.

This is now or never for the San Diego Chargers.

Brendan - Indianapolis Colts

This isn't so much a must-win because they need the win. This is a must win because the Colts need to prove they are a playoff worthy team, more of a statement game than anything else. Playoff worthy teams can get big wins on the road as the underdog, and that's exactly what the Colts will have to do against the Patriots.

This Colts team has come a long way in a short time this season, but appear to be overachieving. A win on the road against the Patriots won't shake that label, but it will add some credibility to the team down the stretch.

Indianapolis may struggle with the Patriots offense, but need to prove they can play in a shoot-out given how porous the New England secondary has been. Andrew Luck will need to take advantage of the Patriots defense to keep his team in the game.

He's already upset -- and outplayed -- one premier Quarterback this year in Aaron Rodgers, let's see if he can do it again this week over Tom Brady.