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Don’t jump off Chargers bandwagon

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Bandwagons never have been my preferred mode of transportation. I don’t have the hops to get on one nor the spine to jump off.

But if you’ve climbed aboard the Chargers’ express when it was running out in front and are thinking of getting off at the next stop now that it’s blown a few tires, try traveling a bit longer. Flats can be repaired. If you’re thinking about writing them off, put down you pens and No. 2s for a while. Paper is plentiful.

There’s something about these 5-3 Chargers I like. They have chutzpah. They bleed, wrap themselves in gauze, and continue the fight. Among all the Chargers teams I’ve seen -- and I have missed none -- this one is unique. Brittle, perhaps. Soft, not a chance.

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They are beaten to crap, a group that spends its leisure time in an infirmary. Injuries are a bad excuse in sports, because everyone has them to a degree, but there aren’t many NFL teams that can lose seven starters to injury and float above .500.

As it is, they’re a fumbled snap from beating Arizona, which has one defeat, could have taken Kansas City, which has gone from tepid to very warm, and while they may have lost in Denver by two touchdowns, at least one of those scores was a gift by a generous, horrible officiating crew. They hardly were embarrassed by the Broncos, who, without question, are better -- and healthier -- than they are.

The Chargers hardly are great. But is anybody? No.

The Broncos and Cardinals are the only teams with one loss. And both are flawed. Everyone was jumping on the Cowboys’ stagecoach, and then they lose to one-win Washington Monday night in their own livery.

Last year’s best teams, Seattle and San Francisco, have been major disappointments -- at least up to now, and it’s easy to forget we’re midway through the season. They each have three losses. But they aren’t easy to play.

Look at the teams with two defeats -- Cincinnati (plus a tie), New England, Detroit, Dallas and Philadelphia. Are any of them even very good? The Patriots, as usual, are overrated because they’re the Patriots. If that team wins the Super Bowl, Bill Belichick has powers we haven’t seen from a man in 2,000 years.

On Sunday, the Chargers are at Miami -- where they haven’t won since Don Coryell ordered them to eat extra bananas in the great heat of the 1981 playoff game -- and then bye. The remainder of their menu isn’t lunch meat, but if they can get some crucial people healthy, I can see five wins there.

In fact, if they can get past the Dolphins, I’ll be convinced they’re a playoff team.

They play one game in 23 days, and according to former Chargers COO and NFL Super Bowl guru Jim Steeg, no other team in League history has played just once over that long a period. Clearly, this is a road to wellness, a time for them to heal. Their injuries finally caught up to them against the more talented clubs, and they’re not going to be playing in January minus a third of their starters.

They simply have to get some key people back. Playing Peyton Manning without two of your three top cornerbacks? That’s asking a sniper to hit a barn door from 10 feet away. San Diego since has cut one reserve corner, Richard Marshall, who wasn’t fast enough to keep up in Denver.

But let’s just see how things play out. It seems every week there’s a new favorite, and soon that one’s off the board and another’s put up.

“Every team in this league is beatable,” Chargers coach Mike McCoy says. “Without a doubt.”

McCoy has to get his cornerbacks healthy and get his front seven to step up and press the passer, which did not happen in Denver. The offensive line, especially in the middle, has to be more physical blocking for the run. If tailback Ryan Mathews returns, it will be a big plus. Branden Oliver can’t do it alone. He couldn’t in Denver against a fast defense that couldn’t be blocked.

But they have The Great Equalizer, quarterback Philip Rivers. And, if ambulatory, they can motor into January on his arm, a bandwagon unto itself.

Ride along for a while.

sezme.godfather@gmail.com Twitter @sdutCanepa

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