You've been served, AFC: Chargers are getting back on track

SAN DIEGO -- Well, it's about time.

Vincent Jackson's Chargers make a statement on Sunday night. (US Presswire)

After puzzling losses, goal-line failures and Ed Hochuli, the San Diego Chargers finally did what they should have been doing for weeks -- remind us why they should be playing in January.

It wasn't just that they hammered mighty New England, a team that eliminated them from the playoffs the past two seasons. It was that they hammered them again and again, with offense, with defense and with Nate Kaeding's field goals.

And they did it from the beginning.

Cue the videotape to the first play of the team's 30-10 rout, and you find San Diego quarterback Philip Rivers taking the snap, retreating seven steps and launching a bomb deep into the night.

When it descends it hits Vincent Jackson in stride for a 48-yard gain, and, presto, just like that, the Chargers are back in business. In one instant, they go from one of the season's biggest underachievers to the club we knew would emerge sooner or later.

As it turns out, it was later. But, hey, last year's team lost three of its first four and look what happened.

Now back to that first play. The Chargers have been noticeably short of first-half heroics on both sides of the ball, which is why Rivers' pass to Jackson deserves to be dissected. The protection was perfect. The pass was perfect. And Jackson outran the defense.

But that's not all.

"We wanted to send a message and set the tone," Jackson said. "It was kind of a message to ourselves, as well as the other team. Everybody's been saying the same thing: Why aren't we throwing in the first half? Well, we sort of answered that."

The Chargers rehearsed the pattern twice in last week's practices, but Rivers and Jackson have been running it in workouts all season. It was just that this time it seemed the perfect time and place to take a shot for, well, for ...

"Attitude," coach Norv Turner said. "It's for attitude, no question about it."

The Chargers had been sluggish the first half of their last two games, and they needed a shot of something to shake their funk. Besides, this was the perfect opportunity. At 6-foot-5, Jackson towered over the 5-foot-11 O'Neal, and O'Neal was locked in single coverage.