San Diego Chargers
San Diego Chargers The 2-3 San Diego Chargers face what is almost a must-win game on Sunday night as they host the 3-1 New England Patriots. NFL betting odds makers at have the Chargers 6 1/2 point favorites at home with a total of 45 against the Patriots.

"Make no mistake about it, this is a critical time for our football team," said San Diego running back LaDainian Tomlinson. "These next three games before the bye are very critical for us. To me, this is going to determine what type of team we're going to be this year."

New England has managed to start the season winning three out of four games despite losing Tom Brady to a season-ending knee injury in the first quarter of week one against Kansas City. Filling in for Brady, Matt Cassel threw for a career-high 259 yards last Sunday against
the 49ers as New England bounced back from a loss to Miami before its bye week.

Patriots receiver, Randy Moss had only 47 receiving yards in his previous two games combined, exceeded that total on one play as Cassel hit the star wide-out in stride for a 66-yard touchdown pass.

"Being able to connect on that deep ball, I think it was good," Moss said. "That's something that we've been missing in our repertoire the past couple of weeks."

The Pats will have to keep up the vertical passing with Moss in order to open up the ground game. If they can do that with Cassel under center, they will be successful this season even without Tom Brady.

Tonight, look for the Chargers to try and do the opposite. They will hand LaDainian Tomlinson the rock and pound the football on the ground. Take the Chargers and give the points.