During the matchup last Sunday between the San Diego Chargers and the Kansas City Chiefs, commentators Jim Nantz and Phil Simms were unable to reach a conclusion as to whether the game was won in the trenches or on the defensive side of the ball.
After Chiefs running back Charcandrick West pounded the ball into the endzone from the one-yard line, Simms proclaimed that football games are won at the line of scrimmage.
“You know Jim, these games are won and lost by those big guys down in the trenches,” said Simms. “Give the Chiefs offensive line a lot of credit, just really manhandling the Chargers defensive line. You better bring your hard hat and lunch pail if you want to win games in this league, Jim.”
Later on in the game, Chiefs cornerback Marcus Peters picked off a pass by Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers and returned the interception for a touchdown. This play caused Nantz to contradict Simms’ earlier statement.
“You know the old adage, defense wins championships, ” said Nantz. “Having a high-flying offense is fine and dandy but what it really comes down to is locking down the other team. We see it year in and year out, when the games really start to matter, it’s your defense that is going to win you football games.”
Following the loss, Chargers coach Mike McCoy was equally confused as to which facet of the game cost his team the victory.
“Ultimately we lost because we weren’t physical enough up front,” said McCoy when asked why his team came up short.
When posed a similar question by a different reporter, McCoy said, “Look, your defense wins games in this league and ours certainly didn’t show up tonight.”
During his press conference, Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers only added to the confusion by saying the loss was on his shoulders.
“That loss is completely on me,” said Rivers. “This is a quarterback-driven league and I didn’t deliver tonight.”
At press time, fans could not decide which side of the issue they stood on and decided to equally deplore all of the millionaire athletes on Twitter.
