tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79268142024-03-06T22:36:35.493-08:00San Diego Super ChargersPassion.CJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04335122956728155187noreply@blogger.comBlogger856125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7926814.post-91790356719409191382015-11-13T08:53:00.001-08:002015-11-13T08:57:26.530-08:00San Diego Raiders? Nope.<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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Everybody just calm down. The Raiders aren’t coming to San
Diego. Just like the time the entire sports media claimed Philip Rivers stated unequivocally
that he would never accompany the team to L.A. the facts have been twisted.
When Mark Davis said he would be open to the Raiders coming to San Diego, he
also basically said he’d be open to any and all options including, I presume,
being the first NFL team on Mars. Not exactly a courtship of our fine city.<br />
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Now, there are a couple of reasons why the prospect would be
intriguing, and they all center around spite. I’m sure Faulconer and the City
of San Diego would love to prove to the Chargers and the NFL that they’re more
than willing to build a facility for a team that actually wants to be here, and
that would certainly undermine the idea the team or the league ever wanted to
stay. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Which in turn would undermine the
efforts of the league to make an example of San Diego as a town unwilling to do
business with the NFL and therefore not being worthy of its presence. And that
is one reason why the NFL would never allow it. San Diego’s greatest value to
the NFL if the Chargers leave is as a cautionary tale.</div>
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And sure Mark Davis would love to come to San Diego and take
a big bite out of that L.A. market. Everyone knows the City of Angels loves the
Raiders more than the Chargers or even the Rams, who they didn’t so much as
bother to wave to when they left all those years ago. But the NFL isn’t going
to let that happen either. They’ll have traded the flea market that is San
Diego for the Rodeo Drive of Los Angeles. They’re not going to reopen the flea
market. If the Raiders don’t make it to L.A. they’re going to land in St. Louis or
San Antonio or some other as yet unmentioned destination, but with two teams in
L.A. Southern California will be full up for football.</div>
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So no, the Raiders aren’t coming to San Diego and neither is
anybody else. Not for a long time, if ever. </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7926814.post-81714553728718165742015-11-02T08:23:00.003-08:002015-11-02T08:25:31.511-08:00Fire EverybodyOh my. It's been a long time since this team has been 2-6. That's bad. There's no other conclusion you can reach when you look at a record like that. Yesterday, we gave up another close one in Baltimore and now I can officially say that I don't love 10:00AM games anymore. Is this how the San Diego Chargers end? Not with a bang, but with a whimper?<br />
<br />
I'm done with good news and talk of miraculous turnarounds. While I don't think this team is that far away from contending, it ain't happening this year. We're not going to run the table and steal the AFC West title from a Denver Broncos team that just humiliated the Packers on national television. We can forget all that.<br />
<br />
No, unfortunately, this team is just close enough to make a run in a year or two when they're ready to woo new fans in L.A. And not only will they field some new personnel-there's only so much you can do in an off season or two on that front-they'll likely try to load up on some real football people for once in their existence under the Spanos clan. Telesco and McCoy won't make it to L.A. Those guys aren't selling anything in a new market after what's become of this team in their short tenure. No, I'd expect that with their newfound revenue stream, the Spanoses will crack open their dusty checkbooks and make offers to the likes of John Gruden and Bill Cowher, knowing that while the Chargers might be a hard sell to L.A. fans those legendary coaches will garner some real interest. Heck, even Jimmy Johnson will probably get a call if all else fails.<br />
<br />
I assume that's been the plan all along, it's only taken longer to get here than they originally anticipated. The team got good and that made it hard to move. I suspect that deep down that's why the organization really hated Marty. But AJ and Norv were never going to see the field in Los Angeles, and it looks like Tommy T and McCoy won't make it either. They might not survive the week. At this rate, they don't deserve to. Yesterday pounded the final nail into that coffin, or at least it should have.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7926814.post-77782344529563152152015-10-27T11:23:00.001-07:002015-10-27T11:24:33.685-07:00It's Halloween-Time: Let's Talk About Ghosts<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<![endif]--><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfcC89cKDCe1TlZvweNP-iC_Dq1Plu36frz9-mZ_zaTNHa4Bwyj6FlJiD-jdaxKTQDuwlPIB9iIJ2Nspig70K5W4Q2oEoTRUD_VKLBo7d88sFmtjwyDNrVFGYIDADCnD-NjaTH/s1600/Scooby-QBack-03-Villain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfcC89cKDCe1TlZvweNP-iC_Dq1Plu36frz9-mZ_zaTNHa4Bwyj6FlJiD-jdaxKTQDuwlPIB9iIJ2Nspig70K5W4Q2oEoTRUD_VKLBo7d88sFmtjwyDNrVFGYIDADCnD-NjaTH/s320/Scooby-QBack-03-Villain.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This town is full of ghosts. When you have no tradition of
success it’s hard not to dwell on the mistakes of the past, or at least those
things that seem like mistakes. Hindsight is, after all, 20/20. The Padres have
the ghost of Bruce Bochy, who went on to win three Series titles with one of
our greatest rivals even if they don’t really consider us the same. Bochy’s
ghost probably forced us to hold onto Bud Black longer than we should of, but
there’s certainly reason to believe Black might become a ghost as well. The
Dodgers recently fired their manager and they are a team on the cusp of
greatness. They could use a ghost from San Diego just like the Giants did.
Bochy wasn’t going to take the Padres to a Series and it’s unlikely that Black
ever could have taken them either. The problems run deeper than that. There are
foundations in baseball that make success difficult for many teams. Sure, there
are always teams that rise from the depths to find a modicum of greatness, but
in baseball it takes a lot of cash to do it overnight, and that kind of success
is typically fleeting. True success takes time and patience in baseball, but
time and patience get you fired more often than not, restarting the process
before it ever bears fruit. Baseball’s ghosts can live forever if you don’t
learn from them. Study your ghosts in baseball and let them make you better.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Football is a different animal with the same goal. Championships.
Turnaround happens fast in the NFL, so it’s a sport where you have to give up
the ghost or die on the vine. But the Chargers have ghosts. An entire graveyard’s
worth of them. The ghost of Bobby Ross. The Ghost of Marty Schottenheimer. The
ghost of Drew Brees and the ghost of Ryan Mathews. It’s become paralyzing and
it’s cost us our identity. Rivers is every bit the QB Brees was and Brees
wouldn’t have won here with Norv any more than Rivers has. And neither one of
them could win it with Marty, who still looms large as the greatest franchise
ghost of the millennium so far. Melvin Gordon is not Ryan Mathews just because
we traded up for him and he put the ball on the ground a couple of times. We’re
killing this young man’s potential while Mathews looks resurrected in Philly,
to be honest. McCoy is looking less like the true successor to Schottenheimer
and more like an extension of his true predecessor, Turner, whose
mumble-mouthed ghost still haunts these halls as what should be a cautionary
tale but will be forever at odds with Marty’s spirit. It's starting to look like McCoy needs to become a ghost soon. Telesco might be
friendlier than AJ, but he seems to be just as lost at this point. AJ’s ghost
is laughing at the way Eric Weddle has treated this team in crying about an
extension and Telesco seems powerless by comparison. We're nearing the point where Telesco needs to be exorcised.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Spanos family is the problem, of course. And not just
because they want to move the team out of the haunted confines of Mission
Valley, but because no one has been through the life and death of nearly as
many ghosts in the modern sports history of this town. It’s time to forget the
past. It’s time to find the future. Whether it be here or up the road, it’s
time to open up the checkbook and bring some real football Ghostbusters to San Diego.
Don’t be fooled when this team scraps its way up to a “respectable” 9-7 record
by the end of the year. Don’t be paralyzed. As much as it pains me to say this,
the new regime is not better thus far than the awful regime it succeeded and there's little reason to believe it will be. Rebuilding
happens overnight in the NFL, but it takes great architects and right now that
is what we are lacking. It’s time to tear down this cursed edifice and find a
Michelangelo to build us a cathedral of success for it's in cathedrals that the best ghosts dwell. The alternative is so
frightening that it's downright spooky. More of the same.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7926814.post-91723941743032434172015-10-22T10:00:00.004-07:002015-10-22T10:00:49.404-07:00Silver Linings<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAwE1_PF0icfRCGkmQEnh2vySf7hf7tRaZeQwHVXs8Z7ABTi8KarSFZkbyC5QN68USXW8Wsly23N2IDE0yij4CyN8pc1c73gflnMuJMIz45lOiW8O-0tcpoTkmprrWJo1kpjvT/s1600/SDKneel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAwE1_PF0icfRCGkmQEnh2vySf7hf7tRaZeQwHVXs8Z7ABTi8KarSFZkbyC5QN68USXW8Wsly23N2IDE0yij4CyN8pc1c73gflnMuJMIz45lOiW8O-0tcpoTkmprrWJo1kpjvT/s320/SDKneel.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Here we sit, at 2-4 and blaming yet another rash of injuries
for our failures. I can accept that. Excuse making is human nature in today’s
society. I personally believe that is a product of living in a world without
accidents. Fault must always be distributed these days or how would anyone know
who to sue? That’s a discussion for another day and another site. I’m here to
talk about silver linings.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A lot of people would say-and I agree!-that good teams should measure
themselves by how they manage against other good teams, and on that front we
have fallen short. Given opportunities in Cincinnati and Green Bay, we showed
that we are not ready to play with the big boys right now. But all is not lost.
This is the time to find our true selves. There is not a team left on our
schedule that you can say is clearly a stronger competitor than our Chargers.
Even the 6-0 Broncos have warts that all but portend the certainty of their
eventual collapse this season. Before you tout their impressive defense, go
look at who they’ve actually played so far. A real murderer’s row consisting of
offensive powerhouses like the Ravens, Lions and Browns. No one else on our
schedule has more wins than we do right now. Not a one. So now is the time to
assert ourselves. Now is the time to turn it around and take advantage of a
league of NFL misfits laid out before us by the scheduling Gods. Some of those
teams will rise from the ashes, but so must we. It’s time to be the best of the
worst.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Even if we do crush it for the rest of the season, though, I’m inclined as many of you no doubt will be, to say who
cares? If we make a run and find the postseason on the backs of the corpses of
lesser teams, so what? Surely we’ll be swept clear by the real contenders
before the playoffs start in earnest. But winning begets winning in this
league. We have the talent. A string of victories, no matter who’s on the other
side of the ball, can only sow the seeds of our success and assure that we rise
up and reach our full potential. It can be done. There’s a lot of football left
to be played. Now let’s go smash the Raiders. Go Bolts!!!</div>
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<![endif]-->Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7926814.post-16214851267701295652015-10-13T08:35:00.004-07:002015-10-13T08:37:06.563-07:00Lather, Rinse, Repeat<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil0uWpLxyQXfqaQSh_dsEDoiue7lIQ-1Kwb4aZOGD-vtg9bH3TQ-RyoE_YWWsv_1wFFHOZZzRTFakOPCgmgtJomOC2pVD3rlMwIhLPMS2bj2klk-25t6WjfMJ6_llasbkWsdEr/s1600/OB-VW102_0103di_J_20130103091021.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil0uWpLxyQXfqaQSh_dsEDoiue7lIQ-1Kwb4aZOGD-vtg9bH3TQ-RyoE_YWWsv_1wFFHOZZzRTFakOPCgmgtJomOC2pVD3rlMwIhLPMS2bj2klk-25t6WjfMJ6_llasbkWsdEr/s320/OB-VW102_0103di_J_20130103091021.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m stewing right now, as I’m sure the rest of you are after
last night’s monstrous let down. There isn’t a lot to say about what led us to
that loss, but I’d like to make a couple of points. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
First and foremost, Chuck Pagano runs a vanilla defense.
People love Pagano because he makes the “right” calls, but I can see no
evidence that he has taken his players into consideration when it comes to his
schemes. Down and distance seem to be the only determining factors when it
comes to defensive play-calling. That’s fine, though. You can have a serviceable
defense doing that, but you’ll never have a dominating defense going that
route. The great coordinators take chances. Does Denver take the pressure off
because Jamaal Charles slips one by here and there? Hell no, they double down
on that shit. And not with rote blitz packages, but with complex plays designed
to overload offenses at varying points of attack that utilize the talents of
their defensive playmakers. Melvin Ingram would be unstoppable in Denver. Wade
Phillips is one of the great defensive coordinators because he knows what his
players are best at and what they like to do and he turns them loose accordingly.
It’s no coincidence that he coordinated San Diego’s last truly great defense.
But fine, we’re not going to be dominant on that side of the ball. It’s cool.
We don’t have to be as long as...</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
…this offense is and must be the dynamic driver of this
football team. I realize we have issues on the line, but then explain that
beautiful opening drive for us last night and then explain to me where that
offense went for two and half quarters afterwards. There are ways to beat
pressure and we exhibited those at times and abandoned them at others. The
strange decision to pick last night to minimize Danny Woodhead and establish
Melvin Gordon’s role in the offense had a lot to do with what went wrong there.
I still believe Gordon will be a very good back in this league, but with the
personnel we have, what’s the rush to prove it? We need to win games. We’re not
going to do that if our offensive identity is to idle through three quarters
and ask Rivers to pull it out of his ass in the fourth quarter every week! Mike
McCoy and Frank Reich need to be creative, but instead they are every bit as vanilla
as Pagano.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This boring offense and defense combo gets you perpetual 7-9
to 9-7 seasons and all but guarantees we’ll never see a championship in this
town. This team certainly won’t do it unless somebody on that coaching staff
grows a pair. This story is getting old.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7926814.post-61097756525609823152015-08-26T14:58:00.001-07:002015-08-26T15:06:57.392-07:00Where We Are Now, Part III; The Rooks and Everything Else<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</xml><![endif]--><b><u>The Rooks</u></b>
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I’m not going to go down the line and discuss the entire
rookie class here, but there are a couple of obvious notables from the draft.
Of course, I’m tempted to dedicate an entire column to walk-on running back
Dreamius Smith, but suffice it to say, what kind of blogger would I be if I
wasn’t pulling for a guy with a name like that to make the team? But I'm not here to talk about Dreamboat. I’m going to
focus more on draft picks here, and two in particular.</div>
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First and foremost is Melvin Gordon, running back out of
Wisconsin who the Chargers moved up to grab in the first round. The last
running back the Chargers moved up to grab in the first round was the newly
departed Ryan Mathews, but as much as the fans want to draw such a comparison,
the similarities mostly end there. But even if they were the same, it’s enough
that Gordon doesn’t have a history of injuries and letting go of the football.
Those two distinctions alone should make this a pick you can get behind.
Unfortunately, Gordon carried the ball 6 times for 11 yards in his first NFL
preseason game and I’m already assured he is a complete and total bust. Make
way for Dreamius! Fan concerns were compounded when the worst pick since Ryan
Leaf watched his second preseason game from the sidelines. Our only hope now is
probably that Gordon gets enough lucky yardage in the next couple of games that
we can trade him to someone else for a cooler full of Gatorade and a wooden
hand massager from the Sharper Image. All kidding aside, I’ve got pretty high
hopes for the kid, just as I did for Mathews-who was damn good in stretches! Nine
out of ten people (including my cohort, CJ) these days will tell you that you
can find great running backs anywhere in the draft, but I’ve said it before and
I’ll tell you all again, I still love the idea of the home run hitter in the
backfield. Chuck Muncie, Natrone Means, Ladainian Tomlinson-these are my favorites
of years past, and I have to believe Gordon could join that list.</div>
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The other significant draft acquisition I’d like to discuss Is
Denzel Perriman. Perriman is a middle linebacker and that’s pretty noteworthy.
I don’t care how much Telesco wants to talk about depth and competition, giving
up a second round pick at that position spells out that you don’t think much of
your talent there. The existing talent at the position carried a pretty hefty
price tag. And if depth is good for the linebacker position, how is any less
important for-oh, I don’t know- the offensive and defensive lines, which got
little help outside of Orlando Franklin in the off-season. As I said a couple
of column’s back, I’m not sure the answers to those problems were already in
the locker room. Time will tell. Either way, I hope the best for Perriman. His
talent and ability are not in question.</div>
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<b><u>The Rest</u></b></div>
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The coaching staff remains largely intact, which seems like
a good thing because people are always touting the importance of consistency.
Then again, they were touting that same bullshit around here throughout the
entire Norv Turner era. I like McCoy alright. His style is straight out of the “slow
and steady wins the race” handbook and that’s boring as hell, but it’ll keep
you in most games. I’m still not quite sure why everyone loves Pagano all that
much, to be honest. His defenses aren’t very interesting or confusing to other
teams, but if they can just manage to not be outright awful, the offense should
be able to carry the water. Hopefully these guys have all been put in a room at
some point this offseason and forced Clockwork Orange style to watch that Miami
footage from last year over and over again to learn their lessons. Another loss
like that this year and I wouldn’t root for them next year if they move to my
backyard.</div>
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Don’t let anybody tell you otherwise, the AFC West is still
tough. Peyton Manning got body slammed late in the season last year-in a game
he still beat us in!-and that pretty much derailed the Broncos Super Bowl
dreams, but those of you who expect that he is done-zo are likely in for a rude
awakening. Peyton will bring another potent offense to bear and along with that
defense, the Broncos are still the team to beat.</div>
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The Chiefs are the Chiefs, toeing the line between pretty
good and pretty bad effectively. Jamaal Charles should hit a wall at some
point, but I’m not holding my breath. That defense can bring pressure like no
other. This team is poised for a big run. Except Alex Smith is still their QB
and that’s a problem. It’s been beaten like a dead Bronco, but how can you not
throw a single TD to a wide receiver in an entire season? Just kidding, I know
why. Because wide receivers tend to run up to 7, heck even 8 yards downfield at
times and that’s outside of Smith’s comfort zone. It’s too much to ask, I say!
Adding Jeremy Maclin to any other team would give divisional rivals cause for
concern, but I’ve watched Maclin play for the Eagles in years past and he
spends and unbelievable amount of time downfield. Maybe someday the Chiefs will
find that all Smith needs is a pair of punk rock eyeglasses a la Wild Thing
from Major League, but until then be prepared to watch the Chiefs passing game
nickel and dime them into 7 or 8 close losses again this year.</div>
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Which leaves us the Raiders. I want to simply sum up the
Raiders by pointing out that they can’t stay bad forever, right? Right?! It’s
taken them a few years, but they’re finally starting to get out from under all
the cap trouble their deceased owner left them and it won’t be long before a
few good moves here and there could put them right back in the race. I don’t
think they’ll be a contender just yet, but they are going to be able to move
the ball on offense and make some plays on defense. It probably won’t be a good
idea to overlook these guys as they always come to play when we’re on the
schedule. Actually, screw the Raiders. They suck.</div>
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Last year I felt like this team had a real shot at being
special. The ghosts of AJ and Norv were all but forgotten and the locker room
was full of good guys who had learned how to win together the year before. It
wasn’t always pretty, but it was going to be. And then everybody got injured. Still,
we managed to scratch our way to a winning record without a running game, an
offensive line, a defensive line and a fully functioning secondary and that’s
got to tell you this team is close. This team has heart, and Jimmy McGinty
knows that’s what it takes to win. If we can stay healthy this season-even just
relatively healthy!-, we can hang with a healthy Peyton Manning. We can stop a
Jamaal Charles. We can survive a Black Hole. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I believe that. I have to believe it. This
could be the Chargers’ last chance to bring a championship to San Diego and I
have to believe that means something in that locker room. Let’s hope that this
team feels the same sense of urgency that this much put-upon fan base feels right now. Let’s hope
that guides them. And I hope it guides all of you. This team needs its fans.
Not the owners or the lawyers or the pundits. The team. Our team. Those players
on the field aren’t trying to get out of town. That team still belongs to us.
That uniform is a representation of our city. It’s our time, Goonies! That’s
our God damned trophy; Let’s go get it!</div>
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Go Bolts!!!</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7926814.post-32782308674362262532015-08-22T11:53:00.000-07:002015-08-22T12:27:01.654-07:00Where We Are Now, Part II: The VetsAs I sit here watching the umpteenth replay of the
Bills-Browns preseason yawner, I find myself extremely thankful to have Philip
Rivers, even if many of the Chargers’ faithful disagree. Can you imagine having
to make do with the likes of EJ Manuel or Josh McCown at quarterback? Tyrod
Taylor or Johnny Manziel? Fans here, many of whom constantly tell me how awful
Rivers is from their local barstools, mostly have no idea how good they have
it. So they cry for Drew Brees and dream of lost Super Bowls, never realizing
that blame for their unfound glory lies more in the organizational woes and
bureaucracy than the quarterback on the field who has bled blue and gold for a
decade. It’s a little bit ironic that the same fans who decry Rivers performance
and occasional antics on the field clung to his supposed disdain for Los
Angeles, desperate for an ally in their hopes to keep the Chargers in San
Diego. Rivers gave an interview earlier in the offseason where he expressed
that he was likely to play out his existing contract rather than seeking an
extension to continue as a Charger in San Diego. His reasoning was that the
direction of the team, and in fact even their place of residence, were uncertain
enough as to give him pause. Many of the fans and media around here twisted his
meaning and went so far as to claim Rivers refused to stay with the team if
they moved to Los Angeles. The height of wishful thinking, I have never found
any quote from Rivers that supports that claim. The focus of much silly offseason
trade speculation, Rivers ended up signing a big money, four year extension
that is likely to ensure that he will ultimately have begun and ended his NFL
career with the Chargers. In another bit of irony, the Chargers may end up
beginning and ending their very existence in Los Angeles. Personally, I’m
surprised that Rivers didn’t make good on his threat to play out the contract.
He doesn’t need the money at this point; he’s made enough to feed even his impressive
brood. At this point Rivers has the luxury of chasing a ring with another
franchise and cementing his legacy if he so desires. The mere fact that he’s
committed to a future here should give us all reason to believe this franchise
is earnest in its quest for a championship, and that’s alright with me.
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One Charger who is probably less thrilled to see Rivers sign
that contract is Eric Weddle. Weddle is also in the final year of his contract
and was determined to secure a bigtime contract extension as well until the
team informed him that their estimation of his worth did not necessarily jibe
with his own. Now that Rivers has signed, that franchise tag has to be
hanging like a horrible omen over Weddle’s head. He’ll be thirty here soon, and
that number is bad voodoo in the NFL. Thirty is the consensus breaking point
for athletes that rely on speed and explosiveness to excel at their positions.
Weddle needs to get his deal soon if he’s going to cash in, but the Chargers
could conceivably keep him around for two more seasons. It’ll cost them, but
not nearly as much as the contract Weddle most definitely thinks he deserves.
Does he deserve it? That’s the question, and the short answer is probably yes.
But flesh it out a bit and it’s not so clear. For one thing, paying a player
for what he’s done rather than what you think he’ll do is a kind of sentimental
suicide that keeps teams struggling for years. It’s no coincidence that the
Patriots are one of the more successful franchises in history and they have no
time for feelings when it comes time to evaluate players and plan for their
future. However, more people than not-so called experts even!- will tell you
that Weddle is the best safety in the league right now, and like it or not,
that has to be worth something. Of course-and my ambivalence towards Weddle is
well documented-I’m not sure the praise of Weddle speaks as much about his
ability as much as it’s an indictment of the overall NFL talent at his
position. I’ve seen him run past and run over enough times to wonder.</div>
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Defensively, the Chargers made a smarter move by locking up
a number of years with Corey Liuget. Liuget is the real deal. He doesn’t miss
much time and he might be the only defensive player other teams actually plan
for. I don’t know if he can do enough to make this defense great, but his
presence here is likely the only thing keeping it from being truly awful. It’s
time for Melvin Ingram, Brandon Flowers, Jason Verrett and everybody else to
get healthy and contribute on a regular basis. If they can, then maybe, just
maybe we can be really good. But not great. A great 3-4 defense needs a nose
tackle, and expecting Sean Lissemore to magically become a force at the position
this year when he looked lost last year kind of screams for a spoiled milk
reference. This defensive line received no help in the off-season, and I have a
hard time believing all the pieces were already there. I hope I’m wrong.</div>
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Back to offense, it’s pretty safe to say the running game
was decimated by injury last year. Without Woodhead and Mathews for most of the
season and with a revolving door at center, by the end of the year we just
couldn’t move the ball. I can’t wait for the collective shrieks of horror the
first time we run a halfback draw this year. Please retire that play! Bad
memories. I have no problem openly saying that Ryan Mathews, from a talent
perspective, belongs in the conversation among the best rushers in the league.
But man does that kid have warts. He drops the ball, but I believe that’s an
unfortunate byproduct of how hard he plays. The bigger problem is with his
health, which may also be attributable to how hard he plays, but is a harder
problem to get past. I think lot of people, including yours truly, thought
Mathews value would be low enough that we might throw him a light couple years to
stick around as a role player. Then the crazy Eagles came along and put the
kibosh on that noise by offering him about twice what he’s probably worth, and
now he’s their problem. That’s all I have to say about that. A bigger impact
will likely be made by the return of Woodhead and the maturation of Chris Watt
at Center. With the addition of Denver’s Orlando Franklin to the offensive line
and a high profile draft pick that I’ll be talking about at length at <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>another time, there’s reason to be excited
about the running game this year.</div>
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What about the passing game, you ask? If there’s one thing
you can set your watch to in this world it’s the contributions of Antonio Gates
in the Chargers passing game. Up to this point, the only real criticism anyone
could muster about “First Down” Gates is that he’s not quite as good as he used
to be. I call it “Trevor Hoffman syndrome.” Unfortunately, after a renaissance
season last year, Gates tested positive for PEDs and will miss the first four
games of 2015. Getting old is a bitch. I guess that makes it Ladarius Green
time. Green has gotten a lot of grief from fans and the media for not being a
bigtime contributor in the offense so far and I gotta tell you that just seems
stupid to me. How is Green supposed to be a major contributor with Gates on the
field? How does one overshadow one of the greatest to ever play the game? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Please tell me who was on the bench behind
Tony Gonzales and Kellen Winslow. One has to reserve judgment on Green. We’ll know
more about his potential after the first month of this season than we’ve
learned over the last three years. Keenan Allen wasn’t exactly terrible last
season, but there’s no doubt he suffered a sophomore slump. Tends to happen
once defenses know your name. The exit of Eddie Royal and Gates’ suspension
could portend a big comeback for Allen. He’s the best receiver on the team and
it’s time to show the world. Malcolm Floyd is still around, right? Outside of
Gates, there isn’t a receiver Rivers trusts more, but it feels like this will
be Floyd’s swan song. Ha! Just kidding! The guy broke his damn neck and came
back as a solid contributor. He’s a cyborg and he’ll play forever. Even if he’s
going to drop down the depth chart behind guys like Dontrelle Inman.The guy to
look out for if you ask me, though, is Stevie Johnson. After looking at Brandon
Marshall and making a big money offer to Andre Johnson, the Chargers seemingly
settled for Johnson as an afterthought. It’s not hard to overlook Johnson, and
if I’m being honest, I kind of thought Johnson was 5’10’’ and 34 years old.
Imagine my surprise in finding out he’s 6’2” and under 30 years old. In his
relatively short career, he racked up three 1,000 yard seasons in BUFFALO! He’s
never received passes from a truly accomplished QB and he could be poised for
greatness in pairing up with Rivers. Regardless of what happens, we know Rivers
can make plays with guys like Legedu Naanee and this year’s receivers look to
be some of the best he’s had in a while. And no, I don’t want to talk about
Jacoby Jones. He’s not a real receiver. If he catches four passes and add three
yards to our return game, I’ll be happy.</div>
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All in all, we did pretty well when it came to our vets this
year. Re-signing King Dunlop and Corey Liuget absolutely had to be done.
Locking up Rivers for four more years is key to showing a commitment to winning
in the immediate future. And while we swung and missed when it came to some of
the offseason’s biggest free agents, we picked up some guys who are sure to
contribute and upgrade the team. </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7926814.post-70264658285529933632015-08-19T21:24:00.003-07:002015-08-20T11:21:32.266-07:00Where We Are Now, Part I: The Stadium IssueIt’s been an interesting off-season around here to say the
least. As the City of San Diego and the Chargers spar over the future of their
tumultuous relationship-as veteran players heir their grievances like it’s
Festivus for the Rest of Us-the regular ole wheels of the offseason turn and
churn. Regardless of the uncertainty of the franchise and the parts of its
whole, there is still a roster to fill and a Lombardi to pursue. I’m going to
go ahead and try to cover it all in this bloated piece of content designed to
make me feel better for neglecting the true heart of the franchise-this page.
And if the City of Los Angeles is impressed enough to offer to not pay me to
continue my minimal efforts in the future, so be it. I’ll surely accept that
offer.<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>The State of the
Stadium</u></b></div>
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If you’ve been paying any attention over the years most of
the following will not be news to you, but I’m going to break it down anyway.
Of course, this is merely my interpretation of events that have happened
sprinkled with a healthy dose of opinion, but I can certainly agree with myself
that it is all 100% factually correct.</div>
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First and foremost, the Spanos family has always had LA in
its sights even if they weren’t in a tremendous hurry to get there. How soon we
forget that the team inexplicably moved its camp to Carson in the early 2000s
about the same time as there were rumors and reports that they were working
with other interested parties to secure a stadium site there. Two important
things happened that stopped that whole fiasco in its tracks. Purportedly, the
alliance between Spanos and his would be partners fell apart when the team was
unwilling to meet the demands of its co-conspirators. Two, the team turned
itself around from 4-12 to 12-4 in one impressive season. Why does that matter?
Because in the NFL a team can’t bail out on its city just to make more money.
If that were the case the entire league would be located in New York and Los
Angeles. So it became imperative for the Chargers to show the league that San
Diego did not want them. A solid, popular team puts a wrench in that. A devoted
fan base will vote for anything to keep a good team. The Chargers were forced
to bide their time.</div>
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The problem the NFL faces is that the sports world
could not care less about the West Coast outside of Seattle (and seriously if
Seattle wasn’t an outstanding franchise right now, the country wouldn’t care
about them either), San Francisco and Los Angeles, and most of the rest of the
country probably barely even recognizes that San Diego and Los Angeles are two
distinct cities. Therefore, it’s in the best interest of the league to
consolidate California’s teams as much as possible into Los Angeles, where
their value can as much as triple due to television advertising, of which all of
the owners would reap the rewards. It makes the most sense then, and I believe
it is still the most likely scenario, to put the Chargers and the Raiders in
Los Angeles. The only problem then is that historical precedent dictates that
if a team’s owner pulls a team away from a rabid fan base and a city that
hasn’t walked away from the negotiating table, then that city is likely to get
an expansion at some time down the road. Houston, Baltimore, Cleveland…the list
goes on. But the NFL can’t keep giving teams to cities that eschew their
efforts to coerce cities to bow down to the demands of the league. No, for the
NFL the best bet is to make it look like San Diego wasn’t motivated to accommodate
the Chargers and punish the city by withholding football from San Diego in
perpetuity. The message to other teams with stadium issues would be clear and
the league would have rid itself of a franchise it doesn’t really want…at least
not here.<br />
<br />
This is where things get interesting. Not long ago the
Chargers and the NFL finally showed their hand. The team claimed they had done
all they could to work with San Diego (to the tune of doing nothing more than paying
professional awful person Mark Fabiani to trot out a podium every year and
proclaim “No news! We’re sticking around.”). The league claimed the Chargers
had fulfilled all of their obligations to San Diego and were free to start
wooing Los Angeles in earnest. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This
despite the fact that the team is still technically married to Qualcomm
Stadium! In the face of being a patsy for the best laid plans of the Chargers
and the NFL San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer-whom I don’t particularly love, but
who is certainly not an idiot-turned the tables on the Billionaire Boys’ Club
by essentially throwing everything on the table and acquiescing to nearly all
of the Chargers demands at the very last possible minute-a point the Chargers
and the NFL had mistakenly believed had passed. When the Chargers balked,
Faulconer took his grievance to the league. This is straight up brilliant. Suddenly
the team doesn’t look so innocent and down to talk and the NFL appears
complicit for being left with their jaw on the ground.</div>
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Let’s be clear, I don’t believe Kevin Faulconer wants to
build a stadium for the Chargers any more than the Chargers want to stay in San
Diego, but letting the team go without a fight is political suicide even worse
than actually using taxpayer money to build a stadium. Losing the Chargers for
lack of effort would dog him for the rest of his career as a civil servant. So
Faulconer is likely counting on the probability that the Chargers will never
agree to stay and the Chargers are married to fact that the league has told
them they were free to go. The league is the wildcard, though. To the league,
perception is everything, and they have two other teams that want back into Los
Angeles badly. If Goodell and the owners believe Fauconer has successfully
undermined them and the message they intended to send-that if you’re unwilling
to play the stadium game then you can kiss your team goodbye-they could turn
around and tell the Chargers they have to play ball with San Diego. That’s a
longshot, but I believe it’s the only hope we have of keeping our team. But
what do I know?</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7926814.post-44486344941413565622014-11-05T08:10:00.003-08:002014-11-05T10:26:23.003-08:00The One Where I'm a NaysayerI've spent all week hoping my attitude about Sunday's game would evolve into one where I'm convinced a loss of that magnitude will awaken the sleeping giant within this team. Miami was our Pearl Harbor, right? Time to get invested. We still have a winning record. This thing isn't over. Right?!<br />
<br />
The truth is, I don't know. This game kind of broke me. This team is broken. They looked broken the second we came up short on fourth and 1. A single backbreaking play that called back hobgoblins of the Norv Turner era, only Turner's Chargers never suffered a loss like this. And more importantly, no Superbowl winning team has ever suffered such a regular season loss. After watching that performance, how can we convince ourselves that a Superbowl win is within our grasp? Sure, we might be able to measure this season with a modicum of success when all is said and done. We might sneak into the playoffs and even win a game. But so what? I don't care much for hard won wildcard berths and first round playoff wins anymore. This is not a Championship team. That doesn't happen to Championship teams. And if there's no chance to win it all, then what's the point anymore? <br />
<br />
This team may not be with us much longer, and instead of giving us fans what we desperately want, and most arguably deserve, this team is poised to leave us with what they seem to give us year after year. Disappointment. And as the media who called our Chargers pretenders after the KC loss pat themselves on the back for yet again shedding light on the reality of an overachieving San Diego sports franchise, I have to ask myself whether it's even worth it to hang in there with them until the end? And the answer is that I don't know that either.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7926814.post-745111153291006152014-10-13T08:59:00.003-07:002014-10-13T09:28:25.442-07:00That Was Not EasyThat was a tough game to sit through. Talk about running the gamut on the old emotional rainbow. This fan base is not yet prepared to live through a squeaker like that against the Raiders. Over the last several years that has become a game we lose every time, and no matter how good the locals feel about the team today, it's hard to shake off a feeling of dread in a situation like that. We've been here before. The Raiders came to play yesterday and we often looked like we were content to let them shoot themselves in the foot rather to to actually take the game in hand. While we were never down by more than a score, it felt like swimming up stream all afternoon. The defense that had been so compelling for the previous four games fell back to Earth in resounding fashion for much of the day and if it weren't for the efforts of a couple scrappy rooks, we might all be standing around shaking our heads and wondering where it all went so wrong. A win's a win, but lets take some lessons away from yesterday. Here are handful of stray observations about the game.<br />
<ul>
<li>Phillip Rivers is simply killing it. How many times did you expect to see that back-breaking pick in the fourth quarter only to see Phillip slice apart the Oakland secondary like a surgeon. He simply doesn't make those kind of mistakes right now.</li>
</ul>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpkd7dS_PNAM5QtPd4FSuEcIUcR4NV6cg9z3i2InhWWMEKPrdmRgPLbETdFZPlBqD-iKTguU8c0lJ9HTOHC8GOmQ0pQWl5DknIwY0beskzNIp5ZN3xmf1pwdQ3qvbPdyh2bG7y/s1600/images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpkd7dS_PNAM5QtPd4FSuEcIUcR4NV6cg9z3i2InhWWMEKPrdmRgPLbETdFZPlBqD-iKTguU8c0lJ9HTOHC8GOmQ0pQWl5DknIwY0beskzNIp5ZN3xmf1pwdQ3qvbPdyh2bG7y/s1600/images.jpg" /></a></div>
<ul>
<li>My cohort, CJ, and I often argue about the merits of running backs. He is of the school of thought that RBs are a dime a dozen while I often point out the string of losers who tried to fill the role in San Diego between Natrone Means and LaDainian Tomlinson. Aaron Hayden? Jermaine Fazande? Man, I thought I was winning that argument until this walk-on little spark plug in the Darren Sproles jersey showed up. It's not like he snuck up on the Raiders after that Jets performance. He is shredding defenses and making fans forget Ryan Mathews like someone somewhere along the way forgot to put a second 't' in that surname.</li>
<li>Jason Verrett is playing much taller than he is. Fantastic pick to save that game. I've never been a fan of first round corners, because first round corners are rarely impactful enough to do much to turn around a flailing defense. I've never been so happy to be wrong a bout a guy either.</li>
<li>Malcolm Floyd is inspiring in his return from that awful injury he suffered last year. He may never be a true number one receiver, especially on a team like the Chargers who seemingly refuse to have a number one at all, but his contributions are a big factor on this offense and to its success.</li>
<li>Division games are a bear. There's no getting around it, the Raiders brought everything they had. KC will do the same next week, and they're better.</li>
<li>Jury's still out on Pagano as far as I'm concerned. Continues to lean on conservative play calling, which is fine when you're up, but ill advised in a dogfight against a team you should really be pushing around. We were unable to put much of any pressure at all on the rookie Carr yesterday, and the adjustments didn't come until it was nearly too late. Without the pass rush we've seen the last several weeks, that secondary was exposed.</li>
<li>The good news is that neither Alex Smith nor Peyton Manning seem capable of throwing the ball more than 25 yards or so, meaning it will be be hard for our next two opponents to outrun coverage like the Raiders did yesterday. That being said, let's not fall asleep on those teams, Pags.</li>
<li>Penalties wee rough yesterday. There were some biggies. Need to get a lid on that.</li>
<li>4th and 35 fake punts just weren't going our way yesterday. Probably need to try less of those.</li>
<li>One last kudos for a guy who doesn't get enough. I can remember Steve Christie and Wade Ritchie. A couple of others who came through town I don't remember as well. I remember Kaeding in the post season. Nick Novak has been a stud for us, though. He didn't do a ton yesterday, especially after having a long FG called back for a penalty, but the man has been something close to automatic for the last couple of years, and there's a lot to be said about that.</li>
</ul>
Some observations on the league:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>There's no question the Broncos are a damn good team, but they let the Jets hang around for an awful long time yesterday. I'd love to gloat, but we kind of did the same with the Raiders too, no? Still, the Donks look absolutely human through their first five games and that's a good thing.</li>
<li>Dallas one-upped our home win against the might SeaChickens by taking the defending Super Bowl Champs to the woodshed in their own park, which is nearly unheard of. The Cowgirls share a 5-1 record with us and look poised to achieve a level of greatness this year. This is why it's the perfect time to remind everyone of what Dallas does. They provide their fans with hope only to dash it on the rocks of mediocrity somewhere down the line. The more hopeful the better, and it looks like they've got their fans in a frenzy, visions of Super Bowls dancing in their heads. Get ready for what should be a colossal and entertaining collapse.</li>
<li>Take note of Dallas, Cleveland. It's been a long time since you poked your heads out from under the turtle shell of obscurity. Right now your fans are also riding an emotional high. It's up to you what to do with it. Rise to occasion or Cowboy up and fail. The world is your oyster, better make a showing of it.</li>
<li>Thanks for nothing, Tom Brady. Stunk it up long enough to sink a couple of my fantasy teams and now you're lighting it up for someone else, like the fantasy world's worst ex-girlfriend. But I know the truth. I saw how scared you were those first four games and all of your problems aren't fixed yet. You may feast on a bad division and find your way into the post again, but your days are numbered.</li>
<li>Tampa Bay should petition the league for an expansion team to replace their current one.</li>
</ul>
I'm sure there's a lot more to be said, but this is my damn column and I'm already tired of writing it. 5-1 is a great place to be right now and Charger football is the best thing going again. Finally. Go Bolts!!!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7926814.post-60574883429862824772014-09-03T10:35:00.000-07:002014-09-03T10:36:47.309-07:00Football's Back Already? Let's Talk About It.<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So here we are on the eve of another NFL season and coming
off a largely successful San Diego Chargers season that was a surprise to many.
The preseason has been a sea of ups and downs with performances both
titillating and abysmal and culminating with the most San Diegan of recent
traditions, a blackout. Tomorrow the Packers and Seahawks kick off the year and
three days later the rest of the league gets underway. And then a day later the
Chargers play because the NFL has really upped its scheduling game over the
last five years. Did I mention that final blackout preseason game came against
the same team we play on Monday? That’s just inspired dipshittery right there.
Anyway, you all knew that already because it’s a thing I’m not great at
shutting up about. Once again, all the local diehards will crowd into bars or
fire up the barbeques and enjoy some opening day Sunday football, then we’ll
all stay up late watching Monday Night football and thinking how nice it would
be to have a couple of cocktails or twelve without having to suffer a miserable
hangover the following day at work. God forbid we lose! But we’re not going to
lose, and I know this because I really feel like that’s the case and feelings
are the foundation of the league.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">All in all it feels like it was such a quiet offseason.
There was a draft. A couple of signings. Nothing overwhelming on the surface.
To the casual observer, it might feel like the team was happy with the status
quo, and if you watched our defense, that is not a comforting thought. So let’s
talk about that defense. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Moves were made and the draft went heavy on defense early.
Brandon Flowers, a pro bowler from a division rival came over and really, that’s
got to be better than Derek Cox. Right? He’s a little short. As is Weddle. As
is the rookie CB we drafted in the first round whose name looks like it should
be easy to pronounce but nobody knows for sure how to say it. That’s a lot of
short guys in our secondary, and that can be worrisome. But the pass rush might
be pretty solid this year with the return of Freeney and Corey Liuget looking
like a beast out there all preseason. If the pass rush is there, it will help
our tiny little secondary do their jobs and everything should be fine then.
Unless the other teams then decide to run the ball on us, which is always an
option in the NFL even if the league would rather teams just throw the ball as
much as possible. We are thin in the middle and teams were running all the way
through to our secondary like our front seven were just a bunch of broken
turnstiles. Manti Te’o, who is a guy I’ve stuck up for in the past, looks so
lost out there that it’s hard to believe he’s going to amount to much before
drifting off into NFL journeyman status. Injuries are going to force us to plug
rookie NT Ryan Carrethers into the line pretty regularly and you kind of just
have to hope for the miraculous and wholly unexpected return of Jamal Williams
there. Our man Pagano doesn’t resort much to trickery and the aggressiveness he
does occasionally show is not particularly well hidden, so it could be another
long year for this team on that side of the ball.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As for the offense, the news is better. It’s hard to imagine
Philip Rivers regressing much from his outstanding season last year unless that
line gets pounded with injuries early on *knocks on wood til my knuckles
bleed*. Keenan Allen in his second year will benefit greatly from the return of
Malcolm Floyd, who when healthy will draw coverage consistently. Ladarius Green
continues to improve and is looking like a worthy heir apparent to Antonio Gates,
who himself continues to put up nice numbers even if he is no longer defining
the position or jousting with the big young guys owning the TE slot these days.
My biggest concern continues to be Mathews, who I’ll admit looked very good
last year after a pretty slow start no one wants to acknowledge. And let’s not
forget, the season only ends after 16 games if you don’t make the post season,
which the Bolts did, but Mathews didn’t. So there is still the question of
health when it comes to our so called “bell cow.” This, of course, is the
reason we brought in Donald Brown, who had something of a breakout year with
the Colts last season. Brown, in my opinion, may just be the most underrated
pick-up in all of football this past off season. As great as Rivers was last
year, the offense withered in the postseason when it became one dimensional
behind Ronnie Brown and Danny Woodhead. Donald Brown is far more capable of taking
over the role of feature back if need be than anyone else who’s been on this
squad for a while now. And let’s not forget the Washington game. McCoy can
claim until he’s blue in the face that he trusts Ryan Mathews with the ball,
but I don’t buy it one bit. Donald Brown has a pretty solid history of ball
handling inside the red zone, and I would not be surprised to see Mathews
relegated largely to between the 20s running at some point in the season.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As for coaching, a lot has been made of the loss of Whisenhunt and that
cannot be denied. But Frank Reich was there last year, and more importantly, so
was McCoy. McCoy is an OC by trade, and while Whisenhunt was undoubtedly the
architect of the offense last year, I’d be surprised to find that McCoy didn’t
have his fingerprints all over it. Isn’t that why he got the job in the first
place?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I have a great deal of hope for this team. It’s a good team.
Better than last year’s playoff team, if you ask me. The schedule, though. It’s
hard to deny the difficulty of that schedule. It starts strong and ends
stronger, and to overcome it will be a true test of this program Tom Telesco has
put together. But relying on the ease of one’s opponents is not the sort of
thing one should necessarily hope for. It may be nice to waltz into the
postseason a la New England every year, but to be the best, don’t you have to
beat the best, as they say? If this San Diego Chargers team can overcome this
schedule-if they can get past Denver and Kansas City in their own division,
then who will be more battle tested for the post season? <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I’m a homer who lost his way, and after all those years of
AJ and Norv it’s nice to say I can finally believe again. Let's keep building. Let's gather some steam and keep up the momentum. I say bring on the
NFC West! Bring on Denver! Do your worst! This team will come to play, and I
can’t wait. Go Bolts!!!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7926814.post-87165737057906029022014-01-20T11:11:00.001-08:002014-01-20T11:26:19.440-08:00I'm Already Missing this Chargers TeamIt's hard to talk about it while Peyton Manning is still out there throwing 1 yard touchdowns and on his way to the Superbowl, but we probably really need to go ahead and talk about this season.<br />
<br />
The bottom line is that you have to be pretty happy about the overall return on a season that those "in the know" all claimed would be some sort of rebuild or the final nail in Phillip Rivers' coffin. Even I, who pegged us at 12-4 and winning the division (a feat not so far off had we not given up a few games we had no business losing), am tickled pink by what this group was able to accomplish this year. A 9-7 record and a playoff win on the road is nothing to scoff at, even if bitter dickwads want to continue to complain that we should have been eliminated by a silly ticky-tack penalty that went uncalled and that clearly if the refs hadn't been in the bag for us the Steelers would be taking their rightful place in the Superbowl on the strength of their wicked 8-8 record. Pfft. Win more games, Pittsburgh.<br />
<br />
Obviously there are things that will stick in our craw about the season. <br />
<br />
1) That crap penalty the officials did call on a field goal in the first game of the season that led to an opening Monday night loss to a team that went on to garner a 14 game losing streak. Where's the outrage on that one Sports America?<br />
<br />
2) The mere fact that we once again were forced to open on Monday night for the 3rd time in 4 years. Get used to it, I guess. Fact is, we're pencilled in there going forward because they aren't going to punish the Seahawks or the Niners with that shit.<br />
<br />
3) That last desperate TD pass by Jake Locker to steal a victory in Tennessee. Jake Locker?! That pass made everyone believe Locker was a viable solution in Tennessee for like four weeks!<br />
<br />
4) Moving the Raiders game to 8:30 Sunday Night because freaking baseball! I'm not going to blame that loss completely on that move, but it was still pretty weak. I mean, it's not like they just this year realized baseball is a thing. Seriously, look at half the fields in football in September. There's a frickin' baseball diamond on there and it isn't because Russell Wilson is about to start hammering dingers at halftime! He was a two sport athlete, so it makes sense.<br />
<br />
5) The Redskins game.<br />
<br />
6) Ryan Mathews capping off an outstanding season by being injured once again and when we needed him most. Look, injuries happen, but if they're your thing, they're your thing, and I don't know how that doesn't factor into what we decide to do with him during the offseason.<br />
<br />
7) The coaching staff inexplicably refusing to acknowledge that the running game wasn't going anywhere without a healthy Mathews and refusing to go down field until the final minutes of our playoff loss to the filthy Broncos. That's a tough pill to swallow. And I don't think it has as much to do with job interviews as it does with a stoic refusal to bail out on a gameplan that was not paying any dividends.<br />
<br />
That's a long list. I hate to sound gloomy there, because I don't feel gloomy about this season. Damn if there weren't things to be happy about.<br />
<br />
1) The draft. The jury's still out on Teo, but there's still time. Next year hopefully he'll have a full training camp and be up to game speed opening day. Fluker is a monster on the line and Keenan Allen is a superstar. Everything else is gravy in a draft like that.<br />
<br />
2) Phillip Rivers proving a lot of fans wrong. It takes a line, people. And this season we managed to field one. Rivers looked like he's got at least five years left in him. No chants for Whitehurst from frustrated fans this year. Hopefully never again.<br />
<br />
3) The police docket. I'm not sure if you noticed, but aside from one scrub LB getting tossed by the SDPD for a barroom scuffle after the last regular season game, no Chargers showed up on the police report this season as far as I can remember. No DUIs. No domestic disturbances. No champaigne bottles upside the skull. While we may miss the on field production of a guy like Shaun Phillips, I dare say we don't miss the locker room presence.<br />
<br />
4) Rehabilitation. When the team was 5-7 and a lot of people-myself included-had all but written them off for the postseason, nobody even wanted Melvin Ingram to try to return for the season. Why risk aggravating a serious injury for a lost season. Well, Ingram came back, contributed to great effect, and apparently gave a struggling defense something to rally around. Things never got perfect on defense this year, but they definitely showed us something in those last few weeks, and much of that starts with Ingram's unlikely return.<br />
<br />
4) Danny Woodhead. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb2ozXvEfUjcS_YnYZczqCcM7Pf_5_82aEy0vKACVcRv73IUP3rF6D2hi4GTLE4rj52EHAsX_a_7vjlU2MC7eTaBm5oqavvFPLZf1SbtIYXx1-eQlMZL9_vl5XxzTHtu1oeIob/s1600/woodhead.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb2ozXvEfUjcS_YnYZczqCcM7Pf_5_82aEy0vKACVcRv73IUP3rF6D2hi4GTLE4rj52EHAsX_a_7vjlU2MC7eTaBm5oqavvFPLZf1SbtIYXx1-eQlMZL9_vl5XxzTHtu1oeIob/s1600/woodhead.png" /></a></div>
<br />
That shifty little SOB. You gotta love him. Especially if you drafted him late in a PPR league. His output diminished some as Mathews came on late, but what a season he had. So many people like to refer to him as Sprolesish, but Norv never used Sproles the way this staff used Woodhead. No disrespect to the very deservedly beloved Sproles, but Woodhead's performance far eclipsed anything Sproles ever did with this team. Lock him up.<br />
<br />
5) Ryan Mathews. It's only fair after blasting Mathews for being injured during our dimissal from the playoffs, to point out what a tremendous year Mathews contributed. Protected the ball well and achieved statistically on the same level as a guy like Shady McCoy. No matter what happened to close out the post, it would be crazy not to see if you can keep this guy in the stable.<br />
<br />
6) Competitiveness. So many of our losses by a pittance. That's a sign of a team on the come. A field goal here, a stop there. We're a team getting better, and those things will start to go our way. Being in every game means something. It'll make these players hungrier. We have guys who've accomplished those things and guys that will yearn to do so after being so close. And I think this management and coaching staff will nurture that. It's a fabulous mix right now.<br />
<br />
7) Discipline. This goes hand in hand with #3, but this team sure seemed focused on the fundamentals this year. Protecting the ball. Controlling the clock. At times it was frustrating to watch them do things by the numbers or too conservatively, but I can't help but feel that the idea was to lay a foundation for the future. In that respect, maybe this was something of a rebuild. A rebuild with a side of success, perhaps?<br />
<br />
And for the first time in a long time I feel like there is success on the horizon. I'm not worried that our management will decide to throw the locker room into turmoil by making an example of our most talented players in off-season negotiations. I'm not concerned that our coach will merely update the cover sheet on the playbook to read 2014. I'm excited to see what new talent Tom Telesco will bring in. I'm excited to see the way the current roster responds to this years' accomplishments and I can't wait to see what new wrinkles the coaching staff will have in store for next season. Man, it's been so long since I could say "Wait til next year" like it's a good thing, but I feel like that right now.<br />
<br />
Thanks for a fun season, Chargers. Thanks for making me care again. Go Bolts!!!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7926814.post-50650873932870851252014-01-10T19:57:00.000-08:002014-01-10T20:00:10.621-08:00We Should All Watch the Game on Sunday<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<![endif]-->Okay, it is getting cray-cray around here. My esteemed cohort
is predicting blowouts and people I don’t even know are vociferously defending
this guy’s hairdo.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4UFM5TAjJyDtK2ObJu-_XNNO_NboDrYjdC9FdYampEveJiTwGPANoZIBjdgaale_vOZPcV4RRGtaql3qxRQdGIDdl6cNv-22rMczhugNuvQj33jdTn2FnlKdyyxwUse3uJUqP/s1600/Bill-Reilly_Eric-Weddle_IMG_6992-1024x682.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4UFM5TAjJyDtK2ObJu-_XNNO_NboDrYjdC9FdYampEveJiTwGPANoZIBjdgaale_vOZPcV4RRGtaql3qxRQdGIDdl6cNv-22rMczhugNuvQj33jdTn2FnlKdyyxwUse3uJUqP/s1600/Bill-Reilly_Eric-Weddle_IMG_6992-1024x682.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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Look, I get it, everybody loves Eric Weddle. I’m in. I’m with you guys. He’s
been real good. He made the Pro Bowl. He’s an undersized white guy and that is
national media bait. And somehow that is not at all racist! Shit is off the
hook. On Inside the NFL, they mic'd up Weddle and spent the whole Chargers-Bengals segment
pretending we are a defensive team and it was actually pretty convincing. We
are Cinderella. We are wildcard darlings. This is playoff football. And not
Norv Turner Playoff football, but pre-Turner “This Could be Real” Playoff
football.</div>
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Nick Canepa is seething, Kevin Acee is begging and the real
sports jerks are actually talking about us. Of course, no one out there on the
national landscape really believes we have a chance. Sure, they’ll pay lip
service to our “nothing to lose” status and whacky Superbowl trends like the
Philadelphia Prophecy, but in actuality, no one is putting their money where
their mouths are. And why is that? Because, as I said a million times before so
it must be true, people who get paid to talk about sports have no cajones.
There’s no skin in picking the Chargers. If you pick us, and we lose, you look
stupid. If you pick Denver, and they lose, well <i>who could</i> have seen that
coming? They like who they like and it almost always coincides with the public
sentiment as it’s reflected by Vegas. Allow me to illustrate. Most people are
picking the beloved Seahawks to clobber the Saints this weekend. As evidence of
this, they recall the regular season loss to the Seahawks that the Saints
suffered already. Conversely, the same people treat San Diego’s regular season
win in Denver as a complete anomaly. </div>
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The truth is, no one knows who’s going to win. But if I were
to pick us, here’s why. Peyton Manning cannot put the game in any other person’s
hands. Never has been able to. We will get after him and we will rattle him and
he will continue to go out of his way to prove that it’s him and his stat sheet
and his lousy playoff record against the world. If they want to counter our
ball control, time of possession offense they would need to apply a healthy
dose of Knowshon Moreno and Montee Ball.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Peyton just can’t help himself, though. He’ll throw the ball inside the
five and he’ll try to convert everything through the air. That’s the Peyton
way, and that’s why he usually falls short in the post. </div>
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If I were to pick the Broncos, here’s why. Ryan Mathews will
not be 100%. Mathews has become the bread and butter over the last 5 weeks.
Moving the chains and making plays. When he went out against the Bengals it
severely hampered our ability to convert the short downs. We need to be able to
grind clock. We need to score TDs in the red zone. Mathews is an essential part
of this. Can we beat Manning in a shootout? Maybe. But we’ve been better when
we can keep it in the trenches as well.</div>
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Given those two options, I like us Sunday (of course I do).
Peyton’s ego is a certainty, but Mathews is expected to play. Look for him to
finally earn that second “T” for his last name.</div>
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As for Weddle’s grooming situation, maybe my problem is that
he appears to have modeled his look after this guy.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdj2gq2SYTaEQ-LiGwpAl88Na-_P2qqgg2k_apsWyhPXufbjvuz3fvSlSS0BGqE9J38LEadsXufL9y332Iq1jREEQaB81FXEoSnQnj4ASb38YBiHdmXyjlJsZioyHHjgiW-H5n/s1600/fifield.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdj2gq2SYTaEQ-LiGwpAl88Na-_P2qqgg2k_apsWyhPXufbjvuz3fvSlSS0BGqE9J38LEadsXufL9y332Iq1jREEQaB81FXEoSnQnj4ASb38YBiHdmXyjlJsZioyHHjgiW-H5n/s1600/fifield.jpg" height="203" width="320" /></a></div>
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One of the worst characters in one of the worst movies ever
that I cannot stop watching. Seriously, if they had a channel that just played
Prometheus and Point Break back to back 24/7 I’d quit my job and in a year they’d
have to remove the wall to my house and surgically remove me from my couch
before taking me to the hospital in a forklift. But hey, Weddle can do whatever
the hell he wants if he helps us get a championship here in San Diego.
</div>
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Go Weddle! Go Bolts!!!</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7926814.post-42911053083909294442013-12-30T08:27:00.001-08:002013-12-30T08:34:51.099-08:00We Did Not Back Into the Playoffs!It's more like we were pushed over a lawn chair into the playoffs. This team, that even under previous head loser Norv Turner has typically been a strong finisher, reached the playoffs yesterday by way of several other more failier teams doing their thing, a missed field goal and some serious help from the officials on said missed field goal as well as one of the most ill advised yet successful punt fakes in league history.<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFsRrCaZ1V2kyR-ihT8U8qJWnXMenGw3GFjNTgj5-YnHF1dojDEU9YablVKzLWp1JC222xdEwZQ98vd1JJpIVmLpbB9rFdTQlT9ZeylKG3lJQlMelrEEXXmCtnIPpb9XdeNyBi/s1600/Weddle.1.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFsRrCaZ1V2kyR-ihT8U8qJWnXMenGw3GFjNTgj5-YnHF1dojDEU9YablVKzLWp1JC222xdEwZQ98vd1JJpIVmLpbB9rFdTQlT9ZeylKG3lJQlMelrEEXXmCtnIPpb9XdeNyBi/s320/Weddle.1.PNG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
All of this against the Chiefs practice squad. <br />
<br />
Look, I'm as happy as anyone that we got in and I'm certainly not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, but it's difficult to look at the last two wins and like our chances to do much in the post. Against the Raiders, we settled for field goals against a team that gives up TDs like it's going out of style. And yesterday, this defense that had recently started to kind of acquit itself, made some guy named Knile Davis look like the second coming of Priest Holmes and probably pushed Chase Daniel into the starting quarterback market for next season. And again, they settled for a field goal to get into overtime instead of winning the game on a TD and it nearly cost us the season.<br />
<br />
But we're in, and you can't win if you don't get in, so how can I complain? Well, I'm a natural complainer, that's how. It's too late in the season to keep making the same mistakes. You can no longer stumble along blindly, hoping the other team makes more mistakes than you or that the refs won't notice your illegal formation on a field goal coverage that very likely should have cost us the playoffs. It's one and done now. We're off to Cincinatti, a team we couldn't beat in our house a month and a half ago and a team that hasn't lost in their own house all season. It's time to start putting the ball into the endzone. It's time to start tackling. It's time to stop making rookie mistakes.<br />
<br />
Don't take all of my doom and gloom here the wrong way. At the beginning of the season I had us going 12-4 and handily making the playoffs. And 6 weeks ago I had all but written us off like most people, so I am absolutely thrilled to be here. If only for the fact that AJ Smith and Norv Turner both so smugly shrugged off our chances and tied themselves to truly horrific franchises during the offseason. Those two must be in dour moods this morning. Or for the fact that Nick Canepa put all of our silly playoff talk to rest weeks ago. What a glorious day for us angry villagers. No matter what foibles and warts this team shows, it is a team that is going in the right direction and I love it. It feels good to actually care enough to be disappointed again. This is a team on the rise and that feels good after so many years of decline. But, as I am a modern day American, I expect more and I expect it now, so we need to win the Superbowl.<br />
<br />
Are you ready for some extra football?! Go Bolts!!!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7926814.post-48599478542199482942013-11-22T08:30:00.000-08:002013-11-22T08:30:13.512-08:00I'm Fashioning A Shiv Right NowOkay, we've really been slacking here, but in our defense this season went off the rails pretty badly. I had to rethink everything I ever thought I knew about football. I mean, is it possible that my early prediction of a 12-4 season was biased in some way by some strange factor? My love of the team? My hatred of Norv and AJ? My desperate need to see a San Diego Chargers Superbowl Championship before they get the Hell* out of dodge? I don't know. I apparently know nothing.<br />
<br />
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What is there to say at this point? We're still technically in it? I'm still technically in it in one of my fantasy leagues where I started 0-7, but I'm not going to start popping champaign over it. I could mention how injuries on this squad have been ridiculous this year, but what's the point? I could read off a laundry list of key players who are out for the season. Denario Alexander, Malcolm Floyd, Jared Gaither**, Melvin Ingram***, Dwight Freeney, Your Mom and a ton of other guys who've missed time like it's alien abduction week on Desination America, but what's the point? No, I'm still hopeful that this team is heading in the right direction, or at least the "righter" direction, but to think this season is going to be the kind of pleasant surprise I was hoping for is silly. I mean, believe me, I'm still rooting and crying and breaking stuff and whatnot, but I've accepted our fate. I'm just going to go ahead and be thankful we're not the Falcons or their fans. Those people <em>actually</em> thought they were going to the superbowl this year. Ouch.<br />
<br />
Anyway, that's all well and good and I'm glad we're all in agreement, but Chargers football is not what I'm here to talk about. What I want to discuss is Charlie Manson. Yes, that Chuck Manson. Charleston Manson's not being shanked to death in jail by now is really testing my faith in the system. Can we get somebody on that? A <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/21/charles-manson-married-star-25-_n_4317253.html?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000592">recent article</a> states that some 25 year old woman wants to marry Chuck. Her name is Star. Obviously. Chuck gave her that name. Of course. But Chuck is like, and I'm paraphrasing here, "Fuck that shit. Not interested." Delightful! Charles Manson is almost as magical as Hitler. At some point, as a society, don't we have to look at 25 year old, perfectly healthy, not entirely unattractive women who want to marry a ridiculous homicidal weirdo like Chuck and say, "Nope, we're going to have to go ahead and put you down?" If she were a pitbull or a bear, she'd have been buried out back by now. I mean, what are the odds she's going to "snap out of it" and start contributing? This world. If there's any justice she will be knocked out by a group of any old teenagers anywhere playing a game that all teenagers play regardless of any apparent significant relative factors.<br />
<br />
Thanks for allowing me to rant. Way too big a post for Facebook. Enjoy your football weekend. I think we clobber the Chiefs. Go Bolts!!!<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">*Why won't my phone capitalize Hell? It's a fucking place. And we're all probably going there.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">**He will always be a Charger. That's the jersey they'll hang in the Hall someday.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">***I know he might be coming back, but I don't know why.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7926814.post-3468315281648475862013-11-05T13:26:00.000-08:002013-11-05T13:26:03.444-08:00Expletives Abound...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It's taken me a couple days to shake off Sunday's throat punch loss. What could have been a season defining win, turned ugly and awful in one fell swoop. While the sky still isn't falling, there was a real opportunity there for the team to establish themselves as not favorites to win the crown, but contenders that no one would want to play. Unfortunately, the series of events at the end of regulation did not allow for that to materialize.<br />
<br />
We can rehash what happened on the final series of downs inside the one yard line all we want and second guess the play calling and the offensive approach, but that doesn't change the result. Should we have gone power formation and slammed the ball in on first down? Yes. Did we? No. Why? No one knows and Mike McCoy isn't tipping his hand either. Criticism was heaped upon him and the staff from all pundits and angles and while I'm sure that McCoy isn't pleased about the end result, hopefully this is a teaching moment and that sort of conservative approach is ushered out of the play book with extreme haste.<br />
<br />
Many are blaming the refereeing for some atrocious calls, namely the phantom pass interference call, the phantom unnecessary roughness call, and yes the atrocious spot on the Woodhead non touchdown call. However, let's not lose sight of the Woodhead fumble that clearly went in our favor. Now, as much as I want to pile on the refs and blame somebody for the nauseating loss, this one falls squarely on our staff. Again, this was an opportunity to really define this football team. A last minute comeback victory on the road would have really boosted this team's confidence and I firmly believe would have given the young players even more<br />
motivation for the rest of the season. Alas, after inside handoff for no gain, poorly executed and thought out fade route, and finally designed roll out for the least mobile quarterback in the history of football, the guys got on the team charter for the long ride home with the stench of defeat oozing from their pores. Sad. Really really sad.<br />
<br />
Max and I dwelled on this for far too long last night continuing to question why the apparent fear of failure from inside the one yard line prevented us from giving the ball to our power running back, and or completely selling out for the victory in that situation. It was almost as if the vote of no confidence resurfaced at the most inopportune time for Mathews. It also appeared as if the comfort of overtime allowed those decisions to be made. What Max and I were unable to reconcile despite our many attempts was why that suddenly seemed to make sense. Why would the minute possibility of a Mathews fumble make overtime more appealing? Why not pound the ball into the end zone on four straight attempts? If you fail so what? You lose. But by not trying, we wound up playing for overtime where a coin flip and a tired defense were completely in play, and that thought process made sense to some. I'm truly at a loss.<br />
<br />
So, now we get Denver, twice. Kansas City, twice. Miami and Cincinnati. That doesn't seem as appealing at 4-4 coming off a kick in the balls of a loss as it would at 5-3 with a solid dose of bravado after squeaking out a victory across the country. I'd like to test the mettle of this team in the latter scenario, but we're forced to do it with the former. I guess this will be another telling moment as to where this team is. The team should feel like they won that game. I truly hope the staff can build on that and not let their failures trickle down to the guys.<br />
<br />
Lost in Sunday's result is the fact that this team will make something of themselves and we are on the right road. However, the result from Sunday probably sealed our fate for the season and we'll in short order be thinking about 2014 rather than a cinderella playoff run in 2013. Unfortunate, but probably true. And that, in and of itself is what made Sunday so, so shitty. Sometimes, most times, being a Charger fan is tough tough business. This is one of those times.CJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04335122956728155187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7926814.post-583298693475524332013-11-04T08:19:00.002-08:002013-11-04T08:19:44.234-08:00Deja Vu All Over AgainThat was a tough one. Especially because we didn't have to lose. The game was ours for the taking and we made some terrible choices that we are going to have to live with going into the decidedly tougher second half of our schedule. <br />
<br />
All four of our losses have been difficult, but yesterday was atrocious. The defense kind of got hung with each of those previous losses whether that's fair or not. A lot of people would love to hang it on them again yesterday and it's hard to argue that. But I'm going to. I'm certainly not the first to say any of this stuff, but I'm going to say it all anyway. If you have 1st and goal inside the ONE, with 21 seconds and two time outs, you win the game there or you lose the game there. That's it.<br />
<br />
Danny Woodhead has been incredible for this team. Quietly even the MVP, probably. But one thing he has not proven to do particularly well is run at the goal line. And on a counter?! Just fuck that shit! Follow that up with two pass attempts that were very clearly meant to be no where near where a defender could get to them and thereby very hard for a receiver to get to, and it became clear we were playing for OT. From inside the fucking one!<br />
<br />
At this point it's clear that the fear of a Ryan Mathews fumble has become a quite literally crippling fear of a Ryan Mathews fumble. There is no one else on the team who should touch the ball in that situation. He can go high, He can go low. He can move the pile. And what does a fumble matter anyway if you're going to go with that pussy ass bullshit? I haven't heard anything about Mathews being injured, but I honestly haven't looked to hard. I have no desire to read what's being written out there right now.<br />
<br />
As far as those who want to pile on the defense, let me remind you all that the Redskins flipped the script on us on Sunday and controlled the clock masterfully. And still our defense was out there batting passes and doing their best. 24 points in regulation is not fantastic, but it's enough to give you a very good shot at the win and that is what we had. And then we handed it right back. <br />
<br />
Final thoughts:<br />
<br />
1) You're QB is 6'5". If you absolutely, positively refuse to let Mathews touch the ball at the end, maybe you let Rivers fall over for two feet to win the game.<br />
<br />
2) I have so far been in the bag for this new coaching staff, but that counter to Woodhead was eerily reminiscent of the infamous Sproles-Lewis collision debacle that largely defined the Norv Turner area. Not okay.<br />
<br />
3) A big "Fuck You" to whoever put that Keenan Allen drop on the cover of the UT. I, too, felt like that drop was devastating at the time, but the team rallied back from that largely due to the efforts of Allen himself. That drop ended up having almost nothing to do with the loss yesterday. Allen may be the very brightest spot on this young team right now, and why the local paper would try to get in his head like that is completely unfathomable to me. This is how you will know him.<br />
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4) The second half is a juggernaut. It's time to start overachieving.<br />
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Go Bolts!!!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7926814.post-37863473823019146222013-10-10T21:21:00.000-07:002013-10-10T21:21:25.679-07:00The Wrap: Week 4. The God Awful Edition...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Ugh. Articulate I know. But really, ugh. What's really to say about the egg we laid in yet another albeit unexpected truly prime time slot. I hate to think that the late start had anything to do with that "performance" but that certainly wasn't the team of go getters we've sort of become accustomed to thus far this season. I'm not going to dwell on it for a couple of reasons, A) because I'd hate actually doing that, and B) it's Thursday night, I still haven't had the time to do a power ranking this season because my paying job trumps my volunteer job so this will be short and really fucking bitter. Ready, go.<br />
<br />
Mistakes. Of them there were many. The secondary played well and truly awful in the first half. In the moment much wasn't made of Laserface's first pick due to it's wobbly flight and distance resembling a punt, though, the coverage unit was poor, and the first play from scrimmage went for a touchdown against the aforementioned poor secondary. So yeah, while it might have resembled a punt in the moment, it wasn't the good kind of punt. It was actually a turnover that was quickly converted to the maximum amount of points allowed.<br />
<br />
The Royal fumble. I'm not going to get too down on Eddie because he has contributed much to this team in a very unexpected way in 2013. But, hot damned Eddie. That sucked. And also was quickly converted to the again, maximum allowable points in the form of another touchdown. Gah.<br />
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The Ryan Mathews Experiment. It's really time for this to end. They say it takes three years to evaluate a draft class. Well, considering this is year four, the longest run from scrimmage he's ever had is 39 yards, he's fumbled 13 times and lost 8 of them in 43 games played out of a possible 53, and he's likely to miss this week due to head injury, the grade on this one turned in. It's time to move on. The guy has proven to be exactly what he is. Not dynamic, not terrible, worried about fumbling constantly that his vision is shortsighted in that he must focus solely on not dropping the ball into the opponents bread basket. And yes, still injury prone. I know, a concussion is a concussion and I personally don't believe that this is a fragile moment that we've seen in the past, but the kid is hurt again. Unfortunately, he's not a very smart ballplayer and a brain contusion won't help his football IQ. The main issue I have here is that McCoy finally went with the guy in the way that Norv should have last year to see what we actually had in the draft pick that we traded fairly significant assets to move up and grab early. Norvy didn't do that so McCoy rightfully had to. Had Norv accomplished this last year, like both Max and I implored him to do, we could have already moved on. Better late than never I guess? Boo.<br />
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There is some rumor mongering at PFT that we're looking at making a move, or should be towards MJD in Jacksonville. Please let this come true. Please. Who do I need to beg for this to occur? Woodhead, while shifty and effective as a pass catcher out of the backfield, is not a feature back and that's where the Sproles comparisons should really parallel. He's a change of pace back that should not be handed delayed inside handoffs in critical fourth down situations inside the five yard line when a touchdown is needed. Good. We got that out of the way.<br />
<br />
Laserface. Three interceptions. Bad day on the gridiron. What the hell is a gridiron anyway? I know he was pressing as we were down late, but the interception in the end zone was a pass that was thrown WAY too late, as Allen was open right off the line of scrimmage and PR held the ball about two seconds too long staring at an open receiver as if he couldn't believe how open he actually was, then delivered the ball far too late and the final nail was hammered home with intense malice. Gah. This was almost as egregious as the only other time I swore audibly at a volume my neighbors probably heard, when PR missed gates on the wide open bubble screen from inside the 10 yard line. The throw was so off line right from the start I swore before Gates awkwardly tried to adjust to a pass that should have hit him in the chest, but nearly killed someone else instead. I'm not going to harp on Laserface too much, but dammit, he left some plays out there that change the outcome of a must win game. GAH! It's so hard for me to suppress my desire to pepper the hell out of this paragraph with expletives.<br />
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The positives. There are some. First, there is a lot of fight in this team. They didn't give up which is something that the old culture was devoid of. They simply ran out of time. Granted, they might have needed another week's worth of quarters to finally put it together but they never gave up. Vincent Brown and Keenan Allen are pretty awesome guys to have on this team. Allen could be a star. No whammies. Finally, this may sound weird, but the second half defense deserves some credit. They gave up only three points, granted, they were three pretty big points but Pagano turned them loose and the finally started to get to Pryor. They were running fantastic blitzes and stunts and really righted the ship for the offense to get back in the game. However, once we were within the one score territory, Pagano called off the dogs and went back to the safe, conservative style and the winning field goal was born. Hey Pags, I feel like we're close enough to address you as Pags now, just turn the guys free. It's effective and certainly no worse to get burned being aggressive than sitting back and getting torched anyway. That was the most effective play you've coaxed out of these guys. They finally didn't look way in over their heads. Let her rip Pags. Nothing to lose.<br />
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Up next, the Colts. This is not a good opportunity for a win and mercifully we may be spared the violation of our eyesight by blackout. However, I'm confident that the game will be put on television though not sell out. You don't allow blackouts on nationally televised games. It's just not good for business. Seeing how we're supposed to get completely shredded by Andrew Luck anyway, we'll probably put up a 50 spot on them and win by 21. Don't hold me to that though, I'm not predicting that, I'm merely going against my gut that says we'll lose by the same margin. How's that for OPTIMISM suckers?! As always, things aren't as bad as they seem. We're on the right track. Go Bolts!<br />
<br />
<br />CJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04335122956728155187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7926814.post-46119610322797789052013-10-07T09:55:00.001-07:002013-10-07T10:11:50.213-07:00We All Stayed Up for That?That game tested my optimism in the worst possible way. I mean, it's starting to look less and less like Houston or Tennessee should've beaten us, but this was the Raiders. That win was already written in with pen, and it's clear the players felt so too. The gameplan seemed to be a "let's wait and see what they do" situation and the Raiders pounced. Hit fast, eat clock, create chaos. The entire first half was a nightmare. And while the Bolts woke up and responded in the second half, another long third down conversion drove a stake through our hearts.<br />
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A lot of people this morning are probably feeling pretty justified in all their offseason bitching about Philip Rivers because he ended up with three INTs last night, but the reality is not that bad. The first one was ugly, and basically ended up being a punt. The last two, well let's just say that when the defense allowed the Raiders to make it a two score game with only a few minutes left, you're going to have to take some chances. All in all, I'm still pretty thrilled with what Rivers has been able to do this year.<br />
<br />
This receiving corps is getting really good. Keenan Allen and Vincent Brown blew it up last night and Gates continues to defy the aging process. That being said, there is just no excuse for only scoring 17 in that game. We gave so many points away. This team needs a true RB. Ryan Mathews went out with a concussion and honestly, who cares? I had high hopes for Mathews this year, but it just doesn't look like he's ever going to pan out. Look for him to spend a couple years bouncing around in a back-up role somewhere before exiting the league for good. Ronnie Brown is too old to hit the hole, and while I'm really digging Woodhead, he can't do much against the bigger lines when they know he's coming. I don't know if there's a fix out there right now. My kneejerk reaction is to go and throw all of next year's draft at Jax and try to wrest MJD from them (Lord knows they aren't using him. I saw Jax run something like 10 plays inside the 5 yesterday and never once hand the ball to their best player.), but we need those picks if we're ever going to have a secondary again. Which leads us to...<br />
<br />
The defense is bad. There's no getting around it. There are a couple of playmakers on the team, and I actually like what I saw of Te'o last night enough to give him his apostrophe back, but teams are getting awfully good at going away from Butler and Weddle at this point. You just don't even hear their numbers called anymore. Losing Freeney might well have been the straw that completely breaks this thing. I still feel like when you defense is this untalented, you have try something different. Change your looks. Pick a philosophy and go with it. Something. I don't know, I'm not a coach, but what they're doing is not working enough to be the right call.<br />
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Probably the most frustrating thing about last night was that even though the Broncos and Chiefs managed to win their games yesterday, they both looked a little less intimidating than normal in doing so, but now we're already 3 games back and even if we get this thing firing, we're going to need a lot of help catching up with those guys, and I don't know where it comes from when I look at their schedules. Next up we have the Colts and it's starting to look like we're going to need to score 50 if we're going to have a chance.<br />
<br />
Look, I'm still pretty excited about the direction this team is going and I'm not about to fold up shop, but I am starting to wonder if my expectations for this year weren't tempered a bit with bias of Norv and AJ. Norv's stupid face is 3-2 now and we just lost to the Raiders. That is a tough pill to swallow on this Monday morning. <br />
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Still, at least it's nice to actually feel something again when we lose. Oh wait, no this sucks.<br />
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Time to lock it up, Chargers. Go Bolts!!!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7926814.post-34867842732903544232013-10-06T07:11:00.000-07:002013-10-06T07:11:47.418-07:00Return of the Quick Hits! Open Letters Edition...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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So, in an effort to revitalize this space and after some time perusing the archives partly out of nostalgia and partly out of an attempt to brighten this place up in what is quickly nearing our tenth year of documenting our collective successes and failures here, it's the return of an old bit. The Quick Hits. Bullet Points. Ludicrous speed. GO!<br />
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<br />
<ul>
<li>Dear Houston Texans fans burning Matt Schaub jerseys. Are you that far removed from remembering what things were like when David Carr was the quarterback? Perhaps you'd be happier with a Matt Leinart reunion? Listen to yourselves. If you really think Schaub is the one and only thing preventing you from the Super Bowl, start your car in a closed garage and think about that for an hour. Or pick up Josh Freeman. Something about the grass being greener seems apropos here but the weather in the hell of Texas prevents grass from growing.</li>
<li>Dear Cleveland, despite being in first place which is ridiculous in and of itself, your train will be derailed in spectacular fashion in very short order with Norv conducting. The wreck will be unlike anything you've ever seen and there likely will be extensive collateral damage. Wait. You're Cleveland. You're used to this. You're probably actually hunkered down in your bomb shelter already. I guess this was better addressed to the media who for whatever reason has begun the Norv propoganda machine to get him rehired as a head coach. Woes in advance for that team.</li>
<li>Dear Oakland, hire a groundskeeper that can make your dual use field playable in less than a lifetime. Your baseball team is not winning the World Series so just give up and turn the field over to the pathetic football team full time. Dirt infields for football is probably part of the reason Darren McFadden has missed more games than he's played in his career. Idiots.</li>
<li>Dear Jacksonville, either move to Los Angeles or trade MJD because you're going nowhere. You're not even in a rebuilding phase. You're in a holy black hole death spiral of suckitude. Time to reassess the roster and stack up draft picks. Why is a lowly blogger having to tell you this? Don't you employ an actual football general manager? You are currently redefining embarrassing.</li>
<li>Dear Media, to those still perpetuating the idea that Baltimore is the defending Super Bowl Champion and that it's so strange how many also rans and rookies are beating that team. If you truly believe that Baltimore is trotting out the same roster that won the Super Bowl last year, you are trying to fit a square premise into a round hole. Wow! The Broncos destroyed them in their playoff rematch! Yes. They did. A) Because that victory last year was a fluke and B) it's a completely different team! Who believes this stuff you try to sell? You should take the same advice I gave Houston fans about cars and garages. </li>
<li>Dear Ken Whisenhunt, I forgot the one thing I wanted to say about your play calling last week against the Cowgirls. I couldn't put my finger on it but the word I left out in my recap was "brilliant". Don't let it go to your head, but what you did last week was nothing short of brilliance. Please keep your finger on the trigger. </li>
<li>Dear Chargers, please, please take it to Oakland tonight. This is a team that thrives on broken plays and weak secondary play. It will not be pretty. Just run up the score and try to kill Terrelle Pryor or Matt Flynn on every play and we'll be just fine. Please don't make me stay up late having another cardiac condition. Thanks in advance. </li>
</ul>
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Happy footballing Sunday folks. May your bets be prosperous and your fantasy teams be, well whatever you want them to be. See you on the flip side of Monday for victory formation. Go Bolts!</div>
CJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04335122956728155187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7926814.post-39491127397518020792013-10-03T20:38:00.002-07:002013-10-03T20:39:18.606-07:00The Wrap: Week 4 Reverse Cowgirl Edition<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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First and foremost my apologies for The Wrap coming this late in the week when week 5 has already officially begun. I'm slacking and barely earning my fictional paycheck over here. I'm totally blaming congress for shutting down the government when I clearly deserve my non payment for this hard work. Damned you government employees!<br />
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Let's talk about the game shall we? Last weekend turned out a nice pleasant surprise for many, though not to brag, both Max and I knew what the result last weekend would be. No, it's not clairvoyance, nor cockiness, it's understanding that there is only a handful of franchises in this league that are run more despicably than ours, and the Cowboys are the number one on that list. For a team that apparently is America's and destined for the Super Bowl each year, boy do they suck. Hell, in light of the recent current events, perhaps they are America's team.<br />
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There was a common theme last week that permeated the entirety of the game. That theme? Coaching. Unquestionably the strength of our game. Getting off to a good start by matching up Woodhead on a linebacker and generating a quick score was certainly something we like to see. This team has consistently jumped out to early leads, something that has been lost for, let's see...approximatly, well, exactly 6 years. Otherwise known as the era that will no longer be beaten to death NorvTurnerNorvTurnerNorvTurner what?!<br />
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After the quick start and a few defensive stops and some defensive failures we had the one big disaster moment that we all fear anymore. Again. And quickly as many people were wont to point out to me via text, the rout was on. Only, this time it wasn't. Why? Coaching. Poise. Adjustments. And guess what? The players completely bought in. Laserface started running the quick passing schemes effectively and threw the ball once again with dart like accuracy. 83%? Seriously? There wasn't a target he couldn't hit and Whisenhunt started exploiting weaknesses in Dallas' defense and you could almost hear him laughing about it condescendingly. Granted, it was the Cowboys, who employ a ginger version of Norv Turner at the head coaching position completely incapable of adjusting to any adversity that befalls them. Needless to say, it was very clear that Ken and Mike were definitely one step ahead, and clearly prepared to make it two steps if the Cowgirls ever caught up. They didn't.<br />
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Many are quick to point out that the defense is still, what's the most common descriptor I heard? Sieve-like? I believe that was the one, yes. To some degree there is some truth to that but again, let's revisit what we know about this defense. THERE IS NO ONE YOU KNOW ON THIS DEFENSE. Sorry, I don't like to yell, but who aside of Weddle is a household name out there? Nobody that's who. Te'o made his debut but was largely invisible, which leads me to believe he had a very pedestrian game. Which currently is all I ask of the guy. Don't make mistakes that are egregious in their game changingness. Do that Mantei, and we'll be best friends all year. Yes, the pass rush still suffered, but when Freeney went down that was that, and really, we didn't get to the quarterback much with him. Not disparaging the guy, but one player rarely makes a pass rush dominant. More on that later.<br />
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This defense is clearly of the bend don't break variety. Which is almost all you can do with the personnel that we're employing right now. They are young and inexperienced. We replaced some very long term veteran Chargers with very young unproven players. We're not going to be the Steel Curtain. We'll be lucky to be the Beef Curtains. What mattered was that when the game was on the line, and I had literally thrown my phone into the other room to avoid the panicked text messages that had me manning a suicide hotline, we got that turnover. The big one. The one we were all really, REALLY hoping for, finally materialized. That ball popped free, was scooped up, and for a moment, almost returned out of the end zone, causing me to scream, nay, SCREAM for that someone to please take a knee, very politely and in total control, he listened, did so, and peace was restored. I'd like to think I had a hand in that decision to stay in the end zone. Needless to say, the other shoe finally didn't drop. It's been a long time since we could say that.<br />
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The Elephant: This week it's easy. Everyone is talking about injuries. Yes, they are mounting up. Yes, they are significant. Let's talk about it shall we? Malcolm Floyd (did I spell that right? I always forget whether he's of the L variety or they went anti-L.) Gone. Done for the year. Are we deep? No. Are we serviceable? Yes. With Royal finally stepping up and Vincent Brown and Keenan Allen holding their own and letting Laserface make them look pretty good, we're going to be okay. Oh, let's not forget that Gates is looking like a version of himself that long ago vanished that motivated one of us here to make a custom hat in his honor. I'll bet that one of us wishes he still had that hat. Dwight Freeney. I think I'm in the minority on this one, but we're not going to miss him as much as people think. Is his injury a good thing? No, clearly not, but the scheme we're currently running isn't dependent on the pass rush, because there has been no pass rush. They are built not to give up the big play. And as Max is quick to point out, capitalizing on the other team "fucking up" is the secret to our scheme. Don't tell anyone, SHHHH! Finally, the offensive line. Woof. Might as well set up a triage unit on the sideline these guys are dropping so quickly. There isn't a starter that isn't hurt save Hardwick and he's typically always banged up. These guys are shuffling around the line, filling each need when it arises and guys are stepping up. The fact that Rivers was only sacked once, completed 35 of 42 passes, with backups at the left tackle position and other guys playing out of position all over the line, is a testament to not only their preparation, but their toughness. Guess how they got all of that. You guessed it. Coaching. I'm going to say this again, and please, heed this, ready? NORV TURNER IS GONE. THE WITCH IS DEAD. This group has this team prepared, both physically and mentally and they are a wholly different squad than last year. I'd bet you that they would not so secretly come right out and tell you that the locker room and the whole god damned facility is a far different place without the Norvalvirus. It's been four weeks of regular season football and no one has been arrested, punched or kicked out of Stingeree. That's the most telling statistic of the season.<br />
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Forecast: Raider Week. Things are looking up. This team is good. They are not Denver good. We don't have the personnel or the depth. But we are dynamic and as we've both mentioned here, this team will improve as the year goes on and they see some victories, and build on those successes. It is already evidenced by this team made up of mostly nobodies, overcoming injuries that were just a convenient excuse to explain shitty coaching and schemes in years past. I haven't been this excited for Chargers football in how long? Oh yeah! Exactly six years! How do I keep forgetting that?<br />
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Good things are afoot Charger Faithful. Get on board.<br />
<br />CJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04335122956728155187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7926814.post-18134401203863419902013-09-25T22:06:00.000-07:002013-09-25T22:06:36.445-07:00The Wrap: Week 3<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpx_qL9R-3sd3peQOFWh5teLyl6aDtUR94VED0u7ptAEj3lqou4m00I0ZWVvUlHP42MjIM377uIVpvyk-HMaegWajGD3C_N5sZSoYRhNbQfZk24yX0pMupDH6E5hRBWMUGmbEA5g/s1600/Unknown.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpx_qL9R-3sd3peQOFWh5teLyl6aDtUR94VED0u7ptAEj3lqou4m00I0ZWVvUlHP42MjIM377uIVpvyk-HMaegWajGD3C_N5sZSoYRhNbQfZk24yX0pMupDH6E5hRBWMUGmbEA5g/s1600/Unknown.jpeg" /></a>The sky is falling! The sky is falling! And to some degree that may in fact be true, but I continue to maintain that these are not your Chargers that have rendered you completely helpless in the face of challenging football for the last six years. Have we all forgotten so quickly the lasting damage that a Norv Turner can do to a franchise? Don't believe me? Starting with the Dallas Cowboys, then to the Washington Redskins, then the Oakland Raiders, San Francisco 49ers, San Diego Chargers and now Cleveland Browns. Yes you can argue that only the 49ers have "recovered" by going to and losing a Super Bowl. The Norv Turner legacy of losing can take a generation to undue apparently. Hopefully we've got the proper cleansing material to get past this prior to my death. Hey, hope got a president elected in this country. Anything is possible...<br />
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The game Sunday was yes, disappointing to say the least. But aside the crushing blow of defeat we've become so used to, there were still some positives to take away from this game. First, one worry of this squad has been the depth as we've barely managed to scrap together enough pieces we'd consider starters after the dismantling of the damage that was done by the previous regime. There were at least four starters who missed kickoff depending on how you view the whole Donald Butler active/inactive debacle, and during the game an additional handful of starters dropped out of action on the offensive line. Testing the depth of the offensive line is not something I'd recommend we do on the regular, but dammit if the backups didn't step up and even move all over the place to keep Laserface's uniform relatively clean. An admirable job to say the least. This week we'll get Fluker back which should help the running game, while we'll likely be without Clary and Dunlap. Sunday becomes test day for some unproven commodities wearing our unis.<br />
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Let's talk about the elephant. I'd like for this not to become a weekly feature, but now exists a trend as Max pointed out graphically below and those trends number two. First, the Pagano insistence on playing not to fail is not working out so well in his favor to date. To the point that today I read an article that he is on the hot seat. While I won't go that far, dare I say there needs to be a philosophical and physical improvement or that talk will gain some momentum. He is in fact the only holdover from the previous regime so I'd imagine in the Spani's infinite wisdom he's the next to fall. I'm willing to give him a bit more time to sort things out for one reason. There is no one on this defense you actually know. No really. There's no one left that you actually know, you know, people who have been impact players here for a while. None. Half the jerseys on Sunday had names of guys you've never heard of. Let's give them a moment to understand life in the NFL before we fire anyone. Let's not forget, most of the pre-season power rankings had us between 24-28th in the league. Last week we were as high as 14. Let's not get crazy, we are already beating expectations and we are just two plays from being 3-0. Kevin Acee was quick to point out none our guys thought there was offensive pass interference on the Titans scoring pass with 15 seconds left. Justin Patrick, the man in coverage certainly thought so on the field in the moment and it was. But again, not putting ourselves in that position in the first place is the important part. Don't forget, Norv is gone. Write it on your bathroom mirror. NORV IS GONE.<br />
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Our second elephant is Ken Whisenhunt. While pinning the Titans deep on their six yard line with no timeouts seems on the surface as a pretty excellent decision, our play calling prevented us gaining the one additional first down that would have had the game ending with Philip getting a grass stain on his knee in victory formation. I know, I understand, an incomplete pass in any of those situations stops the clock and blah blah blah, blah, blahblahblahblahblah. Philip Rivers is completing exactly 70% of his passes. I'm not saying we have to revert to the Norv Turner playbook of executing pre-pass play action on strategies that take four days to develop, but a swing pass to Woodhead or utilizing Gates who is looking more like the 2005 version of himself that was uncoverable isn't the worst idea around. But, we did pin them back on the six yard line with no timeouts and as Max mentioned, we're a Gilchrist dropped interception from awesometown.<br />
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Is there room for improvement? Yes. Are we dealing with a lot of variables that will make the routine more difficult? Yes. We are lean on personnel, injuries are not helping, but make no mistake we are on the right road to recovery. Will it be pretty? Likely not at times. But like I told Max, we could go 0-16, (thankfully we won't), and I'd be happy because I'm on board with our changes and that's a start. My expectations are low and we're already exceeding them. It's impossible to ignore that the improvements are already in place. There is still a very good chance we finish above .500 with this team gelling and improving every week. This will be a successful season. I'm even willing to wager on it. Calm down Charger faithful. We are fine. We need a little fine tuning, and we'll need a little tweaking each week to make it work. I wish I had more poignant and funny things to say, but this one makes me happy to stand behind.<br />
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Cowgirls next. Reauxmeaux and the Cowgirls. Blackout lifted. Te'o to make his debut. I'm not worried. Nor should you be.<br />
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Weekly Power Rankings start after week 4. Let's have some fun.<br />
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Go Bolts!!<br />
<br />CJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04335122956728155187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7926814.post-46767020699989377702013-09-24T13:04:00.001-07:002013-09-24T13:48:31.611-07:00Disturbing TrendsWell, here we are a little over a week later, and you're probably not feeling all that good anymore. Another tough loss. In fact, this one is probably tougher than the Texans because this was a game we all scratched in a W next to when we first looked at the schedule. What worries me the most is that after three weeks you can see the team settling into some disturbing trends.<br />
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Firstly, there were at least a couple of situations in that game that demanded some aggressive offense. The early fourth and one inside the opponent's 40 stands out, as does the decision not to go to the air to pick up a crucial first down late in the game. Now, I'm not one of those people who was too upset when they ran into position against the Eagles to set up a pretty lengthy FG attempt late, but I get it if you were. The thing is that at least there if you miss you're headed into OT, with a 50/50 shot at winning the game regardless. In this, game, where our defense was giving up huge chunks of yardage all day long, it felt like the odds were worse and it became imperitave to keep the ball out of the home team's hands at the end. Especially considering the corner who gave up the winning TD only has about a handful of career NFL snaps on his resume.<br />
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That defense is a problem. It almost seems like the playbook actually accounts for opponent mistakes, because it feels like that is the only way we stop anyone at this point. Eric Weddle has completely disappeared, which I blame on his ridiculous mohawk's return. And that INT at the end has to be caught by Gilchrist. Has to be. No excuses. All in all, this defense needs to find a way to manufacture mayhem. I don't know how they do that, but they need to figure something out. Pagano needs to get up to that drawing board and come up with some ideas that will make the other team think rather than try to keep his resume healthy by doing the "right thing" in the right situation. I thought we were done with that Football for Dummies approach around these parts. Manti Teo is not gonna fix it. This unit needs direction and innovation. They don't have to be great, but they have to be something better than awful.<br />
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All of that being said, all hope is not lost after 3 weeks. There's some other 1-2 teams out there that have high aspirations for this year who've looked a lot worse than we have, and there's a ton of football left. We still have a pretty manageable schedule, so it's a little early to be jumping ship. Rivers continues to look like the Rivers of old (even though it seems like the refs chose Sunday to draw a line in the sand on Rivers antics when arguing calls) and the line held up awfully well, despite bleeding out players like crazy on Sunday. We travelled an awful lot in two weeks and split the road series, and that's no small feat. 1-2 is not where you want to be, especially when you're looking up at a couple of 3-0s in the division, but we still feel like a team on the rise to me. These guys play hard and they don't seem to be okay with losing like they have in the recent past, and that means a lot. The young guys are going to get better and the veterans look hungry again. There're 13 more games. Let's go win 'em all! Go Bolts!!!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7926814.post-91731986033891895972013-09-16T09:08:00.002-07:002013-09-16T12:21:10.574-07:00Feeling Good on a Monday? Inconceivable!Throughout the week the media will question whether they were just plain wrong about the Eagles. Be ready for that. We've been in two games against two respected teams to the wire and come away with a 1-1 record, and I think we'll all agree that right now we look better than the team that lost a 7-6 barn burner to the Browns last year, but the sports pros will wonder why the Eagles imploded, not whether we belong in the conversation. So it is, so shall it ever be. If we want accolades, we need to do big things this year and wait until next year for the media to acknowledge it. But we don't need accolades. We need wins. Let's hit some quick notes on yesterday's action.<br />
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Philip Rivers - Dear Phillip Rivers haters, go eat a bag of buffalo dicks. 7 TDs, 1 INT and over 600 yards passing so far. Throw in a couple of first down runs and we're looking at the makings of a pretty sweet bounceback year. That's what happens when the line-which looks a whole lot better so far, don't you think?-gives a good QB a second to think about it.<br />
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Eddie Royal - On pace for 40 TDs. You almost make me want to send AJ a thank you note. Almost. Not really. Hell of a game, Royal.<br />
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Ryan Mathews - Right now the whole town is ready to scrap this guy and I can't say I blame them. I am already scouring the college ranks to see who is likely to get the next crack at being the heir apparent to the LaDainian Tomlinson throne. But for this year, Mathews still has a part to play. He may never see the red zone again, but he has to touch the ball. And here's the thing. Football is such a mental game, full of self fulfilling prophecies. If you know you fumble, and more importantly, if the opposing defense knows you fumble, then you probably fumble. The last few years, however, a Mathews fumble has been enough to take the entire team out of the game. A single play had been enough to make Norv's Chargers take their ball and go home. This team yesterday overcame a Mathews fumble, a Gates fumble and some lightning quick Philly TDs to pull out a victory and that can only help Mathews' psyche. He wouldn't be the first RB to turn around a history of fumbling and I feel like yesterday will only bolster his resolve in that regard. He probably can't play well enough to earn a long term contract, but it sure would be nice to see him contribute in a meaningful way this year.<br />
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Antonio Gates - Gates gets a pass on that fumble and that TD drop, but only because for most of yesterday he looked like the Gates we need and remember. Also because we won. Gotta hold onto that ball, Cotton Candy hands.<br />
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Malcolm Floyd - Wow, you were having a monster day. I was a big proponent of yours for years before you finally just turned me off with the injuries. Yesterday was not your fault, but what an old Chargers thing to do then to go ahead and get your neck crushed. Hope you're okay man. No more of that, okay?<br />
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John Pagano - You lost some vets and Manti Teo is in a boot. I get that. But you were kept around in a situation where a lot of other people got the boot because you earned a lot of respect for what you did last year. Well, you better come up with something this year, because this defense is relying way too much on the other team to stop themselves at this point.<br />
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This team as a whole - Yesterday was a big win. The kind of win that guys get excited about. It's the kind of win that makes you go back to the previous loss and say that loss wasn't so bad. That the entire body of work so far is impressive and we might really have something here. And that's awesome. But we shouldn't forget that first loss. We should hold it up to this win and ask ourselves an important question. Why does it seem that we can only keep up our intensity when the game is in doubt? We should've put that Texans team away and we fell into that old familiar tendency to merely try to hold on. If we're going to accomplish anything this year, we're going to need some of those easy wins just as badly as we're going to need the gritty wins like yesterday's. We're going to need to wring some necks.<br />
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All in all, though, the fans and players should be ecstatic about that win, warts and all. That is not an easy environment to go into and overcome. Already, after two games, you can see the effect real leadership can have on men in the trenches. I feel like we're on the verge of something just a little bit special. Let's enjoy it. Go Bolts!!!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7926814.post-69865233484729669882013-09-14T15:37:00.000-07:002013-09-14T16:10:10.302-07:00Week 2: Time to Panic Yet?When I first looked at this schedule I had the Bolts going all the way across the country into the unforgiving arms of the City of Brotherly Love and handing the Eagles a beating. Even before last week it was going to be a tough sell. We've had trouble in Philly before, even when we were largely considered the better team. Now, after our collapse in week one and the debut of Chip Kelly's NFL version of the Oregon offense, it'll be nearly impossible to convince anyone we have anything more than a chance to learn and grow in defeat tomorrow morning. If we're not universally picked to lose tomorrow, I have yet to find the prognosticator that bucked the trend. So, can a victory tomorrow be sold? Eh, I'll give it a shot.<br />
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I've already gone on record as saying Monday Night's game was more of a good sign than a bad sign. You have to admit-unless you're a local hater-that we came out with intensity and controlled that game for more than a half before it slipped away from us. At times this looked more like the team we expected to field for the last six years than the team we actually fielded for the last six years. Sadly, the intensity of Houston's Wade Phillips designed defense proved too much for us to overcome when they ratcheted up the pressure in the second half. Our offense absolutely has to be what defines our team. If they can live up to their potential-and believe me, the potential is there!-then all the defense has to do is show up on Sunday and try not to embarrass themselves too much. Alas, the offense couldn't keep their foot on the peddle and the Texans just got stronger when the blood hit the water.<br />
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The Eagles defense also looked impressive last week, punishing a Redskins QB in RG III who looked crippled to the point of downright Riversian proportions in the first half. And the offense was a monster as well. Both units played as strong and fast a half of football as your ever going to see. Then the second half happened and it was less impressive. The Skins got back into that game and the Eagles barely seemed to have enough in the tank to ultimately hold them back for the victory. The Eagles share a lot in terms of perception with our Chargers. If they had given up the win to Washington nobody this past week would have been talking about Chip Kelly's high flying circus, they'd be talking about the Eagles culture of losing, much like they are about us right now.<br />
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So, tomorrow you have two teams that came out and played a dominating first half and wilted in the second. If-and it's a big if this early in the season- we can match them or at least keep them in striking distance in the first half, then I think we stand a good chance of stealing this thing in the second. If both teams are gassed by midway through quarter three, as they seemed to be last week, then I think we have the advantage. Their game plan on both sides of the ball is extremely speed reliant. And once you start to slow down from fatigue, it's hard to get that back. Those shifty formations are a lot less shifty in slow motion. We just have to play smart, and I think we have more smart on our team. The Eagles are a team full of guys who can't get out of their own way, and I'm not ready to buy that a brand new NFL head coach and one week of impressive football against a crippled division rival has fixed that completely.<br />
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So there's my pitch. I hope you like it. I know it's a hard sell. We're probably the only team in NFL history to play our first game until 11:00PM on a Monday only to reconvene for week two on the other side of the country six days later at what is actually 10:00AM for us while being afternoon for the home team. But what the hell, I have faith in spades these days. Just writing this has made me feel better, I hope it did something for you.<br />
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Go Bolts!!!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0