San Diego Charger Fan

By BlueandGold
BoltTalk Contributor

After an offseason of change, a retooled Charger team and fanbase look forward

On February 22nd, 2010, Dean Spanos met with LaDainian Tomlinson to let him know that the Chargers were releasing him.

It was nearly 9 years after the team selected him in the 2001 NFL draft, beginning what may be the team’s greatest decade. LT’s domination of the NFL, as well as the hearts of all San Diego fans, served as the face of a resurgent Charger franchise. The nine years of his tenure saw the team achieve 5 playoff appearances and 5 AFC West Championships, one of the best cumulative records in football, national recognition, and a 13-game winning streak against the arch-rival Oakland Raiders that has yet to end.

It was an era that began under player-beloved Mike Riley, and ended under fan-hated Norv Turner. The year 2001 saw Ryan Leaf tear Charger fans’ hearts asunder; the year 2009 saw Philip Rivers tear NFL defenses asunder. It began with General Manager John Butler, and ended with Butler’s greatest student – and master in his own right – AJ Smith. The LT years witnessed the QB succession saga of Doug Flutie, Drew Brees, and Philip Rivers, along with the attendant conflict between team, management, coaching, and fans. We watched as the vaunted David Boston and Marcellus Wiley turned into crushing disappointments. We saw the Eli Manning and Michael Vick draft dramas, the rags-to-riches stories of Kris Dielman and Antonio Gates, the tragic fates of Steve Foley and Terrence Kiel, and the meteoric rise and fall of Toniu Fonoti, Jason Ball, and Shane Olivea. And, of course, we all cheered and suffered through the turbulent tenure of Marty Schottenheimer which, like the career of M. Night Shyamalan, was both awesome and terrible and sudden in its ending.

Man, what a decade it was.

Now, as we enter the 2010 NFL Football season and year 1 A.T. (After Tomlinson), it is fitting that the Chargers face the new year with a roster divorced in many ways from the roster of last season. Gone is mercurial cornerback Antonio Cromartie, whose final legacy to many here in SD will be his non-attempt on Jets RB Shonne Green during New York’s Divisional Round victory. Also missing, at least for now, are Pro Bowlers Marcus McNeill and Vincent Jackson, whose ill-fated contract squabbles with AJ Smith, remind this writer of a game of chicken with a brick wall. Other familiar players no longer wearing the lightning bolt include tight end Brandon Manumaleuna, now of the Bears; Messiah-coiffed backup quarterback Charlie Whitehurst, traded to Seattle; super-sub Tim Dobbins, gone in a draft-day trade to Miami; defensive fixture (bad knees included) and all-world nose tackle Jamal Williams, who assumes the same creaky role for the hated Denver Broncos; and special teams demon / aspiring wide receiver Kassim Osgood, who will continue to aspire to wide receiver on the Jacksonville Jaguars.

And then, of course, there’s LT himself, whose (mostly indirect) war of words with AJ Smith and the team that cut him made national news this summer. While that particular barrage left many a little peeved – including San Diego Union Tribune sportswriter Nick Canepa, and perhaps an offensive lineman or two, or five – I suspect that his name will always be spoken with a little reverence here in our blessed pocket of blessed Southern California. To those angrier than most, a little forbearance is well-advised; years from now, on a stage in Canton, Ohio, it will be Charger blue, not Jet green, which will color all our memories. For now, this writer will wish him well; except against us, naturally.

Let’s review: Tomlinson, Williams, Cromartie, Osgood, and maybe Jackson and McNeill gone. It sounds like the San Diego Pro-Bowl roster from the past few years. What, then, can we look forward to for the foreseeable future? Who shall carry on the legacy of the lightning bolt into the 10s? Who will define this new era and all the possibilities it holds?

I have a few ideas, so I’ll start at the running back position and end with the obvious.

RYAN MATHEWS, RB

Remember the Mike Vick / LaDainian Tomlinson drama?

I didn’t think so.

This reminder, though, may bring back memories of the disappointment of many fans and pundits as a result of John Butler’s first and most dramatic move. In the shadow of his Hall-of-Fame career, the notion that LT would have to live up to the Chargers’ passing on Vick – then regarded most dynamic athlete ever at his position – seems ridiculous. Still, none can deny that the notion was there, and more prevalent than some now are willing to admit.

His first year, he rushed for 1236 yards and 10 touchdowns, and people started to forget about the draft drama. He proceeded to run for 1683/14 in 2003, then 1645/13 in 2004, and people finished forgetting.

While I would caution people not to expect LT’s 2006 numbers (1815/28) out of Ryan Mathews , I would certainly say it’s not delusional to expect a similar rookie season out of him. Mathews is two inches taller than LT, but surprisingly gives up a couple of pounds (at least, before an NFL workout regimen). In a comparison of their combine numbers, Mathews is undeniably impressive. He is faster than LT in the 40-yard dash (4.37 seconds vs. 4.46), the 20-yard dash (2.50 vs. 2.59), and the 10-yard dash (1.49 vs. 1.54), as well as edging LT in the bench press (19 reps vs 18). The 20-yard shuttle (4.21 vs. 4.33) and the 3-cone drill (6.84 vs. 7), however, belong to Tomlinson, foreshadowing his legendary change-of-direction ability.

All indications point to Mathews as being a bigger, faster running back with more straight-ahead power and elite balance but less agility than LT. Tomlinson, of course, has Hall-of-Fame field vision, but Mathews showed very good vision himself in college and there’s no reason to not expect him to get better as he grows and matures as an NFL running back.

So – will we miss LT? If we’re talking about the LT of 2009 (730/12); no, I don’t think we will; the younger, faster, more powerful Mathews will fulfill that requirement and more. If we’re talking about the LT of 2004-2006; well, yes, I think we will, and I think we always will. Still, I think Mathews will at least be “good enough”, and in an offense led by Philip Rivers, it’s definitely something to look forward to.

CAM THOMAS, DT/NT

Wait, what? A 5th round pick making a difference in the coming years? Are you out of your mind?

Well, if I told you back in 1998, shortly after we took him in the NFL Supplemental Draft, that the then 6’3″, 305 pound Williams (Oklahoma State by way of football powerhouse Kemper Military Junior College) was destined to be our nose tackle for the decade to come, I think I may have gotten some looks askance.

The Jamal Williams of 2009 was a monster of a man in size alone: 6’3″, 350 pounds. The effects of age and repeat injuries had, however, worn down on him; he hadn’t started a full 16-game season since 2006 and finally suffered a season-ending triceps injury against the Raiders last year. The Charger clock was ticking on the veteran, and after the season the team let him move on.

Enter Mr. Thomas, who carries 330 pre-NFL-workout-regimen pounds on a 6’4″ frame. (I will remind you again that Jamal came out of the Supplemental Draft at 305). Like Williams a late college bloomer, he started to turn heads at alma mater North Carolina his senior year, when he started all 13 games, and notched 34 tackles, 6 for loss. He was utterly dominating in the college Senior Bowl, a performance which most pundits predicted could shoot him up the draft charts to the third round – or even the second round – of the draft.

On draft day, however, Thomas plummeted. By round 5, with the defensive lineman now far below his expected draft position, AJ Smith felt compelled to trade up to get him, as it was clear he wouldn’t last much longer. It was a move that left this writer giving a sigh of relief – for years, the Chargers had passed bona-fide Nose Tackle prospects in favor of other positions, leaving Jamal with no heir apparent. Suddenly, we had one, or at least I hoped we did.

He has, of course, a lot to learn and a lot to prove at the professional level. Still, the intensity of the competition on the Defensive Line this year should do one of two things for him – shut him down, or provide the example of what it takes to succeed in the NFL. I think it will be the latter, and for all the doubts about him, the one thing that is undisputed is that when Cam Thomas wants to be great, he is.

So far this camp and preseason, it appears that he wants to be great. I think he will be.

THE OBVIOUS

Johnny Unitas, Kurt Warner, Joe Montana, Brett Favre, Steve Young, John Elway, Dan Fouts, Warren Moon, and Peyton Manning. What about them, you ask? Well, besides being elite quarterbacks and current (or future) Hall-of-Famers, they all had their best season(s) after the age of 28.

Philip Rivers turns 29 on December 8th.

Charger fans have already seen the statistical greatness from our resident gunslinger; but more important than stats, beyond efficiency ratings and yardage totals, a quarterback represents stability – the solid core of a football team. On Philip Rivers’ broad and willing shoulders rests the substantial hopes of a Charger Super Bowl in the 2010s. As long as he is there, the Chargers will have a shot at the title; and he will be here for a while, having signed a 6 year extension in August. Charger fans will get the chance to see Philip Rivers’ prime years in lightning bolts, and considering what he’s already accomplished, those prime years could be simply monstrous. Barring injury, and based on his coaching staff and supporting cast, there’s no reason to think they won’t be.

The Philip Rivers era starts now.

I’ve left off a lot of names that will be key components for the Chargers; Antonio Gates, for instance, who just signed a 5 year extension. Quentin Jammer, the rock of the secondary, is another. Beyond the players themselves there’s Norv Turner, who has yet to post a losing record – indeed, not win an AFC West Championship – as our Head Coach; and the sphinx-like presence of General Manager AJ Smith, whose front-office savvy and personnel-scouting wizardry has put together a team always ready and manned for the present and future.

Of course, winning a Championship in the NFL always involves a little bit of luck. It would follow, then, that the best way to finally bring this city a ring is to be successful as often as you can, and get into the playoffs as often as you can. Thanks to Ryan Mathews, Cam Thomas, and Philip Rivers, and the entire group of Bolts top to bottom, we have no reason to expect the Chargers to do any worse over the next ten years than we have over the last ten, if not better.

We’ve come a long way since 2001, when LaDainian Tomlinson held up a Charger jersey for the first time in New York City. He and his legend we leave behind, at least for now. Some legends, like Philip Rivers’, Ryan Mathews’, and Cam Thomas’, are still being written. The challenge for the San Diego Chargers is to take the last step – to write the greatest legend of all – and, at long last, bring San Diego the Vince Lombardi Trophy.

Or three. A decade’s a long time, after all.

By BlueandGold
BoltTalk Contributor

More than anything, this was a game of expectations.

The Chargers went up to Oakland loaded down with the expectations of a fan base and a city dying to see their NFL team in action. Expectations for the Chargers, certainly – much had been said, written, and imagined about yet another talented Charger squad. It was another year of Superbowl prognostications; another year of maturity; another year of growing familiarity and skill for a team that, in many ways, is ripening into a middle age predicted to be more productive than all but a few teams to ever take the fields.

There were expectations for the Chargers, yes, and heavy ones.

There was, however, another set of expectations. We, as a fan base, had expectations about the apparent disaster that is the Oakland Raiders. Come on now. They draft some no-name WR. They gut their defense like a fish. They cut Jeff Garcia in favor of JaMarcus Russell. Their Head Coach punched an assistant in the face, for crissakes! This team is in shambles, in disarray, right? They’re like some sort of bad joke. If the NFL had lower leagues, the Raiders would have been long dropped away by now.

Right?

Well, I think we should all learn a few things from the second game of Monday’s doubleheader featuring these two teams – the powerhouse and the disaster – and learn a little bit about expectations as well.

First, that the Chargers have some things to work on if they expect to contend as they have been predicted to.

Second, that the Raiders, perhaps for just one night – OK, three quarters – can muster up some outstanding football.

And third, expectations don’t mean jack squat – it’s what shows up on the field that matters.

Look, I’m guilty as any of you of buying into the “blowout” hype approaching this weekend. It’s not hard, especially when you look at the past 11 matchups between these two teams, and the circumstances surrounding them both. The Chargers, perhaps, felt it too. They had immense confidence in themselves, their preparation, and their plan, as we did; and who could fault us all? We’ve seen them play very well in the preseason, in most phases. We know what our Pro Bowlers can do. Ron Rivera gives us new hope in a defense. We know we’re talented. If we go out there and execute, we win.

But this is the National Football League. The Oakland Raiders are still a professional football team, a professional football team that has had a LOT of chances over the last few years to draft top-flight athletes, and still a professional football team with a lot of pride in their history. 11 straight victories sting. 7 straight opening-game losses stings. Tom Cable, sensibly, appealed to the pride inherent to that uniform, and framed into a symbol of Raider resurgence on this 50th anniversary of the American Football League.

So the Chargers took their talent, their preparation, and their plan into the Oakland Coliseum; where the Oakland Raiders promptly hit them in the mouth. Hard.

BLUES

1. LACK OF PHYSICALITY.

Through all the history of Pro Football – from the implementation of the forward pass, to the spread offenses of today, throughout all the tactics, routes, and strategies that have been developed since them – one thing remains as true as the day the first brute strapped on a jersey: you’ve gotta want to hit somebody. The team with the greater desire to punish the other guy, physically, can overcome a lot of deficiencies and cover up many weaknesses.

The Raiders wanted to hit somebody Monday night, and boy howdy did they. They barreled right into a San Diego team that, surrounded by plays and offensive formations and routes and situations, forgot that there’s a guy over there that wants to knock your head off. For three quarters, the Chargers were battered and bruised by a team that threw the playbook out and pumped up their helmets instead. Nothing was working, and our guys were dropping like flies.

We should be very familiar with this – it’s what we once were, back in the Marty days. Martyball was about lining up and dominating the guy across from you. Plays were fairly simple, nothing like the deep protect routes, screens, and draw plays that define the Norv Turner offense.

Now, we all know the drawback of this. These teams normally are pretty sluggish when it comes to scoring. Limited to running the clock down and playing defense, you can often be outdueled by a quick strike offense that can stand up to you for a few seconds on the line to get their guys open. Comebacks are normally out of the question, and if the other team gets the ball last while you’re protecting a lead, one big play can ruin your whole day. We’ve seen that too many times with Marty.

But even as we make our living on the other side of the coin these days – on the side of the complex, quick strike offense – you can’t ignore the physicality of this game completely. You’ve still got to pass protect, tackle, and take on blockers. Well, the Chargers seemed flustered most of the day by how HARD the Raiders were playing. We were outhustled, outhit, out-desired for over three quarters.

We have a good plan, good plays, good strategy, and goodness knows we have all this vaunted talent. Even with all that, when you get between the white lines, you’ve GOT to be ready to hit. The Raiders were. We weren’t. And it showed.

This was the root of the problem underlying that game.

2. TIME OF POSSESSION.

We’re an offensive football team. For an offense like ours to run away with a game, our defense has to get off the field and allow Philip Rivers and LT to work.

Well, we didn’t do that well yesterday. The Raiders out-converted us on 3rd downs, 50% to 42%. They also threw in a 4th down conversion – the long bomb that gave them their last lead. They out-rushed us, 148 to 77, getting 4.6 yards per carry.
This resulted in a Time of Possession imbalance of 3:15 in their favor. For most of that game, they did exactly what a team like them needed to do neutralize a team like us: they kept the ball on the ground, forced punts, and ground the clock down.

If we’re no longer the smashmouth, run-LT-down-the-other-team’s-throats-40-times-a-game kind of football team anymore, then that’s fine. But we NEED to convert third downs. We need to possess the football, or at least have some sort of plan to do it when we need to. Go to the slant or short-in routes on first down. Get short yardage on 1st down and open up Norv’s passing trees on 2nd down. If we can’t protect Philip Rivers for three seconds, go to the three-step drop on 1st down. Whatever. But we cannot continue to put ourselves into 2nd- and 3rd-and-long situations where it becomes increasingly hard to convert, even for a QB as accurate as Philip.

This, in my opinion, is the only flaw in an otherwise brilliant offensive game plan. We can go down the field better than just about any team in football this side of New England – we just need a way to put ourselves in the “nightmare downs” for Defensive Coordinators – 2nd- and 3rd-and-short. If we can find a way to play a possession game through the air, this offense will be literally unstoppable. Will it happen? It didn’t on Monday, that’s for sure.

3. DEFENDING THE TIGHT END

JaMarcus Russell is not a particularly accurate quarterback. He demonstrated that yesterday – he was 12 of 30, a downright surgical 40 percent completion rate.

However, there was one receiver he seemingly could not miss – Zach Miller, the starting Raider Tight End. Russell threw at Miller 6 times, and completed all six passes at an average of 16 yards a pop. Miller aggregated 96 yards for the day, tops amongst the Raider receivers.

The TE has been one of the banes of this defense for at least the past two years; and at least for one week, the trend continues. Do I expect it to continue?

Well, we all know what expectations are worth by now… so we’ll see.

GOAT OF THE GAME:

Clinton Hart. Without that horrific blown coverage, we’re spared all the late game dramatics and ride out the final three minutes in peace. Instead, the Raiders make it too close for comfort. Not good, Clinton.

GOLDS

1. CHARACTER, FROM THE HEAD COACH ON DOWN.

Yes, you read that right – even Norv Turner.

There are, of course, the negative things you can lay at Norv Turner’s feet. His team came into the game mentally unprepared for the physicality involved. As a result, the team simply could not execute – the Raiders disrupted everything the team tried, both offensively and defensively. Then players started going down; Vasquez, then Hardwick; Castillo, Gregory. In the third quarter, the team went through their worst stretch of the game: a 2 minute, 24 second, 5 play drive that gained 0 net yards due to penalties. It was an absolutely brutal thing to watch, and must have been even more brutal to go through for the team.

It would have been easy to come unhinged at that point.

Instead, you could see Norv on the sideline talking to each of the players as the game progressed with the same, unflappable air about him. Philip looked to him on more that one of the passes he had to throw away when everyone was covered. Norv simply nodded and commended him for a smart play. When Shaun Phillips extended a Raider drive with a bad face mask penalty, Norv simply calmed him down and sent him back in. His message was unmistakable – hang in there, we’ll figure something out.

And they certainly did.

A lot of credit, of course, goes to Philip Rivers and his ability in the clutch; right along with Legedu Naanee and Darren Sproles. Norv called the right plays and gave his team the chance to get under Oakland’s defense. Philip made all the right throws, led the team down the field, and put the Raiders away. San Diego’s final three drives went like this: Touchdown, Touchdown, and Victory Formation.

Norv’s gotten a lot of flak from Charger fans. He deserves some in this game for the team not being able to match the Raiders initially in both intensity and motivation. When it comes down to it, though, Norv’s team won the game in spite of being beaten up badly on the field. That’s a product of a mentally strong football team, a mentally strong quarterback, and a mentally strong coach. It’s character that won this game for us.

With all the negative things that Norv and the players did wrong in this game, the fact that they found a way to win on the road, in a loud and hostile stadium, against a fired-up division opponent, after getting beat up all game – well, that deserves a Gold from me.

2. RED ZONE EFFICIENCY

As the NFL measures it, Red Zone Efficiency is the ratio of Red Zone Trips to Touchdowns – in other words, how often you can punch it in for the 7 vs. the 3 (or the zero). I’ve said it before, but this stat is very much linked to success in the NFL. Simply put, touchdowns win games.

In this game, the Chargers were an outstanding 75% (3 for 4) in RZE, and 100% (2 for 2) in Goal-to-Go situations.

Defensively, the Raiders got into the Red Zone 3 times, and only converted for the touchdown once – a 33% clip.

If the Chargers can maintain anywhere near these percentages, we’re going to win a lot of games this year.

3. STEPHEN COOPER

Remember last year, when Mr. Cooper was suspended for four games? We certainly missed him then. We would have definitely missed him Monday.

Cooper had an amazing game against the Raiders, posting a ridiculous 13 solo tackles, 1 tackle for loss, 2 passes defensed (one of which, admittedly, he should have intercepted), and 1 forced fumble, which he also recovered. That’s an All-Pro day from an outstanding inside linebacker.

The next Charger on the list? Eric Weddle (who had a great game himself), with 5 solo and 1 assist. The next closest linebacker was Shawne Merriman, with 3 solo and 2 assists.

If you want to find a reason for a great defensive RZE performance to go along with three turnovers and four punts for Oakland, Stephen Cooper is a good place to start.

PLAYER OF THE GAME:

Stephen Cooper. Philip Rivers made a convincing case, as did Sproles; but if everyone played like Stephen Cooper did against the Raiders, the game is a snoozer, even with our offensive troubles.

THE GAME IN ONE SENTENCE:

The better team wins a game that defies all expectations.

Discuss this article.

By BlueandGold
BoltTalk Contributor

As I spoke to a few friends of mine Monday morning, I got an overwhelming sense of disappointment about last night’s game from them. The reaction ranged from a reasonable “That offensive line didn’t look too good”, to a more chicken-litte-esque “Well, looks like they’re going to suck.”

Wow.

Sure, there were moments that certain units were, shall we say, disappointing. The starting o-line, for example, did not look very good at first. There were some missed tackles, sure. The running game never really got on the kind of tracked we’re used to here in LT-ville.

And with those negatives from last night’s game versus Arizona, two words come to mind.

“That’s football”.

The great German Field Marshall, Moltke, once said, “No plan survives contact with the enemy.” So it is with football. The other team has a good idea what your strengths are, and where your weakness are as well. Sometimes, they make it impossible to do what you want to do. The test of a good team, therefore, becomes how you overcome the chinks in the armor.

A good example of this can be found back in the ‘08 AFC Championship, when we faced the 17-0 Patriots. That team was known for its domination in the passing game. Brady to Moss. Brady to Welker. All kinds of records broken. The Patriots averaged – AVERAGED – nearly 300 yards per game through the air. So, it would follow that the Patriots would beat the crap out of us via the long bomb, right?

Well, guess what – they didn’t. We held the “invincible” Patriot passing game to 198 yards. How the Patriots actually beat us that day involved not the pass, but the run – specifically, a 9 minute 13 second beast of a drive starring Lawrence Maroney that ended the game. A painful memory for us, sure – but an example of a good football team finding a way to overcome the stifling of its greatest strength.

That’s football… you’re not going to do things well all the time, because the other guy’s dead set on keeping you from doing it. So you adjust, and overcome. Sometimes, the other team just gets the best of you; and sometimes, you have to accept the fact that ball ain’t round, and sometimes it just bounces the other way. All you can do is keep playing.

Now, this may seem rather over the top for a few folks’ impression of a meaningless preseason game; and, perhaps it is. Still, I bring it up because of these strange expectations that people are always have loaded up during this part of the year, and the subsequent crash in morale when the first things go wrong. In my opinion, this roller-coaster of emotion is overdone, and more or less unnecessary.

The summary of this writer’s opinion is this: folks who could not see past the things that went wrong Saturday are denying themselves a look at some very good football played by our very own San Diego Chargers.

Now, of course, we did have problems yesterday. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have BLUES, would I?

BLUES

1. PASS PROTECTION

All in all, the Chargers allowed 4 sacks. Many of the folks I spoke to mentioned Clary specifically, as if he were the source of all our protection woes yesterday. News flash – while he was directly responsible for one sack, he definitely wasn’t the sole problem.

Sack number 1 was on Clary, no doubt about it. He was simply beaten to the inside.

Sack number 2 was just a great blitz scheme by the Cardinals. They blitzed both middle linebackers on that play, and faked the blitz with the outside linebacker on the weak side (which happened to be Clary’s as well). The “Will” ‘Backer peeled off to cover LT on the short “in” pattern. The “Moe” ‘Backer went in and was picked up by Vasquez and Clary. The “Mike” ‘Backer (Karlos Dansby) came in a second later, overloading the side. Clary did see him at tried to step out, but Dansby was just too fast. It also didn’t help that Philip tried to run outside on an unblocked LB. If he had stepped up, into the pocket, Clary might have been able to run Dansby out of the play… but it would have been close nonetheless. Either way, it was more of a case of the Cards overloading the weak side with a great blitz package, and it would have taken an All-Pro play by Clary to beat that blitz.

Sack number 3 was tbe fault of the guy who is, likely, our best and most consistent lineman, Kris Dielman; beaten to the inside by Calais Campbell.

Sack number 4 was the rookie Luis Vasquez, beaten by the swim move of Bryan Robinson.

So, it was more than just Jeromey Clary. Obviously, this doesn’t make me feel any better.

The good thing is that these guys will get a good look at some pretty sophisticated blitz schemes in the preseason, and get to see just how they were beaten. Both Vasquez and Dielman will be watching for a swim move for a while, I’ll guarantee that, and Clary might pick up on an overload blitz a little quicker next time.

2. KICKOFF COVERAGE.

Two touchdowns. That was the difference in between victory and defeat in this football game. It also happens to be the number of touchdowns nearly scored by LaRod Stephens-Howling of the Cardinals on two kickoff returns in this game.

The only thing that saved us from defeat is a lot of great hustle by one Antoine Cason, who I had a lot of trouble NOT nominating as my Player of the Game.

On the first long return, Cletus Gordon had a great shot at Howling and simply whiffed – not good. On the second one, Howling just found a good seam and broke it.

Either way, both returns should provide some good film study for Steve Crosby and his Special Teams unit. A lot of credit must go to Stephens-Howling, who opened himself a place on the bench on that Cardinal squad, I think.

3. BEND…

One of the interesting stats resulting from Saturday’s game is the fact that out of the Cardinals’ 9 offensive drives, 5 of them ended within the San Diego 30 yard line. 4 of those 5 ended within the San Diego 15!

This is due, in large part, to the same issue I harped about last week – our method of defending against the pass. We seem, at least at this point in the year, to be very conservative as far as coverage between the 20s. We give recievers large cushions, we let them catch the ball, and then we make the safe tackle.

This led to a few big completions on the part of the Cardinals. Wide Recievers Anquan Boldin and Lance Long, for instance, had 3 catches apiece, for averages of 17 and 13.7 yards, respectively! Cardinal Tight End Leonard Pope had two catches for a 26.5 yard average. In contrast, no Charger caught more than 2 passes (Naanee, Floyd, Gartrell, and LT shared that stat), and of the four that did, only two had an average catch of greater than 10 yards.

Frankly, this makes me nervous. Of the teams that we may see in the playoffs, two of them – Indianapolis and New England – share a love for the spread offense and have quarterbacks that are more than able to pick apart a conservative zone defense.

I’m not saying the coverage unit performed badly… quite the opposite. The Cardinal QBs combined for a horrible 45.2 passer rating. What I’m saying is that the AZ QB’s DID manage to complete were the important ones; the ones that went down the field and into San Diego territory. We allowed this because we play a soft zone between the 20s, and this is what concerns me as we move on into the regular season.

GOAT OF THE GAME: The Offensive Line as a unit… an embarassing first quarter for the boys up front.

GOLDS:

1. …BUT DON’T BREAK.

Remember how I said that 5 of the 9 Cardinal drives ended deep in our territory?

Well, those 5 drives ended thusly:

FG
INT (Cromartie)
INT (Hart)
FG
TURNOVER ON DOWNS.

That, my friends, is clutch defense. Adding to this tremendous Defensive Red Zone performance is the matter of where Arizona started those drives. On the first field goal, they started the drive on the San Diego 7. On the drive that resulted in the second interception, Arizona started on the San Diego 32.

I can’t say enough about this. In my opinion, Red Zone Effectiveness is one of those “telltale” stats as far as success in this league; to put it simply, touchdowns win games. Well, Arizona had 62 offensive plays on the night, and they came away with 2 field goals for all their efforts.

Last week, Seattle got within the SD 20 four times, and converted two for touchdowns.

That means, for the preseason played thus far, Ron Rivera’s defense is allowing a defensive RZE of 22.2 percent! That is a ridiculous number for that stat, and a very, very good trend. We’ll see how things look as we continue to go forward, but my excitement continues to mount as I watch this defense play.

I am beginning to believe that this Charger team, despite all the firepower on offense, is going to be a DEFENSIVE football team – and, honestly guys, if that winds up being the case, there literally isn’t a single game on our schedule that we don’t have a legitimate shot at winning. Not a one.

2. KEVIN BURNETT

AJ Smith has a habit of grabbing a relatively unheralded Free Agent and turning him into gold for us. Roman Oben, Steve Foley, Mike Goff, Keenan McCardell, Chris Chambers – these guys were all cut loose from their former teams, picked up by the Front Office, and turned into vital cogs in the Charger machine.

Kevin Burnett, at this early stage, is looking like he’s going to be very near the top of that list.

This is the second week in a row that Burnett has led the team in tackles (tied this week with Ellison with 5 tackles). But more than than, he has epitomized what the Charger defenders meant earlier in camp when they said that they wanted to play in the offensive backfield. He was a terror for the Cardinal QBs and RBs this game. He filled and/or shot the gaps he was assigned masterfully, and made every tackle I saw him in position for. He is frighteningly fast, tracking down a few outside runs from behind and locked down the short middle of the field in pass coverage. He’s in all the right places, and makes the stop if he’s in range.

If you want to see how a 3-4 middle linebacker should be played, you only have to look at Kevin Burnett over the past two games. He has just been dominant for us, and his presence changes the entire complexion of this defense. It’s early, but if he continues to play the way he has, he will become one of the last missing pieces of the Lombardi puzzle.

3. THE MATURATION OF LEGEDU NAANEE

Remember how you felt when you first saw what Antonio Gates was capable of in a football game?

I had that feeling again, watching Legedu on Saturday.

The kid is 6′2″, 225ish, with great hands, speed and moves. Against the Cardinals, he was second on the team in rushing with 22 yards. He led all recievers with 2 receptions for 52 yards and a touchdown, including a 49 yard deep bomb from Philip Rivers that opened the day offensively. He’s shown the ability to make the touch possession catches, and also shown the ability to stretch and beat a defense deep. He’s a mismatch nightmare for linebackers in the slot or at TE, and is big and fast enough to beat CB or SS coverage.

Norv has spoken glowing of Naanee this offseason, and after seeing him play a number of roles over the preseason, I think Legedu is going to play the “mismatch” role in an already tough offense to match up with. Perhaps most ominously for defensive coordinators around the league is the fact that the former college QB still has a lot of room to grow.

If former 1st round pick Buster Davis continues to underwhelm, I can at least be satisfied that former 5th round pick Legedu Naanee is picking up the slack.

PLAYER OF THE GAME: Kevin Burnett. We needed a MLB in a bad way, and it looks like we’ve got one.

THE GAME IN ONE SENTENCE:

In spite of some o-line miscues early, a dominating defensive performance gives fans a glimpse of what is to come.

By BlueandGold
BoltTalk Contributor

I’m excited.

Did that catch you off guard?

If so, then I recommend that those of you who were put off by yesterday’s game watch some of the film. As far as the final score goes – meh, it’s the first game of the preseason, and even then, we nearly overcame three bad turnovers by Charlie Whitehurst to win the game outright.

But nevermind the final score – it doesn’t matter anyway. What excited me is this – what is, to me, a vast difference in the quality and intensity of the play of the Chargers when compared to this time last year.

But, as those of you who have read these little articles of mine before know, I have to start with the Blues.

BLUES

1. PASS DEFENSE

Take this with a grain of salt; of all phases of the game, pass defense is usually one of the last things to come together. Still, with the other parts of the defense working well or outstandingly, this stuck out like a sore thumb.

To me, it looked as if Rivera is sticking with Teddy’s “ambush predator” pass defense style – keep the plays in front of you, and rely on pressure from the front seven to force mistakes by the quarterback.

My issue with this (that I’m sure I share with more than a few of you) is that a capable quarterback in a quick-strike spread offense can pick such a defensive passing scheme apart, especially if he’s got decent protection. We saw it too many times last year to count – the first game against the Broncos and the London game vs. the Saints, to name the two that stick out in my mind.

The big difference, of course, is that Rivera’s front seven are exponentially more aggressive than Ted Cottrell’s front seven, and that showed against the Seahawks. Combined, the Seahawk quarterbacks went 21/35 for 158 yards, 2 TDs, and 1 INT. Not world beating numbers, but 14 points is 14 points. I just hope we can get the secondary tightened up by the time we face someone like Roethlisberger on October 4th.

2. THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE LINE

One almost was able to discern glimpses of what this team will be capable of on the ground this year. Certain plays looked like they were going to go the distance but were stopped by the Seattle secondary short of breaking loose. Lo and behold, both of them were behind the left side.

Two plays in particular come to mind – both of them going off-tackle to the weak side, one involving LT and the later one involving Sproles.

In both cases, it was run out of the Weak I backfield, with Hester at FB. At the snap, McNeill shoots out and Dielman pulls behind him and outside to seal the outside linebacker off. The ball is handed off to LT/Sproles, who runs behind Hester off-tackle behind McNeill. Hester goes heads up on the ILB who has drifted into the hole, giving the RB a lane and one man to beat.

Sounds good, right?

Well, it was almost good, anyway. Both of those plays may have gone for much further than they did – particularly Sproles’ run – if the right side of the line had held their blocks. I’m willing to give Forney a pass for this game, but Clary – I don’t know. On Sproles’ run, he fired out his block just fine, but then he was shed like Husky hair in summertime, and his man got half the tackle.

On another play – the screen pass to LT in the first quarter – Forney left his feet to attempt a block on Lofa Tatupu. Tatupu simply jumped over a diving Forney and took LT down. If Forney stays on his feet and locks Lofa up, LT goes for a long, long way on that play.

To top it off, Clary and Forney were getting pretty beat up out there in Pass Protect – but both Rivers and Volek were good enough to step up and make plays in the face of the rush.

Now, I will say this: Seattle’s front seven is fast, physical, and very, very smart. They were playing the run all night, and they always seemed to be in the right position, filling all the right gaps. This is evidenced by the meager (by our standards here in SD) ground numbers we put up: a combined 55 yards, on 21 carries. Seattle looked good, but they shouldn’t be that good, especially against running backs like ours.

3. CHARLIE WHITEHURST

Oh, man… not a good day for our poor 3rd stringer.

All in all, Charlie’s stat line for the day: 15/29 for 193 yards, 1 TD, 2 INTs, and a fumble lost.

Blech.

Now, in Charlie’s defense, he did get sacked 3 times, and was beat up horribly all night long behind a scrub line facing a blitzing Seattle defense. Still, nobody will argue that those turnovers were the margin between victory and defeat in this game – and even though this is preseason, and victory is secondary to progress here, a turnover is a turnover, and Charlie had 3.

The day ends with Charlie Whitehurst leading a game-winning drive with Charly Martin as his engine… only, Charlie Whitehurst falls short. To me, the biggest indictment on Charlie (deserved or not) is me muttering to myself as regulation expired: “Philip Rivers would have won this game.”

GOAT OF THE GAME

Charlie Whitehurst. All those yards go for naught when your mistakes go for 14 Seattle points. Honorable Mention: Nate Kaeding. Dammit, Nate.

GOLDS

1. TACKLING AND PURSUIT ON DEFENSE

Wow, what a difference an offseason and new coordinator makes.

Were it not for the loosey-goosey pass coverage, the defense played by all strings of Rivera’s boys was simply outstanding. It was a night-and-day difference from last years’ “Wait for the Offense to Hit You” mentality. All night long, I would wince at a running back getting outside, or a WR catching a screen, expecting the shoddy tackling and poor positioning I saw so much last year at this time.

What did I see instead?

Solo open-field tackles made in perfect form and with authority. Linebackers reading screens and busting them up. Cornerbacks forcing runners inside, funneling them into the waiting arms of the linebackers and safeties. Safeties doing what safeties are supposed to do – closing quickly on a ball in the air, then putting doomsday on the poor intended reciever.

It was lean, mean, agile, mostly hostile, and highly motivated.

This fan, having seen his fill of the Matt Wilhelm “The Secondary Will Tackle ‘Em” era, noted happily that 7 out of the top 10 tacklers were Defensive Linemen and Linebackers. Kevin Burnett led the team for the night with 5 solo / 1 assist. Jyles Tucker had a great night, with 4 solo / 1 assist, with three of those tackles going for loss.

Rounding out the top ten were the rookie Brandon Hughes (5 solo), Paul Oliver (2 solo,2 assists), and last year’s leading team leader in tackles, Eric Weddle (2 solo, 1 assist).

So far, Rivera’s Ravagers look fearsome indeed – and that was just in the first preseason game. They were smart, fast, physical, and almost never out of position. Of all the good things I saw last night, this is by FAR the thing that excites me the most.

2. CHARLY MARTIN… WHO?

Yep. We heard a bit about this kid earlier this week, a small-town Division II guy who – oh by they way – led the nation (at his level) in recieving yards, catches, touchdowns, and yards per game.

I know, I know, it’s West Texas A&M, not exactly USC. Still, he was impressive in last night’s action. He was the team’s leading reciever, grabbing 5 receptions for 67 yards, a 13.4 yard average – and most of them were great catches on the sideline. In addition, he showed great hustle on Special Teams (where he will most likely play for a while), notching himself 1 solo tackle and 1 assist in that area.

As a former WR myself, and a fan of the position, I always say that the top 3 qualities of a Wide Reciever at any level are 1. Hands, 2. Route Running, and 3. Courage. Charly Martin demonstrated all three of those last night. Hopefully we’ll get to see more of him in the preseason games to come… and perhaps find another AJ gem.

3. FIREPOWER ON OFFENSE

There’s an old adage that says the D is always ahead of the O at this stage of the game. And it showed last night, with a few long passes a little overthrown, and a little bit of “just off”-edness in the passing game and setting up blocks.

Still, I am impressed at these completion numbers:

C.Martin 6
C.Davis 4
K.Wilson 4
G.Banks 4
L.Naanee 7
A.Gates 5
G.Johnson 6
M.Floyd 3
C.Chambers 2
K.Sperry 2

This shows that the Chargers are not weapon-limited here. For the sake of finding the median, I didn’t even list the single catches of LT, VJ, Hester, Sproles, and Bennett.

What I mean is this – we’ve graduated from the LT/Gates show into something much more frightening. LT covered? Look for Gates. Gates covered? Look for VJ. Defense covering the usual suspects? Naanee will be open.

There is potentially a four-reciever set we can run with VJ, Chambers, Gates, and Naanee or Floyd, with LT in the backfield. That is just ridiculous, and with Philip Rivers at the helm and ready to spread the ball around, the potential for offensive domination looms.

Yesterday, our big stumbling block was third downs, which we converted at a 31 percent clip (5/16). This is largely due to those early-season jitters I mentioned – a bonehead 1-handed catch attempt by Gates, a couple of overthrows by Volek that PR would not have made, and an early drop by Floyd that would have converted for a first down. I could not shake the sense that, had PR played a little longer, we would have been blowing out the Seahawks by halftime, even with LT and Gates sitting out.

For the first time in two years, I feel like the Norv offense is about to spread its wings – and considering how good we’ve been over the past two years, that’s a pretty scary thought for defensive coordinators around the league.

PLAYER OF THE GAME:

Charly Martin. A better preseason game could not be had by a WR on the bubble. Honorable Mention: Mike Scifres. Is this guy a machine? Midseason form already.

THE GAME IN ONE SENTENCE:

The scoreboard belies a football team on the edge of greatness.

Discuss this article.

By BlueandGold
BoltTalk Contributor

Teddy’s gone.

For many Charger fans, some much more than others, those words come as mana from heaven. For myself, it’s “sweet-bitter”.

I didn’t say “bittersweet” for a reason - that reason being, it’s more “sweet” than “bitter”, at least from my perspective. Still, the bitter has to be mentioned. For one, I never want to see a coach get canned from my favorite team. It usually means that the team is not playing well, and it especially means that the team is not playing well in the face of higher expectations for it’s play. No team exemplifies that more than our Chargers, and no unit exemplifies that more than Teddy’s Charger defense.

Secondly, Teddy might have had the largest hand in the “D” standing for Disappointment - rather than Defense - but he was, by far, not the only hand. There are 11 players on that football field, more including the backups and role-players, that have to perform every Sunday. It is plainly obvious that Ted’s scheme was not right for this football team, but even when the scheme had them in the right places, they failed to do their jobs. These men are professionals, the best of the best in the world at American Football, and yet we saw them blow routine assignments, make fundamental mistakes, miss tackles that high-school players would get lambasted for, and incur bonehead penalties that would make ANY coach livid. These things are not Teddy, and in many ways, these players let their coach down.

I’m looking right at you, Mike Wilhelm, who played maybe the WORST inside linebacker eight-game stretch in history (twelve if you include preseason) - in a 3-4 to boot. You too, Clinton Hart, who had an awful game Sunday. And at you, Antonio Cromartie, who relied on the counsel of fools (Deion Sanders) rather than probably the best corner in the game today, much less on your team, in Quentin Jammer. And yes, you too, Igor Olshansky, who played with all the enthusiasm of a dead moth under Teddy.

All those guys can’t be fired, and someone had to be held accountable. So, as I said before, Teddy’s gone, and he’s the right man to be gone. This defense will improve under new Defensive Coordinator Ron Rivera - perhaps because of a better scheme, perhaps because of better utilization of talent, but hopefully just as much because these players realize, deep inside, that Ted Cottrell took the bullet for all of them.

If they do not, then this season’s already a lost cause.

BLUES

1. PENALTIES/REFEREES

As has been bantered about already, Sunday in London was a banner day for penalties when it comes to the Chargers. They had 14 penalties for 134 yards, in London - the highest in both categories in very nearly a full decade (November 15, 1998).

There were a number of incredibly painful ones. Kris Dielman’s full tackle of a Saints defensive lineman that negated a Rivers-to-Manumaleuna touchdown, which may have changed the game. A strange sideline-to-QB communication issue that led to an awful Delay of Game penalty that gave Philip Rivers the fateful 3rd and 15 on the final drive. Multiple frustrating penalties in the Red Zone. And not at the very least, the Eric Weddle celebration penalty for an interception he didn’t even make.

But that’s not to say that all those penalty yards are earned. Most certainly, the referees took some sucker punches at the Chargers.

Most specifically, two pass-interference penalties- one questionable, and one horrible - both on the same drive, that wound up being the balance of the game.

One was in the third quarter, on a 3rd and 3 from the New Orleans 47 yard line, on Quentin Jammer that gave the Saints a free first down.

The second one was four plays later, on a 3rd and 5 from the San Diego 20, on Cletis Gordon, and this one was the dagger. It was as fine a play as a San Diego cornerback had made all season, a textbook pass-defensed, and even the referees had to conference to ensure that the right call was made. But all you’ve got in that sense is the word of the ref that threw the flag, and he was apparently positive that he made the right call. Since you can’t challenge PI’s, the Saints wound up on the Charger 1 yard line, from where Mike Karney would score one play later, putting the Saints up 37-20 on the Chargers.

Those ill-begotten points would be the last points the New Orleans Saints would score for the rest of the game, as the Chargers would mount a 12-point comeback in the last quarter of play, elevating their total to 32.

A 32-30 Chargers final to 37-32 Saints final, all other things being equal - with the difference being two irreversible, completely subjective - and, replay showed in the latter case, incorrect - calls on the same drive to keep a Saint drive alive.

This has to be the worst year for NFL officialdom I’ve ever seen, especially in relation to the Chargers.

2. PASS DEFENSE

On a day that most Charger fans knew would be the absolute WORST day in the whole season to play a soft zone defense, Ted Cottrell and the defense did just that; with predictable, yet none-the-less depressing results.

Drew Brees, zone-beater extraordinaire (especially with zero pressure), threw for 339 yards, completing 30 out of 41, and 3 touchdowns to boot. And yet, no Saints WR went over 100 yards, the closest to that number being Lance Moore with 90 on six receptions. Eight different Saints caught a pass. Three different Saints caught touchdowns.

It was an absolutely pathetic display of defensive planning, the crowning moment of the failure that is soft zone, bend-don’t-break defense as a philosophy.

3. RED ZONE PERFORMANCE

It is perhaps here, the “Gold Zone” of the Marty days, that revealed the most sobering numbers of Sunday’s game. And the worst thing of all was the fact that the Chargers were nearly equally as bad on both sides of the coin in this critical area.

Let’s talk a little bit about Red Zone efficiency. As the NFL measures it, Red Zone Efficiency is the ratio of Red Zone trips to Touchdowns - in other words, how often do you punch it in as opposed to settling for the field goal (or, not scoring at all). I must warn you, the numbers I dug up in this regard are a little disturbing - in particular, because history has proven that, more often than not, the Red Zone Efficiency stat is hand-in-hand with winning football. Simply put, touchdowns win games.

Comparatively speaking - heck, by any speaking - the Marty Chargers were a dominating team in the Red Zone. In the last three years of Marty’s tenure (2004, 2005, 2006), his team was never below 67%, ranking 1st, 2nd, and 1st, respectively. In 2005 (the “best team to not make the playoffs” year, and Brees’ last year), the Chargers were an incredible 70% in Red Zone Efficiency, which is telling of how unlucky that was of a year for us.

Against the Saints, we had a RZE of 50%, scoring 3 TDs in 6 attempts. This is also our percentage for the full half-season, sixteenth in the league. Last year, we were at 56%, 11th in football.

Goal-to-go against the Saints was even worse. The Chargers were 1/3 in Goal-to-Go situations, 33 percent with less than ten yards for a TD. That is not an encouraging stat.

It didn’t get any better defensively on Sunday. The Saints were 80% in RZE for the game, up from their half-season average of 58 percent. They were fully 75% in Goal-to-Go situations. Just terrible Red Zone defense.

If the Chargers hope to salvage this season, this is one area that absolutely has to improve.

GOAT OF THE GAME: Ted Cottrell. His worst failure as our Defensive Coordinator was also his last.

GOLDS

1. LT

In the midst of this dark time, one of our brightest lights is only beginning to glow.

It isn’t gaudy yardage - 105 to be precise - but it was gained on only 19 attempts, a 5.5 yard average. Throw in 65 yards recieving and a TD to boot, and LT had one of his best games of the year.

But the best thing about Sunday’s game was the fact that LT was noticeably LT once more. If the defense had played even a decent game, LT may have ran wild in London.

Still, it bodes well for the future.

2. PHILIP RIVERS

It is easy to point at his fourth-quarter third down interception and discredit Philip’s amazing performance in this game. Certainly Philip Rivers himself would surely point to that moment as one he’d like to have back.

still, Philip Rivers was the only reason the Chargers were in that game at all - once again.

He was 25/40 for 341 yards, three touchdowns, and that interception. But the most amazing thing about PR’s performance on Sunday was the fact that 185 yards and 1 touchdown came in the fourth quarter.

It’s typical Rivers, and if he had completed the night by throwing another touchdown pass, it wouldn’t have been a surprise to Charger fans that he had his best moment in the fourth quarter. It would have been an astounding victory among many, but I don’t doubt that most Charger fans were fully confident that he would have gone down the field that final drive. Even the announcers expected it.

He has been that kind of QB for us - almost a symbol of this team’s never-say-die demeanor. They’re never out of it until the final gun, always a threat to steamroll you, always a threat to pull victory out of defeat.

Alas, it was not to be, and Jonathan Vilma snagged a third down and 15 pass that ended the game. Philip Rivers regretted later that he hadn’t thrown shorter on third down, giving the team a chance on 4th down. But what musn’t be lost in that ending is the fact that, in his true style, trying his best to make a play and lead his team back from 17 down, once more; and that we all have that expectation of him in only his third year starting.

He’s not the reason the Chargers lost. He’s the reason the Chargers could have won at all, and I can’t bring myself to feel anything but lucky to have him as our QB - even with Drew Brees on the same field. Nothing from that game makes me feel anything but thankful with our choice of QBs (despite the media’s insistence to make it a referendum on that decision), because if the uniforms on the QBs were reversed, it would have been over in the third quarter.

3. THE NAIL IN THE COFFIN.

Ted Cottrell is gone. As I said in my opener, it’s sweet-bitter. If there is one slim silver lining at all to this game, it’s that it forced AJ to make a uncharacteristic regular-season coaching change that may breathe life into a stagnant defense.

He wasn’t the only problem, but his scheme certainly was the biggest, and now that Ron Rivera has taken the reins, it can’t get any worse. That’s a Gold in my book.

PLAYER OF THE GAME: Philip Rivers

THE GAME IN ONE SENTENCE: Air Coryell II comes to London, and loses like Air Coryell I used to - for want of a defense.

Discuss this article.

By BlueandGold
BoltTalk Contributor

It’s been a good week in Chargerland.

At 3-3, we’ve evened our record, and we did it while beating one of our most bitter rivals, to boot. Sure, some may say that they didn’t have Tom Brady, but we didn’t have Gates or LT in the AFCC, so turnabout is fair game.

Even more impressive (or, if you’re a Pats fan, scary) is how outcoached Bill Belichick was. Norv Turner isn’t going to be one of my Golds today, but I feel he deserves some recognition for flustering one of the game’s best, if not premiere, defensive minds. This comes right on the heels of Belichick being outcoached by Bill Parcel - I mean, Tony Sparano - a couple of weeks earlier.

Obviously, Belicheck misses Brady like Shanahan misses Elway.

Great home win for the Chargers, and sorely needed on the EVE of a very long road trip, first to Buffalo, then across the Pond to London, where they will meet Drew Brees and the Saints for a game that could cause Charger Forum Armageddon. We shall see.

Either way, there’s a lot of good things to be said about that game, and I’ll definitely not get to cover them all.

BLUES

1. NATE KAEDING.

After the first three games, Nate was a perfect 6 for 6, a 100% conversion rate on field goals.

Since then, he is 6 for 9: a 67% conversion rate. That’s horrible.

If you look at the season as a whole, he’s at an exactly 80% success rate. That’s his worst percentage since his rookie season, when he also put up 80% of his 3-point attempts.

Against the Pats, he was 3 for 4. Not bad, but at 75%, below his average. The one he missed was a 44 yarder - not a chip shot, but makeable nonetheless, and one you expect a pro kicker to nail with regularity.

There’s still a long season to go, but I believe Mrs. BlueandGold put it best - “At this point, Nate scares me to death.”

2. JACOB HESTER.

He was drafted as a grinder, sure-handed, a guy that protected the ball and who was at his best when it mattered most - like on the goal line.

No indications of goal line success yet, but on his lone carry of the game, he puts the ball on the ground. That fumble resulted in the Patriot’s lone touchdown of the night.

Not a good start for our expensive draft pick. Here’s to hoping he learns from that and keeps plugging.

Oh yeah, his stat line? 1 attempt, 0 yards, 1 fumble.

3. THE JAMMER (NON) INTERCEPTION.

That was an interception by Quentin and tackle by Randy Moss. I cannot see how you can interpret it otherwise. Jammer picked the ball off, had it securely tucked away, took a few steps, then got tripped up by Moss. He hits the ground, ball pops out, play over because the ground can’t cause a fumble.

That five-minute boo was well, well deserved.

GOAT OF THE GAME:

Nate Kaeding. Sorry Nate, but there wasn’t really much else, and c’mon… you haven’t been all that good lately. Step it up.

GOLDS

1. YOU CAN’T RUN!

It did my heart a world of good to hear the crowd roaring that beloved chant for the nation to hear. And this time, it was true.

The Pats did accumulate 109 yards rushing, but you have to remember that Cassel had 29 of those scrambling. More importantly, they stopped New England on the ground when it really, really mattered.

Much has been made about Jamal Williams’ performance - and rightfully so - but the defense as a whole came to play that night. Eric Weddle was, once again, all over the field, leading the defense with 10 tackles, all solo, on the night. Cooper, Bingham, Castillo, and Wilhelm round out the top five. That’s right, both our ILBs are starting to find their way to the football.

A lot of the credit goes to Stephen Cooper, whose athleticism and energy bring a lot back to the middle of the defense. Since he’s returned, the entire complexion of the linebacking corps is different. They’re energetic, flying to the football, and penetrating, the way LBs should play in this defense.

Bingham is a surprise in that top 5. He subbed in quite a lot, not at NT where we normally see him, but for Igor. He was also part of the goal line defense, where, on that critical third-quarter goal line stand, wrapped up the two plays that Jamal forced outside. He may not have NT in his future, but as a defensive lineman, he did a good job Sunday.

With Jyles Tucker returning next week, the LB corps appears to have nowhere to go but up.

2. YOU JUST DON’T THROW AT QUENTIN JAMMER.

With two huge passed defensed (both on Randy Moss) and a late interception of Cassel, Jammer once again provided an example to his flashy counterpart on the other side of what a true shutdown cornerback looks like.

QJ finished with 3 solo tackles and the aforementioned INT.

There isn’t a cornerback - heck, there isn’t a defensive player - in the league right now that is playing better at his position than the senior CB of the San Diego Chargers.

3. THE RETURN OF THE LINE.

After a couple of mediocre games (behind a mediocre offensive line), Philip struck early and often Sunday, making mincemeat of the Patriots and returning to his rightful spot as the #1 rated QB in professional football.

This is due, in no small part, to the fact that he had an eternity to throw the football. John Madden even exclaimed once during the broadcast, “Look at the TIME!” while watching PR get upward of five seconds to throw the football.

Granted, PR did an outstanding job - he’s not the #1 rated QB in the league for just his o-line - but that was the first real time all season that the offensive line was just dominant. The Patriots, who boast a pretty damn good defensive line, and who were in four man fronts early, were simply stonewalled on nearly every play.

You don’t beat the Patriots without dominating at the line of scrimmage, Tom Brady or not.

The Chargers did just that.

PLAYER OF THE GAME:

Philip Rivers. As I said above, your o-line can give you the time, but your QB still needs to know what to do with the football.

I think it’s pretty safe to say PR knows what to do with the football.

THE GAME IN ONE SENTENCE:

The Chargers play their first complete game of the season, and the Brady-less Patriots can’t keep up.

Discuss this article.

By BlueandGold
BoltTalk Contributor

Normally, I write these Blues and Golds after watching and re-watching the game, sometimes multiple times, on my DVR. Going over some plays, looking at some phases I don’t pay enough attention to during the gameday excitement, yada yada.

I just couldn’t do it this week.

Let me explain.

BLUES

1. UNINSPIRED PLAY.

I tried to rewatch the game… I really did. But every time I got very far, I had to turn it off in disgust.

I just didn’t recognize this team out there.

In some losses, I can accept that we are getting beaten. Perhaps outcoached. Maybe even out-physical’ed. But the Charger team I saw on Sunday did not get beat with any of those things as a root cause, although many of those things certainly came into play as proximate causes.

The Charger team I saw on Sunday got beat because they were out-desired.

“They wanted it more” is an over-used cliche in sports. Very seldom is it actually true - both sides, most of the time, really do want to win. They usually do leave it all on the field. They usually play to what, at least in their minds, is the envelope of their abilities.

That wasn’t the Chargers on Sunday. On Sunday, the Miami Dolphins really DID want it more.

And nothing disgusts me more.

Believe me, it was hard enough for me to watch this team half-ass their way around the field Sunday - I couldn’t do it twice. If the quality of this article suffers a bit, I apologize. But if I see that crap again I will puke.

There have been rumors flying around that the team (or certain members anyway) got wasted Saturday night, and played the game with a hangover. Perhaps. I can believe it.

They didn’t look right out there. Not at all.

2. BALL CONTROL.

Stat time. I’m going to give you two sets of stats. You guess which team had them. OK? Here we go.

TOTAL FIRST DOWNS 10
THIRD DOWN EFFICIENCY 3/12 - 25%
FOURTH DOWN EFFICIENCY 0/1 - 0%
TOTAL RUSHING PLAYS 19
NET YARDS RUSHING 60
AVERAGE GAIN PER RUSH 3.2
TIME OF POSSESSION 23:19

There’s one team. Here’s the other one:

TOTAL FIRST DOWNS 23
THIRD DOWN EFFICIENCY 7/14 - 50%
FOURTH DOWN EFFICIENCY 1/1 - 100%
TOTAL RUSHING PLAYS 39
NET YARDS RUSHING 167
AVERAGE GAIN PER RUSH 4.3
TIME OF POSSESSION 36:41

Can you guess which one it is? Hint - we got beaten like red-headed stepchildren.

The Dolphins’ last drive brought back horrible memories of the New England Patriots’ last drive on us in the AFC Championship - just a horrible, inexorable drive, run after run, with us fans watching the defense do absolutely NOTHING to stop it.

At one point, with many of these same players, out of this same defensive formation, there was no team that could run against us. Now we can’t stop it.

The blame rests on either the change in players or the change in coaching.

Whichever one it is, I’ll leave it for you to decide for yourself and for AJ Smith to decide for the team. Either way, it needs fixing - and soon - or else we can kiss our Superbowl dreams goodbye.

You don’t win Championships in the NFL without being able to STOP THE RUN.

3. OFFENSIVE LINE PLAY.

Philip Rivers was sacked only twice for 17 yards total, but what isn’t in the stat sheet is the kind of pressure the Dolphins had in his face all game. As a result, he might have had one of his worst performance as a pro: 13/28 for 159 hard-earned yards and a TD. Again, stats don’t tell you about the easy missed swing passes to LT, or the missed deep ball to Vincent Jackson.

I’m not bagging on Rivers. Really. This was the second consecutive week he’s faced a rush that has put him on his back - or face, or shoulder - multiple times in a game. The beating he took against the Raiders last week had a lot to do with his inaccuracy this week, I guarantee it. Sore ribs, sore shoulder, sore knees, and all this while being freshly recovered from offseason surgery. When you’re that beat up, your arm (and body in general) don’t always move in the way your brain tells them to.

This falls directly on the Offensive Line, in my opinion - specifically, Marcus McNeill and Nick Hardwick, who are trying to struggle through the lack of preseason activity. Both of them have been beaten pretty regularly, both last week and against the Dolphins.

Look, I admire these guys trying to fight their way back into playing shape, but the fact is that if they’re not ready, keep their butts on the bench. The fact is, LJ Shelton and Jeremy Newberry as LT and C gave Philip Rivers an eternity to throw, and now he’s getting pummeled. Something’s gotta give, and I’d rather it NOT be our starting QB.

In addition, this is the second week in a row that Mike Tolbert has missed a free rusher coming hard off the weak side, resulting in said free rusher hitting LT at just about the point of handoff. Last week, it resulted in a safety for the Raiders. This week, it was just a tackle for loss, but I swear I had deja vu. He’s a great young fullback with a lot of potential; he’s got great feet and a great pair of hands; but up here in the NFL, you’ve got to BLOCK as a fullback. LT’s hurt, sure, but the loss of Lorenzo Neal, who also served as his second pair of eyes, hurts worse. Tolbert’s gotta learn how to do the same things Lo did, even if he never becomes as good as Lo as far as blocking is concerned. All LT needs is a crease. Tolbert just needs to help him find it.

GOAT OF THE GAME:

Any of the Chargers who half-assed it out there, which means probably 90 percent of them. And Ted Cottrell. Do something to STOP THE RUN.

GOLDS

1. ERIC WEDDLE.

The team’s leading tackler added another 8 solo tackles and 2 assists to his total.

Why is our leading tackler a SAFETY?

Ahem, this is the Golds section. Sorry.

Either way, Weddle’s doing a decent job back there. He finds his way to the play, and oftentimes gets the job done when multiple other guys can’t make the tackle. The tagline on Weddle in the draft was that he was always around the ball. Well, it’s certainly looking that way, and remember, it’s his first season starting. He’ll get better. 10 tackles in a game is a pretty good game for a first year starting safety.

2. COOPER’S BACK!

…and he had 7 solo tackles, 1 assist, and some ludicrous trash talking toward the Dolphins bench while his defense couldn’t STOP THE RUN!!!!

(Sorry. Golds section. Gotta remind myself.)

Look, it may look bad that the defense actually got worse when he returned, but Coop did very well in his return. Without the explosive Jyles Tucker in there, who was held out with an injury, Cooper’s return was like a 1 for 1 swap, moving good LB play inside for the loss of LB play outside. I like Marques Harris, but Jyles has really come into his own on the outside, and we missed him and his athleticism on Sunday.

I’m also happy to see a LB anywhere near the top of the tackle chart.

3. MIKE SCIFRES.

6 punts. A 50.5 yard AVERAGE. A 67 yard long.

Sci-Fi is Gawd.

(Reminder: Golds section. Uh huh, you know what I was thinking.)

He did his part to give us a chance to win.

PLAYER OF THE GAME:

Mike Scifres.

THE GAME IN ONE SENTENCE:

The Dolphins wanted it more.

Discuss this article.

By BlueandGold
BoltTalk Contributor

Poor Lane Kiffin.

He was one quarter away from getting at least a one-week stay of execution. If the Raiders had beaten the Chargers last Sunday, I would be willing to bet that Kiffin would still be the head coach of the Oakland Raiders.

One quarter away.

It’s too bad that one quarter - a fourth quarter - was being played against the best fourth quarter team in football.

In front of 61,808 fans, the Chargers scored 25 points in that fourth quarter to finally drop the guillotine on Kiffin and kick a reeling Oakland franchise into the cellar of the AFC West, where they settled next to a Chiefs team that, despite sharing the Raiders’ 1-3 record, has two things the Raiders don’t: a real Head Coach, and momentum.

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By BlueandGold
BoltTalk Contributor

Finally.

That’s probably what most of you are thinking, since it’s late Wednesday and I’m only now getting these Blues and Golds out. Sorry about that.

Moreover, I think that’s the word that was in many Charger fans’ minds after the Bolts demolished the Jets on Monday Night Football.

The Chargers came out looking like the team we all expected to see at the beginning of the year. They scored with impunity, they played good defense, and they put a hurting on a lesser team. And best of all, they did it in front of a nationwide audience that was just beginning to doubt that they were as good as advertised.

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By BlueandGold BoltTalk Contributor It’s a loss as painful as any I’ve ever experienced as a Charger fan. Not so much because of the fact that we lost, but because it was unjustly taken from us by the officiating crew of Ed Hochuli. Normally, I have great trust in Ed and his crew. They aren’t slouches - they are regarded as one of the best crews in football. But today they blew it. Not once. Not twice. They blew it on three major occasions. Replay was introduced to the league to prevent things like this - from preventing referee mistakes and blown calls from changing the course of an otherwise fair game. The blown call on the Cutler fumble with 1:14 left in the fourth quarter changed the course of the game. Tim Dobbins’ recovery of that fumble - and let’s not mince words, it was a FUMBLE in every true sense of the term - would have led to the victory formation and a 1-1 Charger record, tied with Denver for the lead in the AFC West. (more…) Sphere: Related Content