randomthought

I hate when “Charger Fans” start panicking like it’s the end of the world. But the thing I hate the most is when people start pointing fingers at who is the cause for the loss. And when the problem is fixed they do a complete 180 and jump back on the bandwagon. As of the funky comments I’ve been reading and hearing around town. Ted needs to be fired, Norv is making the bad calls, and LT should sit out the rest of the season because he’s quitting on the team. Everybody is entitled for their own opinion, but please people need to start making a little bit more educated and logical comment posting. Here is my .02 cents about the Chargers of 08 in WEEK 2 (REMEMBER IT’S WEEK 2)

Defensive Coordinator: In or Out?

Just because you can run the defense better in Madden 09 doesn’t give anybody the right to run their mouth saying that Ted isn’t doing his job. Ted right now is missing a lot of important factors that made his defense so strong last season and the years before; Merriman, Cooper, and a healthy Williams. It’s not that Ted is not doing his job. He was doing his job since the preseason. They were anticipating Steven Cooper to be out, so they had to figure out who can fill in for the 4 game suspension. Then he had to think about who needs to be on the team to fill in for Merriman because if Merriman didn’t opt for the surgery now, who knows he could have taken a cheap shot from any team and probably have sustained a torn ACL with having the MCL and PCL unstable. So Ted has to figure out quick who is the right people to put as your starters. It’s not as easy as it sounds, because you don’t have a healthy Williams, you don’t have Merriman, and you don’t have Cooper. The defense is unstable right now, but it’s like buying a used car. It’s known to be a great and reliable but you know it’s going to have problems so you have to figure out what parts you need to switch out. So be patient, give Ted a break, because once he has stability in his defense he will be doing his job and I bet a lot of people won’t even be questioning him. BUT if it is week 4 and we’re having this conversation still then we still have a problem, but I still don’t think that it’s 100% Ted’s fault.

Defense: Obviously Needs To Step It Up

People blame Cromartie for poor tackling, people blame Wilhelm for not doing his job, Williams not the same, Tucker not a Merriman, or where’s this Depth that people were talking about? All of this is true, but keep in mind this is a team sport. You can’t blame Cromartie for not getting the INT’s that he wants because without that pressure now he’s forced to defend at longer periods of time. You can’t blame the D-Line because without establishing the pass rush, teams are going to know who they need to double team and know how to stop our Defense. You can’t blame Merriman for trying, it takes a lot of heart to do what he attempted to do. The Chargers knew it, and we all knew that Merriman was going to opt for surgery. Who knows maybe it’s a blessing because A.J. Smith doesn’t have any stats on Merriman this season to do a performance evaluation which might mean a small extension at the same amount or less for him. But other than Merriman, you can’t play the what if game. Merriman didn’t play 2007 like he was in 2006, so a Tucker, Harris, or Applewhite can fill in those shoes, they just need more playing time to establish themselves. Difference is, is that Merriman was obvious talent, while the others are talented… BUT we just need to see it. So the Defense as a whole, you can’t blame the secondary, because the line needs to step up their game. But that’s no excuse because you have Jammer, Cromartie, Weddle, Cason and Hart. That is a secondary that teams only can imagine having. You can’t blame the Linebacking core either. Chargers has the talent, they just need to find the correct balance to get the double team off Philips for that pass rush. So we should have this discussion after week 4, if it is still a situation that should be addressed. But even then, if it was that easy to fix… don’t you think A.J would’ve fixed that by now? Don’t you think that if you were so smart at who should be starting, maybe you should contact A.J. and show him your irrelevant resume? Don’t you think this might be a good “Real Man of Genius” material… Thank you Mr. Aspiring General Manager/Head Coach/Defensive Coordinator.

Offense: Coryell had his era, now is this the Rivers Era?

Rivers is looking good so far. He is showing poise, has better throwing mechanics than he has ever had. He has multiple weapons now. Chambers, Jackson, and Gates as your receivers. If you want to throw in more looks you have your underrated receivers who if given the opportunity can make plays; Naanee, Davis, Floyd, and Manumaleuna. Then you have your backs, Tomlinson, Sproles, Hester, and Tolbert. Tomlinson is obviously in a slump due to injury. Hester still needs to make his mark to where he should be in the Chargers running game, but I have this gut feeling that with Tomlinson slowed down to injury it will give Hester a chance to pound it through. He might be the true replacement for Turner, while Sproles be the decoy/situational back that can cause a defense to have that extra linebacker come in to stop Sproles adding a gap in the middle for a slot pass to Naanee or Davis. We have enough backs to get L.T back for playoffs. But what do I know, if I am so smart in this maybe I should be considering a career in the NFL. It’s just a possible situation that a lot of people forget about. We have a strong passing game now, that our non-lt runningbacks can look just as good.

LT: The Decline of a Reigning Champ?

Yes it may seem as if he gave up on his team in that 2007-2008 AFC Championship game. He’s human, he wants a ring, at least 70% of everybody who slanders LT, saying that he gave up on his team is going to be a hypocrite. At least once in his or her lifetime while playing any competitive sport lost their composure in a game. Everybody gets disappointed, there are countless times I’ve watched a sporting event and saw somebody who hid behind a sweat soaked towel and wasn’t there to cheer on his team. Now were they criticized for quitting on their team? No, just because L.T is high profile he gets that bad publicity. Remember these atheletes are only human. Which leads me to talk about the “NOW” He has an injury on a part of his foot that a lot of people don’t realize the importance of. That injury has an effect on how he cuts, how he runs, and if he trys to be a hero can end his career. If he doesn’t nurse that toe, it “CAN” be career ending. So don’t be hard on him, he’s doing the best he can. You try playing with a disability, and then have somebody criticize you. In my honest opinion, a healthy Sproles, Hester, and Tolbert still looks as promising to start all the games while Tomlinson heals. Just because he doesn’t have 28 touchdowns and 1800+ yards rushing doesn’t mean he’s not relevant to this Charger offense.

Norv Turner: Still the right coach?

He’s making the calls he needs to make. Sure they lost two games they were predicted to win, and at Denver they were down a deficit that we as Charger fans don’t like to see. But I’m pretty sure that if there wasn’t a malfunction in replay equipment the Chargers would have scored 3 for a field-goal or 7 for a touchdown. Then if the D could make the stops we would be up rather than down. So Norv had his game plan, wasn’t going the way he wanted it to, made the adjustments and executed them correctly got the lead, but later lost the game. No question about him being the right man for this Job. A lot of people say that he doesn’t have the drive that Marty had, but sometimes it’s the quiet ones you have to watch out for. To me Norv is like that tricky nerd that everybody counts out in high school, and then later becomes the fortune 500 company owner that later ended up being your boss. Him being upset with the outcome of the game, I’m hoping will spark something that will have this offense put up so much points that it’s going to be blow out after blow out.

The Charger Fans

We ask so much from them, but all they ask is for patience in times like these. Don’t criticize too much, it’s the beginning of the season, we’re at the bottom of our division as of now. But don’t jump ship because if you think about since 2006 Chargers lost to a division rival at least 1 time. Even that 14-2 run that Chargers made for the superbowl… Kansas City gave them 1 of 2 losses that season. And at that time Kansas City was a team that was considered top in the division as well. 2007 same thing… Kansas City handed the Chargers their first Division loss as well. I feel a little bad for calling Jay Cutler “Cum-Guzzler Cutler” in a previous post, but last season the Broncos had the talent to get it done but the Quarterback was questionable. That was because he was diagnosed with diabetes. And that truly was the performance difference between last season and this season. The Raiders I can see McFadden running against the Chargers good if they keep this type of Defense up, but other than that I don’t see any other losses handed to the Chargers from their Division. Who knows maybe this upsetting loss is going to be that wake up slap in the face for the Chargers defense. Just always keep in mind don’t follow the hype you hear in the media about the Chargers, just be a true fan and keep your heads up. Because I hate to say it, San Diego truly isn’t a football city. The minute our team does shitty I see a lot of bandwagoneers start to go back to doing other stuff and lose interest in the Chargers until they start playing good again. A perfect and disgusting feeling in my stomach as I say it is that the Raiders even when their team does shitty their fans still stay true to them. They still have a decent amount of people show up at their games. While the truth is, is that when the Chargers play poorly we have times when true fans who can’t afford to go to a game can’t even watch a game because not enough fans came out to see them. We have a lot of true Charger Fans, but I think there is still a significant amount of fair-weathered ones that taints the name “CHARGER FANS”. I’m not saying that people that are pressing the panic button are fair-weathered, because pressing the panic button just says that you’re taking precious energy out of your life to worry, while a fair weathered one just gives up completely. But right now, it’s only 2 games in… I’m hearing a lot of bad talk about the Chargers from fans, and also seeing a lot of people lose interest.

The Chargers need everybody to show up at Qualcomm with a high energy. But! When I am at games, there are times when the crowd gets so crazy at the most inappropriate times. There are times where I’ve seen the crowd get so loud, and then Rivers makes a bad decision. This is going to be a crazy game, because we need a win, we’re hungry for a win, and we need to put our mark back into the game on a stage as big as Monday Night Football. Even though this is not a division game, this has a significant importance to us, for the Chargers organization, and to the media to give Chargers positive publicity. So just think positive, and remember it’s only the first quarter of the season, and we’re known for our 2nd half comebacks, so just keep hoping that the Chargers organization will find the holes that complete our defense. And that we will have that sense of urgency every game from here on out. I’ll have my Terrell Owens moment and say that it’s not fair that the Chargers are in the position they are in, because I love them Chargers. But it’s the NFL and crazy things happen.

***taken from my bolttalk.com blog. 

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