No Norv! Denied!!! :(

You have to realize how badly he was needed when the Chargers traded for him. They had no WRs at all. Vincent Jackson wasn’t polished enough, Buster Davis was a bust, etc. etc. On that 2007 team, the leading WR was Vincent Jackson with 41 catches. 41!!! So yes, Chambers was worth the 2nd round pick in 2007 and has been a very good teacher for VJ, Naanee and the rest of the Chargers young WRs.

He’s still a very good route-runner and an average blocker. Chris’ issue is that he cannot catch the freaking ball. He usually catches about 50% of the balls that are thrown at him. Part of that is him taking his eyes off the ball, part of it is that he doesn’t play strong and gets the ball knocked out if he’s hit during the catch, and part is that his hands are just not very good.

So, he was worth the 2nd rounder in 2007. However, in the two seasons since he’s just taking a spot away from one of the better, younger WRs and collecting a HUGE paycheck. I can’t wait for his contract to run out at the end of this season. There’s zero percent chance he comes back for 2010.

“one Norv Turner away from the playoffs”?? They’ve made the playoffs, and won at least one playoff game, in each season that Norv has been the coach.

I’ve always been one to point the blame elsewhere. Injuries, bad luck, Ted Cottrell, etc. However, as the team repeatedly comes out flat in the first half of games I’m finding it harder to blame anyone but Norv.

The Chargers have made it well known that if they do not make the playoffs this season, Norv is gone. I think that’s about right. If they can make the playoffs, he deserves to keep the job (which I do believe he’s been getting better at as he goes along). If they don’t, he deserves to becoming the mockery of the league.

Make no mistake though, without a healthy Merriman this team doesn’t have a very good roster. So it’s not entirely on Norv. He’s just a part of it.

We got a report yesterday that 5 of the “front seven” of our defense sat out practice yesterday (3 LBs, 2 DL). Considering we can’t stop any RB right now, that’s not a good sign. The offense is healthy, outside of Nick Hardwick.

Tomlinson is very healthy. I think he was very healthy against Pittsburgh, but by time the Chargers got the ball they were down big and he hardly had a chance to touch the football.

1) What is the strength of the SD offense right now, and the strength of the defense?
Philip Rivers and the passing game (especially downfield) is probably the only strength for the Chargers offense right now. The line hasn’t been great, the running game has been abysmal and even the short passing game is erratic.

Defenses have caught on though. Miami played Cover 2 and Cover 3 all game, but Rivers threw pinpoint balls downfield to Vincent Jackson (who is completely uncoverable by CBs under 6’) and beat them. The Steelers played the same defense, and then dominated the game with their offense to give Rivers less chances.

I don’t know that the defense has a strength right now. The secondary has gone through spurts of legitimacy, but besides that they’ve been terrible. There’s an outside chance that Cromartie will be demoted to Nickel Corner before Monday’s game. No other facet of the defense is worth any praise.

2) What is the weakness of the offense? The defense?
The weakness of the offense is the running game. The offensive line has been banged up, and the Chargers are usually trailing, so the ground game hasn’t had much of a chance to do anything. Statistically, they’re last in the league in terms of running. If LT is healthy and the Chargers are in the game, they can be decent, but with Sproles starting they’ve been hampered in that way as well.

The weakness of the defense is the complete and total lack of pass-rush. Merriman’s knee is still not 100% and now he’s battling a bad groin. Larry English has been……okay at best. Behind in the game (and unable to stop the run), Ron Rivera has been terrified to call blitzes. It’s led to the same thing Chargers saw last year, which is opposing QBs sitting back in the pocket for 5-10 seconds waiting for somebody to get open before throwing.

3) What player(s) should Denver fans know about that we might not know about yet?
A tough question since Denver fans see the Chargers twice each year. I’d go with Legedu Naanee. Legedu, along with Malcom Floyd, has been taking away snaps from Chris Chambers. Naanee is fast, quick, strong and seems to have super glue on his hands. He’s been getting more time on the field in 2009 and ,outside of a boneheaded run-after-catch that may have cost the Chargers the Ravens game, he’s been fantastic.

4) What aspect of the Denver offense and defense do you think the Chargers respect the most? What area of Denver’s team do you think SD can exploit?
I won’t go with what aspect they respect most, I’ll go with what they fear the most. They have to be afraid of the Denver running game. Since Jamal Williams was placed on IR, they haven’t been able to stop anybody on the ground. In the same regard, they haven’t been able to cover anybody and have been afraid to blitz.

If the Chargers are going to win this game, they’re going to have to stop the run with their defensive line and they’re going to have to blitz the hell out of Kyle Orton. The gameplan against the Broncos has to be the same gameplan the Chargers usually have going against the Colts, which is “They don’t have any glaring weaknesses, so let’s blitz, blitz, blitz and hope that throws the QB off.”

I don’t think any of us did. lol

: )

So each game the Broncos win, the list of teams they need to hang with tends to shrink by one. I am getting quite sick of this. In my opinion, the Chargers need to prove they can hang with us…especially after their debacle against the Raiders. btw, the Ravens lost to the Bengals and Patriots…teams we both beat.

You’re right, kindof. The Chargers need to prove they can hang with the Broncos, and the Ravens probably don’t belong in that group. However, the Colts, Giants, Eagles and Steelers are the elite teams in the NFL right now. Those are the four best SB contenders at this moment. If the Broncos can hang with them, they move into that group.

And no, the list will not always shrink by one. It was the Cowboys until everyone realized the Cowboys were terrible (they almost lost to the Chiefs!). The Patriots victory was legitimate, but one win does not catapult you into the “elite teams” conversation. You need at least one more against one of the four teams mentioned above. Just my opinion.

My question, how do you think the Chargers defense that has been gashed this season by the likes of JaMarcus Russell plans to stop the Broncos high-powered offense?
Gashed by JaMarcus Russell? Ouch. He completed 40% of his passes, threw 2 interceptions and finished with a QB rating of 47.6. His 200+ yards and the TD are only there because the Chargers blew an assignment and left Louis Murphy all alone for a 57 yard TD.

I have no idea how the Chargers plan to stop the Broncos offense. Jammer needs to be on Brandon Marshall, I know that. I also think Ron Rivera needs to stop playing scared and blitz like crazy. It’s really the only chance the Bolts have of slowing Denver down. If the Chargers D has shown a weakness this season, it’s against a team that can both run the ball and spread it out with lots of talented receivers (like Pittsburgh) and that’s exactly what Denver is.

not to mention that Cinci beat Pittsburgh, Baltimore (lost to NE) and Greenbay…Chicago beat Pittsburgh (off of missed FG’s, but win a win), Pitt beat SD (no Polumalu)…we beat Cinci, Dallas and NE, other than the Colts and Giants, I think the Broncos have currently proved more this season than anyone else left on their schedule.
If we come into SD and beat you in your own house, then go into the bye week 6-0…it’s gonna be real hard to argue against our strips.

My point being, I am shocked at the drafting and strategy that AJ Smith has taken in the last 3 seasons. No heir apparent to Williams, not help on either lines, and lack of quality back ups. What are the feelings of fans of the Chargers?
You nailed it. A lot of Chargers fans are looking at the lack of depth on both lines and blaming the draft strategy. I’m looking at it a little more realistically.

You simply cannot keep 2 starter-caliber offensive lineman and a starter-caliber nose tackle sitting on the bench. The Chargers drafted Vaughn Martin to take over for Jamal next year or in 2011, with Ian Scott and Ryon Bingham as the backup defensive linemen for 2009. Unfortunately, Williams and Bingham are on IR and Scott was cut due to injuries. The injuries on the Chargers defensive line is comparable to the Broncos RB injuries last year: you simple cannot plan for that level of destruction on your roster.

The offensive line is getting a little better. Vasquez is an improvement over Goff, who was terrible in 2008 (Goff was signed by the Chiefs to be a starter and they had to trade for someone to start in front of him in training camp after realizing how washed up he is). What killed the Chargers is that they had depth for one major injury on the offensive line, not two at the exact same time. Vasquez is back and the offensive line looked much better with him in there against Pittsburgh, but losing Hardwick is a killer because he calls out the blocking assignments (his absence is why Ray Lewis almost killed Sproles). Mruczkowski is serviceable as a Center, but what the offensive line really needs is a lead so they can get into a rhythm with the running game.

I think Rivers is one of the best, but that O line will get him killed and D line cant stop anyone at present. So what is it….drafting, coaching, a mixture?
As I mentioned above, part of it is an incredible amount of injuries on the defensive line and unplanned injuries on the offensive line. I don’t know that you can blame that on drafting, but you could argue that the team should’ve kept another offensive lineman on the roster instead of 2 FBs, 4 RBs or 6 Safeties.

I blame coaching for the fact that the Chargers seem to come out flat in the first half of each game and the first half of each season. I blame negligence on the GM’s part for not having a young RB or suitable SS on the roster. I blame bad luck for the problems on the defensive line, and poor planning by the entire front office for the problems on the offensive line.

His knee is at about 75%, his groin is probably worse and I can’t help but notice that he spent so much time in the gym when he was injured that he’s now more “bulky” than flexible. Before his groin put him on the sidelines, he was looking better and better each week. I’m hoping for a big second half of the season from him and not expecting anything before that.

Here’s the Chargers top shelf talent:

Philip Rivers
Vincent Jackson
Nick Hardwick (when healthy)
Jamal Williams
Luis Castillo
Quentin Jammer

There’s a bunch of guys on the verge. Weddle’s right there. Cromartie would be if he tried harder. McNeill was for his rookie season. It’s a talented roster, there’s just no good scheming behind it.

Unless he breaks an assistant’s jaw and trades Rivers for J-Russ. ^^

My head is going to explode if I hear that one more time.

Look, the Chargers have spent a decade building a roster suitable for the 3-4. They have CBs that are good in man coverage but not in zone zoverage. They have LBs that are good at covering half the field and not an inch more. They have OLBs that can rush the passer but would be useless as DEs. They have DEs that would be terrible as 3-4 DEs and almost as bad as DTs.

To run an effective 4-3 defense, you need a couple of things. You need good safeties, CBs who can play zone, 2 DEs that can effective rush the passer and a beast of a MLB. That would require the Chargers to overhaul their entire roster, which would take at least 3 years to do and be a waste of a ton of money.

I think it’s only a matter of time before they stop letting a 4-3 D coordinator try to run a 3-4 D and they get somebody who knows what the hell they’re doing. If the Chargers don’t make the playoffs this season, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Nolan interviewing for Norv’s job in the offseason.

and it’s only Tuesday. Rivalry or not (and there’s definitely some heat there after the two HUGE games last season), this is a game that the Chargers’ entire season rests on. A lot of jobs as well. If the Chargers lose in embarrassing fashion, everybody is fired but Rivers.

The much pressure and intensity might be a bad thing, but it could also be a good thing if it’s focused properly.

Honestly, he showed in the preseason why he slipped so far down. He had no power (surprisingly) and even less speed.

When the Chargers lines started losing bodies, he was waived and was picked up by the Giants. I think he’s doing better with them, which makes sense because of their big offensive line.

English – Getting a ton of playing time because of Merriman’s groin injury. Seems to be improving incrementally each game. Hard to argue that he’s anything but an average OLB pass rusher at this point.

Vasquez – Starting at RG and looking great doing it. The worry with him was in his run-blocking, but he hasn’t had to do a lot of that. The trick for him is staying healthy. I think he’s recovering from his third foot-injury already.

Green – A Guard turned Center that the team is afraid to use for some reason. He played some Guard in the preseason and looked…..ok? The transition to Center does not seem like it’s going as smoothly as planned. He won’t see time this season.

Johnson – Waived and picked up by the NY Giants

Hughes – Placed on Injured Reserve late in preseason.

Ellison – The third-string SS (I know that sound ridiculous). He is atrocious is coverage and is more like a LB at this point. He’s been in on a handful of goal-line plays.

Byrd – Placed on Injured Reserve in the preseason. Recovering from head trauma from a car accident a week before the draft.

MHR is one of, if not the, best NFL blogs on the internet.

AJ Smith is a dick that way. His trademark move is to bring in the players that the media says the Chargers should draft (like Moreno, Beanie Wells, Maualuga) and then he always picks somebody that the team has had no contact with.

So, yes Moreno came to San Diego and worked out for the Chargers and the media swore up and down he was headed to San Diego, but there’s a good chance AJ Smith’s heart was set on Larry English all along.

Honestly, I think they’re too protective of LT’s ego to draft a RB in the first round. Until after this season anyways.

I don’t see how VJ could be riding Rivers coattails. The guy is a physical freak of nature. He’s 6’5", ridiculously strong and fast. Although I guess Jerry Porter and Javon Walker were also. Maybe you’re right.

What did you think of Smith firing Schottenheimer?
One of them had to go, and the team chose to stick with the Midas-touch GM who could be around for the next couple of decades instead of the 70+ year old coach who coached scared in the playoffs. It was the right move, and it was all Marty’s fault. The argument, in a nutshell, is that Marty wanted his son brought in as Offensive Coordinator after Cam Cameron left and AJ Smith didn’t want to do that. Neither guy was willing to back down and a decision had to be made.

If SD misses playoffs this year should Smith be fired as well?
I love AJ Smith. I really do. I love his philosophy and just about everything he does. I think this year he’s made some huge mistakes by leaving big holes (like SS and backup HB) wide open.

Yes I think AJ is fired if the Chargers miss the playoffs, but not because he’s done a bad job. On the contrary, he’s done a stellar job. I just think the Chargers will want to be able to offer the job to somebody like Shanahan or Cowher without them worrying about AJ Smith interfering all the time.

What would your Off/Def schemes focus on to beat the Denver Broncos this week? keeping player injuries/weaknesses in mind
Defense – Blitz. Over and over. On every play. Put two guys on Marshall (Jammer and a Safety) and blitz like crazy. We don’t stand a chance of beating the Denver offense straight-up, so we have to force bad plays and turnovers. BLITZ.

Offense – Establish the run if you can. Send Champ Bailey downfield after VJ and then work the middle with Gates and Naanee. Ball control.

Got a promotion or some deal. Real work takes him away from fake work. He’s still around. He’ll probably show up here at some point this week.

I also think he used the wildhorses to show off a little bit. It was kindof like a “Hey Bill, I didn’t forget when Miami shredded us last year” moment.

If McNeill needs help against Dumervil the Chargers will likely put Manumaleuna over their (backup TE/OT) and play with 2 TEs (with Gates sometimes playing in the slot). They can’t live without Gates out there catching passes and they know it.

Ball control has been a weakness of the Chargers this season because they can’t stop the run and seem to play a lot of soft zone coverage.

There’s all sorts of responses. My personal opinion is that AJ did it because Norv wouldn’t. I think it was a criticism of the coaching staff more than it was the players. Listen to how he complains about the Chargers not getting any better or making any progress. These are knocks on the coaching, and specifically on Ron Rivera. AJ was saying that Rivera is not doing much better than Ted Cottrell, and he’s right.

A player in the locker room who would keep civil unrest from happening? Combination of Tomlinson and Rivers. Those guys have so much respect and would never go against the coaching staff. I don’t think there’s a guy like that on the defensive side, unfortunately.

Does that win give the chargers credence of who they really are or was that just an off first game?
Both. The Chargers are a poor first half team, and that showed. By the second half they were missing 2 offensive linemen and LT, so you got to see what kind of team they are in that shape as well. It was a combination of being caught off guard and then being too banged up to blow them away in the 2nd half.

How are the chargers coping with the lose of TE Coach Clancy Barone and DL Coach Wayne Nunnely? Do you feel this is a direct affect of how the chargers defense has suffered in the first 4 games?
The TE coach was let go because we brought back Rob Chudzinski, who helped to develop Gates. Nunnely is missed, but I doubt he would’ve been able to do much more with this patchwork defensive line. So no, I don’t think the loss of these guys has had a direct effect on the Chargers’ poor defense. Gates has been quite good this year, actually.

Now that we have a game managing type QB instead of the gunslinger type, how will the chargers defense handle Kyle and how many sacks do you project against him?
Considering the Chargers are averaging 1.5 sacks per game, and Denver’s offensive line is good, I’ll project 1 sack and hope for a lot more.

I hope the Chargers defense will handle Kyle by throwing a ton of blitzers at him. What I expect, unfortunately, is lots of zone coverage and 4 man rushes that give him all the time in the world to pick who he wants to throw to.

Do you believe Champ Bailey will handle Vince Jackson and if not please explain why?
Kindof. I think VJ will have a couple of catches for a couple yards, but I don’t think he’ll get any deep balls or big plays against Champ. He’s bigger and stronger than Champ, which gives him a slight advantage, but Champ plays bigger and is very physical. Honestly, I expect at least one Defensive PI call against Bailey in this game as he asserts himself against Jackson.

Do you expect the chargers to win the division the way they are playing at this point and do you believe this game coming up will be the deciding factor of who are the Champs?
Hahaha, the Chargers have been unable to stop anybody’s offense and have had to claw back just to win 50% of their games this season. Who would expect them to win the division like that?

Yes, this game is huge for the AFC West. If the Chargers lose to the Broncos, they’ll probably have to win out to win the division.

2-0 under Turner, but last year’s win over the Chiefs was sloppy at best. I’ll go with rest, but the team really doesn’t look much different after bye weeks than they normally do.

Yes. If only because there’s a definite 3 point swing when the Chargers aren’t playing in Denver.

Qualcomm, as crappy a place as it is, does provide at least some homefield advantage. Here’s the Chargers home record under Norv.

2009: 1-1
2008: 5-3
2007: 7-1

There’s a lifetime achievement award if I’ve ever seen one. Rivers should have gotten it over Favre any day.

1. Has Rivers gotten over being passed up for the pro-bowl last year (especially to JC, who really shouldn’t have gotten it)?
I don’t know that he ever cared and I don’t think he would’ve gone. Luckily, Rivers has no desire to be famous and no real desire to spend a week away from his family. He’s a homebody and a family man who just happens to work a job playing football.

2. What do you guys hear about the impact Brian Dawkins has had on this defense?
I live in Philly, so I was worried about this kindof impact. We know he’s a big hitter. We know he’s a smart player who is always in the right position. More than anything though, it has brought up the topic of “leadership” again. I, for one, think the Chargers regressed last year partly due to the losses of Lorenzo Neal (who was the unspoken leader of the offense) and Shawne Merriman (leader of the defense).

This year, Merriman doens’t seem to be as much of a leader because he wasn’t there last year and cannot lead by example with his play. The defensive leader was Jamal Williams, but now he’s out for the season. The defense looks lost and it needs somebody to speak up, grab the reins and take everyone to where this team can go. The problem is, nobody is standing up and leading in the way Dawkins has for the Broncos and it shows in the level of intensity for each defense.

In short, we should’ve signed Dawkins.

You’ve turned j-man into a cocky, ass-kicking SOB.

lol jk

LT Marcus McNeill – Has been bad this year. He has a broken pinky and apparently lost 15 lbs due to the flu at some point. He’s been made to look foolish by Joey Porter and Terrell Suggs, but did a decent job against James Harrison. Richard Seymour stole his lunch money.

McNeill has a high ceiling, as he showed with a Pro Bowl appearance in his rookie season, but needs to stay healthy and get more consistent. He could be great or terrible against Dumervil and there’s no way of knowing which he’ll be.

LG Kris Dielman – The perennial “rock” on the offensive line has been disappointing this season. I won’t mince words, Dielman looks fat and has played fat. Instead of holding blocks, he seems more eager to try to knock somebody off their feet so that he can relax for the rest of the play. This style of play has led to him literally throwing two pass-rushes right at Philip Rivers in the pocket. He needs to get better.

C Scott Mruczkowski – Don’t spell that name without lots of practice first. Mooch has been solid at Center, but the line misses Nick Hardwick (who called out the assignments). For the two games that Brandyn Dombrowski (our backup OT) was starting at RG, there was a lot of miscommunication and missed assignments between the two of them. That’s where you saw Rivers having to run for his life. Things are better now.

RG Louis Vasquez – A mountain of a man. Rookie from Texas Tech, who some believe can’t run-block because he never did in college. Considering how often the Chargers have been forced to pass, it hasn’t mattered thusfar. When Vasquez is in there, the line is MUCH better than when he’s not. Against Pittsburgh he sometimes blocked two people at once. Without him, the Chargers are screwed. With him, Rivers should be fine.

RT Jeromey Clary – Last year’s scapegoat, who I defended all season, has turned into the most consistent offensive lineman on the team. He allowed 2 sacks against the Raiders after Hardwick and Vasquez left the game, mostly because he was trying to block everybody instead of just his guy, and hasn’t allowed anyone past him since. If the Broncos are able to sack Rivers, it’s either coming against McNeill or up the middle.

For some reason, I’ve had a harder time following the DL rotation this year.

AJ Smith – One of the best GMs in football. That doesn’t mean he’s perfect, but he has pulled some fantastic trades (Eli for Rivers, Merriman and Kaeding) and some great drafts out of his hat. The owners trust him completely to run the team his way.

Norv Turner – Great offensive coordinator, not the best head coach. He’s not a player’s coach but he’s not a hard ass. He seems to keep a lot of distance between himself and the players, while still trying to be nice to them. It’s not even a “I’ll treat you like men” situation, it’s more like a “Run this locker room by yourself” situation. I think Norv is basically acting as the OC, but has the HC title (which was probably the plan when he was hired) and I don’t think it’s working.

Ron Rivera – I want to be patient with him. His heart is in the right place. I think he’d make for a great 4-3 coordinator and a really good HC of a team with a 4-3 defense. He reminds me of Mike Singletary in a lot of ways. I just think he’s lost/nervous about calling blitzes all the time because that’s not how it’s done in the 4-3. I think he’s also a good guy, and doesn’t want to blow a playcall that might eventually lose Norv the HC job. Either way, he’s coaching scared and the players know it. That’s never good.

The broader fanbase’s opinion is to hate all three of them. AJ because he’s too cocky, Norv because he doesn’t normally wear his emotions on his sleeve and Rivera because there’s no pressure on the QB. I don’t hate them. It’s a rough patch. They could all get through it. Unfortunately, with some great teams that never even made it to the Super Bowl, Chargers fans are very pessimistic about anything these days and ready to rebuild at a moment’s notice. It’s apparently more fun to watch a bad team get better than watch a good team try to be great.

I think if the Chargers miss the playoffs, they clean house. Rivera, Turner and AJ are all gone. A defensive, hard-nose coach who knows how to run the 3-4 is brought in. It could be Cowher, it could be Nolan. Either way, I think the guy selected will get to build fresh (like McD has). “Here’s a blank check, go sign the GM, coaching staff and players you want.”

If the Chargers were 100% healthy, even being 2-2, there’d be a lot more confidence. However, we’re smart enough to realize that our weaknesses (stopping the run, stopping short passes, running the ball) match up with Denver’s strengths.

The Chargers fans are hopeful, but scared. We want the young guys to step up and to win the game, because the season is practically over if they don’t. We want to see a strong defense and a balanced offense that can control the clock. The only way this happens is if a different Chargers team shows up for Week 6 than we’ve seen in Weeks 1-4, and we know that.