Nobody is sure. He certainly looked it against Oakland, KC and NYG. Then again, during those games he was 100% healthy and Ron Rivera was throwing lots of odd blitzes around (lots of safety and corner blitzes). Against Philly, it seemed Merriman and Phillips were more concerned with keeping McNabb in the pocket than actually getting to him. Also, the Chargers played zone D all day and called maybe 2 blitzes.

He’s a major step up from where he was the last time the Broncos saw him, but I don’t know that you can pencil him in for 2 sacks automatically just yet. I just hope his foot feels better this week.

That Chargers team hung with the Broncos, who were VERY hot at the time, and arguably would’ve won without the 2 return TDs.

The Eagles were hardly in decline before the Chargers loss. They were just coming off a blowout of the Giants and a close loss to the Cowboys. The Eagles win is every bit as legitimate as the Broncos’ wins against Dallas or New England. The rest I’ll give you.

Clary’s got a dinged up ankle. He was burned a few times by Dumervil last time anyways. I think Dumervil gets the double-team no matter what, but Clary being out there can only help the Bolts.

Nick Hardwick is expected to make his first start at Center since breaking his ankle in Week 1. Hardwick is a beast at run-blocking and is the person in charge of identifying blitzes. He’s been missed.

Travis Johnson, who has been one of the better D-linemen for the Chargers, left the Eagles game and I haven’t heard anything since.

The Chargers are relatively healthy….certainly healthier than they were for the last matchup against Denver.

It does. Actually, this whole season seems a bit deja-vuish to me.

Forgive me if I have a horrible memory, by the way.

Since the last meeting, Malcom Floyd and Mike Tolbert have become bigger parts of the offense. Both are significantly more dangerous than they were before. I love Tolbert’s emergence as a big blocking FB and an excellent receiver out of the backfield, because it has made Rivers even more efficient (3 INT in last 7 games).

The defense has changed a great deal since the last meeting, but I can’t offer much insight because it seems to change a great deal from week to week. Nobody is sure where to pin the success (Merriman? Ron Rivera? Steve Gregory? Kevin Ellison?), but there’s 100% chance that the Chargers will blitz more on Sunday than they did for the last game. Nickel CB and Safety blitzes have become a staple of the defense.

it has never been a matter of choosing Rivers and the passing game over LT and the running game. It’s just that usually the running game doesn’t work. The Chargers would always prefer to have a more balanced offensive attack.

I think the Chargers will come out as if the running game is fine and attempt to mix up pass and run plays. If the run doesn’t seem to be going anywhere (which is entirely possible if the Broncos actually focus on stopping it), Rivers will throw the ball all day. It’s not exactly a terrible backup plan.

The offensive line has looked good…improved….but not great the last few weeks. There’s no sense of dominance at the line of scrimmage like there once was. Rivers is still getting creamed by the occasional blitzer. The run-blocking is atrocious at times.

The defensive line is a roller coaster. Again, there’s zero sense of dominance by anyone not named Luis Castillo. Everyone else is ranges from “good” to “not too bad”. Luckily, the 6 man rotation to keep everyone fresh seems to be working. The run defense seems to get stronger late in close games.

I’d give both lines a C+ or B-, but each has the potential to be really, really good.

Watching the games seems like it wouldn’t be fun if I could see the future like you can.

Jamal Williams’ replacements haven’t managed to effectively replace him. They have, however, improved a great deal largely thanks to a rotation that has kept them fresh and allowed them to play all out while on the field without worrying about being left out there to die.

Nick Hardwick, arguably the most important member of the Chargers’ offensive line, may return this week and that would be a huge upgrade. He had a chance to come back this past week and couldn’t, though, so take that for what it’s worth. Jeromey Clary, the line’s weakest link," left Sunday’s game with an injury and may or may not play against Denver. Dombrowski isn’t a huge step down. Neither guy can block Dumervil by themselves anyway.

Making the playoffs.

Travis Johnson and Ian Scott have really helped the defensive line to approach respectability. Replacing Hart with Ellison and Oliver has been a plus. Replacing Cason with Gregory has also helped. Cromartie has simply played better than he did earlier. Guys on defense seem to be getting to a point where they trust their teammates to do what they’re supposed to do and are not trying to do too much themselves which has resulted in fewer breakdowns. Also, you can’t overstate the importance of Merriman getting healthy.

The emergence of Malcom Floyd and Legedu Naanee has been huge on offense. The return and improvement of Vasquez at right guard has been big as has the improvement of Mruczkowski at center. Tolbert has also provided some spark.

Overall, the playcalling has also improved.

someone should, its my favorite part of the week

It’s not that hard. It isn’t like you guys are acting like Chiefs fans or anything.

1. Nose Tackle
2. Defensive End
3. Running Back
4. Offensive Tackle

They’ll probably draft by some combination of need and bpa.

AJ Smith does not want to pay top-dollar for a player like Merriman. If there’s no CBA in place, and Merriman is a RFA, he’ll be back. If there is a CBA, and Merriman is an UFA, he’ll leave town and go for the most money.

It’s not pretty.

But enough on Philip Rivers.

Doom has slowed down on the sacks but he’s still putting pressure on the qb…the main thing I see is they are not stopping the run. They gave up over 100yds rushing to each of the last 3 teams…can you say they just didn’t control the tempo of the game? Plus, they couldn’t get the run game going themselves.

Against SD, they need to go back to what gave them that 6 game winning streak. They need to be aggressive on both sides of the ball and not let up.

What’s your theory as to why they’ve been so undisciplined and has the team made any changes to address it?

The Chargers, a few weeks ago, identified Antoine Cason as somebody who was not playing great team defense (even though he led the team in interceptions) and replaced him with somebody who would. The defense, as a whole, has gotten much stronger because of that move.

Can you identify anybody on defense that has been undisciplined?

Weddle has always had a problem defending TEs. Let’s just say that the 5’11", 200lbs he’s listed at is probably generous. That means against most TEs he’s giving up a half-foot and at least 25 lbs. In 2008, his weakness covering TEs (especially in jump-ball situations) was exposed over and over again.

I believe the Chargers spent that game trying to get Kevin Ellison (6’1", 220) matched up on Sheffler and were successful most of the time doing that. They’ll try to do that again, and Chargers fans just have to hope that Weddle doesn’t end up covering Sheffler near the end zone again.

Besides his problems with covering big, strong TEs…..Weddle is fantastic and a cornerstone of the defense. He excels in coverage, has spent this season laying big licks (knocked Kevin Boss out of the Giants game) and is the definition of a “ballhawk”.

It could be Vincent Jackson being a poor matchup for Bailey, it could be Rivers not giving Bailey any of the “tell-tale” signs that he’s always looking for to get a jump on the ball. I have no clue.

Contrary to his reputation, especially with Denver fans, Philip Rivers does not have a big ego. He would not risk the success of the offense and the team (which he knows rests on his shoulders) just so he could say he beat Champ Bailey. With the consistency that he’s thrown at him, there can really only be two reasons why:

1) He sees some sort of “tell” in Bailey’s game, some weakness that nobody else has picked up on, and he’s not sharing the info.

2) He has 100% confidence in Vincent Jackson to either catch the ball or defend the pass, so the CB he’s going up against doesn’t really matter.

and Kevin Ellison