David Lassen's San Diego Chargers fan blog

Here on the eve of kickoff for the San Diego Chargers 2009 opener, I will take my annual stab at predicting the Bolts win-loss record.

In Las Vegas the Over/Under total for the club has been about 9.5 wins. I said it last year, and will say it with greater emphasis this time around, but this season has got to be the greatest odds for a division title that the Chargers have ever seen. And it's no stretch to say they will probably be favored in all six divisional contests.

9/14 at Oakland (WIN) - Chargers currently have franchise-record 11 game win-streak vs. the Raiders. No reason to think it stops now.

9/20 BALTIMORE (WIN) - This should be a very tough game, and perhaps low scoring. I'll take San Diego at home but wouldn't be surprised if they drop this one, knowing the slow-start history under Norv Turner.

Continue reading "Predicting the Chargers record in 2009"

The San Diego Chargers are coming up on their 50th season this fall, and the team is doing many things to celebrate and acknowledge its history.

Recently the club posted a list of the greatest Chargers players. Fans are invited to vote to select the 50 players. The fan vote will be split with a vote of franchise Hall of Fame members.

Here are the candidates:

QUARTERBACKS (Pick 3)
Dan Fouts - John Hadl - Stan Humphries - Jack Kemp - Philip Rivers - Tobin Rote

RUNNING BACKS (Pick 6)
Gary Anderson - Marion Butts - Ronnie Harmon - Keith Lincoln - Paul Lowe - Natrone Means - Chuck Muncie - Lorenzo Neal - Dick Post - LaDainian Tomlinson - Don Woods

WIDE RECEIVERS (Pick 5)
Lance Alworth - Wes Chandler - Gary Garrison - John Jefferson - Charlie Joiner - Tony Martin - Anthony Miller - Don Norton

Continue reading "The 50 Greatest Chargers?"

The 2009 NFL season is still several months off, but now is a good time to take an early look at how the oddsmakers see things shaping up.

Let's start with the Over/Under lines on regular season wins.

There are a few that stick out and may catch the eye of fans. The Miami Dolphins are set at 7 wins. Some may think, "well, they went to the playoffs last year," and jump on the over. On the flip side, some of the so-called experts have tabbed them as one of the teams most likely to disappoint this season. The Dolphins have a first-place schedule to contend with, and let's not forget they get to see a Tom Brady-led New England Patriots club twice.

The Pats enter '09 with an over/under total at 11.5 wins, the highest mark. I think it's a little too high. Sure the return of Brady is the biggest reason, and they did post a winning season in 2008 without him. However, I just have a hunch that they don't go 12-4 or better. Seems like a bit too much to pick the over.

Continue reading "Early look at 2009 lines"

Much credit to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Sunday's AFC Divisional playoff win over the San Diego Chargers 35-24.

The Chargers simply were beaten by the better team. It's easy to look back at a couple fluky turnovers (the one-play drive in essentially the red zone where Philip Rivers was intercepted on a deflected pass, and the muffed punt return off Eric Weddle's helmet), but truly the deciding factor appeared to be the Steelers ball control - final drive of the first half and opening drive of the second half. In what's been a problem for the Chargers all year, they allowed Pittsburgh to move down field and take its first lead on a touchdown drive starting with under two minutes left in the second quarter. Then, as if that wasn't bad enough, the Steelers used up about 8 minutes to begin the third quarter for a killing TD drive and jump up 21-10.

Continue reading "End of the season; end of an era?"

What a fantastic performance by the San Diego Chargers in Saturday's AFC Wild Card 23-17 overtime win against the visiting Indianapolis Colts.

Darren Sproles, Mike Scifres, Antonio Gates, the Charger defense...so much credit to go around the whole team. It was great to see balance in that way - it wasn't just a huge offensive performance, or a shut-down "D" but all sides contributing. Scifres, the punter, was perhaps the most valuable player in the game with four punts placed inside the 10-yard line. None were more important than his final punt in the game with around three minutes to go that put the Colts near their own goal line.

It was a mild surprise seeing an effective LaDainian Tomlinson early on. It had me thinking his injury wasn't as severe as some were speculating. However, LT didn't last long in the game and it looks like he may be out this week. Thankfully there was Darren Sproles ready and waiting for his chance. The multi-dimensional Sproles totaled over 300 all-purpose yards before breaking off the winning touchdown run.

Continue reading "Cheers for the Chargers, and on to Pittsburgh."

Back in the summer I took a look at the San Diego Chargers and other teams with respect to how the oddsmakers in Las Vegas were perceiving them.

At the time, I threw out my own quick take on the season. Let's analyze how it turned out:

The Chargers Over/Under win total was 10.5. I really thought, as did nearly everybody, that they should finish 11 wins or more. I said they'd go about 12-4. They managed to win the division again but posted an 8-8 regular season mark after a number of close losses during much of the campaign.

I had the Bolts winning the first two games, Carolina at home and Denver on the road. The Panthers won on the last-play touchdown catch by Dante Rosario and the Broncos took advantage of the botched call by referee Ed Hochuli. So San Diego was 0-2 right out of the gate. I had predicted a win at Miami but loss to New England. It turned out to be the other way around. I also had them winning at Buffalo (eventual loss) but noted it is a very tough site to play at.

Continue reading "NFL Over/Under win totals"

Pretty much all has been written and said about the Chargers-Broncos season-ending game at San Diego. Just wanted to say how "Super" the performance was by the Bolts.

Philip Rivers played a darn-near perfect game. On the way, he shattered Dan Fouts' 1981 club record of season touchdown passes, finishing with 34 and along the way posted the NFL highest pass rating for the season. That was significant in its own right since he was the leading passer for just about the entire season. (Got to be honest though, a handful of times during 2008 I proclaimed that it didn't mean anything when he'd fumble since that doesn't factor in).

Great to see LaDainian Tomlinson finish on a strong note with three TD's and nearly 100 yards in three quarters of action.

People can take their shots at San Diego's 8-8 record. Fine with me, but I've said all year Denver was a fraud. Among other things, the Broncos finished 0-8 Against The Spread at Home this year. Horrible!

Continue reading "Sweet vindication vs. the Broncos"

Sunday's 20-19 home victory over the Kansas City Chiefs sure wasn't much to get excited about for San Diego Chargers fans. However, they did get the much-needed "W."

The impression coming into the game was the bye week would allow the Chargers to get re-energized. And who better to do it against than the one-win Chiefs? This would explain the bloated two-touchdown-plus spread. Additionally, LaDainian Tomlinson had begun to show his old form.

Unfortunately all these indications didn't produce much. Yeah, yeah...at least they held on for the win, but it sure doesn't give you a good feeling heading into next week's clash on the road at Pittsburgh.

For what's it's worth, the Chiefs really shouldn't have been in position to win or tie the game at the end. A phantom pass interference penalty never should have been called. Because of that I refuse to acknowledge the Chargers getting lucky. Now if only some bad luck could fall the Denver Broncos way (they have won four games by four points or less).

Continue reading "At least the Chargers won"

Congrats to the New York Mets' Fernando Tatis on being named The Sporting News' Comeback Player of the Year for the National League.

Davd Wright also was named the Third Baseman on TSN's All-National League team.

Continue reading "Honors for Fernando Tatis"

Great news as the San Diego Chargers have fired Defensive Coordinator Ted Cottrell. At least they are demonstrating they aren't giving up on the season. Fans should expect much better results, or at least more exciting play, with Ron Rivera guiding the "D" now. He is noted for a much more aggressive style than the zone favored by Cottrell.

And it should be interesting in the future to follow what Rivera plans to do with the defense. He's been a 4-3 guy in the past. The Chargers have ran a 3-4 look the past few years. And how does this impact the future of Shawne Merriman in San Diego?

Time will tell...at least for now it appears the Bolts have a new life on the season.

Continue reading "Ted Cottrell is out!"