Hello Chargers fan! Loyal dieharders to erratic bandwagoners.. glad you are all on for the ride of this year and many more to come. I believe that as long as Rivers is OUR qaurterback we have a chance to make the Superbowl every year. That is my undying faith to San Diego, but also my belief in Philip Rivers. Props to the coaching staff(somewhat), the O-line, 6'4" recievers and up, and the backfield combo of Sproles and LT. Props to the defense the last couple weeks on creating turnovers, slowing down the run especially without Jamal, and our secondary which has become increasingly better without the pressure that we've put on the opponents QB the last couple years. Major props goto all the back-ups that are just inserted from all our injuries to make great contributions and keeping the team a cohesive "team".
This year has had its downs as well, though right now the team is riding way high and playing at a great level. My bone to pick with the coaching staff this first time around is.. short yardage situations. Though my argument is falling off due to the redzone production we've had the past couple games with LT, earlier in the year and a few more times in the last couple weeks we have been stopped short of converting first downs and/or touchdowns. I don't know if you guys have noticed, but I sure have seen Darren Sproles being used on 3rd and 3 or fewer to try to convert a 1st down. Why is he being used when you have LT, the touchdown machine, when we need a few yards he has the ability and hunger to get it. Not to take anything away from Sproles, but every situation I remember where Sproles was taking the handoff in these situations it was failing. The biggest time came earlier in the season against Ray Lewis and the Baltimore D that stuffed us on 4th on 2. Norv called a running play, when we were not running the ball well at all, but we were throwing the ball to get to the Baltimore 15 yard line. Instead of relying on a Rivers pass to convert or even LT to get us 2 yards.. we went with that play call, stretch left side, lose 5 yards. The really erked me when it happened because we had a great opporunity to win the game. I've watched closely to the times we've not ran LT on short yardage downs and its been fail. Mostly on a Sproles handoff. So if I could say one thing to the coaching staff, that they need to learn from, because obviously they haven't, it is to NOT use Darren Sproles for these downs. He's one of the best screen backs, he's a mismatch for any LB 1 on 1, but he's not going to bulldoze Ray Lewis for 2 yards when the games on the line.
Thats pretty much it. THough the defense has created turnovers, we still need to improve the defense as a whole. We need a secure, ball-hawking safety along side Weddle and a legit runstuffer to aid the loss of Jamal. Our defense isnt allowing points, which is great, but I have to say that we let the Cleveland Browns go down the field a couple times, that made them look like a pretty good team at points. Stopping them on 3rd down is key because 3 and outs for us are rare. Lets get these stops more often and the offense will for sure do its thing. We are in serious consideration for Superbowl winners this year. Lets get out to the games, tailgate, BBQ at home, show some spirit for this great run that we as fans should all expect. GO BOLTS!
