By: Tyler Ward
What's up with the Chargers? Are they just in their early season funk or are they just not that good of a team?
Personally, I don't think the Chargers are that great of a team. Yes, they do have a budding quarterback in Philip Rivers and one of the best tight ends ever in Antonio Gates, but outside of those two players, what do they have? A struggling offense and an inept defense. Those two mixtures do not bode well for their AFC West division hopes. What makes it even more appealing is that the AFC West is one of the weakest divisions in the league, so the Chargers should single-handedly take the division. Instead, they are in trouble.
With their 20-17 loss to the young St. Louis Rams, the Chargers are now 2-4. The later games have yet to be played, which means that the Chargers are currently last in the division (yes, even behind the Raiders). The Chiefs are currently leading the division with a 3-2 record.
But, look at it this way..
Their offense is not that good. Rivers is at the helm, so they're good at the quarterback position. However, they got rid of one of the best Chargers ever, LaDainian Tomlinson, and drafted Ryan Mathews with their first round selection. Mathews has played in five of the six games and has not gone over 80 yards rushing in a game yet. He currently has 218 yards and one touchdown, so if he continues at that pace, he will be somewhere around 700 yards for the year. Mike Tolbert, a natural fullback, supplanted Mathews as the starter when he was injured and has shown that he is the best running back on the team. He did not play against the Rams, but went on a fantastic three-game stretch prior to the Rams-Chargers matchup. In that span, with games against the Jaguars, Seahawks, and Cardinals, Tolbert carried the ball 49 times for 255 yards (5.2 average) and three touchdowns. Clearly, he has done better than Mathews, which comes as a surprise. If the Chargers want to succeed, Mathews is going to have to play better and show that he is the Chargers' #1 back.Even though the Chargers own one of the best aerial attacks, I just don't see how they're doing it. They do have Antonio Gates, who in my opinion, when he retires, will be the best tight end in NFL history (if he continues at this pace, of course). Outside of Gates, the Chargers have a very unproven receiving corps - Malcom Floyd, Legedu Naanee, Buster Davis, and Patrick Crayton. Floyd is leading the team in receiving (513), just 23 yards ahead of Gates (490). Outside of those two players, the receiver with the most yards is Buster Davis, with 206. Crayton, who the Chargers acquired in the offseason from Dallas, had been relatively quiet until the Rams game - he had only caught 5 passes for 94 yards prior to the matchup, but caught 5 passes for 90 yards this weekend. They would probably be a lot better off if they had Vincent Jackson back, who has missed every single game this year due to a contract dispute. The Chargers cannot depend on two receivers to lead their passing game - they are going to have to get more players involved if they want to get better.
And it got even worse for the Chargers. Not only did they lose to the Rams, but they lost Antonio Gates in the game, too. Late in the first half, Gates was forced to leave the game with an ankle injury. He only caught 2 passes for 12 yards, thus ending his NFL record by a tight end for consecutive games with a touchdown (9). It is unclear how long or if Gates will be sidelined, but it is still a heavy blow to the Chargers, especially since Gates is arguably their best player.
San Diego has shown great defensive effort at some points, but they have also shown that they could be rather inept, too. In their losses to Kansas City, Seattle, Oakland, and St. Louis, the Chargers have given up a total of 103 points (25.8 points per game). Last season, in terms of total offense, the highest ranking for those four teams was 21st (Seattle); Kansas City was 25th, St. Louis was 29th, and Oakland ranked 31st. The Chargers need to play a lot better defensively. And it only gets tougher for San Diego, who arguably had the easiest opening six games this season. Their next five games are all against eligible playoff teams - New England, Tennessee, Houston, Denver, and Indianapolis. If they played badly against horrible offensive teams, how are they going to do against teams that have high-powered offenses? My guess - not that good. We could possibly see San Diego with a 4-7 or 5-6 record entering their 12th game.
The Chargers also have a very young defense. They released mainstay defensive lineman Jamal Williams in the offseason, who went to their division rival Denver Broncos. Shawne Merriman, a few days ago, was placed on injured reserve, thus ending his 2010 season. Merriman recorded 39.5 sacks in his first three seasons and made three Pro Bowls, but in the following three seasons, he has played in 18 games and has only recorded 4 sacks, all of which came last season. The team said that once Merriman gets healthy, he will be released and his Chargers tenure will be over. The player known as "Lights Out" will now keep the lights on, in hopes of resurrecting his NFL career elsewhere.
San Diego has dealt with numerous injuries this season on defense - as stated above, Merriman has been placed on injured reserve. Their 2009 first round pick, Larry English, has played in only two games and recorded four tackles (he has not participated in the last four games). Linebackers Jyles Tucker, Donald Butler, and James Holt have also been placed on injured reserve, ending their seasons as well. So, to say the least, the Chargers are rather thin at the linebacker position.
Their defensive line has also been shady so far this season. Outside of Luis Castillo, their line is very inexperienced. Jacques Cesaire is the other starting defensive end in the equation, and has never received adequate playing time. In his eight year career, Cesaire has registered 181 tackles and 12.5 sacks. Although he has played in 103 games, he has played sparingly in most of those games. The defensive tackle position is where they should be most concerned. As previously stated, the Chargers released Jamal Williams in the offseason, who was drafted by the Chargers in 1998 and had spent his entire career there. With Williams gone, who supplants him? Well, I'm going to introduce you to Antonio Garay, Ogemdi Nwagbuo, and Cam Thomas. WHO? I'll put it to you this way. The highest experience among the three players is 4 years (Garay) - Nwagbuo has played two seasons and this is Thomas' rookie season. Combined, these three players have registered 49 tackles and 2 sacks. Unfortunately, that's not going to get it done. I'm not even sure that the three players combined could replace Williams, much less one of them. The Chargers definitely need to address that need and they are going to have to in the draft or in free agency.
Their secondary is perhaps their saving grace on defense. Quentin Jammer and Antoine Cason are their starting cornerbacks - Jammer has shown that he could be a great cornerback and Cason is currently leading the team in interceptions (2). At the safety positions, they have Steve Gregory and Eric Weddle. Gregory was leading the team in tackles prior to the Rams game and a safety should not be leading the team in tackles. Weddle is a talented safety, but he and Gregory are going to have to play lights out if they want to stop the opposing teams' aerial attacks.
Last, but not least, there's Norv Turner, perhaps the most inept postseason-winning coach in the NFL. The Chargers hired Turner after Marty Schottenheimer left following the 2006 season. Since taking over for the Chargers for the 2007 season, Turner has led the team to a 34-20 record with a 3-3 playoff record (0 Super Bowl appearances). The regular season record is fairly decent, but that's not what counts. The postseason is what counts. If you don't do well in the playoffs, then you don't do well, period. Turner led the Chargers to a 13-3 regular season record last season, but the team lost to the Jets in the second round. One could only expect the Chargers to completely decimate a team that had a rookie quarterback at the helm, but that's not how it worked out. The NFL works in mysterious ways and the Chargers lost to the Jets at home, 17-14. Was it coaching? Was it just a poor offensive performance by the Chargers? Was it a poor defensive performance? Probably a little bit of all three. But, it all lays on Turner's shoulders. If the Chargers do not win the division, much less make the playoffs, this could possibly be the last season Turner is in San Diego. But, only time will tell.
Their schedule thus far:
Week 1: @ Kansas City (L 21-14)
Week 2: Jacksonville (W 35-13)
Week 3: @ Seattle (L 27-20)
Week 4: Arizona (W 41-10)
Week 5: @ Oakland (L 35-27)
Week 6: @ St. Louis (L 20-17)
My projections:
Week 7: New England (L 27-17)
Week 8: Tennessee (W 16-10)
Week 9: @ Houston (L 24-20)
Week 10: Bye
Week 11: Denver (W 23-17)
Week 12: @ Indianapolis (L 24-21)
Week 13: Oakland (W 31-13)
Week 14: Kansas City (L 20-17)
Week 15: San Francisco (W 24-13)
Week 16: @ Cincinnati (W 27-17)
Week 17: @ Denver (L 31-20)
Regular Season Record: 7-9
Playoffs: No
The Chargers are definitely in trouble. They are going to have to do some clever maneuvering if they want to make the playoffs. If they play like they're playing now for the rest of the season, I just can't see them winning the division and we may see the Broncos or Chiefs stealing the division. We'll see.
