Town Hall Meeting Discusses New Chargers Stadium
To take this blog in a different direction for today, here’s a Chargers story about the new stadium. Remember when that was the biggest problem the Chargers had? We just all had good ol’ Qualcom to complain about. Those days seem long gone now, as the Chargers are barely above .500 and may well be the weakest team to make the AFC playoffs when everything is said and done. But even with all the coaching issues, personnel problems, inconsistencies, and second-guessing this year has brought us, the fact still remains that the Chargers need a new place to play football.
So the new sites being discussed are both in Chula Vista, with one being near to the water and one site being more inland. The Town Hall meeting was held to discuss all the differing perspectives on the situation. Some people want the Chargers to stay in Qualcom, which is just not feasible at all, given all the circumstances. San Diego is a Super Bowl city, and without a new stadium, they’ll never see another Super Bowl. People worry about traffic, which is understandable. But I’d have to think the revenue it would create would more than make up for the slight inconvenience 8 weeks out of the year. I think this deal gets done, but there are still logistics to be worked out.
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Chargers Rise Again
ESPN.com has released their weekly Power Rankings, and sure enough, the Bolts continue their on again, off again love affair with the top ten. This week, it’s on again as the Chargers rise once again to the number nine ranking after their impressive win at home over Baltimore. The Chargers will now take their show on the road with two very difficult AFC away games, one divisional against KC and one non-divisional against a tough and gritty Tennessee team. The Bolts are 1-4 away from home this year, so this doesn’t bode well for the team, looking at it from a historical perspective.
The Chargers, as reported yesterday, seem to be coming together as a team in spite of their coaching staff. While the Chargers have certainly been winning enough games since their horrendous 1-3 start, these next two games will be huge in terms of building for the playoffs. If the Chargers can’t put together a string of quality road wins during the regular season, how can they be expected to win at Indy or New England? These guys couldn’t win at Minnesota. They’ll likely get at least one home game in the playoffs, but after that, they’ll have to travel. They need to really play well down the stretch to build the confidence this young team will need to knock off one of the AFC juggernauts in the playoffs.
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Chargers Talk of Sacrifice
An article running in the San Diego Union-Tribune is detailing the Chargers quest for the postseason, and the sacrifices every man knows he must make to get there. Kevin Acee writes that the Chargers have been holding team meetings, many of them players-only, in which many of the team leaders have been impressing on the younger members of the squad what it means and what it takes to be a champion. The Chargers have played wildly inconsistent football this season. At times they have looked unprepared and unmotivated. At other times, they’ve looked like a top 10 team. I can’t figure them out.
What I do know is that the Chargers are extremely lucky to have the record they have, and their record isn’t even that good anyway. At 6-5, their playoff hopes have more to to with the moribund nature of the AFC West than they do with any sort of championship-caliber play on the field. The most interesting part of this story to me is how absent the coaches are from any of this stuff. Does this bother anyone else? Has there ever been an instance of a team checking out on its head coach and then playing exponentially better football down the stretch? We may well see that this season with the Bolts.
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Rivers Told Fans to Shut Up
In case you missed it, San Diego QB Phillip Rivers told Chargers fans to shut up after their first offensive series ended in a 3-and-out. Rivers never denied shouting at the entire collective of San Diego fans, nor did he apologize. He expressed love for the fans of San Diego and likened his shouting of shut up to the way someone says the same thing to a sibling, but still loves them. I really like the fact that Rivers shouted at the fans. I think it shows a fire and intensity that the Chargers have lacked all season up to this point. Something needs to get the Chargers mad, and if it has to be the fans, so be it.
The real point here is that the fans aren’t booing Rivers or the rest of the players on the team. They’re booing the coaching staff. They’re booing the men who run the same plays to start every game of the season. They’re booing the men who took the keys to a six-speed Ferrari with no idea how to drive a manual transmission car. So while I admire the fire of the young QB, as well as the way he didn’t run from the controversy, I believe his anger may be misplaced. However, as I said before, if it takes booing fans to keep the Chargers fired up, then the people of San Diego will be more than happy to oblige.
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San Diego Routs Baltimore
In case you missed the game, here’s the recap of San Diego’s victory over the Baltimore Ravens. The Chargers looked great at home on Sunday, absolutely destroying the stout Baltimore defense on their way to an easy victory. San Diego looked better than they have in quite some time as they ran over the Ravens on their way to sole possession of the AFC West. With key losses by the Broncos and the Chiefs, the Chargers now find themselves poised to make a solid run at at least one home playoff game. That’s not a misprint. The San Diego Chargers still have a shot to host a playoff game.
Don’t look now, but the Chargers have won five of their last seven games. They just played a complete game for the first time in at least recent memory, and they look as though they have a renewed focus with the playoffs now on the horizon. Though they have been forced to weather many storms so far this season, if they can come together at the right time and start playing really great football, they still have a chance. Of course, all of this will be for naught if the Chargers can’t make a deep run into the playoffs. And don’t think for a second that the players - and the coaches - aren’t well aware of that fact.
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Chargers Fall Again in Power Rankings
ESPN.com has released their weekly Power Rankings. In many ways, not much has changed since the last time these rankings were released. However, for some teams, the change has been drastic. No change has been more dramatic or surreal than the drop of the San Diego Chargers, once again finding themselves on the outside of the top 10. Other notable changes were the Packers (from 4 to 3), the Colts, (3 to 4) and the Texans, who jumped from number 22 to 17 after getting their starting QB and WR1 back from injury.
The Chargers continued their on-again, off-again relationship with the top 10 this week, as their roller coaster ride of a season continues in earnest through 10 games. It’s almost ironic that the Bolts are .500, given that the one word to best describe their play would be “uneven.” Of course, that would be putting it lightly, but let’s not split hairs. Let’s just hope the Chargers figure it out for a playoff push.
You can get all your San Diego Chargers tickets at www.stubhub.com.
Chargers Unhappy with Play as of Late
I don’t ever mean to be the bearer of bad news, and I really wish there were something happier to report (remember the Antonio Gates show and tell story?), but the fact of the matter is, the San Diego Chargers are 5-5 going into week 12, and the team is starting to fall apart. Shawne Merriman publicly called out his team, and LaDainian Tomlinson didn’t exactly say anything to contradict the underperforming linebacker. Though Len Pasquarelli writes that Merriman’s body of work this year has been underwhelming at best, that can’t all be attributed to Lights Out. The fact is, he’s been misused by the defensive coaches.
This, of course, just brings us back to square one with the Chargers. The coaching staff has been, as of yet, mysteriously silent during all of this. It seems at this point that it would be fair to say that the coaches are having trouble reaching the players, and some might even call that an understatement. In fact, there are fans out there who are publicly voicing their concerns that some of the players are checking out early. We can only hope this is not the case, but if this inconsistent play continues, how much longer will it be before people begin to lose their jobs?
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San Diego 2-2 by stroke of luck
San Diego is 2-2 through their last four games, but only barely. Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune writes that while .500 isn’t exactly where the San Diego Chargers fans hoped their team would be through 10 games this season, they’re lucky to even break even right now, they way they’ve been playing. Acee points out that the Chargers have put up a league-low 1,031 yards of total offense the past four games. Worse, they’ve given up 1,592 yards, near the bottom of the list in defensive efficiency as well. On top of those two pathetic stats, the Chargers are also averaging just a little more than 25 minutes of possession time per game over those four contests.
For an offense that fields the reigning league MVP every week (he’s also the record holder in rushing TDs in one season, if you need him), the Chargers are having a very tough time moving the football. For a defense that was one of the NFL’s most feared in 2006, this Chargers D looks undisciplined and confused. These are not last year’s Chargers. They’re not even close. The way they look right now, this team will be lucky to win the horrible AFC West and limp into the playoffs. They’ll likely play a Wild Card team, and I’m not sure I trust Norv and Co. to win that game at all. And if this - the most logical and likely of outcomes - does occur, where does that leave the Chargers?
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Merriman Believes he is having his Best Season
According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, Chargers linebacker and all-around football beast Shawne Merriman believes he is having the best season of his career in 2007. Many fans and pundits would argue that Merriman is having a much worse year, considering that he will likely not even come close to getting the 17 sacks he had last year (in 12 games). However, Merriman believes he is making big strides in his game in other ways, forcing the action via turnovers and tackles either at or behind the line of scrimmage. Merriman is being used a bit differently this year, as this defense is for some reason averse to blitzing their linebackers, but Merriman has still made big contributions.
In other news, the UT does a quick break down of Phillip Rivers’ troubles throwing the football as of late. I could say a lot about this, but I believe a true anecdote would best illustrate the problems Rivers is having. This week, I have Tampa Bay and Jacksonville’s defenses in my fantasy football league. Jacksonville has the Chargers. Tampa Bay has Atlanta. I literally thought to myself, earlier this week, “Maybe I should start Jacksonville. I mean, the Chargers are insanely inefficient, I can count on Rivers to throw at least one pick, and the Hawks have Byron Leftwich coming back.” I still think I’ll end up starting Tampa Bay, but the fact that I even considered starting Jax against San Diego speaks volumes about the Norv Turner Era.
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Gates at Show and Tell
For at least the next month, no one will make fun of Kody Blankenbeckler’s last name. Young Mr. Blankenbeckler (Kody to his friends) was one lucky winner of the “Take an NFL Player to School” contest. The excited third grader was able to bring San Diego Chargers tight end Antonio Gates in to meet his whole class, talk about football, and provide the class with what many students are already calling “the best show and tell ever EVER in the history of show and tells.” J.C. Penny sponsored the sweepstakes. There were 34 winners chosen out of more than 70,000 contestants.
The program was started in an effort to encourage kids to stay in school by spreading this message via National Football League athletes (some of whom never finished college, but I digress). The kids obviously loved having an NFL player roaming their halls for even just an hour or so, and many of the students could be spotted wearing the famous #85. Gates is one of the most beloved playmakers in the Chargers line-up, and there are few Bolts who could have made more of a splash. No word on whether any of the third graders had any offensive tips to relay back to Norv Turner.
You can get all your San Diego Chargers tickets at www.stubhub.com.