SAN DIEGO CHARGERS 2009 PREVIEW
SAN DIEGO CHARGERS 2009 PREVIEW
By Andy Benoit, www.NFLTouchdown.com
So often an NFL player will claim that his team’s season isn’t successful unless it ends with a Lombardi Trophy. The rigidity of this notion––a season’s value being measured only in the variable of victories, and true value not being recognized unless one of those victories happened to be of the rarest, most difficult form––would make a Buddhist shudder. Yet even the Dali Lama would admit that for the 2009 San Diego Chargers, it’s Super Bowl or bust.
The members of this organization aren’t going to find true peace or happiness with anything less than an AFC Championship victory. The Chargers have maxed out all other forms of success. They’ve won three straight AFC West titles: they went 14-2 and lost to the Patriots in the Divisional Round of the playoffs in 2006; they reached the AFC Title Game the following season but again fell to New England; last year, San Diego extracted a subtle revenge on its Massachusetts foe by winning the final four games to finish 8-8 and, thanks to a technicality, snatch the last playoff spot from the 11-win Pats (who were not lucky enough to earn an automatic bid from the laughable AFC West). But the season still ended with a Divisional Round loss at Pittsburgh.
The only thing left for the Spanos Family’s team to do is reach a Super Bowl. Amazingly, for a fourth-straight year, San Diego’s window is wide open. (In today’s NFL, this is not unlike leaving your wallet on a park bench and finding it, still full, three days later.)
The Chargers have all the pieces and seem to have moved past the snags of previous years. It was once believed that this club’s shortcoming was at head coach. But after the way Norv Turner’s men have rallied down the stretch the past two seasons, it’s apparent that the venerable offensive playcaller can indeed sail his crew through turbulent waters.
Before Turner arrived, San Diego’s stigma was callow quarterbacking. That’s no longer the case, however, as Philip Rivers turns 28 in December and is coming off a season in which he led the league with a 105.5 passer rating. Rivers is also fully healthy for the first time since 2006. The fiery quarterback has weapons at his disposal. There is far and away the AFC’s best tight end, Antonio Gates. And there’s a budding star wide receiver, Vincent Jackson, who headlines a trio of athletic deep threats that includes Chris Chamber and Malcom Floyd. This, along with a stellar pass-blocking front five, gives the Chargers a more dangerous aerial assault than the one that ranked seventh in the league last season.
Of course, in an almost cruel twist of irony, the eruption of the passing game coincides with the waning of the once-hallowed rushing attack. LaDainian Tomlinson is 30 and coming off the worst season of his Hall of Fame career. Tomlinson’s decline is very real, though not yet paralyzing. That’s why general manager A.J. Smith––who identified the ground game as one of San Diego’s two major needs for improvement––opted to sign the ninth-year veteran to a renegotiated contract, rather than release him outright. Smith also slapped lightning-rod big-play extraordinaire Darren Sproles with a $6.62 million franchise tag.
Smith has acknowledged that San Diego’s other major need for improvement is in pass defense (the Chargers ranked 31st in this department a year ago). The hope is that a healthy Shawne Merriman, playing in a contract year, can revitalize the pass-rush and indirectly implore Luis Castillo, Shaun Phillips, Quentin Jammer and Antonio Cromartie to play like the stars that they are. In case Merriman falters, Smith––always with one eye on the future––spent a first-round pick on hybrid end Larry English.
Unlike a year ago, just about every Charger enters the season fully healthy. Aside from Tomlinson and nose tackle Jamal Williams, the key veterans are all in the early stages of their prime. There’s familiarity with Norv Turner’s system and confidence in new defensive coordinator Ron Rivera, who invigorated the D with a more aggressive scheme after passive Ted Cottrell was fired last October. The special teams are solid, the depth is good and San Diego plays in what might be the most pathetic division in the history of pro football.
In short, this team, which is without major flaws, is embarking on what should be the smoothest of paths to the postseason. Of course, this same team has traveled this path before and never reached the end.
Click here to continue reading, or visit: http://www.nfltouchdown.com/san-diego-chargers-2009-preview/
By Andy Benoit, www.NFLTouchdown.com
So often an NFL player will claim that his team’s season isn’t successful unless it ends with a Lombardi Trophy. The rigidity of this notion––a season’s value being measured only in the variable of victories, and true value not being recognized unless one of those victories happened to be of the rarest, most difficult form––would make a Buddhist shudder. Yet even the Dali Lama would admit that for the 2009 San Diego Chargers, it’s Super Bowl or bust.
The members of this organization aren’t going to find true peace or happiness with anything less than an AFC Championship victory. The Chargers have maxed out all other forms of success. They’ve won three straight AFC West titles: they went 14-2 and lost to the Patriots in the Divisional Round of the playoffs in 2006; they reached the AFC Title Game the following season but again fell to New England; last year, San Diego extracted a subtle revenge on its Massachusetts foe by winning the final four games to finish 8-8 and, thanks to a technicality, snatch the last playoff spot from the 11-win Pats (who were not lucky enough to earn an automatic bid from the laughable AFC West). But the season still ended with a Divisional Round loss at Pittsburgh.
The only thing left for the Spanos Family’s team to do is reach a Super Bowl. Amazingly, for a fourth-straight year, San Diego’s window is wide open. (In today’s NFL, this is not unlike leaving your wallet on a park bench and finding it, still full, three days later.)
The Chargers have all the pieces and seem to have moved past the snags of previous years. It was once believed that this club’s shortcoming was at head coach. But after the way Norv Turner’s men have rallied down the stretch the past two seasons, it’s apparent that the venerable offensive playcaller can indeed sail his crew through turbulent waters.
Before Turner arrived, San Diego’s stigma was callow quarterbacking. That’s no longer the case, however, as Philip Rivers turns 28 in December and is coming off a season in which he led the league with a 105.5 passer rating. Rivers is also fully healthy for the first time since 2006. The fiery quarterback has weapons at his disposal. There is far and away the AFC’s best tight end, Antonio Gates. And there’s a budding star wide receiver, Vincent Jackson, who headlines a trio of athletic deep threats that includes Chris Chamber and Malcom Floyd. This, along with a stellar pass-blocking front five, gives the Chargers a more dangerous aerial assault than the one that ranked seventh in the league last season.
Of course, in an almost cruel twist of irony, the eruption of the passing game coincides with the waning of the once-hallowed rushing attack. LaDainian Tomlinson is 30 and coming off the worst season of his Hall of Fame career. Tomlinson’s decline is very real, though not yet paralyzing. That’s why general manager A.J. Smith––who identified the ground game as one of San Diego’s two major needs for improvement––opted to sign the ninth-year veteran to a renegotiated contract, rather than release him outright. Smith also slapped lightning-rod big-play extraordinaire Darren Sproles with a $6.62 million franchise tag.
Smith has acknowledged that San Diego’s other major need for improvement is in pass defense (the Chargers ranked 31st in this department a year ago). The hope is that a healthy Shawne Merriman, playing in a contract year, can revitalize the pass-rush and indirectly implore Luis Castillo, Shaun Phillips, Quentin Jammer and Antonio Cromartie to play like the stars that they are. In case Merriman falters, Smith––always with one eye on the future––spent a first-round pick on hybrid end Larry English.
Unlike a year ago, just about every Charger enters the season fully healthy. Aside from Tomlinson and nose tackle Jamal Williams, the key veterans are all in the early stages of their prime. There’s familiarity with Norv Turner’s system and confidence in new defensive coordinator Ron Rivera, who invigorated the D with a more aggressive scheme after passive Ted Cottrell was fired last October. The special teams are solid, the depth is good and San Diego plays in what might be the most pathetic division in the history of pro football.
In short, this team, which is without major flaws, is embarking on what should be the smoothest of paths to the postseason. Of course, this same team has traveled this path before and never reached the end.
Click here to continue reading, or visit: http://www.nfltouchdown.com/san-diego-chargers-2009-preview/
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