Q & A With Obviouman: Answering Any Chargers Questions You Have

1) How much does LT have left in the tank? It might seem like a silly question, but he has seemed less effective the past year or two
I think he has plenty to offer with his vision (always his best asset) and speed. The issue is whether he can stay healthy. According to him, he’s changed his training regiment and is as healthy as ever. Then again, he said the same thing last year. I, and I’m probably the only one, think that he’d be much more effective for a longer period of time if he were to split carries.

If he can stay healthy all season, I can see another 1500+ yard season from him. The offensive line wasn’t healthy or good last year either, and they’re improved.

2) If he goes down, can Sproles really carry the load? Do you think your team can benefit by giving some carries to Jacob Hester rather than having him be a straight fullback? I was a big fan of his at LSU.

3) Your outside linebackers are straight animals. What about your inside pair? Obviously Merriman and Phillips grab the headlines so those of us who don’t closely follow the team don’t hear much.

4) Forget whatever legal troubles Merriman may or may not have….does he have a long term future in SD? (Please say no)

5) Most experts have you picked the win the AFC West which is not surprising considering the various degrees of disarray the other teams are in. (I think the Raiders are less disastrous than the other two, but that’s another post) What surprised me is how many have you going to the Super Bowl. Do you honestly think you guys are that talented? I’m not disputing it; you very well might be, but I guess I had never really thought about it, you know?

6) Can you make Richard Seymour report?

Cromartie is more athletic, and therfore has more potential, but it’s Jammer all the way. If he didn’t have hands of stone, Quentin Jammer’s name would be up there with Asomugha and Champ Bailey as the elite CBs in the NFL. Jammer is never caught out of position, never bites on a fake and is so consistent with shutting down his receiver that opposing offenses almost never through in his direction (even though there’s almost no risk of him picking it off). He gets tested maybe once a game, and it usually end with him slapping the ball away easily.

Cromartie is Mr. Inconsistency. Even forgetting his down 2008 campaign, in which he played with a broken him. He goes for the pick and too often gets burned for it. Sometimes he plays off the receiver by 10 yards because he feels he can lure the QB into throwing his way and then use his speed to pick the ball off and take it to the house. It too often turns into an easy 10 yard gain for the offense. It Cro takes Jammer’s lead and gains that kindof consistency, he has the potential to be the next Deion Sanders. However, right now it still remains as potential only.

I am curious as to why you feel the line has improved. On paper I do not see it. Who is replacing Goff? Have the two rookie guards looked good? Also I know the Chargers lost some center depth with Newberry gone.
I cannot stress enough how awful Newberry was last year. I think that man’s back is held together by string and toothpicks at this point. Tyronne Green, who is one of the rookie Guards, has looked decent but hasn’t been able to takeover the backup Center spot as the team hoped. Scott Mruczkowski, a proven backup who is almost good enough to start, will be the backup C, LG and RG and Green will back him up at all three spots.

The line has improved in a couple of ways. The biggest one is health. Last year the 3 best players on the line (McNeill, Dielman, Hardwick) each missed time and played with injuries the entire season. This year they’re all very healthy and look better than ever. Mike Goff has been replaced by rookie Louis Vasquez, who was so impressive in competing with the Kynan Forney for the RG spot that the team cut Forney. The Goff subtraction would be an improvement itself, but Vasquez is going to open some eyes around the league this season I think. He walks in as the biggest, strongest guy on the team and loves to push people around. Against Atlanta in the preseason, he blocked 3 guys on a screen pass by pushing them into each other. It was beautiful. Coming from Texas Tech, he needs to work on his run blocking, but he’s already been touted as one of the hardest working guys on the team so I don’t think it will be a problem.

How has Jamal Williams looked this preseason? He is a great player and I think a big key to what the bolts do on D but he is getting older and has put some miles on that big body. I know he had something wrong with an arm last year, I think, any residuals of that and any worries about his health for the season?
Last year his biggest problem was his knees. He had surgery on them before and after the 2008 season. Let’s face it, those knees can only support 350 lbs for so long. Jamal has been given a ton of rest in training camp and only played in one preseason game. The time he’s actually been on the field, he’s looked as dominating as ever. He says the surgery and the rest has made him feel like he’s 25 again. If he can stay healthy, which he’s done a great job of doing throughout his career, there’s no reason to believe he’ll be any less of a beast than he’s been.

How has Merriman looked so far on the field? He is coming off some major surgery.
Merriman played very little in week 1, a little bit more in week 2, and for almost the full half in week 3 of the preseason. Each game he looked a little bit better than the week before. He is not the dominating Merriman from 2007 and earlier, simply because he doesn’t trust his knee yet. He’s been given a fair amount of rest as well. Everyone’s realistic expectations is that he starts off slow and ends the season strong, as he continues to gain confidence in the knee and get back into the rhythm of the game. The short answer to your question is “Good, but not dominating”.

The passing Defense was the team’s weakness last year and seemed bad enough to prevent this team from taking it to the next level. What have the Chargers done to address this?
A couple of things. The biggest reason for the poor pass defense was a complete and total lack of a pass-rush. To help those matters, the team is bringing back Merriman and adding Larry English. They’ve also switched defensive coordinators to Ron Rivera, who had some success late in the season and in the playoffs after taking over for Ted Cottrell (a Rivera-coached defense made Russell look silly late in 08). Rivera has promised to bring heat from everywhere, making sure the opposing QB never gets comfortable in the pocket.

The second thing done to improve the pass defense was the addition of Kevin Burnett. The Chargers were incredibly bad at defending TEs last season because of the players the team was playing at ILB next to Stephen Cooper. Burnett was signed as a “pass-coverage specialist” LB, but has quickly shown himself to be the total package. If he plays in the regular season like he did in the preseason, he may be the best LB on the Chargers squad.

The final thing that will improve the secondary, and it seems this is the case with many of the Chargers position groups, is health. Cromartie is no longer playing with a broken hip (which he did for all of 2008) and Clinton Hart’s neck and hand are fine. Both players are really good with a pass rush (so they can’t make mistakes or get beaten deep), but struggled mightily without one. Having them healthy and taking away those 10 seconds to throw we were giving QBs should go a long way towards improving the pass defense.

Goff was a very solid guard up until 2008, when he fell off completely. I still think he’s one of the best O-linemen in Chargers history in terms of consistency.

One last question- if Williams does go down, do they have a solid back-up NT?
No. None at all. It’s one of the few places we have zero depth. The Chargers drafted Vaughn Martin and hope he’s the eventual replacement, but coming out of Canadian college he’s still trying to catch up and be more consistent. The Chargers also traded for Travis Johnson, a 3-4 DE/DT who has been underachieving and generally driving the Texans nuts. Those are probably the two best options. We have a young, undersized kid named Ogemdi Nwagbuo (how’s that for a name?) that is also in that mix as a backup NT as well, but he’s unproven.

I understand. The worse part about the scene was that there were two Raider fans holding the Charger fan up while the third got stabby. You’re right, those guys would be criminals no matter what, but unfortunately a lot of criminals decide to be fans of the Raiders for whatever reason. I’ve been to a lot of Chargers games at the Q, and Raider games are the only one where the people are completely out of hand.

While I understand that’s probably just a few people making a bad name for many, it’s a consistent problem with your team’s fanbase…at least when they play in San Diego.

I will cum in my pants out of excitement and disbelief!

Yes. Absolutely. The Chargers had the #20 rushing offense last year and still managed to make it to the playoffs.

To put it simply, we have the horses to match up. VJ matches up favorably with Asomugha, Gates is a beast over the middle, I don’t think you have anybody that can defend Malcom Floyd or Legedu Naanee in the slot, etc. etc. What it really comes down to are the lines though. I think the Chargers O-line is significantly better than the Raiders D-line, and whether that equals a strong rushing attack or lots of time for Rivers to throw, we’ll put points up either way.

Okay, I appreciate the compliments, but I need to straighten some things out.

-I agree that Norv Turner came to San Diego missing something. I personally think it was intensity. He was too boring, too much of an X’s and O’s guy. However, in December of 2007 I think he turned that around. Suddenly he was screaming at everything during games and getting into it because he felt pressure, and the players loved it. Since then, I think he’s been a fantastic coach.

Look at the playoff games he’s won (Colts, Colts, Titans) and then look at the ones he’s lost. In 2007 he very nearly beat the undefeated Patriots even though his starting QB was playing with a torn ACL (and a sprained MCL in his other knee), he was without his future HOF running back and his star TE’s toe was so bad he couldn’t even walk the week prior to the game. Not to mention it was in New England and the Chargers had the game sealed with an interception before Marlon McCree fumbled it right back. Does that sound like bad luck or bad coaching? In 2008, the Chargers were steamrolled by the SB-winning Steelers and their dominant defense. Again, the Chargers had to make due without Tomlinson and Darren Sproles got something like 0.6 yards per carry in the game. Just like the rest of the season, the Chargers could not stop the Steelers passing attack in the second half because their best pass-rusher was missing. However, they still made it close.

Do either one of those sound like coaching gaffes? He’s beaten the Colts without Rivers (Volek led the winning drive in 07) and without LT (Sproles went nuts), and that’s a SB winning franchise. I don’t know that there’s a coach in the league who could’ve won either the NE or PITT games under those circumstances.

Also, Rivers big mouth was a problem in 2007. He had grown up a trash-talker, had always been a trash-talker, and nobody cared until he made it to the NFL. He was just having a good time. The guy doesn’t even curse, so you know it wasn’t bad. When he goes on the field, he plays like he’s playing in his backyard….so that’s why it makes it more fun for him to talk a little smack. With that being said, after getting ridiculed for it in 2007, he decided he would shut up during games and create no distractions for his team. He hasn’t said a peep since. So to say he’s got a big mouth is silly, when you’re comparing 2 instances (trash-talking Cutler, Colts fans) with two full seasons of him not saying a word.

-First off, I understand your situation. I’ve found most Chargers fans to be loud trash-talkers towards Raider fans. I honestly think it has more to do with the sorry teams the Raiders have fielded in the last few years that makes them more comfortable.
-Second, my thoughts about the Chargers not upping their game in the postseason? Inconclusive. You can’t say they don’t play at a higher level, because each of the last two seasons they’ve beaten the Colts while being battered and bruised. I think them not getting to where they’re projected each year has a lot more to do with untimely injuries than anything else. However, the Colts were in this situation a few years back and wound up getting a SB victory eventually. So I stay positive.
-Third, that’s ridiculous. You really think LT is quitting in the playoffs? You think he’s faking his injuries because he’s not confident enough or doesn’t want to take the blame for a loss? Absolutely, totally absurd. The reason LT has wound up on the sidelines in each of the past two seasons (he was fine in the playoffs before 07) is a simple one….the guy has a ridiculous amount of mileage on his legs. Just look at the active leaders in rushing attempts:

1. Edgerrin James (133 carries in 2008)
2. Warrick Dunn (186 carries in 2008)
3. LaDainian Tomlinson (292 carries in 2008)
4. Fred Taylor (143 carries in 2008)
5. Jamal Lewis (279 carries in 2008)
6. Shaun Alexander (11 carries in 2008)

So out of the top 6 most worked RBs in the NFL, only two of them has more than 186 carries in 2008. Tomlinson had the most. When everybody else has figured out how to effectively use a player that has this much mileage on their legs, the Chargers stubbornly say that LT will get the ball even more in 2009. I think Norv Turner is out to kill LT.