Overrated, or Overhyped?

[bushwacked]

IMO, the problem is that their coaching staff is vastly inferior to last year's. Say what you will about Marty being a playoff choke, but Cam Cameron and Wade Phillips combined with him to do an outstanding job last season. Take away those three guys and insert Norv Turner and his crew of idiots and, well, you saw what happened. Rivers is going to suffer playing in Turner's system and without Phillips' defense. I don't see him throwing as many picks, but I think that he'll be essentially what Ben Roethlisberger was last year.

 

Good info here.

[piratesownninjas]

 

By the way Sarge Ohio St. SUCKS (throws chum on the water and runs away}

Ohio State?

[Sgt. Ryan]

Once again if you actually believe the stuff you post, DMD should remove you as a writer. How can anyone pay money to a site and have someone that is either blind or lets his blind hatred for one team screw with his judgement.

I 100% believe the NE D isnt top 5 D. In fact I dont believe they are better than San Diego, even after this ass whoppin.

The NE secondary is suspect as hell, but hasnt been tested yet. The LBs are suspect. Seriously, Rosey Colvin, Junior Seau, Tedy Bruschi and Mike Vrabel are as average as it gets. Those guys are a yr away from Social Security. Adalius Thomas is a helluva player, no doubt and the NE D-Line is the real deal. But a vertical passing game, will shred this D. And if a D has such a weakness as The Pats have. They are not a top 5 D.


Chicago is better without question
Balitmore is a helluva lot better
San Diego is better
Pitt is better
I also like Denver and Indy more as long as Bob Sanders is playing, though Id probably put NE in this range as well. Personal wise, Belicheat would trade units with Denver in a second. Problem is Denver doesnt have Tom Brady on offense to get big leads, and make teams play their D, 1- dimensional, like New England was able to do tonight.

Indy, Cincy, or Dallas comes into NE, and they hang 30-35 on this D in a second, because they wont have the luxury of a huge lead to pin their ears back like NE did tonight. NE's D isnt nearly the same, when the score is close, or when a team has a verticle passing game, to challenge that suspect secondary, or force those LBs back in coverage. Edited September 17, 2007 by Sgt. Ryan

[Sgt. Ryan]

I think that Sarge is just trying to get a rise out of you.

 

 

Though maybe not in this case.

[Chargerz]

I would venture to guess most Charger fans would think being 1-1 after playing Chicago and New England would be acceptable.

I'm not sure "acceptable" is the word I would use, but when I first looked at this year's schedule I figured winning at NE would be very tough. I'm just disappointed in the way we lost. Embarrassing.

[Riffraff]

Getting an 11-5 or 10-6 record will mean some losses. This was one of them.

Rivers showed he's not an NFL elite QB today.

[rebdog]

NE isnt one of the best defenses in the league. Rivers just isnt a good enough QB to make NE pay. Carson Palmer puts 35 on this defense, as would Indy.

 

its early. ya, i'm very disappointed.

but as for Rivers, Palmer has CJ and TJ, and Manning has Marvin and Reggie.

Rivers did get the ball to Gates. It was most definitely a team loss.

[Bronco Billy]

Norv Turner = horrible HC

 

That's what I tried to tell people in the preseason.

[MikesVikes]

With the new coaching staff, they obviously haven't started where they left off.

[rebdog]

after such a terrible loss, threads like this make me feel good.

everyone will get down on SD for one ugly loss against a tough team.

hopefully Jamal Williams will be OK and we can play, for lack of a better word, underdogs all year.

it takes time when new coaches come in people. give it a couple more weeks.

...and it was the Pats WITH Randy Moss!

[McBoog]

+1

 

LT just pissed off the Pats with his mouth

 

They walked into a hornets nest.

 

Getting caught cheating and the embarassment. LTs remarks, even if in jest was easily twisted. The bad blood between the teams. On the road, at night, young team v. veteran team. I was hopeful they would win and was not suprised they lost. The WAY they lost is what bothers me.

 

One thing in the SD press this week was that the players "knew" that the Pats tend to play "to or beyond" the whistle. You can call this cheating, or not, but it did result in the injury, AFTER the whistle to three Bolt starters that missed the rest of the game. I don't think it is "Cheating, per se" , but we used to call it "cheap". Either way, it is a mindset that comes from the coaching staff down. What is clear, is that the Chargers may have known and talked about this and playing to the same level, but it was all talk. They got their donkeys handed to them and were intimidated off the field.

 

As Rivers said, "Just a good old-fashioned whipping we took.

 

They got beat badly!!! . Two nasty Ds in back-to-back weeks, OPENING two weeks. Defenses jell faster than Os anyway. Being 1-1 at this point was kind of expected. 2-0 would be nice, but the split right now is OK.

 

What did bother me the most was not the whoopin' itself, but I feel they kind of gave up at the end. THAT DID NOT happen last year at any point. Though they did play to a 14-14 tie in the second half, I think a lot of that was NE trying to shorten the game, so I don't want to hear anyone "hanging their hat" on that fact.

 

I think/hope the team will be fine, the O will come around and they should be a playoff team. There are still 14 games to go. They played two of the top five teams in the NFL and are 1-1. I can live with that. We will have a better indication 5 or 6 weeks in. I am not going to panic right now. Heck, after 2-3 weeks last year, everyone was saying that LT was washed up

 

Two years ago, the Pats lost at home 41-17 to the Chargers in the regular season, the Pats went to the Playoffs, the Chargers missed the playoffs, The Pats in Reg season also lost 40-21 to the Colts the same year.

 

In '03, the Pats lost the first game of the year to the Bills 31-0 (and them beat them 31-0 on the last game of reg season), but they still won the Superbowl.

 

My point is that one game, early in the season is NOT enough to judge. I'm riding this thing till the wheels fall off.

 

But then again... As a long suffering Charger fan, I've been dragged through the dirt on pleanty of wheeless wagons before, so I'm used to it!

Edited September 17, 2007 by McBoog

[Grits and Shins]

That's what I tried to tell people in the preseason.

 

I can not begin to express to you the relief I felt when Norv Turner did NOT get the Dallas HC job. While not necessarily thrilled with Wade Phillips I was thrilled it wasn't Norv Turner.

 

Turner has managed to milk the Dallas Cowboy glory days in the 90's where he was the OC for all it was worth. With the talent he had and the O-Line my 12 year old son could have called the plays and came off looking like a golden boy. Norv does not have an ounce of innovativeness in his brain. His first foray as a HC turned out horribly and I absolutely do not see why any other foray as a HC will work out any better. Granted he walked into a situation where the offense and defense are top notch, but he'll work hard and get them to one and done in the playoffs.

 

Thank you God that Norv Turner is NOT in Dallas.

[Bill Swerski]

I didn't see the first quarter of the game, but somebody on First Take this morning pointed out that when the Pats came out in a multiple-WR set early on, the Chargers stayed in their base defense. I also noticed that the Chargers were in Cover 2 (I think) when Moss scored his second TD. I saw Randy in single coverage several other time. Meanwhile, the Patriots were doubling Gates for much of the game.

 

Geez, even a 12-year-old playing Madden would double-cover a healthy Randy Moss.

[pseudolefty]

What a difference a year makes... Last year, I felt like the Chargers dominated the Patriots everywhere but on the scoreboard in their playoff loss. This year, the Chargers were dominated through-and-through and were outcoached and outplayed. Last year, Brady was throwing to the likes of Caldwell and Gaffney. This year, he's throwing to Moss, Welker, and Stallworth. Last year, LT seemed like he was a step ahead of the Pats D. This year, our WRs couldn't even gain a step on Adalius Thomas running down the sidelines. Congrats to the Pats. They took it to us last night and were/are clearly the better team at this point in the season.

 

That being said, I agree with McBoog that it's only Week 2 and it's no time to panic. The Chargers still have a ton of talent and strong team leadership in LT, Lo Neal, and McCree who will rally the troops after a tough loss. The first two opponents were among the league's best and a tough draw for a brand new coaching staff, suspect or not. The Chargers need to reestablish themselves and it all starts at the line-of-scrimmage where our OLine needs to assert itself and regain that nasty streak it had last year when LT had his record-breaking season. Even with 8-men in the box, we were beating defenses last year. Rivers needs to make better decisions and look-off safeties and LBs instead of zeroing in on one target. Our WRs need to step it up. The defense was out-of-sync from the opening drive last night when the Pats went no-huddle and threw on every down. Great strategy by the Pats. Shame on the Chargers coaching staff for not adjusting. The D started making some plays later, but the loss of JWall (Jamal Williams) really hurt, and it showed in the final quarter. On the positive side, it only counts as 1 loss.

 

"We're moving on. Our focus is on the Green Bay Packers".

[Tuff Luck]

Norv Turner = horrible HC

 

+1

[Caveman_Nick]

Just curious could you give me 5 better?

 

At the end of the season take a look at points allowed, total D, and turnover differential. It will tell the story, just like it did last year.

[uglytuna]

Charger Fans,

 

Looks like the road will probably go through NE in the playoffs this year.

 

ugly tuna

[DemonKnight]

Norv Turner and his crew of idiots

 

Can you even name one member of Turners coaching staff? Granted, his play calling is soooo vanilla and predictable that I was picking the plays from home. Statements like these are just moranic though.

 

The Bolts did get run over last night. But that Pats offense was friggin surgical. They were moving the ball at will. Hats off to Brllicheck and Brady, they came to win. That defense was very dynamic all night as well. They seriously had Rivers scratching his head. Once again it looked like the Pats D knew what was comming before the ball was snapped on every play.

 

My question is: Where the hell are V. Jax and Floyd? Talented 6'5 recievers that NEVER get doubled (due to Gates) and they cant get open? Or is it that they just arent getting looks? I know there arent many balls to go around with LT and Gates but they should practicly running around downfield by themselves. I dont get it.

 

I spent way too much on LT and am not panicking (lowest ypc in the league 1.9 )... yet.

[Bill Swerski]

Can you even name one member of Turners coaching staff? Granted, his play calling is soooo vanilla and predictable that I was picking the plays from home. Statements like these are just moranic though.

 

Yeah, his coaching staff is putting out plays that you were predicting from home, but they're completely competent coaches.

[DemonKnight]

Yeah, his coaching staff is putting out plays that you were predicting from home, but they're completely competent coaches.

 

I think "crew of idiots" is a bit harsh. They did figure out the #1 defense of the Bears a week ago.

[Riffraff]

Can you even name one member of Turners coaching staff?

Rivera, formerly DC of Chicago.

Probably helped devise the gameplan against the Bears in week 1.

 

Cottrell, formerly of Buffalo.

 

Lofton, token black coach interviewed for Head Coaching jobs (along with Singletary). Now that Shell is not a possibility...

[Bill Swerski]

I think "crew of idiots" is a bit harsh. They did figure out the #1 defense of the Bears a week ago.

 

OK, how about "crew of bad coaches"?

 

They didn't "figure out" the Bears defense until the second half. And, IIRC, one of those TDs came off of a turnover in Bears territory. And on that first TD, they needed to use a trick play with Tomlinson to get the ball into the endzone. They were bad on offense last week, just as they were last night.

 

And I don't need to know Ted Cottrell's name to know that he's not a good defensive coordinator. That was evident in the way that Moss was often single-covered last night and them playing a base defense against three- and four-WR sets.

Edited September 17, 2007 by Bill Swerski

[DemonKnight]

And on that first TD, they needed to use a trick play with Tomlinson to get the ball into the endzone.

 

I guess Rivers called that play at the line.

[Bill Swerski]

I guess Rivers called that play at the line.

 

So we agree that Rivers was not very successful as a passer against the Bears defense.

[Uncle Wiggy]

Indy, Cincy, or Dallas comes into NE, and they hang 30-35 on this D in a second, because they wont have the luxury of a huge lead to pin their ears back like NE did tonight. NE's D isnt nearly the same, when the score is close, or when a team has a verticle passing game, to challenge that suspect secondary, or force those LBs back in coverage.

 

You may be correct, but if the Pats scored 38 against the SD Def, what would they score against any of these defenses? The Bengals just gave up 51 to Derek Anderson and the Browns. The Pats could have their punter inactive for a game with the Bengals. And Dallas gave up 20+ to possbly the worst offense in the NFL, the Dolphins. As for Indy, we shall see. Should make for a great game.