AKC

Good to see the knuckle-suckers are still avoiding talking among their own fans and exposing their lack of grasp. Much easier to be a whining troll than to have well-mannered conversation among actual football fans!

With the common opponent being our defense, and considering their statistics against that common opponent, which of these players if the best we've seen so far this year?

3rd down defense isn't taking place in a vacuum, but what I suggested in the post is that focusing on the players who would seem to make a 3rd down D potent- CBs and DEs specifically- is losing site of the fact that the game is more frequently being lost on the first down where you ceded 5 or 6 yards, especially if that 5 or 6 yards came on the ground. Play all the great ball you want on thrid downs but if you're giving up enough to your opponent on 1st they'll either close the down set on 2nd or leave themselves in a 3rd and nothing that allows them to run virtually any play in their playbook. A team facing a 3rd and 8 is limited to some fraction of their playbook by the mere distance required for success. And the guys who help you leave a team on the long 2nd and third down plays are your rushing package DTs. Opening this season without a quality 2 gap DT was the problem. There's plenty of those who aren't named Pat Williams. Playing a great 1-technique guy on one side and a good 2 gap guy to the other draws the extra blockers that will otherwise be slowing down our DEs or extra rushers. The 1 technique player should be creating enough push to force the QB to stay back without stepping up into his throw. This is all that's necessary to give your DE's a real shot with regularity. Losing in the NFL ALWAYS has something to do with the defense. I'm glad you mention the Ravens- a perfect example. In 2000 they had the best D in football and carried the kind of offense contemplated in the original post. Their '04 defense isn't anywhere near as as good, and where it drops off the most is inside the interior of that DLine. No one is going to mistake Kelly Greg and Maake Kemoeatu for Tony Siragusa and Sam Adams, an interior duo who made the Ravens the #1 run stoppers in the NFL versus being 9 spots worse in 2005. In fact the thing that separates the 2000 from 2005 Ravens was their ability to stop opponents on first down and create undesirable down/distance series for their higher profile (but of less importance IMO) players to take advantage of on those long 2nds and 3rds.

True- there will be one home game for the inevitable lackey our division sends as a representative to the playoffs this year.

Ngata is considered a first round reach by a lot of the better draft agencies. Watson is the guy who overall gets the big ratings- playing side by side with Sam Adams it might become "difficult" for teams to take our interior for granted on first down. Watson Draft Profile Pressure on the edge becomes effective when there's pressure in the middle. With Bannderson on the field the opponent will keep their QB free of pressure using simply their interior OLine players, we add another quality tackle to play with a healthy SAdams and they'd be forced to bring one more blocker into the scheme or risk their QB backing out of the pocket and into our edge rushers.

One of my buddies is an FBI Agent proficient at "creating backgrounds", if you'd consider applying for a personnel job at OBD I'd apply all forces at my disposal to see that you get the job ;-)

The irony of the 2005 AFC East champ will be their Wild Card spanking by the Bengals in Cincinatti.

If you assume as our performances have suggested that we're the worst road team in the league you might be a bit less optimistic.

That's what makes the finger-pointing subjective- Donahoe has to shoulder a lot as the ultimate trigger-puller, but we have to assume he consults the coaching staff. To me the biggest crime was the failure to recognize that Ron Edwards was such a terrible fit for our rush defense- I'd love to know what Mularkey and Gray had to say about that decision, obviously the decision that in their minds made PWilliams expendable.

It's this simple: He was asking for more than he's worth to any team who has a two gap guy who can give you 20 plays on Sunday. We could have made it all work by signing a Keith Traylor type to play to Sam's side. The problem we had was the team assuming, contrary to every single play we've ever seen him involved in, that REdwards would be a good complement. Edwards is another 1-technique DT and that made him exactly the wrong guy to play off Sam's talent.

Neither one is "good" in the run game, but yesterday for the times the Chargers had early run success I thought Posey won the futility award; I'll watch the game again this week and confirm that. The problem with Bannderson is they represent no challenge to a short passing attack, something a healthy Sam Adams DOES offer.

The easiest thing to do with a losing team is to find fault with everyone from the trainer to Ralph Wilson's dog groomer. Problem with it is that there isn't anywhere near the distance between this team and the better teams in the league that all the finger pointing would lead one to believe. The truth about the NFL today is that the most important players on any roster have changed dramatically over the past 30 years. The media and fans they feed are still stuck on believing the "skill" position players are the most critical, while fans with a deeper appreciation of the game recognize that better defenses win upwards of 90% of the important games in the NFL. But even those that recognize the greater importance of today's defenses are typically stuck in a mentality of defense that presumes CBs and DEs have the greatest impact because stopping a team on 3rd down is where the defense's bread gets buttered. The problem with that thinking is that it just isn't supported by the facts. If you look at the best 3rd down D's in the league you'll find Arizona, Philly and the Ravens among the top 10- teams with a combined record of 10 wins and 20 losses so far this season. The NFL has become a first down league- defensive and offensive success on first down has more to do with ultimate success in the league than anything else, with the success of the D being far and away the more important since the teams with great first down Ds end up giving their offense more opportunities over the course of a Sunday than their counterparts. The truth is a team that focuses on and is successful shutting down their opponents on first down simply doesn’t need anything more than an offense that is capable of putting together some sustained drives during a game- no need for the flashy WR or exciting QB and RB- simply an offense who can chew up some clock when their D has shut down the opponent and turn some of those spurts into points. Putting your opponent in 2nd and 3rd and long situations allows you to put more abundant talent on the field and still be effective stopping them on the longer downs. When it comes to first downs there is no player on the football field with more importance than the interior defensive linemen or lineman according to scheme. Everything begins in the middle of the defensive line on first down. Even where your opponent throws the ball it’s the push in the center that dictates your opponent’s success. The best DE’s in the league have little chance when they’re playing to the sides of poor quality DTs. Yesterday was a great example of this- facing a QB who has proven to be as good as any playing in the game today we were unable to provide any push to flush him to our DEs when he did drop to pass on first down, and he simply made his reads from the safety of his pocket and ate us up- challenging our assumed strength in pass coverage. We brought help to the line from the safety spot all day and teased Brees to throw on us- and throw he did. And it was all predicated on the fact that we had no quality at the DT position to pressure him out of the pocket to set up our DEs. We’ve watched all year what happens when our opponent recognizes the poor talent we’ve assembled at DT, and we saw yesterday what a team will do to a defense bringing help to their poor DTs by challenging the line with extra men. It’ll be an off-season with lots of blame-laying, at the feet of coaches and players and owners and zebras and ostriches, but in the simplest of all terms our failures of 2005 have been more directly proportional to the fact that we simply can’t stop anyone from running for 5 yards on first down and if we risk giving our bad DTs any help the outcome is utter embarrassment. Looking to the sidelines before the game it was clear Sam Adams was overheated sitting head down in front of a misting fan and favoring in a major way his bad leg when he did any warm-up. His face also suggested he figured he had no business being in the game. We’ve been fortunate to have one starting quality DT on our roster when Sam has been healthy but even with a clean bill of health Sam is merely a great 1-technique DT. You can’t expect to win the in the NFL with just one great 1-technique DT, you must have at the VERY minimum have a good 2-gap DT to play alongside him. All the best defenses today have a complement of three, and in some cases four, very good to great 1 and 2 gap DTs. 2005 is a football season wasted because we came into it with merely one quality DT in our rotation, and with DT having evolved into the most critical position on the football field the wheels are falling off our wagon since that one quality DT isn’t up to snuff at this time. The worst news is our upcoming opponents get to watch the San Diego game and notice the 4 spots we just dropped today in our pass defense rating. And with no one to help a decent DE group flush our opponents QBs we might expect to see a lot more challenges to the balance of our D. Maybe it’s fair to spread the misery around- but that will in no way change the fact of where everything for 2005 started falling apart before we even stepped on the field to face the Texans in the opener- our failure to sign/draft a dependable first down defense in our interior.

The local paper gave Sam Wyche more coverage than any of the Chargers this morning, and local news coverage is pretty tame compared to what is expected in sports oriented cities. In fact, one morning show put up a graphic of the game and mentioned going to break "The Chargers host the Bills on Sunday", only to skip any further mention in the broadcast. There are unconfirmed rumors of one of the single guys from Buffalo was married before leaving Tijuana last night, we'll get more info today from others in his party. The "dance" club where he met the little lady was appropriately named "Amnesia". UDonkey's girlfriend held up remarkably well in some difficult conditions referred to south of the border as "Tequila showers". Only ran into two certified nutcases the whole trip down and back, an "intimate" but entertaining outing indeed. Another beautiful morning, althought slightly cooler than yesterday. Moving towards that sunny and 75 mark for the game Sunday.

Give me a call on my cell at (310) 963-7640 when you set down. I'll brief you on the STDs from the TJ run :-O

On a crystal clear morning with Santa Ana breezes heating the canyons above Qualcomm Stadium, most expectations begin with the 75 degree temperatures being forecast for Sunday’s kickoff. While I'm not a meteorologist I'd say the 80 degree day right now at 9:30 a.m. suggests it'll be a bit warmer than 75 for the game. Residents here are their typical self-absorbed selves, most heading to the bike shop for a little tune-up on their beach cruiser or already in the water off Ocean Beach Pier waiting for the next perfect set of waves. San Diego is America’s city of short attention spans, and for good reason. Nothing changes too quickly; from the weather to the seasons to the daily mores of its inhabitants- many consider this the most desirable city in the country to call home. On the football field Sunday the level of anticipation will hit the other extreme- with the Chargers in contention in the AFC West the Charger players amped up- helped along by one Willis McGahee of the Buffalo Bills. Mr. McGahee was kind enough this week to revisit a strategy that has been a dismal failure for the Bills this year. From our linebackers’ proclamation of our defense being “one of the best of all-time” following the beating of the league whimp Houston Texans to Willis McGahee’s October claim to being the best RB in football (followed of course by three straight scoreless games), grandiose media statements have proven especially counter-productive for the Buffalo Bills this season. Not surprisingly today’s San Diego Union Tribune features the storyline of the Buffalo News quote this week by Willis that he remains “the best running back” while LaDanian Tomlinson is a “good back”. Tomlinson, asked if he had any thoughts about McGahee’s comments simply said “Nope”. Between LaDanian’s 3 Pro Bowls and his team’s more realistic chances of making a playoff run, there might be a lesson in all this for our own running back- winners prove it on the field, not in the papers. Marty Schottenheimer has graciously allowed his Offensive Coordinator an opportunity to speak to the media this week- for the first time this season. Seems Marty is his old fun-loving self after all these years. Much of the fan talk here is of the underused Mr. Tomlinson, and there’s probably a message in that Marty would approve Cam Cameron’s “coming out” party in the press to answer questions on just that subject. If there were a prop bet in Vegas on LT’s carries Sunday I’d definitely take the over, but then having watched our run defense and especially Jeff Posey’s pathetic play last weekend against the Chiefs I’d have played that the same way without the apparent confirmation from Marty and Co. Jordanian Feast: Aaron Schobel will face his second Jordan and second reserve OT in consecutive games- after blowing up Jordan Black in Kansas City for 2 sacks and a handful of pressures he’ll face Leander Jordan in San Diego due to Roman Oben and his Super Bowl ring sitting out the game due to a foot injury. Like last week’s Jordan, this one has been “generous” in his spot duty so far this season, allowing opponents 3 sacks so far. He’s a much bigger load than Jordan Black, but his immobility could spell a second big weekend in a row for Aaron Schobel, a guy beginning to feel his oats and using more of the moves Tim Krumrie has been teaching him. We should expect to see Mr. Schobel among the top 5 sack artists in the league after Sunday’s game.

We've never lost anyone yet, but then it is a new season and we'll try harder ;-) Tijuana

It's not trouble where I take the group, and I've been in TJ at least 150 times in my life. PM me if you want a breakdown.

If you haven't been to Tijuana with us yet I'd suggest you talk to some of the incarcerated and permanently damaged who have. Get onboard for the trolley from Old Town Transit Center at 1:00 p.m. Friday afternoon, I can guarantee you'll come back "speaking Spanish" ;-) The Trip

You're absolutely right. Every season we see 8 or 9 teams with similar injury woes yet the media hardly mentions them. Yet you get a team starting a gay QB and the media hypes the realities of an NFL season up to become "insurmountable problems". (I do recognize when it comes to Brady it's a little awkward to use the word "insurmountable" ;-)

Should I find it peculiar that fans of a team- ahem- "manned" by Mudslide Brady would reference an album by the Backstreet Boys?

Perhaps you didn't have the chance to watch the game. If not for DVermiel's run pessimism KC would have converted those 22 first downs and almost 10 minute advantage in TOP to a road victory for KC. You don't hold your opponent to 9 first downs, run the ball down their throat, yet allow them to beat you when your biggest weakness is the awful pass blocking skills of your starting LT. In fact, until KC can get Jordan Black off the field they might consider running on every down.

If your HC believed in the run as much as he does the pass you'd have won the football game. DVermiel is one of the best passing strategists in football but on Sunday he had something working yet he insisted on using Trent Green's arm even though Green was seeing regular pressure. I've alwsy appreciated DV's passing philosophy- never moreso than I appreciated it yesterday!

I have little positive to say about the perpetually constipated Steeler coach, yet he has no problem at all running the ball on third and 3. Wonder if the "trend" in Pitt of successful teams has anything to do with that?

Charger's in '04- 3rd against the run, 31st against the pass. I heard some pregame comment that "between the AFC East and West there'll be a total of 2 playoff games total this postseason". Hard to argue with that logic ;-)

My old dog caught a ferret. Only happened once. BTW- you missed a "good outing" yesterday- I relayed your Kelly Holcomb message sometime after our first TD throw and I have been assured by its intended recipient that you are going straight to hell 3-