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Chargers Need a Road Win

djames — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 16:14:56 +0000

The Chargers are off to a very solid 3-1 start, something they aren’t used to doing under head coach Norv Turner. This weekend, against a lackluster Denver team, the Chargers have an opportunity to take control of the division while beating a familiar rival on the road. Though the Chargers clearly have the most talent in the matchup, AFC West rivalries tend to be fairly close, so the Chargers can’t bank on simply shocking and awing with their superior talent. For starters, Philip Rivers hasn’t been having one of his better seasons so far, but that could change with a nice matchup against a struggling Denver unit; the Broncos are coming off of a game in which they got absolutely picked apart by Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers.

And the Chargers will need to beat teams like the Broncos to continue to hold on to the AFC West, as the Raiders are looking like a much better team than many people thought and the Chiefs are likely to turn it around after a rough start. The Raiders in particular are looking like a very physical team and have played it close with some of the better teams in the league so far this year, which puts even more pressure on the Chargers to win their divisional games.

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Fantasy Spotlight: Philip Rivers

djames — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 21:57:01 +0000

One player you haven’t had to worry about much the last couple of seasons was Philip Rivers, who actually had his most impressive season in 2010. With his receiving corps completely depleted, Rivers turned unknowns into stars and continued to shred opposing defenses. What’s most impressive is that the coaching staff was able to keep a full-throttle down-the-field approach even while the receiving corps was so severely limited. And obviously that’s because they have Rivers, who is among the elite quarterbacks in the league. Rivers is the only player in the league to have a QB rating of more than 100 each of the last three seasons. Peyton Manning hasn’t even hit the mark since 2006.

And that’s why Rivers projects as such a safe pick. Not only has he put up the big numbers, you know he has the complete confidence of his coaching staff no matter what happens to the personal around him. After tossing 30 touchdowns for the second time in his career, Rivers looks like almost as safe of a fantasy pick as Aaron Rodgers, even if he doesn’t get similar run statistics. But Rivers is already elite, with a 66% completion percentage and more than 4,700 yards passing last year to go with 30 touchdowns and just 13 interceptions. Even if Rivers has a down year, something he hasn’t suggested he’s due for, you’re likely to see some consistent production.

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Super Bowl Debacle Still an Issue

chargers — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 17:37:45 +0000

Though the game itself turned out to be a good one, some fans are still lamenting the seating issues that caused a bevy of fans to lose their assigns seats and watch the game from a standing room only area. When the temporary seats were deemed unsafe at the last second, 2,000 fans were displaced and offered face-value for the seats, though this only sent some into an uproar. Both Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and the NFL itself now face law suits, even after they’ve expanded their compensation package in the wake of the melee.

Originally, the NFL was offering just face-value for the seats, though this has changed dramatically since. Instead, the NFL is now offering triple the face-value of the tickets or a future Super Bowl ticket with airfare and hotel accommodations paid for. NFL executives have expressed their displeasure over the issue and at least one, executive VP Eric Grubman, suggested that he would have been furious if the situation had happened to him. As a whole, the Dallas Super Bowl didn’t get off nearly as planned. The national anthem was botched, microphones didn’t work during halftime and the city struggled to dig itself out of an unusual winter storm that swept through just days prior to the Super Bowl. While the Green Bay Packers have moved on to celebrate, the disaster of the Super Bowl still seems far from over.

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Negotiations Cancelled For New CBA

chargers — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 06:28:41 +0000

With the owners and NFLPA still very far apart on many key issues for the new CBA, there is starting to be a real doubt as to when a new one will finally come to light. Now, reports are that the owners have walked out of a key level of negotiations, leaving a potential deal on the table. The two sides that are already very far apart on several key issues, from an 18-game season to revenue sharing, will now have to try to find a new deal with which to start on if they are to move forward with saving the 2011 season.

Meanwhile, teams are gearing up for the draft by starting to select their franchise tags, even if a lack of a CBA might make the technically meaningless shortly. The Chargers could be considering making Vincent Jackson their franchise player, though nothing officially has gone through. Jackson had a decent shortened season after he sat out more than half of the year due to a league suspension and issues with his contract. If the Chargers are unable to make Jackson the franchise player, there is a good possibility that he won’t be signed and the Chargers will have to look elsewhere for their new franchise receiver.

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Chargers Could Franchise Vincent Jackson

chargers — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 06:06:20 +0000

Even with the ongoing debates raging between the owners and the NFLPA over the new collective bargaining agreement, teams are moving forward as usual. One way the Chargers are going on with business is speculating about potentially franchising Vincent Jackson for the second consecutive season. Though the Chargers were unwilling to bend and before last season about Jackson’s contract, he clearly is a player that the Chargers would love to have on the team again in 2011, even if that means slapping him with the franchise tag once again and potentially screwing up their chances of signing him long-term.

But even if they do exactly that, it still might not even matter due to the negotiations still taking place. Both the owners and NFLPA are staying strong in their arguments and it’s not looking good for a new collective bargaining agreement to get underway any time soon. Right now, they are very divided over the amount to split revenue and also about the 18-game schedule, which the owners are looking to implement but the players are hesitant to sign on for. In short, no matter what the Chargers do their franchise won’t matter if a new CBA changes the rules. Still, even with their differences, both sides want to see football in 2011.

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Doubts Remain About Chargers’ Future

chargers — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 23:22:55 +0000

With Los Angeles clearly moving forward with their plans to one day bring an NFL team to the city, some are still worried that San Diego could eventually be the team to go. Though it’s almost pure speculation at this point and there are other franchises that also make sense to make the move to L.A., the Chargers have some issues that they’ll eventually have to deal with. One of their biggest issue is Qualcomm Stadium, which is now somewhat outdated and no longer a place that could house the Super Bowl. San Diego, formerly a great option for the biggest game of the year, hasn’t hosted the event in quite a few years and a new stadium would have to be constructed before it would happen again.

New plans have started to come forward that could start construction on a downtown stadium, which would presumably be the long-term solution to keeping the Chargers in town. In addition to the Chargers being rumored as a possible franchise that could move to L.A., other teams in the mix – according to reports mixed with speculation – are the Jaguars, the Bills and the Vikings. The Bills and Jags have smaller cities backing them up while the Vikings are also in the middle of dealing with their own stadium problems. Though it’s very unclear what will happen, the Chargers will almost definitely have to upgrade their stadium if there is going to be an NFL team in San Diego. For now, commissioner Roger Goodell has stated that the league is committed to San Diego, but there are no guarantees in the NFL.

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Packers Top Steelers, Win Super Bowl

chargers — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 17:06:09 +0000

The Green Bay Packers had just one more win than the San Diego Chargers did in the regular season, though they also sneaked into the playoffs and ended up running the table. With a 31-25 win over the Steelers in Dallas on Sunday, the Packers are now the world champions and have officially moved beyond the Brett Favre era. In the game, quarterback Aaron Rodgers was nearly unstoppable, completing 24 of 39 passes for more than 300 yards and three touchdowns without throwing a pick. But while Rodgers was throwing darts all over the field, his receivers were also not giving him much help. Various Packers’ receivers dropped key passes that could have turned Rodgers’ good day into one of the greatest performances in Super Bowl history.

As it stands, though, Rodgers still pushed himself to the top of the league and was awarded the Super Bowl MVP as the only real choice for the award. The Packers have their first championship since the mid 1990s and have a young and talented team that will likely be one of the favorites next season as well. Rodgers, who has been criticized previously for not winning the big game, now is one of the elite signal callers in the league, placing him in the same breath as Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Drew Brees.

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Willhelm Set to Play in Super Bowl

chargers — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 19:30:33 +0000

Though he’s no longer a San Diego Charger, it’s hard not to pull for a guy like Matt Willhelm, who only a couple seasons ago was a starter for the Chargers and a major contributor on defense and special teams. Since being released a couple years back by the team, Willhelm has bounced around before getting signed by the Packers in mid-season, as the injuries began to mount. For Willhelm, he’ll get his first crack at playing in the big game this upcoming Sunday as the Packers head to Dallas to take on the Steelers in the Super Bowl. Though he wished he could have been doing it for the Chargers, he isn’t exactly going to argue with his good fortune.

In the game, the Packers are slight favorites over the Steelers, who have won two Super Bowls recently under star quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. For Steelers’ head coach Mike Tomlin, this could also be his second ring in just three seasons with the team, which would pretty much solidify his status in the city as a demi-god. On the other side, the Packers haven’t won a Super Bowl since fairly early in the Brett Favre era and their fans desperately want to pull down a title to help them forget about number four. Though Willhelm will only be playing special teams, he’ll have an opportunity to do just that.

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18-Game Regular Season a Big Maybe

chargers — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 19:24:14 +0000

With the talks heating up about whether or not the NFL will eventually move to an 18-game regular season, a recent poll suggested that there is far from a consensus among fans. An AP poll yielded results that only 27 percent of fans would favor the expansion of the regular season to 18 games, making the decision a very unclear one for NFL executives. The debate has been raging for months now after owners made it well-known that they were strongly in favor of moving to 18 regular season games, which would yield considerably more revenue. Some owners have even come out to say that it’s a done deal.

But fan polls and player opposition could make it far from that. Players, who are already stretched to the max in terms of their bodies, will have an even bigger physical requirement for an 18-game regular season. With the amount of injuries that happen in the year as is considering the violence of the game, it’s easy to understand why the players are hesitant to move to 18 games – even if they see financial compensation. With the NFL dealing with head injuries at an unprecedented level, some have called into question the NFL’s motives for wanting to force a switch to the 18-game season. The debate will likely rage on for a while longer as both sides attempt to come to an agreement.

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Brady is Offensive Player of the Year

chargers — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 23:09:44 +0000

With plenty of candidates, including Philip Rivers, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady won the league’s Offensive Player of the Year Award and is the likely player to win the MVP as well. Brady had an enormous season in New England, throwing 36 touchdowns against just four picks all season long. What’s most impressive is that Brady did it while transitioning the Pats’ passing attack away from the vertical game they had under Randy Moss. While most assumed the Pats’ offense would slow down a bit after they traded Moss, Brady picked up his game and the Pats lost just one game after the trade.

Brady was given credit for turning rookie tight ends and underneath threats into one of the most prolific passing attacks in all of football. In that way, Brady was in a similar situation as Philip Rivers, who made the best out of limited healthy talent surrounding him. Much has been made of Rivers’ ability to overcome the injuries and suspensions on his offense to guide the Chargers to yet another winning team, though they ultimately missed out on the playoffs by just a single game. Brady finished the season with the top passer rating in the league at 111. Rivers was second in the league in passer rating with a 101.8 mark, narrowly edging out Super Bowl hopeful Aaron Rodgers.

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