sdsporting Made a great post today on sdsporting.blogspot.com
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If the Chargers beat the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday, consider their season a success.
If not, consider it as big of a failure as last year … even though they won a playoff game for the first time in 13 years this time.
Why?
It’s simple.
The Chargers are facing the Colts in the AFC Divisional playoffs, the same round in which they lost last season to New England, 24-21. (San Diego had a bye in the wild card round of last year’s playoffs for having the best regular season record in the AFC.)
If coach Marty Schottenheimer ultimately took the fall for losing in the divisional round last year, then losing in the same round this year would be no less of a “failure.”
The Chargers have not had a road game in the playoffs for 13 years. The last time they did so was when they won at Pittsburgh, 17-14, to advance to the […]
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Posted in Chargers, Marty Schottenheimer, A.J. Smith, Donnie Edwards, Philip Rivers, Drew Brees, Antonio Cromartie, Keenan McCardell, Chris Chambers, Shawne Merriman, Nate Kaeding, Eli Manning on Jan 2nd, 2008
sdsporting Did a great write-up today on sdsporting.blogspot.com
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The good news is the bad news for the Chargers.
The good news is that general manager A.J. Smith has been signed through 2014. And, yes, that’s the bad news.
On the good side, Smith seems to have a great ability to secure great players.
Trading Eli Manning on draft day 2004 for what turned out to be Philip Rivers, Shawne Merriman and Nate Kaeding was brilliant.
Bringing in Keenan McCardell in the middle of the 2004 season and Chris Chambers the middle of this season were both strokes of brilliance. Taking a chance on Antonio Cromartie in the first round of the 2006 draft looks superb right now.
Then there’s the personality.
Smith has run off such mainstays as Drew Brees, Donnie Edwards and Marty Schottenheimer with his piranha personality.
In the future, the Chargers can only hope Smith continues to make above average personality evaluations.
But on the other hand, he may even be more likely […]
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sdsporting Posted something interesting today on sdsporting.blogspot.com
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So now the Chargers are starting to point fingers.
Shawne Merriman and LaDainian Tomlinson are saying some guys on the team are interested in collecting paychecks; not winning.
Such was the locker room tone after Sunday’s 24-17 loss at Jacksonville.
Sure, they probably have a point with the finger-pointing.
But if they want to get directly to the point, blame team management.
A.J. Smith is the general manager whose sour personality caused the team to lose coach Marty Schottenheimer, who’s a better head coach on his worst day than Norv Turner is on his best day.
Dean Spanos is the guy who twice in 10 years couldn’t solve a coach-general manager feud. Thanks to his ultimate decision to fire Schottenheimer, the Chargers’ have taken huge steps backwards.
The sad part is that if Denver loses at home Monday night to Tennessee, the Chargers will be alone in first place in the AFC West.
This dysfunctional team deserves much […]
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sdsporting Made a great post today on sdsporting.blogspot.com
The first paragraph is here:
You think the Chargers’ loss was bad enough last week at Minnesota?
Just wait until the Indianapolis Colts come to town for Sunday night’s match-up on NBC-TV.
Peyton Manning has spent a lot of time on his back in his last two games against the Chargers, but he’ll probably be spending much more time in the end zone this week.
As if San Diego’s defense wasn’t horrible enough last Sunday, it will spend this week’s entire game without injured defensive end Luis Castillo and (most likely) cornerback Quentin Jammer.
Ouch.
Can you smell 400-plus yards for Manning?
Offensively, the Chargers couldn’t run or pass against Minnesota (does that mean they didn’t do anything right?)
Indianapolis? It has a better defense than the Vikings.
Yes, these are the same Chargers who two years ago went into Indianapolis and spoiled the Colts’ bid for a perfect season when they were 13-0.
But there was a major difference: Motivator Marty Schottenheimer coached […]
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sdsporting Blogged about a good topic today on sdsporting.blogspot.com
The first paragraph is here:
Marty Schottenheimer used to put it all into perspective with three words:
“It’s Raider Week.”
And nobody knew how to beat the Raiders like Schottenheimer, the former San Diego coach who posted a 27-7 career mark against them.
Norv Turner?
Currently the Chargers’ coach, he was on the Oakland Raiders’ side of this long-standing rivalry in 2004-05.
Yes, the Chargers have beaten the Raiders seven straight times. Yes, they have far surpassed their rivals to the north in NFL prominence.
But be careful this week.
The Raiders, under first-year coach Lane Kiffin, actually look like they know how to win. Heck, they even lead the AFC West at 2-2.
The Chargers? With a win this week, they’re 3-3 and no worse than tied for first.
If you think it’s going to be easy, think again. The Chargers were lucky to escape with their lives in last year’s 21-14 win in San Diego over Oakland.
By far, it was the most […]
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sdsporting Did an interesting post today on sdsporting.blogspot.com
Here’s a snippet:
When team president Dean Spanos wonders what’s wrong with the Chargers, all he has to do is look in the mirror.
Spanos should have learned his lesson the first time around after the 1996 season when head coach Bobby Ross and general manager Bobby Beathard were feuding.
As we know, Spanos kept Beathard, fired Ross and the Chargers suffered the next five seasons because of it until Marty Schottenheimer became head coach in 2002 and turned the team around.
Let’s fast forward to the past offseason when Spanos again kept the general manager and fired the head coach when they were feuding.
In sticking with general manager A.J. Smith over Schottenheimer, Spanos has again sent the Chargers in major reverse.
Spanos reportedly believed the last straw was when Schottenheimer wanted to hire his brother, Kurt, to be the Chargers defensive coordinator.
How dare Schottenheimer practice nepotism!
Speaking of, did you know that Spanos (who will inherit the […]
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Posted in San Diego State, Norv Turner, Marty Schottenheimer, A.J. Smith, Padres, Jake Peavy, Colorado Rockies, Trevor Hoffman, NFL, Aztecs, Kansas City Chiefs, Pop Warner, Milwaukee Brewers on Oct 2nd, 2007
sdsporting Did an interesting post today on sdsporting.blogspot.com
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Think back to the rosy situation for San Diego sports last Friday night.
All the Padres had to do was beat the downtrodden Milwaukee Brewers one time to make the playoffs.
The Chargers were favored by more points than any NFL team Sunday, so they would certainly whip the Kansas City Chiefs.
OK, so now we’ve witnessed among the 72 worst hours in San Diego sports history.
The Padres couldn’t beat the Brewers … or hold a two-run lead with Trevor Hoffman on the mound against the Colorado Rockies.
The Chargers lost to the Chiefs … further proving it was Marty Schottenheimer’s coaching – not A.J. Smith’s players – who were responsible for last year’s 14-2 season.
With the Padres, you wouldn’t normally want anyone other than Jake Peavy or Hoffman on the mound. But they surrendered all of Colorado’s runs in Monday night’s season-ending, 9-8 loss in 13 innings.
Sadly, both now have storylines of being […]
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Posted in Qualcomm Stadium, Chargers, Norv Turner, Marty Schottenheimer, A.J. Smith, Donnie Edwards, Philip Rivers, San Diego Union-Tribune, Dwayne Bowe, Ted Cottrell on Sep 30th, 2007
sdsporting Posted something interesting today on sdsporting.blogspot.com
The first bit is quoted here:
So, who is to blame for the Chargers getting off to a stunningly-poor 1-3 start?
It can’t be general manager A.J. Smith. (How can you blame him for the fact his lack of people skills/bullheaded personality led to Marty Schottenheimer and Donnie Edwards no longer being with the Chargers?)
It can’t be head coach Norv Turner. (How can you blame him for the fact he has never won anywhere as a head coach and is 10-26 in his last 36 games in such a role?)
Now that we take the tongue out of our cheeks, let’s get serious for a minute.
Sadly, the man who will probably take the fall if the Chargers continue on their path to destruction in 2007 is defensive coordinator Ted Cottrell.
The Chargers will have to blame somebody, and they’re sure not going to blame the fair-haired boys Smith and Turner.
After all, Smith is the best general manager in […]
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Posted in Chargers, Norv Turner, Marty Schottenheimer, A.J. Smith, Donnie Edwards, LaDainian Tomlinson, Philip Rivers, NFL, LT, Drew Brees on Sep 26th, 2007
sdsporting Blogged something interesting today on sdsporting.blogspot.com
The first few lines….
There has to be a reason LaDainian Tomlinson is holding back in his comments.
Normally an outspoken player, there is something on his mind recently that he’s keeping to himself.
That being said, here’s what Tomlinson is most likely thinking:
Why did the Chargers unceremoniously dump his good friend, Drew Brees, after the 2005 season?
Why was Marty Schottenheimer let go after a 14-2 season as head coach?
Why was General Manager A.J. Smith so eager to get rid of linebacker Donnie Edwards, the backbone of the team’s defense?
With LT so far this season, numbers are speaking even louder than his few words.
Consider that last season, he had 2,323 yards in total offense and an NFL-record 31 touchdowns. After three games this season, it’s 229 total yards and three touchdowns.
Projected over a full season, his current numbers would equal 1,221 total yards and 11 TDs this season.
That’s half as many yards and one-third as many […]
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Posted in Chargers, Wade Phillips, Norv Turner, Marty Schottenheimer, A.J. Smith, Donnie Edwards, San Diego Union-Tribune, Jamal Williams, Jerry Rice, Cris Collinsworth on Sep 24th, 2007
sdsporting Made an interesting post today on sdsporting.blogspot.com
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This is no time for excuses.
Quit saying that it will take time for Norv Turner to implement his system with the Chargers.
There is no reason for this team to be a loser at this point, just because the head coach is new. (After all, isn’t former Chargers defensive coordinator Wade Phillips 3-0 in Dallas?)
Look at the last time the Chargers hired a new head coach. His name was Marty Schottenheimer; the year 2002.
He took over a team that lost its last nine games in 2001. All his first Chargers’ team did was start out 6-1 on the way to an 8-8 season. (An injury to defensive stalwart Jamal Williams led to the team losing its final four games.)
There goes the excuse of taking time for a new coach and his team to jell.
With no apology to the apologists at the San Diego Union-Tribune, hiring Turner for the 2007 season was […]
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