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Team: TBD Chargers Record through 8 games: 3-5. More on this later. Offensive grade: D. Although improvements in the O-Line have happened as well as some upgrades at certain skill positions, the offense has murdered this team's chances at winning several games already. Specifically: two fumbles lost against the Saints to allow them to come back from 13 behind with less than 5 minutes left in regulation, and a fumble lost against the Colts to kill a come from behind win that was most certainly within their power. There are three more losses to account for, but by other units on the team. That said, the run game has improved, Tyrell Williams and Travis Benjamin are upgrades to the WR 3 and 4 positions from last season, but injuries to Stevie Johnson and Keenan Allen have forced them into the WR 1 and 2 positions. Hunter Henry is doing what Ladarius Green never could do, and that is take over for Antonio Gates. In all, the offense SHOULD be better, but key injuries and an ungodly number of fumbles are killing this team. Defensive grade: B-. In the context of the last several years, this is an A+. The defense has proven to be hugely upgraded even with key injuries. They create turnovers, have held at key moments against the Broncos and Falcons to eke out wins against teams they had no business beating, and rookies and FA acquisitions have filled in spectacularly. Manti Te'o was lost, being replaced with Jatavis Brown who has more than supplanted the now expendable Te'o. Casey Hayward has proven to be an effective CB1, though I think he will eventually be replacing Brandon Flowers rather than Jason Verrett who is on IR. Flowers has been okay/good when healthy, but he hasn't been healthy. That, along with his bloated contract, will likely see him restructured for a lot less or cut this offseason. And then there's Brandon Mebane and Joey Bosa -- the biggest reasons for the upgrade. Mebane quickly became the heart and soul of this defense while Bosa has become the ten-foot dick that's been slapping opposing offenses. More on Bosa later. Special Teams grade: Holy loving poo poo F-. I don't know what the hell is wrong with special teams play outside of the muffed punts and kickoffs which are on individual players. They don't gain yardage, and the team does touchbacks all day every day to avoid seeing constant 35-40 yard KRs. Coaching grade: I'm going to include the front office in this grade for reasons that will be clear shortly. F-. I am a believer that this team should be 6-2 at a minimum right now. I blame the coaches (not exclusively) for the losses against the Chiefs, Broncos round 2, and Raiders. Although there were other factors at work in those games, the fact that this team won 3 games at all with Mike McCoy is astounding. However, to compound the problem, one differencemaker who should have been on this team from day 1 was Joey Bosa. He held out because of a contract dispute in the offseason, perpertuated by noted shithead John Spanos. I won't get into the particulars, but it would have taken 20 minutes to get him signed with a decent compromise if Spanos had figured out his original offer was bullshit. Bosa could have been the guy to change the outcome of most all the games he missed. The team is fortunate to have him at all. That said, this team also needs to be rid of Mike McCoy in the worst way. He's got a lot of good qualities, but a willingness to learn and adapt is not one of them, and it's costing this team a lot of games. Overall grade: D. This is not a team that can be carried by the defense, but it should be a team that can win throughout the season even against good teams with a balanced offense and defense. I won't give this team the benefit of the doubt about injuries because they've proven they can adapt to some measure, but not enough because of the head coach. So they will likely miss out on the playoffs again, lose more games in hilarious fashion, and fire McCoy at the end. Hopefully they'll draft a quarterback to take over for Rivers in a couple years, but I'm afraid it might already be too late to get him a ring. Most outstanding/surprising players(3): Jatavis Brown, a 5th round pick overlooked only because he played in a small conference. He should have been a 1st round pick, he's that good. Joey Bosa came as advertised. Casey Hayward, whom I'm certain the Packers are missing right now has been overachieving with all the pressure being on him as CB1 when he was originally supposed to be a slot CB or rotate as CB2. Also I'm going to cheat this one because Matt Slauson and Brandon Mebane both have been hugely positive for the team in almost identical ways, solidifying the center of the offensive and defensive lines. Most disappointing players(3): Travis Benjamin is a great, speedy runner, but holy poo poo he cannot contest a ball even in the slightest. Also it turns out he sucks at kick returns. Who knew? Manti Te'o is done as a Charger and I'm sure everyone knows this now including him. While not a player, John Spanos deserves mention for the Bosa cockup and running Eric Weddle out of town, who has been one of the top-performing safeties this season. gently caress you Spanos. Short summary: Great team, but fire McCoy and draft a QB soon. Do something about the strength and conditioning programs because this many ACL tears in three years can't be coincidence. Also gently caress Dean Spanos and John Spanos.
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Nov 3, 2016 20:05
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| # ¿ May 15, 2024 16:20 |
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