A Cloudy Crystal Ball December 30, 2010

After having not posted all season long, I’ve finally chosen to do so now, on the heels of the Chargers’ elimination from playoff contention.  There isn’t much to say about how we played against Cincinnati with the playoffs on the line, other than the team as a whole didn’t look like they wanted to win.  I’m not going to launch into any “so-and-so should get fired” kind of talk; I’ll just discuss my thoughts on the season and the future.

The Ugly

Philip Rivers displaying how many Chargers fans feel (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

The Oakland Raiders beat us…twice.  I have long known that in the NFL any team can win any given Sunday (or Thursday or Monday), and that eventually Oakland would find a way to beat the Chargers and end our win streak against them.  What I was not ready for was how the Chargers simply seemed to play some of their worst football against the Raiders.  A Raiders fan might take this occasion to jab their finger at me and call me a hater, but outside of the AFC West the Raiders are 2-8.  Against their other AFC opponents they are 0-6.  Oakland is a bad team that overachieved in their division, and you would be hard pressed to prove otherwise to me or anyone else who’s sane.  The Chargers certainly didn’t play like they wanted to win against the Raiders, but did anybody else in the west really play that way either?

The Chargers’ special teams play.  We literally lost football games because of errors in our not-so-special teams.  I really don’t want to beat a dead horse, but I do think this is something that having the right players on the field can change.  I don’t believe that Special Teams Coach Steve Crosby should get fired.

I didn’t go to a single game this year.  Not one.  The season ticket-holding Ryan from the days of shot-gunning Heineken until the world was merry, who lived for tailgating and roared throughout the parking lot about Antonio Gates being the next NFL MVP would be ashamed.  I bare my frustration to you all, be gentle with me.  It’s an open wound.

The Bad

Will this man be coaching the Chargers in 2011? (AP Photo/Ed Reinke)

Our coaching staff in general.  That’s right, not just Norv Turner.  Even if highly paid professionals should bring their best work to the table every day, somehow boatloads of money aren’t always enough in the NFL.  At least that’s the impression I get when players talk about a coaching staff’s ability to motivate; I think it’s a bundle of excuses.  Still, someone on this coaching staff needs to hold these players accountable, and instill some strong football discipline in them.  Problem is, if it can’t come from our current staff, what can the Chargers really do?  In this statement made by Dean Spanos, he sums up how I feel.  Who the hell would the Chargers hire?  I’m sure we could name a bunch of really great potential coaches, but would our offense get shaken up with big changes?  What about our defense?  Both ranked incredibly well, and aside from some off games, they seemed to maximize production from the players we have on the field.  If the Chargers blew up the coaching staff, would you expect immediate, profound improvement and success?  I’m not sure I could expect that, especially in a division where the other teams’ yearly high draft picks appear to have them catching up (Denver excluded, my personal thanks to Josh McDaniels).  The Chargers will have to find success with what we have, even if it means just fixing special teams errors.  Who knows though, maybe some would-be coach out there could take them from out of the playoffs to Super Bowl contenders over the summer.  We probably won’t find out this year.

The Good

Ending on an optimistic note is more my style, I hope whoever reads my blog can appreciate that. How can I ever heap enough praise on Philip Rivers?  The man is carving his own giant notch in Chargers lore, and it gets bigger with every game.  During the first half of the season, all the talk about him being on pace to eclipse 5,000 yards was nice to hear. Sports media was going nuts over how good he is.  I’m not quite sure why it is, but there is something VERY satisfying about hearing the announcers acting like they are going to name their children after your team’s quarterback.

Another thing I’m optimistic about is that all things cannot stay bad forever.  Our special teams play improved as the year rolled along, and I believe next year it could be a non-issue.

Antonio Gates doing what he does best (AP Photo/Denis Poroy)

The defensive line showed great improvement this year, not looking like the welcome mat it was at times in 2009.  Antonio Garay was somewhat of a cast-off before arriving in San Diego, never playing in more than six games in a season.  Signed as stop-gap against injuries in 2009, he took a dominating form in 2010. Clearly becoming the class of our defensive line, his play at defensive tackle helped everyone around him play better as a result.  I have said it several times before, the Chargers defense just about lives and dies by the play of our defensive tackle.  I look forward to what he will do next year!

Antonio Gates may have been injured a lot this season, but when he was playing…watch out.  The man is like a magician, seemingly disappearing at the start of the play, then popping up wide open for a catch.  Once he catches the ball, the man fights for every yard and first down as if it has profound importance to him.  Gates continues to be my favorite Charger, something that hasn’t changed since even before Tomlinson began his decline in San Diego.  On a side note, I got a signed authentic Antonio Gates jersey for Christmas!  It’s totally sweet, with the numbers, name and bolts stitched on.  I’ll post a picture later.

Wrapping it up

Hopefully it won’t be so long before I post again. I have over 1,000 hits now despite not posting since April and I feel guilty for depriving the loyal readers of my commentary!  All egotism aside,  I will get back to posting after every game next season.  Changes in my work schedule and my overall frustration regarding the Chargers’ season had me derailed from posting as I wanted to this year.  Not to worry!  Ryan’s Bolt Blog will be back soon, with (hopefully) witty remarks about the NFL’s playoffs and Super Bowl. Until then!