5 Good Things: Chargers at Seahawks

No TD’s but without our #1 back I think we put up the most rushing yards to date against the Seahawks.

Now if we can only get our RB’s to hold on to the ball. I think they should fine ‘em like $1,000 for every fumble and give the money to a charity in the opposition’s town. These drops are spread around, the whole team seems to lack the desire to hold on to the ball.

Its hard to believe that the offseason camps did not alert the coaches and staff on the holes in special teams. Moving Siler and Weddle to teams is risking too much.

If I had the coaches ear, I’d suggest a day or more devoted to turnovers(creating and preventing). The Seahawks have instituted a day for this (Turnover Thursdays). It is obvious from last nights efforts that no matter how good your offense and defense, turnovers are THE key. In a way its good we lost. The win over the Jags probably gave us a false sense of security that despite turnovers, our offense will carry us.

Despite the loss, I enjoyed Rivers light up the field with grit in the 2nd half.

The rush is as good as Merriman, which is to say it will be deficient until he gets back into football shape or until we draft his replacement by packaging picks and moving up in the first round next year.

Crayton’s comments make this the likely culprit. If the coaches agree, expect a personnel move. It may be a quiet one, such as taking a starter off ST, or deactivating a player in favor of another, or a noisy one, like cutting a player. I don’t know that it has to be dramatic; the first quarter of the season shows us a disproportionate sample of speedy returners, and two of those three return TDs were pretty darn unlikely (the last one was Keystone Kops). But it’s obvious there’s something wrong, and if it’s an attitude problem it’s time for a removal for ST/benching/cut.

One other place to look, at the same time, is changes to the game, but those changes should have made coverage easier, right? Were large sleds bad tactics on top of being dangerous? Maybe, and if so, perhaps there’s a touch of rethinking required. I certainly don’t know the subject well enough to make any recommendations. Besides, this is an offseason task, and involves personnel moves that are easier to make in February. Perhaps some intensive film study is warranted, but I think that’s obvious. What teams’ ST offenses have improved over the next few years? What are they doing differently? What teams really liked 4-man sleds, but have adjusted well? How did they change it up?

but does this mean that our special teams play is goint to suck all year? does this mean we can look forward to loosing another playoff game due to a special teams mistake or ineptness?