Heading into the 52nd season, the San Diego Chargers are primed to see some of their superstars moving up the ranks of the team's all-time statistics. Here's the run-down of all the major storylines:
- Philip Rivers, who is pretty much a lock to throw for 4,000 yards each season, is about 2,600 yards away from passing John Hadl for #2 on the list of the most passing yards for the San Diego Chargers. It'll be a few more years before he can catch Dan Fouts, who has about 20,000 more yards than Rivers currently.
- Ryan Mathews is currently 15th on the Chargers' all-time list with 1,769 rushing yards. If Mathews can rush for 1,100 yards in 2012 (he ran for 1,091 in 2011), that would move him up to 6th all-time and past Tim Spencer, Terrell Fletcher, Rickey Young, Rod Bernstine, Mike Garrett, Gary W. Anderson, Dickie Post, Keith Lincoln and Don Woods.
- Antonio Gates, with 76 career receiving TDs, is just 5 behind Lance Alworth (the Chargers all-time leader). If he's healthy this year, he should easily lead that category by the end of the season.
- Gates is also 3rd all-time in receiving yards, but would need 1,500 receiving yards to catch Charlie Joiner. Antonio's career high is 1,157 receiving yards in 2009.
- Points, as odd of a stat as it is, is a real stat. It's mostly led by FG kickers, who get 1 point for every extra point and 3 points for every field goal. The Chargers leaders are John Carney and LaDainian Tomlinson. Nate Kaeding is currently 3rd and, if he gets 120 points this season (roughly his average when healthy), he'll bypass LT for 2nd all-time and be primed to overtake Carney (whom he trails by 214 points) in 2013.
- Shaun Phillips is current 3rd all-time on the list of Chargers' sack leaders, although that's a stat that hasn't been counted forever. He's 5.5 behind Lee Williams for 2nd, so there's a good chance he'll do that by the end of the year. He has almost no chance of catching Leslie O'Neal for 1st, as O'Neal retired with 105.5 sacks against Phillips' 60 career sacks to date.
- Mike Scifres, currently 3rd on the Chargers all-time list for punts but 2nd for punt yardage, should pass Dennis Partee for 2nd in number of punts. He currently trails him 27. He is several hundred behind Darren Bennett for #1.