There were three parts to the San Diego victory on Sunday: Defense, Special Teams and Darren Sproles.  The stats verify the first, don't touch on the second and seem to disagree with the third.  I'd like to start by explaining why the stats are "wrong" about Darren Sproles.

Sproles ran the ball 23 times on Saturday night for 105 yards (4.6 ypc).  The problem was that he was stopped for gains of three yards or fewer on 14 of those carries and not one of those was in a short yardage situation.  He was stuffed* on eight of his attempts.  Stuffs are almost entirely the fault of the offensive line and to a lesser degree, so are carries of 1-3 yards.  If we remove the stuffs from his line (a reasonable action), Sproles' success rate jumps almost 20% from 34.8% to 53.3% (a most respectable rate and more representative of his play on Saturday).  Also his yards per carry balloons from 4.6 to 6.5.

Sproles' 20% success rate in the passing game is also weighed down by factors outside of his control.  Of his eight failures, five incomplete passes that were thrown at his feet and not actually at him.  If you remove those from his line (a reasonable action), his success rate doubles to a still less than stellar 40%.  Still, his two successes are a big 17 yarder on first down and a huge 13 yarder on third and long which the success rate system doesn't effectively reward.  However, that is balanced out by his goal line fumble which the system doesn't effectively punish.

There is also Sproles' stellar night returning punts and kicks that isn't included at the numbers at all, but that I'm certain you're all aware of.

The defense was excellent.  58.5% is damn good against an average offense.  Against the Colts, is downright incredible.  Things didn't look good early.  On the Colts' second drive of the game they went 85 yards on nine plays (seven of them successful).  Once they hit the red zone, it took the Colts only three plays (all three successful) to punch it into the end zone.  Outside of that second drive of the game, the Chargers' defense had a stop rate of 64.3%.

That drive would be the last time the Colts ran a play in the red zone.

Jamal Williams, Jyles Tucker and Stephen Cooper tied for the team lead in Stops with five.  Igor Olshansky and Eric Weddle tied for fourth with three apiece.  Antoine Cason had two.  Luis Castillo, Tim Dobbins, Jacques Cesaire, Matt Wilhelm, Antonio Cromartie and Quentin Jammer also picked up a Stop.  One really can't say enough about the play of the San Diego defense on Saturday.

We already touched on Special Teams in discussing Sproles' night, but the other star of that unit was Mike Scifres.  I might have to get a Scifres jersey.  He punted six times.  His net average was 51.7.  Tony Dungy called him "the difference in the game."  I have asserted to anyone who would listen that Scifres is the best player on the team and after Saturday, I feel a lot better about that.

And one more stat real quick: the Chargers under Norv Turner are 3-1 in the playoffs.

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The Chargers won under pressure; but there are clearly still some weak areas.  The Buccaneers managed two terrific drives for touchdowns in the third quarter; but the defense came up with three turnovers so some grades might be higher than you would otherwise expect.  This was a team effort though and there were standouts on both offense and defense, so lets take a look.

Quarterback - A
Four touchdowns and no interceptions.  Rivers is now one TD away from Dan Fouts record.  Any time a quarterback gets mentioned in the same sentence with Fouts; he's a great quarterback.  The other thing Rivers did yesterday was he didn't force anything; when nothing was there he threw the ball away. 

Wide Receivers - A
Vincent Jackson coming off a concussion was lights out.  He was almost always open; he continuously got position or separation on a very talented Tampa secondary.  Chambers also came up with several catches for first downs and Legedu Naanee had one good drive where he caught two.  He has really good form catching the balls, he reaches out and grabs it out of the air.

Tight Ends - A
Gates had four catches; but two of them were for touchdowns.  On one play he just plucked the ball out of the air with one hand before turning it up field; I think that was the point at which I thought this was going to the Chargers day.  Manu came up big too; he caught the screen for seven points and was also blocking well on the running plays. 

Offensive Line - B+
Rivers had a great day in part because he had time to let things develop; there was only one sack on the day.  The line gave him the time to deliver the ball.  They also managed to create some running lanes for LT who had a good day and ended up with 90 yards on 21 rushes.  The screens for the Chargers have also regularly been going for good yards; though the Bucs did diagnose several for no gain. 

Running Backs - B+
While they only put up just over 90 yards on the ground; that doesn't capture the screens and YAC pass plays.  Together Sproles and LT caught for over 60 yards and a touchdown.

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I know there's two weeks left, but I'm still planning on doing a "2008 Draft Review" this week and am interested to know your opinions as far as the best rookie for the Chargers this year.  Here are some of mine.

Cason - He's been a solid nickel corner.  Certainly an upgrade from Florence in my book.  Good ball skills, good tackler and seems to have the ability to be in the right place at the right time.  So far this year he has 60 tackles, 1 INT and 6 pass defenses.

Hester - If you weren't a diehard fan, you could've gone the first 11 weeks without knowing Hester was on the team.  During that time he has 2 rushes for 3 yards and a lost fumble.  I was a big fan of his in college, as he always makes playing the game look like it's fun instead of work, and am glad to see him becoming another weapon for our offense to play with.

Tolbert - He's apparently the 2nd most famous Mike Tolbert, behind this insurance agent.  In 10 games of action this year he rushed 13 times for 37 yards while catching 13 passes for 171 yards.  His blocking has yet to really surprise or impress anyone, but if it can progress (and I'm thinking it can because he's built like a MAC truck) he can be quite the weapon.  With FBs disappearing in offenses across the country, I understand that to get a good, young one we're going to have to mold him ourselves.

Clark - Inconclusive since he hasn't seen much time on the field.  He's got great size and Texas A&M puts out a lot of good offensive lineman.  Right now he's stuck behind a logjam at the tackle positions (McNeil, Shelton, Clary), but if he shows promise in practice I could see him starting next year.

Applewhite - I know Applewhite technically is a 2nd year player, but he spent last year on our practice squad so I thought I'd throw him in there.  He's played in 12 games this year, seeing time at OLB and special teams.  He has only 16 tackles and 0.5 sacks for the year but had a big game against KC with 5 tackles and a crucial stop of Larry Johnson in the 4th quarter.

The Chargers lost to the Carolina Panthers 26-24 in the first game of the season.  This was not the result I was looking for, but one I feared.  The Panthers were uniquely qualified to hang a loss on the Bolts.  This Panther team is a powerful playoff contender; make no mistake.  The media saw 7-9, their best weapon missing vs. the Chargers stacked lineup and thought it would be a gimme.  No such luck.  The Panthers last year were awful after their QB went down.  This year they seriously upgraded with two number one draft choices, offensive lineman Jeff Otah and running back J. Stewart; both looked terrific today.  Those three factors, a good QB, Jeff Otah and J. Stewart, plus some amazing play by Donte Rosario at TE pulled the game together for Carolina. Even though Otah went out for a bit with an injury, he helped dominate the Chargers defensive line.  Both on run plays and pass blocking, the Panther line was in charge.  J. Stewart who picked up 53 yards in ten carries, was part of a formidable one - two punch.  The running game is the weak point on the Chargers defense and this offense was primed to take full advantage.  The Panther defense was great in the first half, but gave ground in the final quarter.  The temptation is to chalk this loss up to one lucky desperation play; this is a mistake.  The Panthers outplayed an excellent Bolts team in their own yard without their best receiver and fully deserved the W.

The Good

Antoine Cason is the real McCoy.  He came up huge on a fourth and goal, then again by causing a fumble with a ferocious tackle, which the Charger offense then put it in the end zone.  Big time plays under pressure for the rookie, this number one looks solid.  For that matter Jammer had a fantastic game; breaking up a number of big yardage plays and solid tackling.  Who would have thought, Cromartie would be the weakest link this Sunday, once playing too soft allowing a big gainer and once gambling for the pick and losing.  Even so there are zero worries either about Cromartie or the secondary; the Panthers caught a series of tipped passes, and there will be games when those gambles pay off; I don't know about fifteen, but the picks will be coming for Cromartie.

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