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The first game is in the books, and everything went better than expected. Well, not everything, but we'll get to that.
One of the biggest — if not the biggest — critique of A.J. Smith this offseason was his apparent lack of addressing the Offensive Line; so we'll focus on that this week. People were worried that Philip Rivers was going to get killed last night behind a makeshift offensive line against a decent Raiders defensive line.
Not only did Phil survive — he only got sacked once — but he actually had time in the pocket throughout the game. In fact, he had enough time to lob a 46-yard pass to Robert Meachem (a recent A.J. Smith acquisition!). So any passing deficiencies last night couldn't be blamed on poor offensive line play, quite the opposite.
The Offensive Line broke down when it came to the running game. There weren't many holes opened up and it made Ronnie Brown look even less effective. I'm sure these are things that could be addressed, but it wasn't exactly encouraging to watch last night.
Regardless, we got to see most of A.J. Smith's recent moves in play last night. Some seemed encouraging and impressive, others were a bit lackluster. Does any of it change your opinion on A.J. Smith's performance as the Chargers General Manager?
Make your pick in the poll and sound off in the comments, all after the jump.