How Good/Bad Were the 2012 San Diego Chargers?

You have seen me reference Pro Football Focus a lot in the past few weeks. I've used the site, and it's grades, as a way to analyze players on the San Diego Chargers as well as potential free agent targets of Tom Telesco.

One question I haven't answer is this: How good or bad did PFF think the 2012 Chargers were? The answer is not surprising, especially if you respect PFF's grading system.

• The Chargers were 29th in terms of overall grade, making them better than just three other teams (Bears, Jaguars and Cardinals).
• They were middle of the pack in terms of passing offense, despite being ranked 29th in pass blocking.
• San Diego was dead last, 32nd, in terms of rushing offense. That sure wasn't typical for a Norv Turner offense.
• The offense line wasn't much better at blocking for the running game, ranking 28th in run blocking.
• The defense, working under first-year coordinator, came in with an overall grade of -14.3. That's good for 21st in the league.
• The run defense was ranked 15th in the league. Just about average.
• The pass rush was ranked 16th in the league. Just about average. In 2011, before the days of Melvin Ingram and Jarret Johnson, the pass rush ranked.....16th in the league.
• In pass coverage, the San Diego Chargers ranked 26th in the league. Teams worse than San Diego included the Ravens, Saints, Giants and Vikings.
• The Chargers were average when it came to be penalized on either side of the ball.
• Special Teams gets graded in just one category and the Chargers ranked 13th. Who knows if that number will remain as good with the departure of Rich Bisaccia.

Did that tell us anything we didn't know? The offensive line was terrible. The running game was horrendous. The defense was average, except for the atrocious secondary. No, we knew all of these things. What it does, though, is confirm that Pro Football Focus' grades are based in reality.