CHARGERS!! fan group's Blog

Roster Breakdown: Special Teams

boltsfan — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 17:36:04 GMT

It isn't enough to have a top Offense and Defense! No... the Chargers want, and have, it all. The Chargers special teams has quietly been one of the most dominant units in the league for the past several years. High percentage field goal kicking.... low number of returns and high net average on punts... and the AFC special teams Pro-Bowl representative 3 years straight.

Kicker: Nate Kaeding

As with a lot of his draft day moves A.J. Smith was criticised for using a 3rd round pick on an undersized kicker from Iawo. As usual, Smith and the Chargers were proven to have used the pick wisely. Over his 4 years with the team Kaeding has had the 5th highest field goal % of all kickers during that time. Kaeding has not missed a field goal from 20-29yds in 3 years. He has made 174 consecutive extra points, a team record, with his only miss coming in week 5 of his rookie season. The only knock on Kaeding was his problems in the playoffs were he has missed crucial game tying or winning kicks. He put that to rest though by going a solid 5 for 7 last season including a perfect 4 for 4 in freezing weather against New England. Considering the fact that he doesn't get much practice, his average attempt per year is 26 or 1.64 per game which is 2 attempts per year lower than the NFL average over the last 4 years, I would say we got ourselves a pretty good kicker.

Returner: Darren Sproles

Sproles has been a fantastic return specialist for the Chargers helping them to be a league leader in avg starting field position. Sproles is very explosive and is able to avoid traffic with his amazing stop-start and change of direction abilities. His contribution this year may be limited due to his being LT's main back-up.

Punter: Mike Scifers

The fact that he hasn't been to a Pro-Bowl yet is a travesty. Scifers is one of the most deadly accurate punters in the league. After learning his craft under good friend Darren Bennett during the 2003 season, he became an instant success finishing his first year as the starter with the NFL's 2nd best net avg and he has been solid as a rock since. There might be a few punters out there that are better than Scifers in one aspect or another, but there isn't a single one better at all categories than Mike. Over the last 4 seasons he has been among the league leaders in every category; average; net average; touchbacks allowed; returns; return yardage allowed; downed inside the 20; downed inside the 10. To top it all off, he has never allowed a punt to be returned for a TD.

Gunners: Kassim Osgood, Brandon Siler and Tim Dobbins

One of the reasons Scifers hasn't had a punt returned for a TD is the outstanding play of our gunner, especially 2 time AFC special teams Pro-Bowler Kassim Osgood. Osgood was second on the team in special teams tackles dispite being double and triple teamed on every kick. Those double and triple teams opened it up though for Siler who had a team leading 21 special teams tackles. Dobbins also made a solid contribution with 12 tackles. The kick coverage unit made several huge plays last season that resulted in TD's. Osgood seams to have accepted his role on the team and it looks like this unit is primed to have a stellar year.

roster breakdown 3 of 4- Defense

C0nfucius — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:24:06 GMT

OLB- Shawne Merrimen, Shaun Phillips

This is one of the top pass rush duos in the league.

Merrimen is of course a physical freak and holds the most sacks over the past 3 seasons, he should be great again this year.

Shaun Phillips is the guy I wnna talk about right now. With a star studed team like the Chargers players like Phillips move under the radar, Phillips may very well be the most under rated player in the league. He is more than capable of double digit sack numbers. In his career he has 31 sacks, however half of his career he only came in to spell Steve Foley, so those 31 sacks came in 29 starts. He always seems to be in the back field on a pass play, he will have a great season.

MLB- Matt Wilhelm, Stephen Cooper

Cooper made some real good strides last year. He was the Charger leading tackler and he showed good speed. He should put together another solid year.

Wilhelm was not to far behind Cooper in the tackles department. He also will put together a solid season. He has the potential to be the Chargers leading tackler this season.

NT- Jamal Williams, He is the most important player on this D. He commands 2 or 3 blockers just to contain him. He just plugs holes and no one does it better. He had a few injuries last year so he's a guy to keep an eye on.

DE- Igor Oshansky Luis Castillo

Igor is there to stuff the run. He does it very well too. He is a big body at 6-6" 310 pounds, and should produce another solid season.

Castillo is frustrating. The guy has pro bowl ability, but he can't seem to saty on the field. in 2006 he had 7 sacks in 10 games! In 2007 he was riddled with a bunch of little injuries the entire season. He could have a ridiculous year if he he can play a full 16 games injury free.

CB- Jammer, Cro, Cason

Jammer, he's the leader of this defensive backfield. He is a very physical corner with very good speed. He has really improved his coverage he was rarely called for pass interference while still maintaining his physical style of play.

Cro, most dynamic DB in the league. Every time this guy touches the ball it's a roller coaster ride, you just never know if he's going to take it all the way. He is very good in coverage, he can play soft, physical, and zone all very well.

Cason, I think Paul Oliver really out performed him in the first pre season game. I think Cason will get the starting job, but I don't think it's going to be an easy win for him. Cason has a lot of potential and could maybe challenge for a starting spot in a few years.

Safetys- Clinton Hart, Eric Weeddle

Hart is very good. He flew way under the radar (like not even on it). But he put together a season that if he were more well known could have gotten him into the pro bowl, 85 tackles 5 picks. He should put together another solid year.

Weeddle is a great football player. He can do it all, he can come on the blitz, stop the run, and is solid in coverage. He put together a solid 1st year and should improve his number greatly.

Player to watch................... Jyles Tucker!

He had 3.5 sacks in 6 games with very limited playing time. He won't be pushing for the starting job, but he could give us a Justin Tuck type thing. He could provide a good pass rush while our star pass rushers take a breather. Expect to see this guy quite often.

Roster breakdown- 2 of 4, Ground game

C0nfucius — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 00:58:35 GMT

LT- Obviously the best back in the game. What makes LT so much better than the rest and the reason he is so consistent is due to 2 things. First his vision is the best in the league, he finds the tiniest of holes to run through. Second his acceleration, it's one thing to find the hole but you need to get through the hole quickly, and LT does that better than anyone. And he does a great job in the open field juking and breaking tackles.

My grade- A+, will I even hear an argument.

Darren Sproles- He does much more than people give him credit for. He will be a good 3rd down back for the Bolts this season. He is maybe the most explosive player the Chargers have. He is a threat to take one to the house whenever he touches the ball. He is also one of the best return men in the league.

My Grade- A-, for versatility.

Jacob Hester- I am really high on this guy. He is the defenition of a 'full back', this guy can do it all. He can run, catch and block well. He adds even more versitility to this backfield. He also adds another dimension to the Chargers in the red zone.

VJ AG MM KD NH MG JC CC

This is called an I formation (LOL) ,expect to see something similar to this in the red zone. Count it we have 4 legitimate targets in the red zone, or any where else for that matter. And we have so many options, We can run with either Hester or LT, we can throw to Vincent Jackson Chambers or Gates, or a screen to LT or Hester. Hester gives us a different kind of weapon that the Chargers hope to utilize.

My grade- B+, He provides a good Utility player, and this is going off what I saw in his college days.

Andrew Pinnock- He is the Bolts blocking back. He is a very important part to the Chargers offense. He is pretty good at what he does, he stepped in for Neal after he was injured and did a great job, infact the Chargers were a little better with him than with Neal.

My grade: A-, he showed he had ability last year. Hopefully he can build on it.

Over all grade- A+, sorry if you don't believe me, but LT makes this an A+ run game.

Roster breakdown- 1 of 4, Air attack

C0nfucius — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 20:03:13 GMT

This is the first blog of 4 describing what you can expect coming into the season.

First up is the Passing game.

I'll start with QB. Philip Rivers matured in the playoffs. He is a leader, and knows how to play football. He is very accurate, I think capable of completing 65% of his passes. He showed ability to throw the deep ball in the playoffs last year hitting his target in stride. I think his decision making will improve even more, so expect way less INT than last year.

My grade- B+, He is getting there but he still has so much room to grow.

WR- VJ, Chambers, Buster

VJ- I was really impressed during the playoffs. He leade all receivers in yardage during the play-offs with 300 yards. Infact here are his total numbers expanded to 16 games.

REC-96

yards- 1600

TD's- 11

Now he won;t get those numbers but he will put up solid numbers.

Chamber- Likewise with VJ he performed very well in the post season. His numbers weren't as good put still great. Chris is the key this season, he is a veteran who has had success in the past, if he could get comftorable in this offense and develop a relationship with Rivers he could have a pro-bowl season

Buster Davis- He doesn't have to be great, just good enough to catch a ball every once in awhile, not to often though.

My grade- A- , they are a very underrated unit and are the sleepers coming into this season

TE- Antonio Gates.

No TE in the game today has more TD's over the past 4 years than Gates. He is a superstar and can provide a fantastic red zone target. In my opinion he has the best leaping ability out of all the TE's in the league. He is a mismatch no matter who covers him, Denver tried Champ Bailey to no avail. Best TE in the league.

My grade- A+, for obvious reasons.

Overall grade- B+, They have so much room to grow, thsi could be an A passing game by the ende of the season, but for now B+.

Welcome.

C0nfucius — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 00:32:20 GMT

This group is for Charger fans.

Our goal in this group is to support our team, we will discuss everything about this team. I'm hoping to make it one of the more active groups on Fannation.

During the pre season, I will give you updates on the roster and what players to look out for. There will be updates after every roster cut. Also I will tell you about the starting unit and who is challenging for more playing time.

When the regular season roles around There will be up dates weekly. There will be previews of each game and a game summary, followed by a game review. At the end of the season i will post 5 poles.

1. Team MVP

2. Rookie of the year.

3. Most Improved

4. Defensive MVP

5. Offensive Mvp

During the off-season there will be a draft preview, summurizing who they should get and who they should stay away from. And during free agency I will type something up about what they need if anything.

I am really looking forward to this season.