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“Chargers-What Do We Really Know-Really Nothing”

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The preseason exhibition games are over. The team went (1-3) and didn’t play all that well collectively.

What do we really know right now about the Chargers, as they get ready to go to Kansas City to face the Chiefs next Sunday in the NFL opener?

We know Philip Rivers remains great.

We know it’s the farewell tour for Antonio Gates.

We know Melvin Gordon, with running room, is dangerous and deadly, primarilty with that 39-yard TD run and 49-yard TD catch and run.

We know Brandon Mebane takes up space upfront, that Jason Verrett is still a quality athlete and the Jahlil Addae is growing into a ballhawk.

We know the kickers, the Texas AM-twosome, Josh Lambo and Drew Kisor, are pretty strong.

But beyond that, we don’t really know a ton about this football team, but then again you can say that about alot of NFL teams, who seldom play their starters in these four games, protecting them from deadly injuries, that can cripple a season.

If I were searching for positives, young WR-Dom Williams caught lots of balls, and the Washington State rookie is headed to their taxi squad to start the season.

CFL-safety Dexter McCoil made plays in the secondary, and seems to be first man downfield on kick coverage.

Rookie running back Ken Farrow ran and caught balls in his 2-preseason game appearances, covering over 160-yards in total in playing close to four quarters of ball.

Tyrell Williams looks as if he is the replacement for the injured Stevie Johnson and the retired Malcom Floyd

But there are so many other unresolved questions.

The Joey Bosa holdout is over. The team loses on the field, the front office loses face again, and the player lost a ton of practice time, classroom meetings and in-game conditioing. He got his money, but in these early season must-win games against strong armed quarterbacks, one wonders how many snaps he gets, and how much of the complex John Pagano playbook he understands.

The Chargers linebacking group seldom made plays in preseason. Maybe they will bring Melvin Ingram and Jerry Attaochu on blitz schemes that work this year, and maybe there will be a combined 20-quarterback sacks coming from them. But then again, we’ve never seen any of that ‘consistency’ in the past three years.

Brandon Flowers, may be healthy, may have lost weight, but he gave up more big plays in preseason than he made.

Only time will tell whether they have a quality safety in place of Eric Weddle, but Dwight Lowery was active in limited playing time.

The offensive line, aside from a couple of big runs, did not dominate in run blocking.

Hunter Henry did not catch as many passes as I thought. I do like Travis Benjamin, but he is awful slight as a receiver, and I wonder about heavy hits on guys who run inside slot routes.

I was suprrised ex-Packers-Raiders wide receiver James Jones did not play well, and now he’s gone. I thought he would be a great insurance policy. Ditto for young wideout Jevontee Herndon, who played well the back half of last season. He got hurt early and was waived, and has not resurfaced.

And the defense, it really didn’t stop anyone. They gave up (5.5YPC) vs the run, almost as bad as last year. Opposing quarterbacks completed 62% of their passes in the four preseason games. That defense allowed 339-yards a game, and that was against last year’s bad teams that included Tennessee and the 49ers. The offense had 9-turnovers, much of that while rookie QB-Mike Bercovici was doing his impressions of Billy Joe Tolliver. And the punt return game, an anemic (1.5Y) per return, a shade better than last year’s abomination.

On paper, the Chargers free agent signings on defense, plus the inking of Bears center Matt Slauson looks solid. The Sunday night pickup of young heavy-duty running back Andre Williams, the former Boston College star, who had (975Y) in a year and a half with the Giants looks good. And we wait to see how quickly the top 2-draft picks, play and contribute.

The offensive line is healthy right now, with DJ Fluker back in practice on Monday. But holding up when the real bullets fly, becomes something we will wait on.

The loss of Brandon Oliver and Stevie Johnson robs the team of veteran depth, on a roster that is very young and athletic.

The only thing that is certain is that big throwing quarterbacks and heavy duty run games are just around the corner. Andrew Luck, Drew Brees, Blake Bortels, Derek Carr, Matt Ryan, the Chiefs powerball run game and the Broncos blitz package all await the first eight weeks of the season.

And Mike McCoy has 9-new assistants on this staff, and it has not bee a good four weeks for the schemes they are running.

Projections and Predictions are coming at the end of the week.

Right now, the Chargers look good on paper. But game is played on the field, and I’d be concerned over what I saw, especially, what I didn’t see. Explosiveness on offense, and dominance on defense. It wasnt’ really part of preseason. They better hope it surfaces starting next Sunday in regular season.. .

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