-0-

“Chargers Football….Getting What They Wanted”

-0-

Interesting football season ahead of them.

Watching from afar, this will have a really different feel for the LA Chargers.

Interested to see, now that the legendary quarterback is gone, what kind of team they have.

Interested to see if San Diego fans will continue to follow the team, three years removed from their San Diego fan base.

Interested to see what it will be like to play in the new So-Fi Stadium with no fans in the stands at the start of the season, though the Chargers did not have alot of home field advantage playing in Carson.

Interested to see now that Coach Anthony Lynn has the team built his own way, whether they can win with a dynamic defense but very little in the way of offense.

Interested in seeing if hand picked QB-Tyrod Taylor is anything more than a pedestrian signal caller, good enough not to turn the ball over, but not good enough to win a bunch of games by himself, the way Philip Rivers did.

Interested to see if do-everything Austin Ekeler can hold up to the workload now that the club let his running mate running back Melvin Gordon leave for Denver.

Interested to see if Mike Williams, coming off a (1,001Y) receiving season can stay on the field, where injuries have nagged him each of the last three years.  Not getting thru training camp because of this shoulder sprain is a concern.

Interested to see if Sam Tevi can hold up as an undersized left tackle, and if Bryan Bulaga and Trei Turner will form a solid group on the right side of the o-line.

Interested to see about the durability of longtime center Mike Pouncey, coming off neck surgery, who did not practice all of last week with an undisclosed injury.

Interested to see, although there are numbers in the secondary, how badly impacted the playmaking ability of the DBs are without star safety Derwin James back there.

Interested to see the arrival of wide body defensive tackle Linval Joseph and if he creates enough chaos that Joey Bosa and Melvin Ingram can run free.

Interested to see the development of inside linebacker Kenneth Murray from Oklahoma, a sideline to sideline player.  He better be good because there is alot of youth flanking him on either side.

The Chargers are going against the grain of how to do business, as they move into the shiny new Rams Stadium in Los Angeles.  LA fans like star-power, and there does not seem to be alot of it on the Bolts now, with Rivers-Gordon gone, James hurt.

Within the division, do the Chargers get the edge at any of the positions when they matchup against the other teams in the AFC-West.

Not at quarterback, not with Patrick Mahomes and David Carr in the division.

At running back, Ekeler might be equal to the combo the Broncos have in Philip Lindsey and Melvin Gordon.

Keenan Allen is excellent but he is not Tyreek Hill, and this weekend, the four other young receivers on the roster have a combined 2-receptions in NFL action.

Tight end wise, we all like Hunter Henry, but he is not Travis Kelce.

The offensive front could have 3-new starters, and maybe a worse situation if Pouncey cannot hold up.  The Raiders front might be better.

Yes Bosa-Ingram excel in the pass rush department upfront.

But nobody in that linebacking core will match the things Von Miller-Denver can do.

There is experience in the secondary with Chris Harris-Casey Hayward, but until the kid DBs prove they can holdup, the Chargers won’t be viewed as elite back there.

So the Bolts are ready.  Here comes lowly Cincinnati to start the schedule, but after that there won’t be too many gimmes on the schedule.  When you face the Chiefs, go to Tampa, then play at New Orleans right out of the gate, the Chargers could be in a hole early.

The Chargers, getting what they wanted, a new stadium, a season without QB-Philip Rivers, all the things Anthony Lynn decided he needed.  Defense first, offense after that.

The Chargers, getting what they wanted, now likely to get what they deserve, a (7-9) season with no-one in LA caring, and the fans left behind in San Diego, rooting hard…..for them to lose again.

=====================
 

Please follow and like us: