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“Chargers-Pretenders-Now-Contenders”

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It was ‘Big Play Day’ on Sunday in Seattle.

The Chargers had to face a jacked up Seahawks sellout crowd, a Pete Carroll inspired team, and deal with the memory of the late beloved Seattle owner Paul Allen.

It doesn’t matter where Philip Rivers plays, because of his ‘refuse to lose’ approach to all things NFL football. It wound up being a gritty (25-17) Chargers win.

It didn’t matter his team had to start drives at its own 5-5-6-15-16-17. More field position to work with.

It didn’t matter they had to go silent count most of the day, with the noise meter registering 104 at Century Link Field.

It didn’t matter about the history of failure up there, where the Bolts were (6-16) in the Pacific Northwest dating back to the Don Coryell-Dan Fouts 1981-season.

He had a healthy Melvin Gordon running tough.

He had wide receiver Keenan Allen running circles around linebackers and corners and safeties.

When they were done, Rivers had firmly put his team into the AFC playoff picture, with a chance to get a home football game in the futbol stadium they play in.

Rivers threw for an economic (228). Gordon rumbled for (113Y). Allen had 8-catches for (124) and added in a couple of big jet sweep runs.

The Chargers were brazen. They ran sweeps from their own 5-yard line. They spread the ball sideline to sideline.

They covered well, made Seahawks QB-Russell Wilson hold the ball, scramble, and take 4-sacks along the way.

Like anything else in a street fight, and that’s what this game became, it became messy. There were 22-combined penalties in all. Seattle’s offensive line took 7-of them and took itself out of good field position and subtracted big plays.

Young DB-Desmond King returned some kicks, and hauled a pass back 42-yards for a backbreaking fourth quarter interception-TD.

Yes the Bolts may have gotten some breaks. There was a phantom Seattle offensive pass interference call on what they said was a Seahawks pick play deep in Chargers territory. Didn’t see it that way.

Seattle got a flag on OT-Justin Britt, who came to the aid of his running back, who was being mugged by 4-Chargers because of a slow whistle. It hurt alot.

Mike Williams spin-o-rama catch down the sidelines, sure looked as if his heel stepped out of bounds, the refs-replay didn’t seem to think it happened that way.

Pete Carroll will have enough of a stomach ache from this bad home loss, but it will worsen, if the NFL sends him note this week, ‘we erred’ on a couple of those calls.

Nothing is ever perfect for the Chargers. They should not allow K-Caleb Sturgis back on the plane. Instead just give him a bus ticket home, with the memory of 10-missed kicks this year, including 6-point after attempts. And that’s in just 8-games so far.

The secondary still gives up pass plays, takes holding and pass interference penalties, but as long as that quarterback is there, you have to start to believe this could be a special season.

That winning streak is now at 5-games, flashing back to the Martyball or Boss Ross era.

Of course LA fans, whatever number who may wear Chargers colors, don’t know anything about that. In San Diego we recall all the special Sundays, but feel badly, since these Sundays we now have are empty.

It only counts as one win, and there are still some big games to come. But you’d rather be dealing with this, than dealing with what Buffalo-Jacksonville-Giants-or Browns fans are dealing with.

It was interesting, on Sunday morning, NBC sports referred to the Chargers as “LA’s-B-Team” making positive references to the formerly unbeaten Rams. The insults keep coming at Team Spanos.

For one day however, because of Rivers and his pals on offense, the Chargers look like playoff contenders, no longer pretenders.

I wonder if anyone in LA, where they love the Rams, LeBron James, and talk about the Dodgers leadership, will notice. Rivers and the Bolts offense keep winning, and trying to send those messages of who they are, how good they’ve become.

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“Chargers-Now We Find Out”
1-Man’s Opinion on Sports
www.leehacksawhamilton.com

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It’s been a good season, at least on the field for the Chargers, though not necessarily off the field.

But Sunday we see how really good they are. They finally play somebody good, the Seahawks, in Seattle, where that home team is really good, playing before the sellout crowds known as the 12th Man.

The Chargers finished up last year strong, but that was thanks to playing the 3rd easiest schedule in the league. They’ve had a solid (5-2) start this year, with what few hard games they had interspersed with with bad teams. Thank goodness Cleveland and Buffalo are in the league.

But despite the nice record they’ve posted since November last fall (11-3), there are doubters out there about how good they really are. I’m one of them.

The Chargers went (2-5) vs teams with winning records last year. They’re (0-2) this season, having been smoked by Kansas City and then waxed by the Rams early on. Until you’ve started to beat good people regularly, going (2-7) means you haven’t prove anything.

Philip Rivers starts his 200th straight career game, chasing Brett Favre’s all time mark of (297). His stats are extraordinary (17TD-3 Int) and hardly any sacks.

Melvin Gordon and Austin Ekler have combined for (1283) all purpose yards, catching and running.

Rivers has down the field big play receivers in Tyrell Williams (21YPC) and Mike Williams (18YPC), plus the ever reliable Keenan Allen.

There is firepower everywhere, but the Bolts are not playing the slugs in the league going forward.

Seattle, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Kansas City, Baltimore are all ahead.

The Bolts have gotten wins against teams with a combined record of (9-28), again thanks to some bad people at the front end of the schedule. Going forward, the people they start playing, who are winning, have a combined record (24-13).

On top of all that is the venue and the team they play. The Seahawks defense is ranked 5th in the league. They go get quarterbacks (19-sacks), they pound opposing QBs (39-hits) and they take it away (16-turnovers). They’ve lost by 2-3-7 earlier in the season.

And the Pete Carroll factor weighs in with a (92-56) record as their head coach in the Northwest.

His once famous “Legion of Boom” defense is gone. Richard Sherman, Michael Bennett, Cliff Avril, Kam Chancellor, and Sheldon Richardson left in trades, free agency or retirement. Earl Thomas is gone for the year with a broken leg. There are 8-new starters on the defensive side of the ball, and look what Carroll has them doing.

The Kingdome used to be a nightmare of a place to go play, an insane asylum, back in the day. Century Link field is damn tough too, especially with the memory of the passing of owner Paul Allen still in everybody’s heart and mind.

The Chargers are (6-16) in games in Seattle, dating back to 1981, including having lost 6-of-the last 8-times then went to Puget Sound.

Rivers, a spectacular player and person, wills his team to win, ‘refuse to lose’ is my tag for him. But they may not have enough on both sides of the ball, regardless of how fearless he is.

It’s stunning, a future Hall of Fame quarterback like this, surrounded by an ever changing cast of players, has just 1-playoff win in 11-years. Think about that stat. My biggest fear is coming true, all the records, like Dan Marino, without a sniff of the Super Bowl or a ring. Eli Manning and Ben Roethlisberger, his draft mates, have multiples of them.

Seattle is a tremendous NFL city. The Chargers play football in a futbol stadium, where they are ignored by the media, mocked by opposing fans, and feel like they play 16-road games a year.

Sunday is a starting point to prove how playoff worthy they are. Or it might be the beginning of the same old-same old.

Rivers has never wilted in the heat and the hate that is Arrowhead Stadium or in Denver. But this may be tougher.

The Seahawks and its 12th man-fan mentality in the stands will be some challenge, as we find out whom the Bolts really are.

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“Aztecs Basketball-Sneak Preview”

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Brian Dutcher unveils his 2018-19 basketball team on Thursday night against Hawaii-Chaminade. He has lots of new moving parts and tons of raw talent. Some of his comments heading into first exhibition game..

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Excited to get guys on floor for an exhibition game.
Great to see guys go against someone else.
Want to see young guys infront of a crowd, bright lights.

Maui Classic has Chaminade in tourney every other year
Chaminade plays SDSU-Arizona in exhibition games-good for them
Maui wants Division 1-teams-powers in their tourney-Elite 8 field for sure

Young kids-nerve wracking as freshman-considering age-we throw lots at them.
Freshman recruits know they have to defend to get on the floor
Challenge teach Division 1-defense…they are long and athletic
They might have been biggest guy on their team-now guarding big guys-athletes
Move feet-get physical-and learn defensive systems.lots of adjustments

Won closed scrimmage at USC-wanted to play young guys-see how respond
We ran some complex defenses for kids-see how cope with it.

Have not had Nathan Mensah for 4-weeks-finger injury
Ed Chang is very good 3-point shooter-needs to work on defense
Chang-versatile-will contribute a lot
Adam Seiko-starting to hit 3’s…
Jordan Schakel feels more comfortable now with offense-can shoot 3’s
Matt Mitchell back for 2nd year with lots game experience.

Jeremy Hemsley-told him-be patient with young guys as leader
Learned a lot from Trey Kell-how to help freshman
Not given kids a lot of overload-wants to calm them down
Devin Watson-be a great leader-take care of ball-he will score
Veterans know not to yell at freshman

Washington State transfer-Malachi Flynn is tremendous practice player
Malachi is elite scorer-goes against Hemsley daily-helps him
We will have 4th year junior guard to run team next two years.
Tough for him to sit this year

3-chances to learn to play together under game situations before we play Duke in Hawaii.

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“Aztecs-New Mexico-Reunion”

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He was the last football coach to have a huge impact on a New Mexico Lobos football program, and that was a long time ago. Rocky Long isn’t big on history of where he’s been and what he’s done, but his exit in Albuquerque was pretty surprising, just as surprising as his elevation to be head coach at San Diego State. His Aztecs, who have struggled for four straight games, head into New Mexico to meet a staggering Lobos team. Coached by former Notre Dame coach Bob Davie, it’s been a trying two years for the Lobos since Davie took them to a (9-4) record just 3-years ago. In fact, New Mexico has had just 2-winning seasons in 11-years, and a composite (40-91) record, since Long was dismissed. New Mexico’s loss is SDSU’s gain. Long talked about his team and the road travelled at his weekly press conference.

Important conference game
We play close games-that what we play

Lobos have Arizona State transfer at QB-will start
Think they will change the offense some
We have to prepare for 2-types of offense.

Have seen some video of ASU transfer QB

Ryan Agnew will start..
Christian Chapman will play one series in first half and some in second half
Chapman looks better in practice-eon’t know if he will be 100%-we’ll see
Chapman won’t scramble as much as Agnew does
We will throw the ball more with Agnew that Christian
Christian-we have to find out what he can do
1-thing to look okay in practice-another thing to do it in game

Team gets emotional in wins and losses
We are who we are-very young-inexperienced-very inconsistent
Kids have played really hard-but make mistakes
We have peaks and valleys….that’s not going to change
You play 23-24 young guys-that’s what you get

What we’re not getting-big chunk runs as we had in the past
Humphrey-Penny would get to the second level-not getting 60Y runs
We have to get explosive plays throwing the ball now.

Ryan Agnew has made a lot of plays to help us win
Juwan Washington has a chance to play this week.

We’re playing okay on defense-but turnover ratio not in our favor
We have not caused enough turnovers on defense…just 9-takeaways this years
Yardage wise-playing better than last year..
Not giving offense a chance on short field this year.

We have tried bunch of guys back there on return games…can’t drop kicks.
Young guys have lots of talent-drop ball-go back out there
Veterans drop balls in practice-too-so we go with young guys.
Young kids make mistakes ..pressure situation..stress level…
Not going to use Juwan Washington to return kicks when healthy
Kick returns you can block and help return man
Punt return-chance you get knocked out-cover guys get there quick.

Going back to Albuquerque-not much of emotional rush-it’s business
I have a lot of friends there
Really tough to build New Mexico-New Mexico State-not a lot of recruits
Purely population problem…1-Division 1-athletes per 100,000-in state.
Not sure there are 10-Division 1-prospets in state.

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“College Football-Some Good-Some Bad”

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It has been a season of surprises and disappointments in college football here in Southern California. A couple of good teams, a couple of struggling teams, and fans staying away in droves.

SAN DIEGO STATE….We’ve come to expect greatness with the product that Rocky Long puts on the field, but when they lose we come away disappointed. The Aztecs are (6-2), but haven’t played well in 3-weeks, since that emotion filled win at Boise State. Yes they beat Air Force, struggled but edged San Jose, then fell apart at Nevada. A backup QB-Ryan Agnew, a cadre of young running backs led by Chase Jasmin, and backup fullbacks have held their own as the club waits for veteran QB-Christian Chapman and lead back Juwan Washington to return to play. What was supposed to a strength, a rock solid offensive line, hasn’t played all that well this mid season. And the defense, which used to stuff run games, chase quarterbacks, gets sacks and turnovers, isn’t doing it this year compared to years gone by. Maybe it’s the youth across the roster. Maybe it’s the lack of big play wide receivers. Maybe it’s too much stress on the run game. There’s still another tough road game to come, at Fresno. And yet a (9-3) record would be solid. Oddly, fans aren’t rallying around the program yet, despite the defection of the Chargers. They announce crowds of 30,000 or so at the stadium. Insiders say SDSU routinely inflates the crowd numbers, who show up. it is a strange relationship in our community.

USD…..One of the best 1-AA programs in the country, a non scholarship program, that gets post season bids, and has twice beaten scholarship schools in the post-season playoffs. It is a unique atmosphere at the school. They get degrees from a fine institution. The do put some players into the NFL. And quarterback Anthony Lawrence, a brilliant star at Grossmont High, stayed home to go to USD, and has now rewritten all the passing records in the Torero book, going over the 11,000-yard passing mark. They play in the Pioneer League, a loose knit group of non-scholarship schools scattered across the Midwest and South. Dayton and Davidson are among their competitors, but the town has not responded despite the great job longtime coach Dale Lindsey has done up on the hill. Last Saturday’s home game, where they won their 23rd straight home game, drew just 1,047 fans to Torero Stadium.

UCLA….The excitement over the hiring of Chip Kelly has worn off. Reality has set in. It will take time to rally the once proud Bruins program. And now some truth comes front and center, what Kelly ran at Oregon, when he captured the fancy of the nation with his video game offense, cannot be reproduced. They don’t have a run game. They are force feeding a freshman quarterback Dorian Robinson. They don’t play much defense. This (2-6) record, that started 0-4), is the worst mark since 1943 And crowds at the Rose Bowl have disappeared, They drew the smallest turnout since 1997, this past Saturday, some 41,848 showed up. This was a program that averaged 76,650 in 2014. A long road back surely.

USC….Clay Helton came on board and did well early, but the Trojans aren’t doing well now. When was USC at (4-4) last? A while back, almost 2-decades back. They are playing JT Daniels, an 18-year old freshman, who got hurt just a couple of weeks ago. The top running back is a transfer from tiny UC-Davis. They don’t seem to have put many players in the NFL in recent years. And the Trojan faithful isn’t real happy with the product on the field, or even the new look to the renovated LA Coliseum. And to top it off, they just played a home game last weekend, drawing just 47,406, the smallest turnout since 2001. The Pete Carroll, USC-Texas era, and crowds of 90,000 seem long ago. USC, not what it was prior.

It’s strange. San Diego fans, displaced Chargers followers, aren’t supporting the only team in town, SDSU. USD’s leadership cannot figure out how to market a really good small college program. In LA, they don’t like USC’s head coach, and at UCLA alums are wondering out loud what they hired in this new coach. Unless these teams start winning, there will get empty seats, and lots of them up in LA. What a strange fall this has turned into.

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