Chargers Lineup

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The San Diego Chargers got to the 53-man roster limit this weekend, with a couple of surprising cuts, and  a realistic chance what is the roster this morning, will not all be on the roster next Monday night when they open the season in Arizona against the Cardinals.
 
The Bolts list of waived players included injured WR-Vincent Brown, who was waived injured after missing 5-weeks and all the preseasosn games, with a calf injury.  By being waived injured, he could come back in 6-weeks to San Diego, rather than having been put on the injured reserve list for the year, or using a valuable spot on the 8-week IR list.
 
Also cut was OT-Mike Harris, a former starter at left tackle as a rookie, who was injured last year, and just never really played with any consistency this preseason.  Willie Smith, a journeyman, will at least start the season as the swing left and right tackle.
 
Young linebacker Thomas Keiser was pink-slipped, and could wind up with another team, looking for a special team gunner, or he could come back to San Diego if injuries take a toll, though the position is really deep.  
 
Young quarterback Brad Sorensen, who had two poor preseason games, was taken off the active roster, but might resurface on the 10-man developmental squad to run the scout team practices again..
 
The numbers game was the real interesting storyline as the cuts were made.  The Chargers kept five running backs, though that might be a procedural move.  Once every team is down to 53, the Chargers could then put Brandon Oliver or Marion Grice on waivers, figuring another team would not claim an untested rookie and have to put the player on their own roster.  Therefore, once cleared thru waivers, Oliver or Grice could wind up on the Bolts practice squad.
 
They kept 4-tight ends, though David Johnson, the ex-Steeler, is as much fullback as he is H-back or tight end.  Ex-Cowboy John Phillips closed preseason fast, and probably saved his job by catching passes and blocking.
 
On defense, this number cannot be what they expect to open the season with.  The Chargers have only 6-defensive lineman, and two of them are nicked up, in Sean Lissimore and Lawrence Guy, and one is a raw rookie Ryan Carrethers.  Of course, you could always put Dwight Freeney back down with his hand in the dirt as an end in the defense.  
 
The Chargers kept 10-linebackers, including Tourek Williams, the small college talent, who has had an active preseason, and the ex-Colt Kavell Connor, who may replace Manti Te’o if those foot problems linger.
 
In the secondary, the Chargers seem thin at cornerback.  lst round pick Jason Verrett will play in sub packages, with Brandon Flowers as the starter.  The surprise was the decision to hold onto Stevie Williams, who was skewered in games in coverage, as well as rookie Chris Davis.
 
The Bolts have 5-corners, and 5-safeties, though Richard Marshall could jump back from safety to corner if one of the kids falters.
 
Still to be determined is whether the numbers change, if the Chargers find somebody they think can play at nose-tackle in place of the injured Kwame Gaethers.  That might be a reach for very few true nose tackles were put on the waiver lists, meaning the Chargers will be young, thin, and a bit beat up in the defensive front as the season starts.
 
But keep in mind, what is on the roster today, might not be all their by next Monday night kickoff in Arizona.
 

Chargers final cuts:  Most notable names:

 
Vincent Brown-WR..Brad Sorensen-OB..Thomas Keiser-LB..Mike Harris-OT..Tavin Reese-WR..Crezdon Butler-CB…Corrado Law-DE…Doug Worthington-DE…Joe Kruger-DE…Alden Darby-CB…Jevontee Herndon-WR.
 
 
Chargers 53-Man Active Roster-10 Developmental Squad players still to be signed.
 

QB (2)

Philip Rivers, Kellen Clemens

RB (5)

Ryan Mathews, Danny Woodhead, Donald Brown, Branden Oliver, Marion Grice

OL (8)

King Dunlap, Chad Rinehart, Nick Hardwick, Johnnie Troutman, D.J. Fluker, Chris Watt, Rich Ohrnberger, Willie Smith

WR (5)

Keenan Allen, Malcom Floyd, Eddie Royal, Dontrelle Inman, Seyi Ajirotutu

TE (4)

Antonio Gates, Ladarius Green, David Johnson, John Phillips

DL (6)

Corey Liuget, Kendall Reyes, Sean Lissemore, Lawrence Guy, Ryan Carrethers, Tenny Palepoi

OLB (5)

Melvin Ingram, Jarret Johnson, Dwight Freeney, Jerry Attaochu, Tourek Williams

ILB (5)

Donald Butler, Manti Te’o, Kavell Conner, Reggie Walker, Andrew Gachkar

CB (5)

Shareece Wright, Brandon Flowers, Jason Verrett, Steve Williams, Chris Davis

Safety (5)

Eric Weddle, Marcus Gilchrist, Jahleel Addae, Darrell Stuckey, Richard Marshall

Kicker (1)

Nick Novak

Punter (1)
Mike Scifres

Long snapper (1)

Mike Windt

King College Football

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College Football is back, long live the king.
 
The first weekend of the college season is here, with a different pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.  There will not be a fictional champion, a blind vote, a computer snafu to determine who gets to play the final weekend of the season.  It will be a 4-team playoff and it will go a long way to fixing the wrongs the good old BCS (Bowl Championship Series) created.
 
It’s a different year though.
 
Alabama must replace its quarterback AJ McCarron.  Florida State has its QB-Jameis Winston but lots of baggage around him.
 
Ohio State has lost its leader already, quarterback Braxton Miller with shoulder surgery. 
 
Life after Johnny Football-Johnny Manziel has begun at Texas A&M with his replacement Kenny Hill throwing for 511-yards in his first game..
 
In the PAC 12 conference, a new coach in the final year of scholarship probation at USC, but lots of controversy for Steve Sarkisian coming in the front door.  UCLA looks loaded and hopes to keep heart-and-soul QB Brett Hundley healthy, as Jim Mora moves into his third year at the helm. .
 
Oregon has Marcus Mariota at QB but has lost a ton of speed at running back and wide receiver, and we are now two years removed from the Chip Kelly era.
 
And the coach everyone wanted to hire, finally was hired, when Chris Peterson left Boise State to go to the Washington Huskies.  
 
A new beginning at once proud Texas where coach Charley Strong has run off 9-problem players.  Oklahoma has had off the field issues all off season and you wonder if the Sooners are upper echelon elite?.
 
And of course we have the Heisman Race, with some great additional QBs to watch, Auburn’s Nick Marshall and Baylor’s Bryce Petty likely to put up good numbers.
 
Closer to home San Diego State  plays just a brutal road schedule, BYU is an independent no-one is paying attention to anymore, and one wonders if anyone is left to watch what used to be the Big East, Conference USA, or where the old WAC went to.
 
King Football is back.  Saturday’s are special.  Get ready for upsets, shockers, high scoring games, and the annual right to argue, whom should be picked for the 4-team playoff after the Bowl games.
 
Tee it off…kick it off.  Just love the fall don’t you?

Always another team

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We’re getting down to the final cut down date in the NFL. 
 
Right after the games tonight, teams will go from 75 on the roster to 53 for the opening of the season.  Starting at midnight tonight, 704-players will be cut off rosters.
 
Sure there will be some interesting names made available, but not many of them will be difference makers if they go to another team.  But there is one out there who is drawing lots of attention, and for a really different reason.
 
Tampa Bay needs help at the position, so does Indianapolis, and the New York Giants.  Help at guard, where injuries and retirements have decimated their ranks.
 
And there he is on a street corner, waiting for a phone call, after getting suspended last year amidst a firestorm of controversy.
 
Richie Incognito is hoping to sign a contract and get another chance.  Incognito, the ringleader, of the Miami Dolphins hazing incident, that wrecked their season a year ago.  He wound up getting suspended for 9-weeks, lost his job, his salary, and almost his livelihood.
 
Jonathan Martin, the young tackle from Miami, the victim of all the abuse is gone from Miami too, traded to the 49ers, in a giveaway deal just to get him off the team.
 
But the burning question, is another team willing to take a chance on someone like Incognito, redneck, hot head, emotionally unhinged at times?  There’s no doubt he can play, no doubt he is a tough guy, no doubt at times he can be a leader so others can follow, and no doubt the guy who will take penalties and do some over the line things..
 
But you cannot get away from all the slurs, the racial issues, the sexually snide comments, and the out-of-control persona he can be on the field and in games.
 
The Rams got rid of him when they needed lineman.  Miami cut him loose like you’d cut a cancerous cell out of your body.
 
But in the history of the NFL, there’s always somebody out there who will take a chance, that “I can control the guy, get the best out of him, and not let him burn my lock room to the ground.”  Teams always need players and the guy can play..
 
So pay attention to your team in tonight’s final games on the preseason schedule, look for names cut and sent to the waiver wire, and wait and see where Richie Incognito lands, because it is likely going to happen pretty quickly.
 
Richie Incognito will take your call shortly and sign and come play for you.  Mid-level player even if at times a sub-standard person.  Still fit to be on an NFL roster.  

Chargers Plight

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The job just got a bit tougher for that San Diego Chargers coaching staff and the front office.
 
In what had been a training camp pretty much free of bad injuries, now this, the loss of fast-developing nose tackle Kwame Gaethers, a mountain of a man at 6’6-335.
 
The nose tackle job is so hard to play, and so hard to find the right guy for the teams that live in a “3-4” defense.  The best modern day one the Chargers have had in decades was Jamal Williams, a Bobby Beathard find, and it took #75 a good five years to learn how to play it, survive it, and flourish in it, at nose tackle.  Before that it was Louie Kelcher, and the 1970s was a long time ago.
 
Gaethers played some at the end of last year, and last year was a mess in that defensive front.  This year, in preseason, he was getting on the field more and more, some because of an ankle injury to Sean Lissimore, but more so because his play picked up and he had become a force.
 
And now he’s gone.  Not for a couple of weeks as Coach Mike McCoy had led us to believe.  Not for the minimum 8-weeks, if he had gone on that special IR-list.  But rather the whole season.
 
The gruesome hit that bent him over backwards was painful to watch, imagine how it must have felt.  The Chargers said hyperextension and a ligament sprain.  It might have been worse, and maybe it really is, to merit him being gone now the entire season.
 
Where does San Diego go?. You can find a wide body on waivers this coming Saturday, when teams cut to 53, but teams don’t give away nose tackles.
 
It’s a lingering problem.  At one point the Chargers had ex-49er Abrayou Franklin, and he played well in chunks of time two years ago.  They had drafted Cam Thomas, and worked and waited for him to develop, and all he did was get pushed around on the field, and get himself in a lawsuit for herpes off the field.  He is gone.
 
GM Tom Telesco could have been pro active in the off season.  Amongst the veterans who were out there as free agents, was Pat Sims, a very active nose tackle on a bad Raiders team.  Issac Sopoaga, once upon a time, a starter with the 49ers.  Both have since been signed.
 
Shaun Rogers, an ex Giant-Lion-Brown is a massive guy, but questionable character.  Ryan Pickett, the ex-Packer-Ram can be had but he has a 100,000 miles on his wheels.
 
Lissimore, who is a bit undersized, will start, but how long he holds up remains to be seen.  Draft pick Ryan Carruthers is next in line, but he played at tiny Arkansas State, and do you know how many miles it is between that place, and this place (the NFL), and I’m not talking  miles?
 
It’s a tough position to play, and now for the Chargers, a tougher position to fill.  They didn’t fix it last year, and didn’t address it this past off season either.
 
The GM hurt the team with his inertia, at a position you really need to have a guy you cannot move off the spot.  And now that guy, Gaethers, is hurt.

The Commissioner Comes to San Diego

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The man is coming thru town tonite on his own personal farewell tour, and will be at Petco Park this evening.

Outgoing Commissioner Bud Selig will hold court in his final press conference, as he vists all the ballparks before heading into retirement.

The man causes reaction from virtually everyone about everything he ever did, and he’s not done yet.  Polarizing is part of his name.

Selig presided over tremendous growth in the industry, which used to be a 1B a year industry and is now worth 8B a season.

He helped create MLB Media and the growth of TV packages for virtually all the teams in the game.

September has become something special now with 4 wildcard playoff berths available in the two leagues.  The World Series at night draws great ratings.

After a decade of strife, there is drug testing at every level and increasing discipline too, for  steroids, amphetamines and HGH..

Sure there is stain over the cancellation of the ’94 season and the World Series…and the public black eye about black market drugs in the Dominican.

But he is not to blame for A-Rod, Ryan Braun, McGuire, or the liars infront of Congress.

Add the strife with umpires, the instant replay mess earlier in the year,the All Star game
fiasco, and the embarrassment of the McCourt-Dodgers era-error.  They were all on his watch.

So too is the sad sack stadiums issues in Oakland and in Tampa Bay, territorial rights, and firesale budgets..It’s always easy to take a shot at the man in the rumpled jacket, askew tie, with little camera presence.But more than anything Bud Selig cared, and it was a challenge to get all the owners and an always angry union to pull the rope in the same direction.

The old car dealer from Milwaukee rescued the Brewers back in the day, and history should write, he did much more positive than negative for baseball as its leader..

A classy gentleman in his own way, maybe the next honor for him might well be on the steps at Cooperstown.

The man would have many positive things to put on his plaque.

You’ve heard the phrase “the beer that made Milwaukee famous.  Bud Selig, the man who made Milwaukee and baseball proud.