Hey all. Well, the pigskin is flying again! Rejoice, O Followers at the return of Football! Another offseason goes by the wayside and all 32 teams are full of hope as the NFL kickoff date looms. Luckily, the off-season gulag was helped along by the World Cup…and the amazing and surprising success (so far) of the San Diego Padres. That, and the inevitable passage of time, has soothed some of the pain over that horrific loss to the Jets back in January. The first pre-season game last weekend against Chicago brought out the requisite hope and lament that all such games bring. Hope that Ryan Mathews will be “The Man” at running back. Lament that McNeil and Jackson appear to be holdouts for most or all of the season. Hope that we have depth to cover these absences. Lament that other teams look better than us. The ANALYSIS always implores its readers to not worry too much about the preseason and not to get too pumped on good results this time of year. But…winning is always good…for confidence and good vibes if no other reason.
The Chargers enter the season as winners of the AFC West for four straight years. During that time, our Team has gone 46-18, has made the playoffs four straight years and has twice earned 1st round byes. A string of dominance that I painstakingly detailed in an earlier post. However, all that has earned us is some brutal losses and a reputation as a talented team without heart and grit. How else do you describe two first round exits at home in the last 4 years (three if you add the Jets loss in 2004)? Well, there are a thousand different answers…have I provided them all?....but the bottom line is that the proof is in the pudding and we have not risen up when we needed to.
This season’s team is different. It is clear that the spectre of LT is a load off of Phillip Rivers and the rest of the offense. They have spent the past two years (at least) tip toeing around the ego of their fallen star…and I have to believe it must be a relief now to everyone. The recent quotes from Rivers and Gates bear that out. They must love to see a hungry kid in the backfield in Mathews who is not going to pout and sit on the bench. It also must be nice to be rid of uber-athlete Cromartie…who so consistently underperformed on the field after wowing everyone in practice. Coaches must love to see a competition at corner (including the very good looking Donald Strickland) without the “who gives a crap” attitude of Cro. If you ever miss Cromartie this year, please view the Youtube video of him avoiding contact with Jets running back Shonn Green in the playoff game and allowing Green to run for a 50 yard TD. Ironic that it was the Jets that picked him up…hmmmmmmm.
Speaking of the Jets…have any of you seen “Hard Knocks” on HBO? It details (in real time pretty much) the training camp of the Jets. Both LT and Cromartie are featured. Everyone is all smiles and love and “I cannot believe any team would get rid of these guys”. Give it time folks….there may be some good games ahead for these guys…the Jets look great. But just give it time.
This team is also different because they have really bought into the depth = success approach. Gone are the days of simply focusing on LT, Merriman, Jamal Williams, and Gates as the Answer to winning. This team employs committees of players now….on D line, three guys are replacing Williams and as many as seven guys may rotate in and out. We have a crew competing on the O Line to replace McNeil. We have a bunch of linebackers competing for time. A ton of receivers vying to replace Jackson. The plan is to keep guys fresh…hope to avoid injury….and get it done through depth. I cannot say I disagree with this, but there is a sense of newness to the team. It will be very interesting to see how it gels and how guys react. Keep in mind that last year we went in with a lot of confidence…lost half of both our Lines in the first game and kept rotating guys in and out all year to a 13-3 finish. I think they are going with the same formula…for better or worse. Nice to see Merriman signed. At least he will be there to create a diversion. If sound, he is still a disruptive force. Maybe he can make a difference. Clearly, the two missing guys are going to be tough. Lets just hope that our new mantra: DEPTH = SUCCESS actually works.
Because pre-season football is not worth an entire column, I must now say a few words on other topics.
The Padres!
I admit it. I am a fair weather fan when it comes to baseball. I would live and die with a 1-15 Charger team (and I have) but when it comes to baseball I am fair weather. That being said, I am becoming a big fan of this team. The second lowest payroll in baseball and the best record in the NL. Wow. This weekend’s near sweep of the hated rival Giants was exciting stuff. I have to say, I pretty much checked out when they got rid of Peavy. To give up a 27 year old Cy Young winner is just not OK with me. However, he is on Injured Reserve for the second straight year and the Padres have the best pitching staff in baseball right now. This kid Mat Latos is sick. Just sick. Add in a bullpen that gives up nothing and a tough, base-stealing team that plays hard together and you have a fun recipe. Now, there are still a bunch of games left and this team still cannot really hit all that well (although adding Ludwick and Tejada to help out Adrian Gonzalez was excellent). There appear to be 6 teams vying for 4 spots in the playoffs…we could still get shut out. But, the fact remains that this team has made a believer out of this jaded fan….and Bud Black should be manager of the year. Go Pads!
Finally, what has become my closing thought in the last couple of posts. Tara, Jonas, and I went to Del Mar to see Zenyatta run on August 7. In typical fashion, she won her 18th consecutive race as easy as she pleased, complete with her pre and post race antics and bows to the crowd. In a word, awesome. It has become so formulaic…her wins….that it is less of a story that it should be. She beats foes so easily that many of the pundits discount them. The pathetic horse racing media has moved on to other stories….with one headline proclaiming on the day she ran “The best horse in the country races today…and so does Zenyatta”. The article was talking about Quality Road, a great horse running at Saratoga in New York. Well….just more fuel to the argument that anything on the west coast is devalued. It has always been that way. But…Quality Road lost to another very good horse that day…and Zenyatta did not. She now moves forward on this amazing journey to her 19th race, probably about 200 yards from my office at Santa Anita on October 2. If she wins there…it is on to the Breeders Cup Classic and a chance at 20-20. Now, that would be sweet.
