The AFC West division is one of the toughest divisions in
the NFL. The Denver Broncos are three years removed from winning the super
bowl. The Raiders appeared to be legit super bowl contenders, last season,
until their hopes crumbled with Derek Carr’s leg. The Kanas City Chiefs have
been one of the league’s most consistent teams in the NFL not named the New
England Patriots. I understand that they aren’t winning super bowls, or
appearing in any for that matter, but they just seem to win 10 games a season
and make the playoffs. Then you have the San Diego/LA Chargers! This team seems
to catch every possible bad break. Injuries seem to take out one of their key
players every year. Phillip Rivers is feeling the pressure to perform at such a
high level that he has become a turnover machine. Penalties and other unfortunate
events caused this team some close games in 2016. Will anything be different
for the LA Chargers in 2017?
Key Additions:
New coach: Anthony Lynn will
bring some stability for the future in LA. At this point, the Chargers can only
hope to contend for a playoff spot. Phillip Rivers appears to be over the hill
and they will need to find them a successor. Lynn will be able to gain some
heading coaching experience this year with guys like Phillip Rivers and Antione
Gates leading the pack. It’s hard for me to say that Lynn will bring in some
special, new scheme, because Rivers has proven to be so good and it’s hard to
change what he is comfortable with. Mike McCoy was able to get this team in the
playoffs in 2013, so Lynn will need to put a competitive team on the field but
he has no pressure this season to make the playoffs.
New Defensive coordinator: Gus
Bradley was one of the men responsible for constructing that dominate defensive
unit in Seattle. Bradley is a good defensive mind; he will bring in a new attitude
and will put his playmakers in the best position to be successful. He has some young
talented pieces on this defense. Bradley alone won’t drastically improve this
unit, but he will devise a scheme that will make this unit competitive. I also
think the change to the 4-3 based scheme can really help their star players
like Joey Bosa and Melvin Ingram. Both of them were good last season but
putting Ingram on the line opposite Bosa will give the Chargers two lethal edge
rushers. Getting to the quarterback will help to make this defense better this
season.
Offensive line help: How
ironic is it that the Chargers rookie guard has already torn his ACL and will
miss the season? Injuries are the main reason this team cannot get moving in
the right direction. They continue to get major injuries at key position. It’s hard
to evaluate a team when it isn’t at full strength. They also made an effort to improve
one of their major issues this offseason. The Chargers sign veteran Left Tackle
Russell Okung. Here’s some more irony, Okung has played a full 16 games once in
his 7 year career. That season was last year with the Broncos and they let him
go. If Okung is healthy, he should be an upgrade of King Dunlap. I mentioned
Forrest lamp, who was supposed to replace DJ Fluker, but is already injured.
Okung and Lamp were going to come in this year and anchor down a bad offensive
line, but injuries have already struck here, and it’s unlikely that Okung makes
it a full season.
Review:
The Chargers aren’t expected to contend for this division.
Melvin Gordon came on strong last year and Lynn is a coordinator that likes to
run the ball. Let’s face it, Gordon may be their best offensive weapon at this
point. I can’t doubt Rivers or Gates until they show me they can no longer do
it.
This may be the first year in a long time that we get a
chance to see how good Keean Allen can be with Rivers. Throw in first round
pick Mike Williams (who is hurt also) and Tyrell Willams and the Chargers have
a solid receiving unit.
That defense was terrible last season and not much has
changed. Joey Bosa will be a star in this league! Changing from the 3-4 scheme
to the 4-3 base scheme will allow them to do many different things with Bosa. Bradley
will probably move Bosa around along the defensive line and drop him in to
coverage. Bradley will get creative with Bosa and Ingram. The pass rush is set
but the rest of this defense is terrible and the Chargers didn’t make any moves
to improve it.
At the end of the day, the Chargers are playing in one of
the toughest divisions in football. They also have the other toughest division
(The NFC East) on their schedule. Rivers will keep this team competitive. They
had better hope for some injury relief by the football gods, but I don’t see
that happening with injuries to their first and second round picks already. I
see this team winning six games and preparing for life after Phillip Rivers. The
Chargers have to get some young talent on defense and their fans will just have
to be patient and suffer through another bad season. I kind of feel bad for the
people in LA. You lobbied for a football team for so long, and then you get
two. The problem with that is that both of those teams stink. The Rams may be competitive
because they’re in a terrible division but don’t bank on the Chargers doing
anything in 2017.
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