PRESEASON WEEK 1
Personally, I haven't been this excited for a Chargers preseason in a very long time. The perception of some fans is that preseason games don't count and minimize the importance of a NFL preseason. Why are you watching? What questions are you trying to find answers too? These four games are vital to a teams coaching staff to determine if a prospect has progressed or regressed since mini camp. These are the games that separate the boys from the men. It can end a young man lifelong dreams with an abrupt knock on the door from the TURK!!! "Get your playbook and head to the coaches office". Words no player wants to hear in late August.
It's been 21 straight years that the Chargers have had at least one undrafted player make the team. What rookie will join Antonio Gates, Kris Dielman, Mike Tolbert, Kassim Osgood, Stephen Cooper, Malcolm Floyd and Antwan Applewhite as a undrafted Charger who made the 53 man roster?
What player will fans go overboard with their excitement over this year of a dazzling new unknown gem they found in the preseason? Remember around 2011, when Bryan Walters was going to be the next Wes Welker? Walters played 4 games for the Chargers and had 3 catches for 27 yards. Before you go on social media making exclamation posts about a unknown player that you think looks amazing in practice, Words of advice. IT'S PRACTICE!
Please think before you post. You know who amazed the fans and coaches in practice but never made any impact in the real games? Wide receivers named Buster Davis, Mike Willie and Tevon Reese to just name a few. Guys and Gals, don't be THAT guy this year!
How a does a teams performance in the preseason reflect on how their regular season games will play out? NONE, ZERO NADA!! Many fans tune out after the first series or two when the veteran players come out of the game. But that is when the game gets the most interesting. That is when you should tune in the most. Players who are fighting for roster positions can finally make their case to the coaches. Who is going to start and who will be determined to be a reserve and dropped to the 2nd or 3rd string on the 53 man roster? What veteran is on the bubble (verge of being released) and is in danger of getting cut? Can you hear me Craig Mager? In the preseason, I want less of Philip Rivers, Keenan Allen and Joey Bosa. Give me more Kyzir White, Russell Hansbrough, Mike Williams and Uchenna Nwosu.
The Chargers missed the playoffs in 2017 because while the roster had lots of talent. It also had some deep holes that got exposed throughout the season. Whether it was the field goal situation, very poor pass blocking from the offensive line, piss poor tackling, mental errors from Travis Benjamin and one of the worst special teams performances in the NFL last year during returns and coverages. If they can fix or improve one or more of those in 2018. They could actually exceed the high expectations set on them already this year by the talking heads. If they don't, then this year will end with disappointment and heartbreak. Fans left scratching their heads asking, what happened?
This year has storylines that will be tied into four preseason games. Three of these opponents will face the Chargers again in the regular season. We can expect some boring vanilla game plans from both teams in those these games. Getting into the undrafted players and the intriguing camp battles taking place may save your sanity in these games. The tuneup game is in week 3 against the Saints. This will be a great test for the Chargers.
CARDS-CHARGERS NOTES
One game at a time though. First up is a road game against the NFC West Arizona Cardinals. The Cardinals roster and their coaching staff saw major changes after Arizona fielded the oldest roster in the NFL in 2017. Carson Palmer and Bruce Arians are gone and a new tough as nails defensive minded head coach has taken over. Steve Wilks has ties to the Chargers. He was their defensive back coach from 2009 to 2011. He also worked in Carolina under Ron Rivera. He brought in our old pal to run the offense in Mike McCoy. Tre Boston was signed by Arizona recently after a turmoil departure from the Chargers after last season. Mike McCoy is the offensive play caller in Arizona. Ken Whisenhunt was the Cardinals head coach from 2007 to 2012 as well. Hell Yea! Let the Preseason games began!
STEVE WILKS
CARDINALS VS CHARGERS
The Chargers have faced the Cardinals 23 times in the past in preseason games. The Chargers lead the preseason series 14-9. Arizona hasn't beaten the Chargers in any of these exhibition games since 2003. In 1976, the faced off in the very first international game in Tokyo, Japan. These are two teams going in two totally different directions.
The Chargers had a quiet offseason and kept their roster mostly intact. Arizona is going through some major transitional changes within their organization that included letting QB Carson Palmer (their aging veteran QB walk into the sunset of retirement. David Johnson is back and he's the workhorse of this offense. Larry Fitzgerald is still catching balls in Arizona but after those two this roster is pretty slim. The Cardinals are not expected to do well in 2018.
Arizona players that moved on this offseason...
John Brown, Carson Palmer, Drew Stanton, Adrian Peterson, Karlos Dansby, Tramon Williams, Tyron Branch,Tyrann Mathieu, Jared Veldheer, Xavier Williams, Troy Niklas and Kareem Martin.
Arizona added..
WR Brice Butler, T Andre Smith, C Justin Pugh, CB James Taylor, CB Marcus Williams and CB Bene Benwikere
Arizona Key Draft Picks...
QB Sam Bradford, QB Josh Rosen, WR Christian Kirk, C Mason Cole and RB Chase Edmonds.
The QB's are Sam Bradford and newly drafted QB Josh Rosen. Mike Glennon will be the 3rd string meaning mostly Josh Rosen and Mike Glennon will face off against Geno Smith and Cardale Jones in this matchup. The Chargers defense will face an ArizoneArizona offensive line full of question marks. The big two are DJ Humpries and newly acquired guard Justin Pugh from the Giants. Mike Lupati and A.Q. Shipley played poorly in 2017. A below average offensive line and Sam Bradford at QB. What could go wrong right? Luckily for Bradford he won't play much at all in this exhibition game. Christian Kirk a fast receiver and run damn good routes. He will be lined up against Desmond King in the slot. Kirk also will be returning kicks and punts. The Chargers special teams coverage will reveal pretty quick all the new faces on the Chargers special teams. Fitzgerald who is 35 years old and is still considered a major force at receiver. But I doubt he gets much playing time in the first preseason game.
UPDATE: DJ Humpries his ACL in training camp this week.
THE CARDINALS OFFENSE
David Johnson, TJ Logan and Chase Edmonds are the running backs in Arizona. David Johnson was a 3rd round draft pick from Northern Iowa in 2016. HE will rightfully try and test the Chargers run defense that played so poorly in 2017. He played in only one game last year before getting injured and stayed out for the year. Arizona had the worst running attacks in the NFL in 2017 vs the RB who rushed for 1,239 yards in 2016. Logan was a 3rd round draft pick from 2017. He missed all of 2017 with an injury as well. Chase Edmonds is the type of back that gives the Chargers problems. At 5'9 and 205 pounds, he's fast and sneaks his way down the field both rushing and receiving. Arizona looking for Edmonds to be their version of Austin Ekeler. He'll fill in on 3rd downs back and special teams player. The latter two of the three RB's will see quite a few carries in this game. The Cardinals #1 team offense can look forward to Bosa and Ingram combining for 23 takedowns on opposing QB.
Arizona is a roster in the making. Sam Bradford can hurt a defense but can he stay healthy? With those questions in mind we'll see a good amount of Josh Rosen in this game. Rosen is probably the most ready QB out of the 2018 draft. He'll give the Chargers coaches a good look at their developmental players on defense. Rosen will throw an INT in this one I'm sure in his Cardinals debut.
CARDINALS DEFENSE
As Anthony Lynn has changed the Chargers mindset is how Steve Wilks is hoping to do it in Arizona on the defensive side of the ball. He worked under Ron Rivera in Carolina so that tells you about Steve Wilks. The Cardinals lost 2 corners and Tyrann Mathieu. There is a lot of work to do in Arizona on that side of the ball. The Cards couldn't get off the field on 3rd downs in 2017. That unit just got stretched to thin with always being on the field week in and week out with poor Cardinal QB play. I'm sure Tre Boston is licking his chops to see Cardale Jones and Geno Smith at QB. Arizona can stop the run well enough to keep the Cardinals in some games. If Bradford can stay healthy and productive. That is MORE than the entire Tampa Bay Buccaneers defense.This Cardinals team is ripe for the taking and yet it also could provides some good tests to this years Charger team at the sametime.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR FROM THE CHARGERS
1. WHO'S GOING TO BE QB 2?...TO BE RIVERS BACKUP QB
The biggest question to be answered is who will get the call to be Philip? Cardale Jones or Geno Smith? Geno Smith is the veteran who has won games in the NFL. Cardale is a prospect that is still developing. Nic Shimonek from Texas Tach is destined for the practice squad. Both Geno and Cardale will fight it over four preseason games. One will be released and one will get the call "you're on the roster".
PREDICTED WINNER: Geno Smith..Not confident on this one but I'm giving the edge to Geno Smith for his veteran leadership and has proven in the past he can step in and lead a team at QB if he is ever needed to do so.
2. FIELD GOAL KICKER
Fridays practice had Caleb Sturgis going 4 for 7 on field goals. The misses were from the 42,45 and 50 yard line. Roberto Aguayo went 8-8 with no misses. This camp battle will likely go down to week 4 to determine a winner. It's Sturgis job to lose. Aguayo was a very accomplished Field goal kicker at Florida State. But in 2017 he missed 9 field goals.
WINNER: Caleb Sturgis...I see Sturgis willing the job by providing the pure veteran leadership that Aguayo can't provide.
3. TIGHT END
To talk about the TE positions without adding some sense of extreme urgency and panic is to be naive to the overall situation. The Chargers do not have a so called typical TE on their roster as of today. Telesco looked at the data with the analytics data and decided to let Antonio Gates go. It was 100% the right decision. Gates who was an undrafted player who will make the Hall of Fame can't contribute on the field like he use to. Even in the redzone, Gates production had nose dived. For example in 2016, Gates was targeted 22 times inside of the redzone. In 2017, Rivers looked even less for Gates from within the 20 yd line. Gates had just 11 targets. He played 500 snaps and produced 52 targets and 30 catches for 318 yards and 3 TD's. That gas tank is running on empty and the team had Hunter Henry ready to go. That is until he wasn't ready anymore. Henry went on IR before Training camp opened. Telesco picked up Virgil Green from Denver. Green never caught more than 22 passes in a season. That is 22 more than any other TE on this roster!!!
The team will say nothing and just pretend that one of these guys will be able to produce. Fat chance in hell!!! Green not a receiver. He is strictly a run blocking TE. The three TE in the end will be TE1 Virgil Green, TE2 Sean Culkin and TE3 Braedon Bowman. Telesco will then concede to any remaining issues Gates has and sign him before week 1 of the regular season. Gates is good for about 25 catches this year. This is the weakest part of the Chargers offense. But will make for some entertaining football as the tight ends on the roster fight it out to make a believer out of Tom Telesco.
WINNER: Green, Culkin and Bowman in that order.
4. DON'T MAKE THE OFFENSIVE LINE BE OFFENSIVE
Some fans will point to a misleading stat concerning the team giving up less sacks than any team in football in 2017. That is an attribute to Rivers leading the NFL in quick throws not quality offensive line play. Kenny Wiggins and Spencer Pulley was graded out by PFF as the worst in the NFL at their respective positions. Joe Barksdale and Russell Okung wasn't much better in pass blocking either. The addition of Mike Pouncey is solid ONLY IF he can stay healthy. Telesco did draft Scott Quessenberry for insurance if Pouncey can't go. Pouncey has a hip issue that has effected his play. Forest Lamp will be an upgrade but there is bound to be a learning curve with him as well. Mike Pouncey is the wheel that makes this tire roll. Without him the entire OLine takes a dramatic drop off then with him in the lineup.
WINNER: Undetermined... The availability of Forest Lamp in Week one will tell us a lot of how this line looks like in 2018.
5. SPECIAL TEAMS
In 2017, the Chargers committed 22 penalties on special teams costing them 189 yards. There has been nothing special about the Chargers special teams unit. Kickoff coverage, returning the football to field goal tries, the Chargers have been ranked lowest in the NFL for several years now. Mental errors and poor tackling has haunted this team for years now. They did go from being dead last at 32nd to 25th last year. There is a WR spot open on the roster. Whoever stands out on special teams in the preseason between Dylan Cantrell, Artavis Scott and Geremy Davis will be awarded that spot.
Geremy Davis, Artavis Scott and JJ Jones have had opportunities returning punts in training camp.
WINNER: I think Geremy Davis could win it over Artavis Scott but it's a wide open competition. Dylan Cantrell is probably heading to the practice squad.
6. THE TACKLING AND INTANGIBLES
The Chargers committed 121 penalties for 9227 yards in 2,778 plays in the 2017 Chargers 16 game schedule. 44 of them were pre-count penalties. Uchenna Nwosu and Kyzir White will likely replace Kyle Emanuel and Jatavis Brown. But that isn't going to happen until later in the regular season at the earliest. Uchenna Nwosu will be in on the defensive line as a rotational player on certain downs. That will free up Melvin Ingram and Joey Bosa to create havoc off the edges. Denzel Perryman has to stay on the field. Injuries have hampered his career up to this point. Perryman hasn't played a full season in his NFL career. He will also be a free agent soon.
The Chargers are stacked at most spots on the roster when you look at the starters starting every game. That is only in a perfect world. Mike Pouncey, Mike Williams, and Denzel Perryman can change the outcome of games. They can make the difference between being in the win column or the losing column. Their availability alone can change games. 53 men will make up this talented roster. How the 53 man roster is compiled and with whom will be determined in the next four weeks.
After that all expectations and all the projections give way to reality and the harsh life of playing an entire NFL football season. The years of 2004, 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2013 were special years for the Chargers. But all of those years ended with a spoon full of reality and the Chargers season ended.
In 1994, They went somewhere the team has never been to before. We will have to wait and see what road this team journeys down in 2018. The foundation is built now with this roster. Are all the pieces in place yet? Is still yet to be answered.
LOOK BACK AT THE 2017 PRESEASON WEEK 1 SEAHAWKS
Philip Rivers played 1 series with the number ones in Seattle 48-17 rout over the Chargers in 2017 week 1 preseason games. He ran a 13 play going 5 for 6 for 56 yards and a TD to Gates. The drive took 7 minutes and 15 seconds. Cardale Jones went 2-9 for 50 yards but 38 of them came on 1 play. Cardale "young, exciting developmental player tag can only go so far until an improvement is needed. Kelly Clemens clearly outplayed Cardale going 4-10 for 100 yards and 1 TD with 2 INT. Mike Bercovici went 4-6 for 68 yards with the 3rd strings.
Travis Benjamin had 2 catches and Isiah Burse had 2 as well. Sean Culkin had 2 catches for 19 yards and JJ Jones had 1 reception for 12 yards. The Chargers only had the ball 23 minutes in that contest.
PLAYERS I WANT TO WATCH
Dylan Cantrell, Forest Lamp, Travis Williams, Joey Bosa (ankle) and Justin Jackson will be out Saturday night vs the Cardinals. Lamp is still recovering (teams is so uncommitted to a timetable it seems like Mike Williams all over it again). Justin Jackson has been hurt all camp. A hamstring injury has slowed down his development which opens the door wide open to Russell Hansbrough to take the RB-3 slot and Justin Jackson will go to the practice squad for the start of the 2018 schedule. Hansbrough has been beating Jackson so far in camp anyhow. Cantrell is likely for a pracdtice squad as well with a bone spur. Cantrell listed as "Out for awhile" and Jackson as "Hoping to have him back at some point in camp).
With Cantrell out for awhile look for the competition between Geremy Davis and Artavis Scott to heat up! There is one slot opened and Artavis Scott has been getting more reps taking punt returns. Both of them have had reps though as Melvin Ingram has too. Whoever wins the final WR slot will have to contribute to special teams as well.
DE Isaac Rochelle..Rochelle lost some weight and refocused himself on football. He could be a quality depth player that makes a lot of noise this year. He got into the final 2 games in 2017 and mad 3 tackles and a sack in 37 snaps.
WR Mike Williams Can he show improvement over a dismal 2017 season. The past few days of camp he is really opening some eyes. That's practice now let's see if he can step it up higher in a situation where the opposing player isn't your teammate.
DE Uchenna Nwosu He is critical in freeing up Bosa and Ingram. He not going to be a starter but will see substantial snaps in a rotation in 2018.
OLB Kyzir White I'm predicting he will be a fan favorite through the preseason. This kid is special as they try to develop him into a OLB.
DB Brandon Facyson The Chargers have 2 corners out right now in Jason Verrett and Trevor Williams who is expecting to miss the first few games of the preseason. The 6'2 203 pound, undrafted \DB can play a huge role in the team this year. The good thing is Tony Brown from Alabama has been stinking it up at camp. Telesco brought in 4 undrafted DB for insurance this year. Facyson might bed the find of 2018 undrafted class of 21 players. Facyson signed a 3 year deal with the Charger after the draft. He played for Virginia Tech playing in 55 games and starting in 47 of them. He amassed 131 tackles, 5 INT, 44 passes defensed forced 3 fumbles.
PREDICTION: Chargers 24 Cardinals 13
Tell me your thoughts after the game Saturday at Tpowellsd@gmail.com. I'll include the best takes in the article following the game. Leave your name as well.
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