You might remember this picture, FAITHFUL READER. I think it was from the Titans “draft party” last season. After all the rumors about the Chargers trading for Mariotta, there just had to be a Bolthead there. Of course, he was disappointed about something. Maybe he knew what a rough rookie season Melvin Gordon was due to have. Right now, Gordon is the least of my concerns. This season, we can’t even get our draft pick on the field. It’s clear that Bosa won’t play at Kansas City on Sunday and I assume The Organization is at fault because they usually are. At this point, everyone expects that he’ll either get hurt or suck. This isn’t a knock on Bosa, but seems pretty spot on for the Chargers. Believe me, I don’t want this to be the case. I know Michael Gehlken wrote that the team “internally” doubted that he’d be able to play in the opener even without any setbacks. However, he’s pretty forgiving of them. I think it goes with being the beat guy and needing to talk to the team every day. I’m sure you’ve noticed how much less of an apologist Kevin Acee has been since being promoted to columnist.
But while it’s easy to blame Spanos and Telesco for their role in the holdout, Bosa and his camp have some responsibility too. Whatever. At this point, I’d be happy if he played by Week 4. That number only comes from the fearful Tweets I read. If we are to believe that the rest of the NFL was laughing as the Bolts needlessly fucked over Bosa’s rookie season, then none of this should be a shock. However, we can’t really dwell on the absence of a guy that we haven’t even seen play yet. If the Queefs, with or without Jamal Charles, run through the defense then Bosa will once again be a big topic of discussion.
Certainly, the Chargers CAN win this game. I was reading an article in Sports Illustrated’s NFL Preview issue on clock management. Definitely click the link, because the piece is worth your time. Mike McCoy didn’t even make the article because the Chargers didn’t have enough meaningful games for him to piss away. Andy Reid, however, did. The piece discussed his mismanagement in the Super Bowl and in the playoffs last year–both against the Patriots. McCoy’s problems aren’t as much clock management, but that he’s a pussy. He was that way in Denver and if I knew that the Ravens beating the Broncos that season would have led to him STILL being our coach I wouldn’t have rooted for Baltimore. Even when the Bolts win, he refuses to show any killer instinct. When I hear people like John Clayton talk about how the Chargers had more talent then a 4-12 team, I agree. But McCoy’s refusal to ever go for the kill lost many games. When they won games in 2013 and 2014, he did the same things. He’ll always attempt a longer and riskier field goal then go on 4th down to put a team away. In fact, it doesn’t even need to be when a game could be salted away. He never shows any balls throughout a game when the Chargers might actually be able to create some distance between themselves and the opposition. The reason they have so many close games is often because their coach insists on punting from the opponents 40. He plays not to lose and often does.
But we already knew that. The games they win (and won) are in spite of him and not because of him. I could say that maybe he will learn from his mistakes but I doubt it. I don’t care what he says publicly, but I don’t think he believes privately that he even makes mistakes. But we can still hope that the new blood will make a difference. Mebane seems like the real deal on defense maybe Corey Liuget will rebound from what he admits was a shit season. Brandon Flowers is in the same boat. We know how good Verrett can be, but can he stay healthy? The safety slots are also a little worrisome. Addae tends to hit himself into head injuries and Lowery is untested in San Diego.
On offense, everyone is happy Wisenhunt is back. However, it’s not as if he makes McCoy less stupid. It’s like people that think Trump would “surround himself with good advisors.” Seriously, Wisenhunt obviously has the respect of Rivers. He was able to get him to stick with the short and intermediate stuff in 2013. Of course, you need a running game to do that. Otherwise, you end up in more “chuck and suck” plays. Running the ball puts not only less pressure on Rivers but on the defense. A few forced turnovers on our part would also do that. Somewhere, there needs to be some contributions beyond letting Philip drop back and get killed. We know Alex Smith is mobile and that he doesn’t generally make a lot of mistakes. Most outsiders don’t give the Bolts much of a chance on Sunday. From what I’ve written so far, you’d think that neither do I. But as soon as 1 PM EST rolls around I’ll get that surge and a little glimmer of hope will shoot through me. Fortunately, there are enough new guys on the team that the feeling of “we’ve been here before and fucked it up” won’t be so prevalent. If the Bolts can’t hold against KC’s surge(s), they can’t fall back on old losing habits. They sound like they’ve got the right attitude going into the game. I don’t put much stock in what McCoy says (I’m “jacked up?) but I like being the underdog. Bosa being out for who knows how long makes even more so.
The only thing I’ll add about the stadium situation is the possibility that the vote rejects the plan but the Chargers STAY in San Diego. In other words, they continue to play in Qualcomm but still have one foot out the door. I really hope that scenario never occurs. No one deserves that, not even us.
So here we are. I hope this will be the start of an ongoing conversation between myself and the Justice League. Hopefully, they won’t give us too much to be angry about early on.
But they probably will.
JIC,
RLW
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