Because it's such an important fact that gets lost on people, I felt it was necessary to dig up this post from back in January where I point an area that needs to be addressed:

Something that has been bugging me about the Chargers defense in the has been their inability to stop the third-and-short run plays. When teams run the ball on the Chargers during third-and-short, opponents are a perfect six for six in converting the third down.

The Indianapolis Colts ran the ball twice on third and short and both times they gained enough yards for the first down. The Tennessee Titans, a much more run-oriented team, ran the ball on third and short four times against the Chargers and all four times they got the first down.

Stopping teams on third down is crucial to a team’s ability to win a game and the Patriots are going to be an incredible challenge. There is no question in my mind the Chargers have what it takes to win on Sunday, but its going to take a special effort from all eleven players on defense to stop such a high-powered offense. Re-watching the Titans and Colts games points to some shoddy tackling on the part of the safeties in third and short... especially from the strong safety spot. In the words of Shawne Merriman "You cannot know what a team is going to do and not stop it. This is football!"

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In the BoltHype 'Getting Better' feature, the staff will take an in-depth look at the different units among the team to determine areas in the Chargers' game where improvement would be welcome. For example, in today's feature BoltHype will break down the wide receivers and will highlight areas that the staff would like to see increased production.

Good teams can always get better. Take the San Diego Chargers. The Chargers want to get better in their wide receiver corp and have committed high draft picks to the position.

In 2005, Vincent Jackson was taken with the team's second round pick. Jackson was viewed as a developmental prospect with huge upside. We saw flashes of potential greatness last year, and many feel VJ is poised for a breakout season in 2007.

The Chargers were not totally satisfied with their group of receivers, so they again looked to upgrade the position. In 2007, Craig 'Buster' Davis was tabbed in round one. The team saw Davis as a polished receiver who could come in and contribute immediately on offense and special teams as a returner.


The San Diego Chargers are unique in that their passing attack does not feature a go-to wide receiver. Instead, the passing offense under former coordinator Cam Cameron, was filtered through Antonio Gates (71 REC, 2007) and LaDainian Tomlinson (56 REC, 2007) first, and any remaining balls were trickled down and spread out among the wide receivers. With Norv Turner taking over the play-calling duties in 2007, not much is expected to change.

What will be different, however, will be the roles that Vincent Jackson and Craig Davis play in the offense. Norv has expressed that he sees plenty of room for improvement on the team, and particularly in the passing game. In Vincent Jackson, he would like more consistency:

“We just need to him to continue to grow,” Head Coach Norv Turner said. “We need him to have more consistency. I think he’s working hard on that. Vincent is a big-play receiver. He did that a year ago. We can get him the ball underneath and let him run with it. Those are the kinds of plays that you have to have great consistency on.”

As for Craig Davis, he will contribute immediately as a returner and will get his fair share of receptions.

“Like all young players that come into the League, he’s going to have to learn, but we feel Craig is a complete receiver,” Turner said. “He has great hands. He has great run-after-the-catch ability. That’s something we felt we could add to our football team. He’s mature. This is another young guy who’s certainly going to contribute and have an affect.”

What is of most interest to me is that both Jackson and Davis posses the ability to gain yards after the catch (YAC). Both players are tough and physical and have big-play ability. The can make plays with the ball in their hands and can break tackles. If there was one thing that absolutely annoyed me about Keenan McCardell and Eric Parker, it was that they were too easily tackled. Rarely did turn a short pass into a big gain. And it was all too often that they were tackled with the first contact from a defender.

Keenan McCardell is no longer with the team. Vincent Jackson is likely become the Chargers' primary receiver, a position that McCardell had in 2005. Eric Parker had the most catches among wide receivers on the team in 2006, but that will surely change in 2007 with the addition of Craig Davis and the emergence of Vincent Jackson.

I'd like to draw a relevant comparison between Wide Receivers Santonio Holmes, Eric Parker, and Craig Davis. Holmes, you'll remember, was the Pittsburgh Steelers' first round pick a year ago. Taken with the 25th pick in the first round, Holmes brought a diverse skill set to the Steelers with his dual abilities as a receiver and returner.

As a rookie, Holmes paid immediate dividends. Below are his stats compared to Eric Parker's stats in 2006:

Receiving-

Santonio Holmes (5'11" 189lbs)
16 games, 49 rec, 824 yds, 16.8 avg, 7.0 yac, 41 1st, 2 td

Eric Parker (6'0" 190lbs)
15 games, 48 rec, 659 yds, 13.7 avg, 2.9 yac, 35 1st, 0 td

Punt Returns-

Santonio Holmes (5'11" 189lbs)
16 games, 26 pr, 264 yds, 10.2 avg, 65 long, 1 td

Eric Parker (6'0" 190lbs)
15 games, 37 pr, 331 yds, 8.9 avg, 50 long, 0 td

Looking at the above stats, its clear that Holmes is much more dynamic than Parker. Holmes' YAC numbers and average punt return are markedly better than Parker's. And considering that the rookie Santonio Holmes put up better numbers than the veteran Eric Parker gives me hope that our rookie Craig Davis can provide the Chargers what Holmes provided the Steelers.

Craig Davis has a very similar set of skill to that if Santonio Holmes. I expect that Davis will assume punt return duties from day one, and I would hope that his numbers are closer to what Holmes did than Parker.

As for YAC, I feel that Jackson and Davis are going to help the team get further down the field by breaking tackles, catch and runs, and jukes on the initial defender.

Jackson and Davis are different type of players, but both can help the team on offense. While neither may become a true number one like other teams around the league have, they will nonetheless provide Philip Rivers a good mix of talent and abilities, and both will help the offense be more productive in the passing game.

“I like different styles of receivers,” Smith said. “We like to have a mixture if we can to give your coordinator several guys; all talented with different shapes, sizes and expertise. It’s diverse. We’ve got the big guys. We’ve got speed guys. We’ve got receivers who run good routes and catch the football. I think we’ve got good football players at the wide receiver position.”

san diego chargers

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In the BoltHype 'Getting Better' feature, the staff will take an in-depth look at the different units among the team to determine areas in the Chargers' game where improvement would be welcome. For example, in today's feature BoltHype will break down the defensive line and will highlight areas that the staff would like to see increased production.

Ask anyone who follows the NFL who has the best 3-4 defensive line and you will usually get one of two answers; the San Diego Chargers or the New England Patriots.

The Patriots have had a top D-line unit for years now, and in many ways were the prototype that teams around the league tried to emulate. If you were a defensive coordinator looking for players to run a 34 defensive scheme with, then you were going to look for a 330+ lbs nose guard who commands double teams and collapses the pocket from the middle. You would need two defensive ends over 6 feet tall and 300 lbs strong. Those guys would need to provide some pressure on the QB, seal the edges off of the line of scrimmage to shut down sweeps, pitches, etc., and of course they need to keep those linebackers clean by occupying blockers.

Luis Castillo, Jamal Williams, and Igor Olshansky combine to make for one of the most formidable defensive line units in the NFL, and arguably the league's most talented 3-4 unit. While the Patriots line is still among the elite units, the emergence of Jamal Williams as the best nose guard in the game, and the skyrocketing potential of Luis Castillo at defensive end, has placed the Chargers D-line at or around the top of the heap.

However, there are areas where the D-line could improve. Looking at the New England Patriots unit in comparison to the Chargers, there are some interesting statistics that pop out to me:

New England Patriots - 6th Overall Defense, 5th Run, 12th Pass, 5th Sacks

• Ty Warren - 84 Tackles, 7.5 Sacks, 4 Pass Def (15 Games)
• Vince Wilfork - 50 Tackles, 1 Sacks, 1 Pass Def (13 Games)
• Richard Seymour - 40 Tackles, 4 Sacks, 7 Pass Def (16 Games)

San Diego Chargers - 10th Overall Defense, 7th Run, 13th Pass, 1st Sacks

• Luis Castillo - 37 Tackles, 7 Sacks, 0 Pass Def (10 Games)
• Jamal Williams - 69 Tackles, 2 Sacks, 2 Pass Def (16 Games)
• Igor Olshansky - 33 Tackles, 1.5 Sacks, 1 Pass Def (13 Games)

Between the two units, many similarities exist. Both teams feature top defenses where stopping the run is a focus and where getting after the Quarterback is important to success in defending the pass. But an often overlooked aspect in the job of a defensive lineman is getting those big paws into the air and batting down passes. This is one area where the Patriots out-rank the Chargers by a wide margin.

Certainly things such as philosophy (the Chargers D-line loves to attack and slant whereas the Patriots will move around less and have more two-gap responsibilities) and games played will skew statistical results. But while the Chargers barely managed three passes defended in the entire season, the Patriots racked up twelve!

Richard Seymour is the benchmark for 3-4 defensive ends, and he was among the top 3 defensive linemen in the NFL at Passes Defended. There is no denying that Seymour is an elite player, in my opinion Luis Castillo is pushing him as the cream of the crop of Defensive Ends. Castillo only played in 10 games last season, so we need to see a full season from him to see what he is truly capable of. But for Castillo to take that next step, I'd like to see him make more plays when a sack or tackle is not available for him. I want to see him bat down those passes a bit more. And as for Igor, the guy is 6'6" and needs to get his hands up and negate some pass plays. As tall as he is, it'd be nice to see him make big plays like that and give our linebackers and opportunity to get some more interceptions.

So the BoltHype staff hopes the Chargers Defensive line is 'Getting Better' at putting those big paws up in the air and helping out the pass defense by knocking down those balls.



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