QUOTE: “The Constitution only guarantees the American people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.” -- Benjamin Franklin
Did you read this Wednesday?
The Associated Press reports Chargers outside linebacker Shawne Merriman wasn't pleased to read a comment from general manager A.J. Smith that the team's play at times this year has been "soft and bewildered."
APChargers GM A.J. Smith fired up LB Shawne Merriman with his recent comments about the team's play.
The Chargers lost 38-28 at Pittsburgh on Sunday night, falling behind 28-0 and allowing the defending Super Bowl champions to pile up 497 yards of offense. San Diego is 2-2 going into its bye week, and already is two games behind the Denver Broncos in the AFC West.
On Wednesday, Smith was quoted in the San Diego Union-Tribune as saying, "Everything is wrong with it right now. I'm not the least bit happy in a lot of areas. I've seen us be tough and physical to soft and bewildered."
Merriman at first declined to comment, which would have been a first in his five-year career.
"I don't know too much of that. That's an opinion of a person, and it's not needed," Merriman said. "We know that we have to play better. We met for an extra hour and a half as a defense as a whole to discuss what we need to do and things we need to do to get better. And we're going to make adjustments in this locker room as far as players and our attitudes and getting after people a little more. But all that extra (stuff) is not needed at all."
Merriman said it would be easier to absorb such talk if it came from a teammate.
"The only opinions that matter to me are the ones in this locker room. Anything else, it doesn't matter," he said.
The last thing the Chargers need right now is a family feud. Former 49ers coach Bill Walsh used to always tell me, when other teams had internal fighting, “The Civil War was the ugliest war to fight,” and he never wanted anyone else to speak on behalf of the organization except the head coach. In the case of the Chargers, I’m sure A.J. Smith is frustrated, but he must keep his comments to himself and not start a civil war. In today’s fast media news, his words can be interrupted, and his intent can be completely misunderstood. Shawne Merriman knows he’s not playing well, and I’m sure most of the other Chargers defensive players know they’re not playing well. But calling the team out after Week 4 is not the right way to fix the problem — in fact, it only makes it worse.
APMerriman isn't having a Pro Bowl season thus far in San Diego.
Injuries have really hurt the Chargers, and they’re not the same front they were three years ago. It’s so clear on tape. Three years ago, a two-yard run was a great run as the Chargers could win most one-on-one matchups in their front seven. Yes, Smith is right. They were much more physical, but is the reason for their lack of physical play their will, or their talent? I would say their talent. One-time backup DE Jacques Cesaire is now a starter, Jamal Williams is older and gone, Igor Olshansky became a shell of himself last year, and now he’s gone. Luis Castillo doesn’t appear to be the same player, and none of their backers, including Merriman, is playing well right now. Add in the fact that safety Eric Weddle misses too many tackles and it’s clear why teams can run the ball on the Chargers.
They have five first- or second-round players on their starting defense, but only two in their front seven, Merriman and Castillo. With all their injuries, they’re a patchwork defensive line, and until they can improve in this area, stopping the run might be difficult. Soft and bewildering are the right terms for their defense right now, but Smith isn’t going to help the situation with his criticism. He can, however, help with his actions. He needs to find some players who can fit a role and enhance the defense. He has 12 days until the trading deadline to do his part.
Vince Young and maturity
Young said Wednesday, speaking on the subject for the first time, that he stands behind Collins, his teammates and the coaches’ decisions on the matter.
“I’m not interested in none of that right now. I’m just focused on my responsibilities. I have no comment on that,” Young said. “[I’m going to] be a supporter and just be a team player, be the eyes for him on the sidelines. That’s basically it. That’s what quarterbacks do is take up for each other.”
I’m very impressed with Vince Young’s conduct and sense of maturity on this issue. This might be a sign that he’s matured and might be ready to take a leadership role at some point. Unlike A.J. Smith, who threw fuel on the fire, Young took the right approach and defended his team along with his teammates. What ails the Titans is not the quarterback; their problems are in every facet of their team. They have “Super Bowl losers” hangover without going to the Super Bowl last season. They act with no sense of urgency or importance and seem to have lost their hunger to pay attention to the details that are essential to winning.
The Titans make too many mistakes on both sides of the ball. Is this a result of coaching or the players’ failure to nail down the details? I think their problems are twofold: One is that they’re not as talented in the secondary as many (including myself) believed, and two, their older players (Kyle Vanden Bosch, Jevon Kearse, Nick Harper and David Thornton) are not playing at their same level. The Titans’ problems are related to being too young and too old — their old players are not playing well, and their young players lack experience. It’s hard to win consistently with that dynamic going on within your team.
The positive for the Titans might be the maturity level of Young.
APJets coach Rex Ryan has always been a fan of Braylon Edwards.
More on Braylon Edwards
“There's no reason this shouldn't be our time to win,” said Rex Ryan, who called Edwards a “rare talent” and a “matchup nightmare” for opponents.
Is there any doubt that Rex Ryan is in command in New York? His love of Braylon Edwards as a player is the main reason this trade will benefit the Jets. Ryan spoke glowingly of Edwards, about how difficult he was to match up on every time his Ravens faced the Browns when Ryan was the defensive coordinator in Baltimore. This might be the first positive comment Edwards has heard about his talent in some time. The mind games are over and he can just go out and play his game, which I’m sure will include some drops, but it will also include some huge plays. The Jets will make this work because Ryan will make sure it works. They need Edwards to enhance their offense, and Edwards needs the Jets to enhance his career.
Mendenhall takes the ball
If (Willie) Parker is unable to play against the Lions, it will provide another opportunity for Rashard Mendenhall. Making his second career start last Sunday, Mendenhall rushed for 165 yards and two touchdowns. His performance earned Mendenhall AFC Offensive Player of the Week honors.
Based on his level of play, I thought Mendenhall would start after the Bears game. But now, after the Chargers game, I fully expect him to be the man and help restore the Steelers’ run game. Once the team is confident he won’t fumble, he’ll be the starter forever. On Showtime’s “Inside the NFL” highlights, it was really good to see Big Ben Roethlisberger go over to Mendenhall and remind him to hang on to the ball near the end of the game, which was clearly on everyone’s mind.
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A.J. Smith is passing the blame on the players and the coaching staff to try to save his job. The injuries they have had the last few seasons have been brutal, but he needs to be accountable for the lack of depth they have. How many years have they had to get some depth at the NT position? Their defense always depended on Williams staying healthy and that's Smith's fault. However, Turner and Rivera need to be accountable for how they play on the field. Turner's teams always seem to underachieve relative to their talent and implode in year three. Great offensive coordinator, great QB and RB coach, not so good head coach.
Sorry, Mike.
Right about now, we in Western New York would take A.J. Smith back in a heartbeat, and failing that, would be thrilled if Terrell Owens or ANYONE, ripped the Bills, and started holding someone accountable for the way they're playing.
Dick Jauron has an approval rating of three percent. A large part of the reason is he keeps going to the podium after giving up 200+ rushing yards and mouthing nothings like "we like our players, they work hard." Yeah, but they play like hell. Where is the demand that they play better?
The 'Bickering Bills' (Kelly blaming House Ballard for getting him hit, then Thurman Thomas telling anyone who'd listen that QB was the teams' biggest problem; while Darryl Talley stalked up and down the sidelines grabbing teammates by the facemask demanding better play) became "Four-Time AFC Champion Bills."
You don't want to see it done senselessly, or just for the sake of giving a writer something to put a headline over, but when it's called for, it's called for and needs to happen.
These guys are playing horribly, and seem to be OK with it because no one, player, coach or GM is demanding anything better.
When the GM talks about motivation and playing style he's starting to tread unsure ground. Playing hurt is tough to do and they've done it since the first half of the first game.
Brian, you are more than welcome to have him. Charger fans have the solice that our situation is only slightly less hopeless the Hotel. Once again, the Spanos family made the wrong choice (GM vs Coach). Last time, it was Beathard over Ross and sent us into a 10 year oblivion. It looks like a similar outcome this time.
I'd rather have a 4-12 team with hope than watch a hopeless 8-8 team due to the GM's very significant problems:
- refusal to sign free agents
- unwillingness to have leaders on the team
- desire to send off pro-bowl players for end of 4th round picks
- belief that corners and fullbacks are worthy of 1s and 2s instead of offensive and defensive linemen
- unwillingness to hire a real coach and instead inserts someone who will do his bidding
Looking at this, with so many similarities, perhaps the Chargers should now be called the Hotel South.
Rivers, Tomlinson, Gates, and Jammer deserve better. The fans deserve better than Norv Turner.
The Steelers line had one of the best run-blocking games in awhile. Parker would probably had a pretty good game with the space the line was creating. But he wouldn't have had as good a day as Mendy. Parker's style is a part of the problem too. He's just not big enough to run down the middle and grind yards. He's always gotten tackled easily when he doesn't have much space. I've seen every NFL run he's made and I've always thought his style has, more often than not, gotten in the way of the Steelers sustaining drives.
"What ails the Titans is not the quarterback; their problems are in every facet of their team. They have “Super Bowl losers” hangover without going to the Super Bowl last season. They act with no sense of urgency or importance and seem to have lost their hunger to pay attention to the details that are essential to winning."
That boils down to Coach Fisher and the rest of his staff failing. This along with the collapse last season are mostly on his shoulders. Refusing to go out and find a cornerback or kick returner absolutely destroyed this season. Funny, they could have fixed all of that by just retaining Carr who was at least a decent Nickel and played well when asked to. It's a shame that the year they dedicate to Air McNair has been such a disappointment.
If the Chargers fail to make the playoffs this season, then it AJ & Head Coach are gone for sure. Welcome MIke Shanahan your new Head Coach In San Diego Chargers in 2010. It's that easy guys!
Said it here first before other print it!
Its Eric Weddle not Waddle. Its Bryon Leftwich not Brian. Its Josh McDaniels not McDaniel. You make so many mistakes with names.
The problem with the Chargers is that they lose their physicality once Marty Schottenhemier left on both sides of the ball.
I'll pick A.J. Smith up at the airport and drive him to One Bills Drive myself. This dysfunctional organization fired Tom Donohoe, and replaced him with a four-headed monster that includes Donohoe's two failed personnel guys (Tom Modrak and John Guy), the head coach with the worst active coaching record in the league, and at the head of the organization, the marketing whiz that keeps suckering 55,000 people into buying season tickets, but has never worn a jock as far as anyone knows.
They draft a safety 8th overall and can't decide where to play him. Trade up to draft a DL that they tried and failed to trade because he failed his physical with the Colts. Draft a project at 11th overall this past year when they needed immediate impact, carry half a dozen guys JUST to play special teams, and end up starting something called Marcus Buggs at MLB when Posluszny goes down because there's no depth on offense or defense. Trade the only Pro-Bowl OL they've developed since Ruben Brown, replace him with a guy who gets cut the week before the opener in favor of a second year, 7th-round pick. Fire the OC 10 days before the opener...
Nobody around here has a plan!
Donohoe was a bad hire who didn't get the job done. But now the organization is gun-shy about putting the football department in the hands of one football guy, when Bill Polian was the single-biggest reason the Bills won four straight AFC Championships. Polian begat the late John Butler, who kept the Bills winning between Polian's departure and his own, and Butler begat A.J. Smith.
Like Mike said in a previous article, the Bills are going nowhere, but making good time.
AJ Smith needs to look in the mirror: HIS soft players, HIS soft coach.
During his tenure as GM, the Chargers have drafted the following positions during the first two rounds:
OL: 1
DL: 2
LB: 2
WR:2
QB:1
DB:6
All show, no go.
In addition, the team traded SEVEN (!!!) draft picks on Weddle and Hester, a first round pick on BUSTed Davis (who doesn't even dress anymore), and let the 2008 Offensive Player of the Year (Brees) and 2nd leading rusher (Turner) walk for compensatory picks. We'll let Merriman and Cromartie walk this year too.
Finally, Norv Turner is the albatross around AJ's neck. If I had a dime for every time someone called this guy a "genius"... but Norv's only genius is making Kevin Gilbride look like Jimmy Johnson. If success in football is about preparation he is a complete failure. The team has had a halftime lead in just 6 of its last 22 games (including playoffs). During Marty's last year we held 12 of 17 opponents to a touchdown or less in the first half; Norv's team has done that only 6 of the last 22 games.
AJ's made his own bed. Now if only the Spanos family would put him to sleep.
If you really want to see a feud, let's watch over the next few weeks at these three people: Jim Zorn (Vinny, why is my O-line so old and slow?) and Vinny Cerrato (Jim, why can't Jason Campbell run the West Coast offense?), with Sherm Lewis playing the unwitting go-between.
Yes, it's so nice to hear about the Chargers and their fair-weather "fans" going under. While the Broncos only get better, things for the Super Sparklers are only going to get more terrible. Suck on it losers and forgive me for not shedding any tears for a squad which has squandered its immense talent for years. Additionally, Chargers fans are not allowed to jump on to our bandwagon, stupid tards. With that said, Rashard Mendenhall is the answer for the Steelers' backfield and even as I'm hearing Jack Del Rio on the air with Rome right now, I say perhaps the Jags are a team to watch out for after being left for dead by many of their own fans. Once again, Clevelanders will be disappointed as Braylon Edwards realizes his full potential with the Jets. Right now, the Coach of the Year race is a 2-man battle between our Josh McDaniels in Denver and Rex Ryan. Rex is an excellent motivator and by Sunday evening, both McDaniels and Ryan will have bested the Patriots. Thanks as always, Lombardi.
AJ Smith needs to look in the mirror: HIS soft players, HIS soft coach.
During his tenure as GM, the Chargers have drafted the following positions during the first two rounds:
OL: 1
DL: 2
LB: 2
WR:2
QB:1
DB:6
All show, no go.
In addition, the team traded SEVEN (!!!) draft picks on Weddle and Hester, a first round pick on BUSTed Davis (who doesn't even dress anymore), and let the 2008 Offensive Player of the Year (Brees) and 2nd leading rusher (Turner) walk for compensatory picks. We'll let Merriman and Cromartie walk this year too.
Finally, Norv Turner is the albatross around AJ's neck. If I had a dime for every time someone called this guy a "genius"... but Norv's only genius is making Kevin Gilbride look like Jimmy Johnson. If success in football is about preparation he is a complete failure. The team has had a halftime lead in just 6 of its last 22 games (including playoffs). During Marty's last year we held 12 of 17 opponents to a touchdown or less in the first half; Norv's team has done that only 6 of the last 22 games.
AJ's made his own bed. Now if only the Spanos family would put him to sleep.
I have admired A.J. Smith since his days in the Bills front office. He has a tremendous eye for talent and he has been able to build one of the most talented rosters in the league when healthy. But, he is absolutely wrong ripping SD in the media like he has done. He is not without blame in this. I was all for him firing Marty after the 2006 season when they lost to the Pats in the divisional playoffs. That year, they were 14-2 and the best team in the league. If you are going to fire Marty, you have to find someone better than Norv Turner. Turner's teams have a history of eroding the longer he is there. They have played down to their talent level as long as he has been there. Last year they're 8-8. I know LT has been slowed by injury, but the AFC West is brutal, and there is no reason they should be 2 games behind Denver entering week 5. A.J. should have hired a better head coach.
Does a player need to be reminded to hang on to the football? Do we think Mendenhall, or any player, would forget something like that? There isn't anything wrong with Big Ben reminding him, but it likely played zero factor in him not fumbling.
Mendenhall looked good but u gotta remember the Steelers can always run on the Chargers. Just a great matchup. That was Willie's only good game in the playoffs last year too.
Lets suppose for a moment that A.J could make a move to save himself, maybe trading for Shaun Rodgers? The Browns have given up on the season (apparently) so maybe they'll give him up. They need to find an NT that doesn't get blown off the ball and justifies genuine double teams, that'll make the biggest difference to OLBs, which with increased pass rush will help Cromartie.
If Smith & Norv don't feel under big pressure then something is going very wrong out in SD because they have to get the division, I'd be surprised if a Wild Card team comes out of the West. Another year without winning the AFC Championship shouldn't be good enough with the roster they have had the last couple of years, so they may as well go all out and try and get themselves over the line now, rather than waiting around with an axe over their necks.
Plus, if they get fired it's more than likely they'll find jobs elsewhere - they might be bad but the sad thing is that there are many worse out there.
Eric Weddle misses to many tackles? He only missed 6 all of the 08 season! Troy Polamalu missed a larger percent. He is probably the best tackler on the team, and only has to come up in the box and make those tackles, because the front 7 sucks so bad. If they did their job, Weddle would be a read-the-QB-&-make-a-play type FS.
First time someone has ever compared Eric Freakin Wedle to Troy Polamalu - lol
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Oct 08, 2009
10:38 AM
Is it possible that it has been Parker and not the Steeler o line that has their run game down? WIll Mendenhal fix that?