I would say right now, Sproles is the bigger threat to break off a deep run. He is not as good in short yardage situations, but when he gets ‘in space’ he can absolutely burn up the field. There are two schools of thought on LT. One is that he is finally feeling the impact of all the hits and hard yards and has lost a step. People were saying that in 2006 as well, LT has had slow starts some years. You may find it hollow, but to me the toe injury has toned down what he can do on the field as far as making folks miss and gaining those extra yards. I base that mostly off of his game against the Panthers where he bounced what should have been a three yard loss for a ten yard gain and looked as fast (or very close to it) as he ever was to me. He averaged 4.6 yards per carry against a good Panther defense in that first game.

The other thing that has hampered the running game in general are the injuries on the offensive line. Nick Hardwick and Marcus McNeil both Pro Bowlers were not in the first games, and while they are back now have not looked like they are up to speed. I agree with you on both points, LT is not as scary right now and it would be better for Sproles to see more carries. It’s just the diagnosis I question; my belief is LT is going to return to form and it is mostly the injury that is hampering his productivity. I will say that his best statistical years are most likely behind him; time will tell if he is really just an average back now.

that were unhappy with the play calling in Miami. The first three games the offense looked very good; against Oakland there was some grumbling about the first half. In Miami there was more discontent with the number and timing of the running plays called. Going up the middle on 4th and one at the goal was what set most off, we had been getting handled at the Oline all day. There is the belief among bolts fans that this is a talented squad, so when it doesn’t perform some question the game plan. On Bolts from the Blue there were more posts citing a lack of physicality and the inability to play 60 good minutes on both sides of the ball by the players.

I have seen more questions about the defensive play calling (maybe because I have posted a lot of it). :-) There is some dissatisfaction with Norv so far; there are a couple of folks that would like to see Norv gone. If the Patriots beat us on Sunday, I expect that sentiment to grow; but Norv is AJs choice, he will be with us for a while.

Our number one draft choice was corner back Antoine Cason. Right now he comes in as the nickel back and has looked extremely good. He has forced a couple of fumbles with big hits, come up big on a fourth and goal and a big interception at Denver. It was big that he is playing as well as he is because we lost Drayton Florence to Free Agency last year, and although he made mistakes he was a solid defensive back. Actually this choice is probably a back handed compliment for the Patriots, it is generally acknowledged that AJ is trying to craft this team to get past New England.

The second big acquisition was a surprise free agent fullback, Mike Tolbert. He was just supposed to fill in for Pinnock who was recovering from a microfracture, but once he played with the first string they ended up releasing Pinnock. He has great hands coming out of the backfield, but has been a little inconsistent with his blocks. Sometimes he levels folks, but not all the time.

The last acquisition we got was Jacob Hester; we traded up with the Patriots to get him. NE certainly extracted a good price for him; so far it’s hard to judge if it was worth it. He has shown flashes, but also looked mediocre in preseason. He has hardly seen the ball in the regular season, but has made some great tackles on special teams. The hope is that he will be the short yardage guy, but he is still a big question mark at this point in the year.

Perhaps not for the season, though those hopes are on thin ice too, but certainly for the post season. If the Chargers are unable to beat the Patriots in San Diego with home field advantage and Brady out you have to wonder when they will ever be able to beat them. The Chargers are a little banged up, but with our record at 2-3, and Denver playing well another loss could spell the end of our division hopes too.

I think LT is trying not to create any more bulletin board material for New England, but after ending our post season the last two years I don’t think there is a regular season game that means more to the players this year, certainly I think it’s the most important game of the regular season. LT took some heat for saying he was circling the regular season date on last years schedule after New England proceeded to put the beat down on the Bolts. In the local rag they did a poll and Denver stood at 45% as our biggest rival, the Pats at 39; New England is still number one with me though. :-)

Good points, there are a number of factors that have led to a much less credible defense. One is the loss of Shawne Merriman, he had about 40 sacks over the last three seasons and was terrific against the run too, you just don’t lose that kind of productivity and not notice it. Then his backup, Jyles Tucker has also gone down, so we are way down in the depth chart there, though Marques Harris has been doing a credible job. The second was the loss of Stephen Cooper to a suspension for Ephedra use over the first four games; he came back against the Dolphins last week but still isn’t full speed. The third problem has been Jamal Williams, he has been an absolute stud in the middle over the years, but his knees are a constant issue now, he just doesn’t clog the middle like he used to. The Chargers desperately need to target a NT in a trade or in next years draft. Finally our ILB Matt Wilhelm has been pretty badly exposed by the lack of Stephen Cooper; folks didn’t really notice how soft on the run he was when Stephen Cooper was in there.

The other thing that has hampered us is Cottrell’s conservative game plans; he went with a lot of soft zone early in the season and teams were just ripping our secondary to shreds because we also weren’t getting pressure. Eric Weddle is also starting for the first time this season, and there has been a learning curve there, he had a great game against the Dolphins though. Antonio Cromartie has had problems taking too many chances for the pick and has given up some big plays; against Brandon Marshall at Denver he just melted down. Coverage on tight ends has been the weakest point; the linebackers have been utterly useless there and the safeties have blown coverage more than once. Even with all the issues, the defense has shown flashes; I’m still hopeful they will return to form. Cottrell has been getting more aggressive blitzing and been playing more man to man. He also seems to be getting better at managing the talent and strengths that are there. Cottrell also hasn’t gone to the prevent in some time; I hate the prevent. So overall I’m looking for more creative blitzing, better play out of Weddle and Cooper and more man to man defense; I think that could shore up what has been a porous defense.