2007 Chargers

Don Wassall

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The Chargers have, surprisingly, become one of the elite franchises in the NFL, while also becoming one of the least black dominated teams.


In his first season as a starter in 2006, Philip Rivers was excellent. The 6'5" North Carolina State grad threw for 3,388 yards with 22 TDs and just 9 interceptions. Rivers is probably even smarter than he is physically gifted and the Chargers look set at quarterback as long as Rivers is with the team.


Rivers is backed up by Billy Volek and promising second year man Charlie Whitehurst out of Clemson. Volek is a Caste System victim, run out of Tennessee to make room for Vince Young in spite of putting up the best numbers in his first five games as a starter of any quarterback in NFL history. He should have had the opportunity to be some team's starter but ended up a kind of pariah.


White FBs, TEs and WRs are traditionally a very rare sight on the Chargers, and the only exception this season is tight end Scott Chandler, a 6'7" rookie out of Iowa who obviously is not going to be challenging Antonio Gates as the starter but who could be very effective if the team decides to use two receiving tight ends.


For years San Diego had a terrible offensive line comprised mostly of black sumos. They finally moved away from that rarely successful concept a few years ago, with dramatically improved results. The line is now very solid and is a major reason why RB LaDainian Tomlinson had his record-breaking career season in 2006. The four white starters are Shane Olivea at RT, Mike Goff at RG, Nick Hardwick at C, and Kris Dielman at LG. The backups are mostly white, too: Jeromey Clary, Scott Mruczkowski, and David Binn (who is the long snapper).


Ukranian-born Igor Olshansky plays end in San Diego's 3-4 defense and is one of the strongest players in the league. Hampered some by injuries and by not playing organized football until college, the fourth year player has the ability to be one of the best at his position.


New Jersey-born Luis Castillo out of Northwestern is already one of the best defensive ends in the league, a fierce and relentless pass rusher and tackler who has also played tackle.


In his fifth season, former Ohio State standout Matt Wilhelm is finally getting the chance to start. He's one of the team's two ILBs and stands a good chance of leading the Chargers in tackles as long as he's shaken the injury bug that slowed him down during training camp.


Besides those three defensive starters, the Chargers gave up a lot to move up in this year's draft to take Eric Weddle early in the second round. Weddle was Mr. Do It All at Utah, a master of the big play who has the ability to excel in the NFL at cornerback but is being groomed to start at strong safety by next season if not at some point in '07. As it is, Weddle should be on the field a lot right from the get-go until he officially becomes a starter.


The Chargers also have that great rarity, a white cornerback, in speedster Steve Gregory out of Syracuse, who was mostly a practice squader last year. Gregory is used mainly on special teams. Hopefully Norv Turner and his staff will see fit to give him some playing time at CB as well.


NUMBER OF WHITE STARTERS: 8


APPROXIMATE NUMBER OF WHITE PLAYERS ON 53 MAN ROSTER: 20


GRADE: D+
 

Don Wassall

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The Chargers signed Derek Smith. Nice move as long as they don't use him to start over Matt Wilhelm, who came on strong the second half of last season.
 

Don Wassall

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San Diego has fired assistant GM Buddy Nix and hired Randy Mueller as a "senior executive." Mueller was the GM in New Orleans during the Jim Haslet erawhen the Saintsannually had the blackest team in the NFL before the Jaguars wrested their crown away. Mueller was also the Dolphins GM when Nick Saban was the head coach and they were starting one white player out of 22 starters. This hiring cannot be a good thing on a team that has been more favorable toward white players the past few seasons.
 

Stonewall

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For those of us who don't have a particular team that we root for, I would say San Diego should be a team we follow very closely.

Two of our top-tier, elite, young Caste breakers (Weddle and Hester) were brought in after the team traded up to draft them. Plus, white corner Steven Gregory resigned and is still young (just turned 25).

Throw in the Smith signing, and the fact that San Diego was patient with Wilhelm (allowing him to develop into a starter in his 6th year), and you've got something that is clearly worth watching.

This is a very good team, and white players are a major reason why.
 

Quiet Speed

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Don Wassall said:
San Diego has fired assistant GM Buddy Nix and hired Randy Mueller as a "senior executive."  Mueller was the GM in New Orleans during the Jim Haslet era when the Saints annually had the blackest team in the NFL before the Jaguars wrested their crown away.  Mueller was also the Dolphins GM when Nick Saban was the head coach and they were starting one white player out of 22 starters.  This hiring cannot be a good thing on a team that has been more favorable toward white players the past few seasons. 

No! Say it ain't so.
smiley7.gif
 

Don Wassall

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Veteran Derek Smithshould be starting for LB Stephen Cooper, who has a four game suspension to start the season. That will give the Chargers five white starters on defense for those four games -- Smith, Matt Wihelm, Eric Weddle, Igor Olshansky, and Luis Castillo.
 

PhillyBirds

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Never gotten a good look at Castillo. Is he mixed or more of a "Tony Romo-type" Hispanic? Or just European?Edited by: PhillyBirds
 

Colonel_Reb

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Thats great news! I'll try to watch them if I can.
 

Don Wassall

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The Chargers really got screwed yesterday by a bad officiating call at the end of the game, one week after losing to Carolina on the last play of the game.


Reminds me ofthree years ago when they started off with a brutal schedule andlots ofbad luck and missed the playoffs even though they had a very good team.
 

Bart

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Too much of thiskind of stuff going on lately.
smiley7.gif
Are they trying to take our guys out? I watched a couple games yesterday and saw whites on the receiving end of helmet to helmet shots two or three times. Was a memo passed around in pre-season?


[url]http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_ylt=An5ZwW2c3JAo_MCs0qvnVk cdsLYF?slug=ap-chargers-merrimanfined&prov=ap&type=l gns[/url]


Merriman has surgery; fined for hit on Delhomme


(snip)


NFL spokesman Corry Rush confirmed that Merriman was fined $7,500 for unnecessarily striking Carolina quarterback Jake Delhomme below the knees.


Merriman, a three-time Pro Bowler, had two tackles and no sacks in the Panthers game.
 

Bart

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[url]http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-bucs-macksuspended& amp;prov=ap&type=lgns[/url]


Bucs' CB Mack suspended for helmet-to-helmet hit


TAMPA, Fla. (AP)â€â€￾Tampa Bay Buccaneers rookie cornerback Elbert Mack was suspended one game without pay by the NFL on Tuesday for a helmet-to-helmet hit on Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan.


The league said the flagrant violation of player safety rules was the second in three games for the undrafted free agent, who was fined $5,000 for an unnecessary roughness foul against Houston quarterback Alex Brink during the Bucs' preseason game finale on Aug. 28.


The hit against Ryan occurred Sunday when the NFL said Mack unnecessarily launched himself into the rookie quarterback and made helmet-to-helmet contact during an interception return play.
 
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