Ingram Makes Instant Impact in Preseason Pounding

We have been waiting for this moment since Day 1 of the Draft. Melvin Ingram had fallen to the 18 slot due to question’s about his wing span. I have no problem with the fact that 17 other teams thought that. Ingram was definitely prepared for a Thursday night battle with the coveted Green Bay Packers. Tonight was his debut, time to put his tools out there for the whole NFL to see. For Chargers fans he did NOT disappoint.

Ingram made an impact on me even in the first defensive series. Rogers rolled out, he bit, and busted his butt to get back into coverage and break the pass up. In that one play he showed a motor that isn’t going to stop. That is one of the biggest qualities you can have in a player. With that usually comes dedication and hunger, which translates into a star. My father once told me, relating to baseball, he would rather have 9 players with heart and no talent then 9 players with the god given talent. Ingram proves to possibly be both of those things.

Melvin’s constant drive showed through out the whole time he was on the field. Rarely do you see a team in a preseason game make adjustments in the middle of the game to stop a rookie. We all look at statistics as production BUT a big thing we look over is drawing penalties. Of course you want to see a player make the play all the time, but drawing a holding penalty is just as good. Melvin’s constant drive made that happen while he was drawing double teams. That alone was impressive. When you take the double team you free someone else up too and we have enough talent on our starting line to ruin the great amount of chances we’ll have from just the double team.

“Super Melvin,” as Charger fans have been referring to him as, earned his nickname in one play. Rogers fall back to pass and gets smashed by Ingram causing a interception. As if that weren’t enough he got up and provided blocking to the premium extent as he, “de-cleated,” James Starks. A hit that almost knocked me off my bar stool. This hit was so big my girlfriend even said, “OH MY… !” Melvin Ingram was a presence to be felt and introduced him to the NFL in a preseason way… we hope.

While Melvin Ingram had a 2 tackle game that didn’t show how much of a presence he had on Thursday night. He was fast, he was furious, and he didn’t stop. He stole the spot light and for good reason. While yes, we may have lost Mathews for 4-6 weeks, we discovered an Ingram. While yes it is only the first preseason game we could be witnessing the start of something epic and a new age of dominance for the San Diego Chargers. “Super Melvin,” may have just made the San Diego defense, “Super.”