Mandatory Credit: Chris Humphreys-US PRESSWIRE
The Chargers offense is junk. The whole season, they have played like junk. The running game has struggled all season and for some reason Norv Turner has this infatuation with Jackie Battle. Ryan Mathews didn’t fair much better when he got the ball, but he did do better than the expected 1 yard per carry average that Jackie gave.
The passing game was horrible. After Battle was stuffed for 1 yard gains, Philip Rivers was asked to try and bail the team out with his precision passing. Too bad the offensive line is ridiculously bad. Philip had happy feet in the pocket and was clearly uncomfortable when he had the football.
Mike Harris was bullied around and looked like he was on roller skates during the game. Jeromey Clary had no idea on how to slow down Von Miller. Tyronne Greene hasn’t played well this season and had to leave the game because of injury. At one point in the game, there were three reserves on the offensive line blocking for Philip. Philip doesn’t even trust the starters on the offensive line, so how uncomfortable was he with all the reserves in the game.
Come draft time and the offseason, the Chargers need to bring in a quality offensive line. There is no need to look for a new quarterback! Philip has the talent. He might need a shrink to help him forget about the last two seasons, but this team needs lineman and depth up front. Jared Gaither would be a good starter, but he never practices and barely plays. We can’t rely on someone like that. Tyronne Greene needs to be replaced. Nick Hardwick may not want to come back for one more season. He contemplated retirement last season and may make that step now. Clary has his good times then he has some really really bad times. He shouldn’t be the best offensive lineman in the game though.
The defense will need help in the secondary. We need corner help and safety help. It would be nice to find a middle linebacker to take over for Takeo Spikes. But clearly, priority number 1 is to fix that offense. We already found another starting receiver in Danario Alexander. We have to re-sign him! Fix that offensive line and it may fix Philip Rivers. Fix that offensive line and it may fix the running game issues. Fix that offensive line!
Undrafted free agents are not going to be the quick solution. Waiting to select players in the 5th and 6th round is not going to be a quick solution. Those guys usually take time to develop. Use the high draft picks and spend some money on those big guys up front. That’s how we will get this team back to contending.