Continuing with ALL CAPS WEEK lets take a look at the Chargers disastrous return game. As Jacoby Jones has struggled one needs to wonder if it is time for the Chargers to look another direction. More specifically at Javontee Herndon. During the pre-season Herndon played well for the Chargers. His highlights were his 30 yard punt return and a 42 yard end around. Here are his stats from the pre-season.
Rushing: 1 run for 42 yardsReceiving: 5 catches for 45 yardsKickoff returns: 1 return for 22 yardsPunt returns: 9 returns for 41 yards
I would describe what I have seen out of Jacoby Jones as confused and spastic.
It is hard to judge those numbers as they were accumulated during the preseason, but Herdon looks electric when he gets the ball. Jones has looked anything but electric. I would describe what I have seen of Jones as confused and spastic. Here are Jacoby Jones stats for the season so far …
Kick returns: 5 attempts, 109 yards, 21.8 average, long 30. So he is 1.8 yards better than taking a knee.Punt returns: 4 attempts, -2 yards, long 5, average -0.5 (Basically we would be better off fair catching the ball every time.)
What the punt return stats do not include are two questionable decisions that Jones made to not fair catch punts which costs the Chargers serious yardage as the ball rolled down the field and the opposing team was able to down it in bounds. So really the -0.5 is being generous.
Basically… JONES SUCKS!. Even Oliver has done a better job returning kicks.
Branden Oliver stats:Kick returns: 8 attempts, 197 yards, 24.6 average, long 30 (yep, even BO, who I would not classify as a good returner is better than Jones… sigh)
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And here we are again with another bad contract for the Chargers – 2 years for 5.5 million. Only 1.6 mill is guaranteed but he is due 3 million next year. He has hardly seen the field because of injuries but Chargers management needs to make a move and suffer the cap hit. I know it is not easy for TT to go to Spanos’ office and admit he screwed the pooch on this one, but truth be told this is costing us games.
OWN UP TT.
GET JONES OFF THE ROSTER or at least get HERNDON on the ROSTER so the Chargers have a FREAKING RETURN MAN WHO CAN DO SOMETHING POSITIVE FOR THE TEAM.