32 in 31: San Diego Chargers

Another year of 32 in 31. Sports News on Tap takes the month of August to preview the National Football League. We spend every day of the month looking at a new team and how they will fare in 2013.

San Diego Chargers had some great years in the last 15 years, but they never made it to the Super Bowl. It could be argued they were the biggest underachieving successful team in professional sports. The Chargers should have been in the Super Bowl at some point, but they never made it very close minus an AFC Championship game. But San Diego's window is completely closed.

The Chargers are getting pretty old in certain spots and even with a new head coach, Mike McCoy, San Diego could be one of the worst teams in football this year.  

OFFENSE
Philip Rivers is not the same quarterback as he used to be in 2012. Rivers had four straight seasons of 4,000+ yard seasons before only getting close to 3,600.  He also had 13 fumbles last season which is his worst of his career. Not even in his rookie year did Rivers have a problem with fumbling the football. Usually when this starts, it keeps happening; a lot like a PGA golfer who has the 'yips' with his putter. Rivers also had 15 interceptions meaning he had 28 turnovers last season as a quarterback. Could a lot of Rivers' struggles be attributed to his weak offensive line? Yes, but only so far.  Jay Cutler has dealt with some of the worst offensive lines in the history of the sport and still ends up finding a way to be a pretty solid quarterback.

Ryan Matthews is a walking injury. He is a good running back, but the fact of the matter is Matthews always finds himself sitting on the sidelines.  In his first three years, Matthews has missed 10 games with injury and had only one year where he went over 1,000. Additionally, he cannot find the endzone to save his soul. Matthews only had one touchdown last season, one! Further, Matthews' best season he only had seven touchdowns. In case you're wondering, I find him overrated.

DEFENSE
They do have some young players in their front seven that Charger fans should be happy about in the upcoming years. Corey Liuget and Kendall Reyes are both pretty strong defensive ends who had great seasons last season.  They also have Manti Te'o and Larry English patrolling the middle linebacker position. Who knows if Te'o will be a starter out the gate, but I feel like he will be heavily involved with the defense throughout the year.  Too bad they lost Melvin Ingram already for the year with a ruptured Achilles.

Eric Weddle is really the only thing to be happy about in the secondary.  Weddle has become a Pro Bowl safety in the last couple of years and he is a great centerfielder. They added Derek Cox from Jacksonville and he will bolster their secondary somewhat.  They will have to replace Antoine Cason and Quentin Jammer which will definitely take some time.

SPECIAL TEAMS
What's interesting in doing these previews is teams tend to keep their special teams around if they are good. Nick Novak had a huge year last year for the Bolts and Mike Scifres has been punting for the Chargers since the first George Bush was in office. Michael Spurlock can always break a punt or kick return.

KEY ADDITIONS
CB Derek Cox, OT King Dunlap, WR Deon Butler, RB Danny Woodhead - GOOD NEWS WHEN MATTHEWS GOES DOWN, THEY HAVE WOODHEAD!! I have no idea if he will be good outside of New England.

KEY SUBTRACTIONS
OG Luis Vasquez, LB Takeo Spikes, LB Shaun Phillips, CB Antoine Cason, TE Randy McMichael, DE Vaughan Martin, CB Quentin Jammer, DT Aubrayo Franklin, S Atari Bigby

CHARGERS DRAFT PICKS
OT DJ Fluker, LB Manti Te'o, WR Keenan Allen, CB Steve Williams, LB Tourek Williams, QB Brad Sorensen - Allen was a first round pick in some people's mock draft. I would watch out for him this season.

GAME TO WATCH
Sunday November 10th vs. Denver 3:25 pm: I do not see this team having many games worth much but whenever they play the likely AFC West leader at home, it's a big deal.

WIN TOTAL
3-5 - I feel very confident in saying this will be the start of a rebuilding process for the Chargers and do not be surprised if they pick a quarterback early next year.

Charlie.