2024 Chargers Roster Build Discussion - Transactions | News

[Boltnut]

Jam notes it well. Drew took time. Drew had dramatic efficiency drop-off in the second half of games, in particular 4th Quarter. a casual look at his QB Ratings by quarter reveal his play got much worse when games were on the line. He was deemed anti-clutch, my understanding is AJ and Marty both agreed on that. just watching the games and we saw him throw INTs and make bad plays late in games, very choke-like. He had not proven he could be a winning NFL QB, and since he was not a top rated QB out of the draft that gets a lot of extra time to develop, the team decided to go get a winning QB.

lo and behold, Phil holds out, Drew is still starter, and he dramatically improves and turns into a clutch winner when the game is on the line. How much of his early problems were OL vs Drew - beats the shit out of me, I suspect it was more Early-Drew and he just got a lot better in his decision making and execution but ... ???

Now they have two possibly elite QBs. Facing the meaningless end of season game, they break Drew. only 1 team in the entire league would offer a guaranteed contract and ... poof ... voila! ... he suddenly receives message he was sent by God to save/rebuild New Orleans.

I think if you look at Drew's 2003 splits, selective memory may be the culprit.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/player/splits/_/id/2580/type/nfl/year/2003

If you look at the game logs, you'll see that the Ravens game (2 of the 3 late game interceptions) came in a game the Chargers were down by 14 points in the 4th quarter. 1 of those interceptions, David Boston didn't even make an attempt on... probably should have been a TD catch.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/playbyplay/_/gameId/230921024

That 2003 Ravens defense had 5 Pro Bowlers (2 All-Pros) on it.

[Ghost of Quacksaw]

Drew took some time to develop.

Under that great developer of quarterbacks, Marty Schottenheimer.... Wait a minute...

[dmac_bolt]

I think if you look at Drew's 2003 splits, selective memory may be the culprit.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/player/splits/_/id/2580/type/nfl/year/2003

If you look at the game logs, you'll see that the Ravens game (2 of the 3 late game interceptions) came in a game the Chargers were down by 14 points in the 4th quarter. 1 of those interceptions, David Boston didn't even make an attempt on... probably should have been a TD catch.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/playbyplay/_/gameId/230921024

That 2003 Ravens defense had 5 Pro Bowlers (2 All-Pros) on it.

2002 final 2 minutes, still down in 2003 … Was it his entire body of play more than just end of games? Idunno, maybe you’re right there. His overall rating is horrible in both years. They drafted Phil because they felt they had to to become a championship team, based on Drew’s play. And then it jumped 30+ pts in 2004 once Phil was on the bench. Way outside the margin of error/noise - he played significantly better. Good on him, but the team didn’t have data to bet it would happen.

[Topcat]

2002 final 2 minutes, still down in 2003 … Was it his entire body of play more than just end of games? Idunno, maybe you’re right there. His overall rating is horrible in both years. They drafted Phil because they felt they had to to become a championship team, based on Drew’s play. And then it jumped 30+ pts in 2004 once Phil was on the bench. Way outside the margin of error/noise - he played significantly better. Good on him, but the team didn’t have data to bet it would happen.

After Drew's first year or two of play, when the Bolts were still underperforming, I kept reading stories about how Brees, and other rookie QB's, take about 30 games to become competent...nowadays, I see a lot of rooks step in and perform at a high level immediately...Bolts would never have drafted Rivers if they thought Brees was the answer...

[dmac_bolt]

After Drew's first year or two of play, when the Bolts were still underperforming, I kept reading stories about how Brees, and other rookie QB's, take about 30 games to become competent...nowadays, I see a lot of rooks step in and perform at a high level immediately...Bolts would never have drafted Rivers if they thought Brees was the answer...

Nutty was partially right in my memory is more skewed to his 2002 end of game chokes than 2003. 2003 he was still bad overall though and he didn't show he would be the answer or they wouldn't have had the #1 pick for 2004?

If he had been a high Rd1 draft pick, had prototypical size and skills, etc., he probably gets another year, but he wasnt and didnt. Up to that point he just looked like an undersized QB with average at best arm who might remain overmatched by the big NFL. such is the fickle fate of humanity.

[chargeroo]

Whenever I think back to that, I wonder what would have happened if they had drafted Larry Fitzgerald and kept Drew.

This discussion also reminds me of the back-and-forth arguments about Drew. Most fans wanted him gone. I always thought he would make it. That was long ago.

[DerwinBosa]

Whenever I think back to that, I wonder what would have happened if they had drafted Larry Fitzgerald and kept Drew.

This discussion also reminds me of the back-and-forth arguments about Drew. Most fans wanted him gone. I always thought he would make it. That was long ago.

I wanted Sean Taylor, but it had nothing to do with wanting to keep Brees. I don't think Brees would have won a Super Bowl outside of New Orleans. That was the ideal place for him, and even then he won only one title--largely in part because of the onside kick Sean Payton called to start the second half of the Super Bowl against the Colts.

[powderblueboy]

Behind a very bad OL.
Behind a very good OL... the difference was remarkable. He went from 67.5 QB rating (2003) to 104.8 QB rating (2004).
That was one hell of an offseason...

Brees had no receivers in 2003 .... LT caught 100 + balls that year. David Boston turned out to be a big flop.

He had a marginally better Oline in 2002, and was doing well until Curtis Conway got injured;
then he struggled down the stretch.

In 2004 he had Gates and Keenan McCardell, who still had something left in the tank.

You need stud receivers if your a QB.

[powderblueboy]

Whenever I think back to that, I wonder what would have happened if they had drafted Larry Fitzgerald and kept Drew.

This discussion also reminds me of the back-and-forth arguments about Drew. Most fans wanted him gone. I always thought he would make it. That was long ago.

Then they don't draft Merriman the following year,

and heavens, no Nate the great!!

[21&500]

Pete Carmichael was the qb coach here w Brees iirc before he became the OC in NO, again with Brees.
what could have been indeed.

[jox g]

Pete Carmichael was the qb coach here w Brees iirc before he became the OC in NO, again with Brees.
what could have been indeed.

I could have married a more submissive, gentle, wife ....Ah what could have been!

[wu-dai clan]

My memories of Drew Brees include the following...

--great chemistry with fellow Texan HS All Star LT, especially on swing passes.
--specific problem with Red Zone picks-- did not have a good feel early in his Charger career for defender spacing in the shorter area of the RZ.
--in seeing Brees LIVE @ Oakland, he showed me leadership and spine in responding to the hostility with clutch plays.

The big point to be made here is that the Chargers had control of both Drew Brees and Philip Rivers, and failed to parlay that into multiple assests via trade(s).

I blame the egos of both Marty and AJ for this disasterous, Super Bowl denying quagmire.