D. Watson almost a Charger ??

[SDFan]

A lot of Rivers performance still goes back to the OL. You can't pressure the QB and not give him time to go through his progressions and expect the O to look good. Add to it that we don't have the best receiver corp. Allen is a top tier WR, but outside of that, we have some good but not great players.

Rivers is throwing the ball quickly and getting the ball out before it he gets sacked, but we are asking the TE and RB to spend a lot of time helping in pass protection. A lot of chipping and staying in altogether. And when the passes come out that quickly, the WR are not getting the chance to get seperation. Not to mention Denver and KC know that we can't protect Rivers for long vs their rush, so their coverages have been sitting on the short routes. Without the time to go deep, which happened as the Denver rush got tired, really is hurting our effort.

I don't think anybody disagrees with your assessment, but the burning question remains: why can other teams facing similar or even worse OL issues still come away with wins more often than not? Teams like NE and GB come to mind. Also, how is it possible for this team to every single year attempt to solidify/upgrade the OL in the off season and bring in new OLs, coaches and more and ALL emphasizing fixing the run game and they still end up at or near the bottom of the league in rushing?

[Guest]

I don't think anybody disagrees with your assessment, but the burning question remains: why can other teams facing similar or even worse OL issues still come away with wins more often than not? Teams like NE and GB come to mind. Also, how is it possible for this team to every single year attempt to solidify/upgrade the OL in the off season and bring in new OLs, coaches and more and ALL emphasizing fixing the run game and they still end up at or near the bottom of the league in rushing?

Aaron Rodgers is more mobile than Philip Rivers. That extra mobility certainly helps when the O-Line is questionable because they can escape and throw on the run or make plays with their legs. In the past two seasons when their O-Line has given up 35 and 46 sacks, Rodgers has added 369 and 344 rushing yards compared to 269 and 120 rushing yards when they conceded 28 and 21 sacks in 2013 and 2014. So when their O-Line has played well Rodgers has run less, but when it has played inconsistently or poorly he has used that mobility. The problem we have is that Rivers has never been a mobile quarter and when the O-Line plays poor he generally gets nailed.

With that said, you do have a point about Tom Brady and the Patriots. This season Brady has already been sacked 10 times, yet he has managed 1092 passing yards and 8 TDs with no INTs - he's in MVP form. If you compare his 2015 and 2014 stats when he got sacked 34 and 36 times respectively, he had single figure INTs and 33 and 36 TD passes. So there is clearly something special about Tom Brady's ability to thrive under pressure and hardship. It certainly helps his case for being the greatest quarterback of all time.

The problem our team has had in recent seasons is that we have tried the band-aid approach to fixing the O-Line and at times we haven't spent sensibly. We have generally taken a gamble on some pretty average O-Line players and also tried some reclamation projects. So when we splash the cash we get Russell Okung fresh off a terrible 2016 season, whereas the Oakland Raiders get Kelechi Osemele and Rodney Hudson, the Cleveland Browns get Kevin Zeitler, and the Rams get Andrew Whitworth. That's been our problem in recent seasons that we haven't managed to get the top tier guys in free agency. I have no problem if this team decides to build the O-Line through free agency because it has worked for the Raiders because four fifths of their line came through free agency (Penn, Osemele, Hudson, Newhouse). But if the team is going to spend, it needs to get the best rather than the average linemen or reclamation projects. With that said, the positive I see with this year's attempt is the draft picks of Dan Feeney and Forrest Lamp. We have picked up two talented young linemen and hopefully they develop into two cornerstones.

[SDFan]

seems to me they HAVE tried to sign the widely regarded "best" available at their position FA OLs a couple times recently and that hasn't worked out either: Gaithers, Franklin, Okung. Only recent reliable guy they got was Slauson- and played him out of his best position. Drafting guys like Wat, Teurk witth 3rd rounders looking for bargains. Seems talent evaluation may be an underlying issue preventing solidifying OL...?

True they have tried. Gaithers was talented but injury prone and Franklin was a decent acquisition on paper, sadly neither really worked out. However, the addition of Okung was not really a move I rate since he was the 38th ranked tackle in 2016, it is right up there with the Panthers addition of Matt Kalil as a lot of money to shell out on players that have regressed.

Agreed, the team has drafted some decent talent. I do like the long term potential of an interior featuring Lamp, Teurk and Feeney.

[Steve]

Sacks are a horrible metric for OL play. QB have a lot to do with whether there is a sack or not, so putting it all on the OL is just moronic.

Different offenses will inherently give up more or less sacks based on how much extra protection they have, how quick the passing is (3 and 5 step vs deep 5 and 7 step drops) in their passing game. How many times a team runs, the game situations they play in..... all of those are at least as important as the play of the OL in terms of an overall sack total.

The general assumption is that Rivers is not playing well and that he is holding us back. What if it is the other way around? If you look at it, his quick release ( that teams adjust to over the course of the game) and as they hit him and see everything we are bringing on offense, are able to dial in their D during the course of the game. I would suggest that for YEARS Rivers is the biggest part of the team overachieving.

Rivers keeps us in the games, but teams know we don't have the horses to come out in the end, so they leave their best stuff for late in the game. Add that to the general lack of confidence that a young team, Lynn has a pretty big job ahead. It comes at a time when the ability of the team to develop young players is at an all time low. The NFL is not set up to develop players, but is there anything more important to a franchise? Even among NFL franchises, we are especially bad at developing young players, and that is why we suck.