2010 NFL Season

[infrared41]

Professional athletes shouldn't need a motivational speech from a coach. They should be self motivated, or at least motivated by money, and the potential for more money. Again, these aren't kids. They either have pride or they don't... and if they don't, then they can't win for anybody.

I know it's fun to egg on Lights Out, but you can't deny that the team has what it takes to in games. You don't dismantle the Colts and Chiefs with players that "can't win for anybody."

The team's got a lot of problems. The players aren't motivated. The coach doesn't push the team. The GM only has a job because he's BFFs with the owner.

Blow it up, suck for the better part of a decade, and rebuild.

I'm not "egging" on Lights Out - that's how I feel. Not saying that the coach doesn't suck (I don't know one way or the other) but if motivation or leadership is a problem, that's as much a knock on the players as anything, specifically the "leaders".

The fact that I am probably the league leader in antagonizing Lights Out aside, Vet is right on the money on this one. If you have great players who "need motivational speeches" or players who don't play well because the coach doesn't "push them" etc. then you don't really have "great" players. I don't think anyone here would argue that Barry Switzer is as good a coach as Jimmie Johnson. Yet Switzer won a Super Bowl with essentially the same team Johnson won two Super Bowls with. The point being that great players don't necessarily need a great coach to win. At the end of the day the players are the ones who determine the outcome.

As for this "AJ" character, if he's such a lousy GM then how did the Chargers end up with all this talent in the first place? The Chargers are a more talented version of the Texans; they're always a trendy pick to win. They're always being touted as "talented." And at the end of every season we're sitting here talking about whose fault it was that they didn't get the job done. Phillip Rivers was the reason Drew Brees was sent packing. Brees has a Super Bowl ring and his team is in the playoffs again. Phillip Rivers put up another season's worth of gaudy numbers and he's sitting home...again. The point is there is a difference between talented teams and great teams.

The Chargers may have talent from here to Sunday but that doesn't make them a good "team."

[dfwabel]

Professional athletes shouldn't need a motivational speech from a coach. They should be self motivated, or at least motivated by money, and the potential for more money. Again, these aren't kids. They either have pride or they don't... and if they don't, then they can't win for anybody.

I know it's fun to egg on Lights Out, but you can't deny that the team has what it takes to in games. You don't dismantle the Colts and Chiefs with players that "can't win for anybody."

The team's got a lot of problems. The players aren't motivated. The coach doesn't push the team. The GM only has a job because he's BFFs with the owner.

Blow it up, suck for the better part of a decade, and rebuild.

I'm not "egging" on Lights Out - that's how I feel. Not saying that the coach doesn't suck (I don't know one way or the other) but if motivation or leadership is a problem, that's as much a knock on the players as anything, specifically the "leaders".

I'm not disagreeing with your fundamental argument. Leadership among the plays IS lacking, and it's a serious part of the problem.

That being said, it's not the only problem. The players don't care, the coach doesn't care, and the GM doesn't care. The whole thing's a giant clusterfukc of apathy.

It is not apathy, it is parody. Last year, the Chargers were 8-1 in "one score games" (8 points or less), this year, they are 2-5. It's random how those "one score games" go. The object to to be good enough so that you don't have many games which can be decided so closely, and don't subject yourself to such randomness.

[NJTank]

Its easier to fire a coach than fire a team, the Chargers have good pieces and they should make a change to see if if the Coach.

[Lights Out]

To all of the people saying players should be self-motivated: Vince Lombardi was a motivational coach. He got the most out of his players and won five championships as a coach. The year after Lombardi left the Packers, they collapsed and missed the playoffs, serving to prove that Lombardi's motivation and expectations were possibly the driving force of the Packers' run. Are we going to invalidate the greatness of those Packers teams because their coach was their greatest leader?

Also, Philip Rivers was not the reason the Chargers got rid of Brees when they did (although one of them would have had to leave at some point). Marty's stubbornness was. In Brees' last year, we were in the same position that the Chargers are in now - winning record, no hope of a playoff spot, with a meaningless game against the Broncos at the end of the year. Instead of sitting Brees in said meaningless game and letting Rivers play (which the fans wanted), Marty demanded that Brees play. Brees fumbled, got hit hard, tore his labrum, and he was let go because it was a definite possibility that he would never play football again. The bidding war for Brees was between only the Dolphins and the Saints for a reason.

And about AJ: he used to get talent. Now, he looks for bargains in the draft instead of the best player available, has season-long standoffs with our best players over contracts, and refuses to even talk to big-name free agents. It's like he doesn't care anymore and thinks we can win a Super Bowl without spending more than the absolute minimum.

[dfwabel]

To all of the people saying players should be self-motivated: Vince Lombardi was a motivational coach. He got the most out of his players and won five championships as a coach. The year after Lombardi left the Packers, they collapsed and missed the playoffs, serving to prove that Lombardi's motivation and expectations were possibly the driving force of the Packers' run. Are we going to invalidate the greatness of those Packers teams because their coach was their greatest leader?

Also, Philip Rivers was not the reason the Chargers got rid of Brees when they did (although one of them would have had to leave at some point). Marty's stubbornness was. In Brees' last year, we were in the same position that the Chargers are in now - winning record, no hope of a playoff spot, with a meaningless game against the Broncos at the end of the year. Instead of sitting Brees in said meaningless game and letting Rivers play (which the fans wanted), Marty demanded that Brees play. Brees fumbled, got hit hard, tore his labrum, and he was let go because it was a definite possibility that he would never play football again. The bidding war for Brees was between only the Dolphins and the Saints for a reason.

And in the Lombardi era players had second jobs in the off season and there was more fear of losing their job. He was also 7-5-2 in his only year in WAS, and the next year w/o him they went 6-8, while losing two games by a FG. Still random.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

Plus, if you win five championships with a core group of players, you're kind of maximizing their prime years, right? There's an incline and decline over a player's career, and I would bet several hit hit their peak and begin to fall off a bit within a five year period.

[njmeadowlanders]

"If this was in China do you think the Chinese would have called off the game? People would have been marching down to the stadium, they would have walked and they would have been doing calculus on the way down."

~ Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell

Oh Boy...when are people going to learn to just keep their mouths shut? Not good...

[DEAD!]

"If this was in China do you think the Chinese would have called off the game? People would have been marching down to the stadium, they would have walked and they would have been doing calculus on the way down."

~ Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell

Oh Boy...when are people going to learn to just keep their mouths shut? Not good...

... at least the Chinese can do calculus...

[Viper]

Drew Brees gets in touch with his inner Favre, handing the lead and possibly the NFC #1 seed to the Falcons in the process.

[Lights Out]

Why am I a Chargers fan?

[LMU]

We'll see what happens when a CBA is ratified. That'll throw everything into limbo.

Then again, perhaps Spanos doesn't want to make any moves until the moving vans are all heading up the 5.

[TBGKon]

Thanks a bunch Falcons, now we have to hope for losses by NYG and GB next week.

Sincerely,

All Buccaneer faithful

[NJTank]

Just think the Buccaneers can win and than watch the 7-9 Seattle Seahags in the Playoffs.

[JayJaxon]

I am so happy I don't live next to any Saints fans.

[infrared41]

Why am I a Chargers fan?

Because just like with Boise State or the Rays, you saw a team on the rise and decided you'd get in just in time to frontrunner your way to a championship without looking like a complete frontrunner? That's one guess. Then again, it could be because you're on a first name basis with the Chargers coach and GM. Hell, I don't know. Why don't you end the suspense and just tell us?

[IceCap]

I just realized something. I watched this team go 1-15 in 2000. 9-7 or 8-8 doesn't seem so bad. Besides I always have my #2 team. Go Cardin...oh wait.

[WJMorris3]

This is why the NFL needs to take a page out of the EPL's playbook. The Premiership would never postpone a game due to weather.

[Cujo]

Why am I a Chargers fan?

Because just like with Boise State or the Rays, you saw a team on the rise and decided you'd get in just in time to frontrunner your way to a championship without looking like a complete frontrunner? That's one guess. Then again, it could be because you're on a first name basis with the Chargers coach and GM. Hell, I don't know. Why don't you end the suspense and just tell us?

Yeah, I was leaning 'frontrunner' too -- but then how do you explain his love for the Clippers?

[infrared41]

Why am I a Chargers fan?

Because just like with Boise State or the Rays, you saw a team on the rise and decided you'd get in just in time to frontrunner your way to a championship without looking like a complete frontrunner? That's one guess. Then again, it could be because you're on a first name basis with the Chargers coach and GM. Hell, I don't know. Why don't you end the suspense and just tell us?

Yeah, I was leaning 'frontrunner' too -- but then how do you explain his love for the Clippers?

Same way I explained the others. He just really missed the target on the Clippers. I don't follow the NBA very closely but weren't the Clippers supposed to be really "turning the corner" or something a while back? Frankly, I'm surprised he hasn't been a "bleeds wine and gold 'til he dies Cavs fan since about twenty minutes before the 2003 draft.

That's the problem with glomming on to a team you think is on the verge of winning it all and then positioning yourself as a "bleeds (insert colors here) 'til you die" fan. If you miss, you really can't reel it in and jump off the bandwagon without looking like a complete idiot.

[TFoA]

Well, the offense definitely didn't show up. The defense did, but they couldn't wrap up on tackles. Should've had Brees sacked at least 6 or 7 times. SMH. Oh well, all the Falcons have to do is beat Carolina at home on Sunday and they will still have homefield. Yeah, Carolina's gonna treat it like their Super Bowl, but I highly doubt that the Falcons are gonna blow this opportunity. Hell, they probably needed to come down a peg or two after the media finally gave them some love. So yeah, not worried at all, Falcons still have another shot at getting home field.

However...smdh at what you see to the left of this post.