I know I've had my share of mis-reading a post but I didn't say or suggest he decided to get rid of the coordinators. I said he decided (or he and Spanos) to fire Marty and get rid of Brees. As for the money, not sure where the cap number is but they aren't they under? If so then your point is off a bit. Besides, teams pay injured players every year. They heal and play again. It happens all the time. And if they were that concerned about his health, then why offer him any money at all? They just wanted him if they could get him cheap. IOW-they weren't interested in paying him fair market money. AJ tried the saame thing with Gates. That was a costly mistake as well. Now there are reports that they are so cheap that they don't want to fire Norv because they don't want to pay 2 x-coaches. lol
BTW-where did they spend all that money they saved on Brees?
But if you think those decisions were in the best interest of the Chargers winning then I guess you're happy with the results. Because outside of the changes I mentioned, this is the same team.
What I find interesting about this thread is that some want to pin the problems on Rivers. Some on the line. Some on the D. Isn't it interesting that it seems it's everyone's fault but AJ's. When they were winning with Marty and Brees, it was because of AJ. Now that they having troubled times, it's everyones fault but AJ's. Simply amazing the way some Charger fans see things.
The Chargers have pretty consistently spent up to the cap number for quite some time. However, they do a pretty good job managing their future cap, so each year they start out significantly below the cap. The Chargers as an organization have shown that they are willing pay players based on performance on the field (see LT). And you are wrong about Antonio Gates. The Chargers (and AJ) had no problem paying him big time money (which they are), they just wanted him to sign the tender and get into camp while they negotiated his new contract.
1. The Chargers are no where near their cap from what I've seen. They are about middle of the road on payroll.
2. You are not accurate about Gates. They did not want to deal in a fair way and he held out for a fair market deal. Aj played hardball when he realized he couldn't bully Gates and in doinf so he cost the team, again. Of course in the end he paid Gates. Gates gave a little and AJ gave a little. But that could of been done before AJ put the Chargers in abd situation. Clearly his actions were not in the Chargers best interest.
As far as Brees goes, what did he win while he was a Charger? One division title. No playoff wins. I don't think losing Brees has hurt this team nearly as much as you suggest. In fact, the Chargers have a pretty decent chance to finish this year at 11-5. That would match the team's best record under Brees.
Your point on Brees is skewed to make it appear their decision was warrented. I'm surprised you said that. Didn't think I would have to make this point to you. With any QB there is a development process. Brees had just turned the corner and was proving himself. The talent on this team was not fully assembled while Brees was developing. Parts were being added along the way. In some cases (Gates for example) parts were missing at times due to AJ's hardball tatics. I'm sure that missing Gates for training and gametime didn't help the Chargers in their efforts to improve and improve. But Brees did continue to improve, didn't he? River OTOH-had the benefit of a fully loaded team to step into. This is hardly a similar situation. And if you are seriously suggesting that this year's team is asgood as it was last year then you must be smoking something. Have you seen them play? Have you read the comments in this thread questioning what's wrong? I really do not expect they will go far in the playoffs. The only way they do is if they somehow turn things around in a dramatic fashion.
BTW, the Chargers have used the money saved by not signing Brees to extend the contracts of or resign many of their starters (Jammer and Dielman being two prime examples).
You could also say that they made those deals on the new cap money they had to work with. Fact is they are just avg in spending their money. The big deal some have made here on the big savings of letting Brees leave just doesn't add up. Some make different excuses like he was hurt so why would they weant him? And yet they made an insulting low ball offer that came off contradictory. Doesn't add up either.
As far as not wanting to fire Norv because they don't want to pay 2 ex coaches, that is pure speculation by writers who have column space to fill. I am sure that the Chargers don't want to pay 2 ex coaches, but I don't think that would stop them if they felt they really needed to make a change.
So you're saying Acee isn't a viable source? Maurlie would disagree with you. Either that or all the other arguments made based on his reports are bogus I guess.
As far as this Chargers fan is concerned, I don't blame anybody for their inability to match expectations this year. I think the expectations for this team were set too high. This is a team that has gone 11-5, 9-7, 14-2 the last three years, and will end up somewhere between 9-7 and 11-5 this year. It would appear to me that this is nominally a 10-6 or 11-5 team that either overachieved or benefited from a soft schedule last year, and is playing about to their talent level this year.
I agree that expectations were too high. But for different reasons. I noticed to avoid the issue created by AJ's changes. I can only assume by your responses so far and failure to address my main point, that you think these moves by AJ were good ones. So you think the following to be true:1. Letting Brees go was the best thing to help this team win now.
2. Playing hardball with star players like Gates sends a positive message to the rest of the team that we want you to help us win. So long as we can lowball you.
3. If you get injired I'm not going to want any longer. See Brees.
4. If I don't you I will argue with you, take away your authority and not support you in your efforts to build a winning team. See Marty.
So these types of decisions have led to numerous changes that have stopped their progress. Their performance so far this year proves that to be true. Unless you want to suggest the LT was lying in his SI interview that things are an issue. You only need to step back from the AJ is god perspective and see and hear what's happening.
They're still good but they could be doing so much better if AJ hadn't made some of these decisions. Pretty simple really.
Man, I get tired of rehashing the same arguments over and over. I will get to your specific points in a moments.Salary cap numbers are notoriously imprecise and difficult to come by. If you are looking at preseason cap figures, they are pretty much useless. The last number I saw for the Chargers was around week 1 or week 2 of the season, and it had them about $750K under the cap for this year. Predraft they were around 12.3 million. As I said, the Chargers will spend up close to the cap most years, but they structure their contracts well, so they usually start each year with significant cap room.
I guess you could say the Chargers didn't want to deal with Gates in a fair way, but I am not sure I would agree with you. They wanted Gates to sign the tender, come in and work with the team while they work on his new contract. Gates felt he had more leverage in negotiations if he didn't. Nothing really unusual here. It happens with several teams and players just about every year. In the end they both got a contract they were happy with, so I am not going to complain about how it got done. I know some people want to harp on how it cost them the playoffs because they lost the one game Gates wasn't able to participate in. I disagree.
Brees. I don't think I did anything to skew my arguement for or against Drew. I think Drew is a fine QB. But he is hardly irreplaceable. He is certainly not Peyton Manning or Tom Brady. And again, I have to ask. What did he do that was so great in San Diego? He had as bad a year as a QB can have in 2003. Turned a corner and had a great season in 2004. He significantly regressed in 2005, so I would have to say, no, he wasn't continuing to improve.
And I wasn't comparing this years team to last years team. I was looking at the teams recent results. 11-5, 9-7, 14-2, 11-5 (at best). Which one of these things stands out the most? My contention is that last years team was a bit of a fluke, and they are not as good as their record indicates. And I gave what I believe are plausible reasons for those results. I agree, the team has not played as well this year as they did last year. It would be impossible to succesfully argue otherwise. My arguments are more based on why the team has not played as well this year. Some argue it is mostly due to changes made in the offseason. I would agree that this has played a role. But my main contention is that is a 10-6 or 11-5 team, and they are playing pretty much how you would expect such a team to play. I am no longer basing my expectations on the assumption that this is an elite team that should be considered a primary contender for the Super Bowl. There are too many holes on this team for that to be the case (poor safeties, mediocre middle linebackers, average receivers, inconsistent oline).
Again, I believe you are wrong on the Chargers salary cap situation. I believe you are basing your conclusions on offseason/preseason cap projections. Most years, the Chargers will spend up to the cap. But because they manage their cap space as well as they do, they begin each offseason with significant cap space.
Now, on to your specific questions:
1. Was letting Brees go the best thing to help the team win now? I don't think it hurt their chance to win now. And I believe it allowed them to extend their window of opportunity by a few years. I was, and still am, okay with that decision.
2. I pretty much completely disagree with this statement. The Chargers didn't lowball Gates. Your statement completely mischaracterizes the situation, and quite frankly, makes you look ill-informed. Ask LT if he feels the Chargers are difficult to negotiate with. Or Quentin Jammer, or any of the other recent Chargers that have signed contracts or contract extensions.
3. Wow. This statement is so silly, I am not sure if you are serious or not. But on the off chance you are.. Two teams offered Drew a contract. The Chargers and the Saints. One team had an absolute mess at the QB position, the other was in pretty decent shape at the QB position. I will let you decide which team was which, and which team made the higher offer. And the only other team that took any interest in Drew that year, decided he was too much of injury risk to even offer a contract to. You continue to press this issue, without taking into account all of the factors involved that led to Drew Brees becoming a Saint. It really weakens your argument, IMO.
4. Again, you are completely ignoring all of the other factors that went into the Marty firing. To be honest, I have a much bigger issue with the coach they hired to replace Marty than I do with firing Marty. But that is a totally different topic.
I am sure I am coming off as an AJ apologist here. I think AJ has done many good things for the Chargers, and a few not so good things. I think the 'AJ Smith has a tremendous ego' thing is far more of an invention of the press than anything that has any real substance. It certainly makes for a more interesting read, though. And AJ certainly doesn't appear to be interested in doing anything to dispel the notion.
As a Chargers fan my issues with A.J. Smith are:
1. Inability to fix the problem at safety
2. Failing to move aggressively to maintain one of their coordinators when it became apparent they would lose both of them
3. Taking the 'safe' choice in hiring Norv Turner over an unproven candidate (Rex Ryan was my preference).
4. Ted Cottrell. Enough said.