Chargers 50th Anniversary

(Photo by Tony Duffy/Getty Images)

This season the San Diego Chargers will be celebrating their 50th Anniversary, as will the other original AFL franchises. They will play three games wearing throwback jerseys, all against AFL teams.

Recently the Chargers announced plans for their 50th anniversary celebration. The team held a press conference with several former players on hand. You can watch those videos, courtesy of signonsandiego.com, right here.

http://www3.signonsandiego.com/photos/galleries/sets/chargers/

Fans will be able to vote for the top 50 players in Chargers history, as well as the top 20 moments. The winners will be announced during the Jan. 3 game against the Washington Redskins.

Nick Canepa writes an article about some of the Charger greats over the last 50 years, including the Chicken. Read about it here.

http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/jun/01/chargers-canepa-hatched-plans-50th-season21385/?chargers

Practices resumed June 1st. Much of the focus has been on the defense. Two players that have stood out are cornerbacks Antonio Cromartie and Antoine Cason.

Cromartie didn't provide the big plays from the previous year, but a hip injury and lack of pass rush contributed more to that than anything else. The truth is in the second half of the season, when Ron Rivera started calling the defense, teams rarely threw at Cromartie, as Rivera played more to Cromartie's strengths.

Cason was solid in his rookie season, and should only get better. The team's third corner, Cason is practically a starter, as the team plays more than 60 percent of it's snaps in nickel or dime sub-packages. Cromartie, Cason, and Quentin Jammer give the Chargers one of the strongest sets of cornerbacks in the league.

Kevin Acee blogs about Cromartie standing out in practice here.

http://www3.signonsandiego.com/weblogs/chargers/2009/jun/01/back-work/

Here is a link to head coach Norv Turner talking about the improved defense.

http://www.chargers.com/media-vault/videos/defense-focus-of-ocs/5ef9ba5b-e455-45e2-b12d-c25dbd986033

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