Great Expectations for a San Diego Charger Team Returning Shawne Merriman

In an AFC west with more questions than answers, the Chargers are the only team with any stability, bringing back the core of the AFC’s highest scoring offense and the key piece of their high pressure, opportunistic defense.  

San Diego was considered one of the elite teams until last season, and with the return of pass rushing specialist Shawn Merriman; are the preseason favorite to take the division. 

It’s simple, if the Chargers have a healthy Merriman for a majority of the season, then they will be an elite team. It’s not too many teams in the league that depend on one defensive player as the cornerstone to their defense. 

San Diego was basically in a recession defensively. Key defensive stats all across the board were down: interceptions, turnover ratio, sacks and the pass defense was the worst in the AFC. 

The Chargers without Merriman are like a street race car without the NOS, a computer without its Pentium processor, an HDTV without HD Service, a party without a guy to turn the “lights out.” You get my point. 

Maybe it’s not just Merriman they rely on, but the pass rush itself. General Manager A.J. Smith could clearly see this team’s success is predicated on getting to the quarterback and drafted pass rushing specialist Larry English in the first round, who some thought might have been a stretch. 

English could be that insurance policy to keep this defense running, in the event Merriman can’t go, or is ineffective. 

Chargers were without their star linebacker for virtually all of the last season and ended up with only 28 sacks. San Diego’s sack totals have been on a decline since their 14-2, 2006 season when they tallied up a whopping 61 sacks and then followed that up with 42 sacks in 2007.  

While Merriman doesn’t have those gawdy sack totals of some of the premiere pass rushers, his ability to hurry the quarterback, creates turnovers and gets the defense off the field. 

The Chargers forced fewer turnovers in 2008 and managed only a plus four turnover margin, in comparison to 2007 where they had a plus 24 turnover margin and led the league with 30 interceptions. In 2006, the year they led the league in sacks, they finished with a plus 13 turnover margin.

The Chargers also finished dead last in the AFC and second to last in the NFL in passing yards allowed, with 247 yards allowed per game. Antonio Cromartie's interception totals were down from 10 in 2007 to only 2 in 2008. 

The secondary is a strong unit when they are able to gamble, and they weren’t able to do that last season, with “Lights Out” on the sideline.   

In addition to Merriman and English, San Diego has arguably one of the best front-sevens in the league, with pro-bowlers Luis Castillo and Jamal Williams anchoring the middle. The group had a hard time adjusting to the loss of their star linebacker, giving up the most points per game since 2006 with 21.7. 

Defensively this team may have some questions; offensively there’s no doubt, they will be a juggernaut.

The Chargers return the nucleus of their offense, and should be able to maintain their high-powered attack under Norv Turner. With LaDainian Tomlinson passing the dreaded 30-year-mark for NFL running backs, he may not be that 25-30 carry-a-week back anymore, but he doesn’t need be.

San Diego has a rising star in Darren Sproles to split the carries with. Sproles will be a nice complement to the offense, with his pass catching ability out of the backfield. He will be looking to add to his 5 touchdown receptions from last season. 

Add a healthy Antonio Gates to the equation, and they will add another dimension they didn't have at full strength last season. 

If you had to pick a weak point on this offense, (because there really isn’t one) it would have to be at wide-out, and I only say that because they lack that big time number one receiver.

Chris Chambers and Vincent Jackson aren’t considered that home-run threat, like a Randy Moss or a Larry Fitzgerald and teams could load up the box on the run and let the San Diego wide-outs beat them. That being said, Rivers did finish the year with a very impressive 4,000 yard season.

The Chargers shouldn’t have much difficulty getting the AFC west’s divisional crown with the amount of turnover in the division.  Kansas City and Denver are starting from scratch with; new quarterbacks, systems, front office personnel, and coaches. 

You would have to expect some assimilation time for both these teams in a very competitive AFC conference. The Raiders also have a new permanent coach, and I expect them to be in a heated competition for AFC’s worst.

With so many questions with the rest of the AFC west, if the Chargers don’t win the divisional crown, it will be unexpected and disappointing. This is the Chargers division to lose and they would be grossly underachieving with anything but a deep run into the playoffs.