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Monday Morning Editorials by Nick Canepa and
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"The Season, the Playoffs, and LT" - Posted 1/26/08

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VOICE OF THE FANS
San Diego Union-Tribune, Monday morning

PAGE TURNER: Memo to A.J. Smith: Looks like you kept the wrong Turner. LANCE McCUNE, Bonsall

HALF STAFF: How does Ted Cottrell still have a job? We have the best talent in the league on both sides of the ball, but only half a coaching staff that knows how to use that talent. ED RUBANO, Santee

SHOW US: I do not want to hear that the Chargers are the most talented team in the NFL. Show it to us! ADRIAN CASAS, Chula Vista

MISUSED TALENT: Is it A.J.'s player selection or Norv's coaching that has produced three outcoached, outplayed losses? The talent on this team has been misused and grossly underutilized. BOB DISHON, Pacific Beach

OFFENSIVE: This defense is downright offensive. If they cannot figure out a way to get off the field on third down, this will be a long season indeed. JASON BALLOW, Encinitas

LOVE THE WILDCAT: After reading the game predictions in the sports page by the Chargers cheerleading staff writers Canepa, Sullivan, and Acee, I was all set to watch an exciting offensive game. Well the offense was exciting. Miami's Wildcat offense was refreshing and fun to see! ROBERT JACKSON, La Mesa

THE ANGLERS: Chargers “smelt” against the “Fish.” DON SPEES, Santee

WRONG CALL: So we've got an offensive genius for a head coach? A head coach that has a free time-out to decide that running a lame back into the middle of the line on fourth down at the goal line is the right call? This typical stupid type of play-calling along with always running on first down will kill this season! MIKE PASTORE, Encinitas

THE OLD DAYS: I just saw Terrell Owens and Tony Romo hook up on about a 60-yard play for a touchdown. This reminds me of what the Chargers used to do. Now we're reduced to a nickel and dime offense that can't seem to fight its way out of a wet paper bag. NINA M. DACAL, Escondido

OFF TARGET: As awful as the defense looked all day, it didn't lose today's game. That dubious privilege belongs to the offense. The O-line seldom gave Rivers time or protection, and he was consistently throwing late or off target. GEORGE T. WISE La Jolla

BRING BACK BOBBY: What's Bobby Ross doing these days? R.GRAF, Point Loma

COMPLETE LOSS: This was a well-deserved loss, period. This was a complete loss reflecting failure at all levels. Rivers was off, the O-line didn't do a great job, there wasn't enough pressure on Pennington, and the Dolphins receivers were too open. MICHAEL BAGNAS, San Diego

MOST OVERRATED: Don't we get it? This team is the most overrated team in the NFL! JOSE LUIS VAZQUEZ, Tijuana

HOODIE WEARING? The lethargic, timid O and D lines have led to the demise of this football team. Our receivers wear the DBs like their favorite hoodie. The coaches are not held accountable by A.J. ALAN D. TEAGUE, El Cajon

THE DISASTER: Recipe for a Chargers disaster: Linebackers can't tackle, safeties can't cover, linemen can't block and a coach can't call a good play on the goal line. The Chargers are a legend in there own minds. The only question will be what excuse they will come up with this time? Weather, travel or uncomfortable beds in their hotel rooms. Too bad we can't play the Raiders the rest of the schedule. WARD LANNOM, Bonita

BIG DISAPPOINTMENTS: The Chargers have the greatest talent in the NFL but are the biggest underachievers and disappointment. There is only one explanation: Norv Turner. To A.J. Smith: Please privately admit this, and begin your search for the new coach. DARRIEN JOHNSON, Spring Valley


 


NICK CANEPA'S EDITIORIAL

Sports Writer, San Diego Union-Tribune, Monday

Dissappointed Chargers fans are preaching to the choir
Sunday, October 5, 2008

MIAMI – To the thousands of fans who chose AC, to leave their chairs empty and not take their Sunday afternoon sauna in Dolphins Stadium, we salute your cool judgment. For the Chargers players and coaches who also declined to attend en masse, we only can ask: What the hell is wrong with you?

Don't look at me. In this one, I'm the choir and you're Martin Luther King. It's the Chargers who need preaching to. Either that, or a pyromaniac should be hired to run through their locker room to light fires beneath their behinds.

It wasn't just their 17-10 loss to Miami, which won one game a year ago, and while better, well, how can't it be? It wasn't the heat and humidity. It wasn't the intermittent rain. It certainly wasn't the crowd noise. It wasn't the Dolphins' collegiate “Wildcat” offense, which good NFL defenses eventually will stuff like a Christmas goose.

It was more about the 2008 San Diego Chargers and who they are – or who they aren't. It was more how they lost – or what they didn't do, that careened their season into a messy 2-3 hole.

They didn't play football.

They haven't been doing all that much of it, really, but this was ridiculous. It simply was one of their worst overall efforts since the bad old days, when everyone knew they were awful, so it didn't quite nestle under the skin like a tick.

But a whole lot more people care now. So a whole lot of people don't understand. We have a genuine enigma on our hands. I've read hundreds of mysteries and guessed my share of denouements, but this is a whodunit put together by Joyce and Faulkner.

I don't get it. If you do, you're Agatha Christie. Congratulations, but she no longer is with us.

The Chargers got eye-poked Stooges-style by a lesser team, true. It happens in the NFL. If the better team won every game, New England would be world champion. It also rings correct that the Chargers had lost two games they very easily could have won, although they didn't play particularly well in either defeat – or their two wins, for that matter.

But not Sunday. No, everything wilted in the South Florida Turkish bath. Miami wasn't lucky. Miami took them to the woodshed.

The Dolphins aren't nearly good enough to be good. But they certainly proved capable of handling a team that could have been arrested for loitering. Why, the Fish didn't even have to score in the second half. The Chargers were nothing but chum, chums.

At times they appeared to be wandering about aimlessly. Intensity was lacking. They couldn't throw. They couldn't run. They couldn't block. They couldn't get open. They couldn't tackle. They couldn't cover. They couldn't adjust.

So they were outcoached. This was not Norv Turner's finest 60 minutes. I won't say this entire season has been his finest five hours. His team, which is not good – certainly not close to as advertised, and that's championship caliber – can't continue to start slowly and expect to be playing in January.

This remains professional football, which means everyone gets paid. Allowing a team of the Dolphins' caliber to get up 17-3 at the half – it was 15-0 last week in Oakland, when the Chargers managed to dig out – is inexcusable. If nothing else, they are better than this.

The Chargers' offense is far too talented for Philip Rivers and LaDainian Tomlinson never to find their rhythm, for the receivers to remain tightly covered all afternoon, for the line's inconsistency in both the run and passing game.

To get down is one thing. But there was no fire in this hole. It shouldn't take that long to open your nostrils and take a whiff.

“The first thing we have to address is going out early,” defensive end Luis Castillo was saying. “We can't continue to put ourselves in these situations. If we start fast, everything will take care of itself. It's all highlighted by the holes we're trying to get out of.

“It's a test, an obvious challenge. Are we going to do this as a team?”

The defense didn't give up a second-half point, but it still allowed Miami to rush for 167 yards on the afternoon. It allowed the Dolphins 23 first downs. It let the Fish run the final 5:55 off the clock.

The offense had 19 tries on first downs, seven of them passing plays, one complete. On them, it gained 35 total yards. Overall, it ran up 202 yards, 60 on the ground. LT, clearly not himself as a runner, receiver or pass protector, had 35 rushing yards. The Chargers were 3-for-12 on third downs.

On the first play of the final quarter, they had a fourth-and-1 at the Dolphins' 1. LT tried and failed. It was the right call, going for the tie. They didn't block the play.

Nothing they did seemed to work. They appeared hopeless.

Later, Turner tried his best to praise the Dolphins, but, once again, the Canepa Tabernacle Choir was listening.

Last week, General Manager A.J. Smith said his players know they're good.

Right now, they're lying to themselves.


 


REPORT CARD
San Diego Union-Tribune, Monday

Key Play: Chargers linebacker Matt Wilhelm's stop of Ronnie Brown for a gain of just two yards on the first play in which the Dolphins utilized the "Wildcat" offense that produced four touchdowns against the New England Patriots two weeks ago. Miami resorted to the direct snap to Brown four times in its opening drive against the Chargers, but didn't come close to scoring on any of them.

Key Stat:7:18. The amount of time the Chargers burned off the clock in taking the opening kickoff and marching to the Miami 16-yard line, resulting in a 34-yard field goal by Nate Kaeding. More notably, it marked the first time this season that the Chargers actually got off to a good start in a game.

Not in the box score: While every seat in Dolphin Stadium was filled the night before with college-football fans for the University of Miami-Florida State game, there were empty orange seats by the thousands throughout the house yesterday. Moreover, the Hurricanes and Seminoles had run roughshod on each other and the playing surface in a heavy rainstorm that lasted through much of the night, leaving the turf thinned and spongy for the Dolphins and Chargers. The rain is starting to fall again, too.


BY THE NUMBERS

0 – Turnovers for Chargers, the first time they've lost a game without making a turnover since Nov. 23, 2003

2 – Wins for Dolphins, doubling last year's total

2-3 – Chargers' record for second straight year

3 – Times in last four games LaDainian Tomlinson has averaged fewer than 3 yards per carry

4-0 – Chad Pennington's record vs. Chargers (112.7 rating)

34.5 – Average points scored by Chargers in first four games

36:41 – Time of possession for Dolphins, the most vs. San Diego since Tennessee had 37:13 on Oct. 3, 2004

50.5 – Net punting average for Mike Scifres, his highest ever for a game with more than one attempt


RUMOR CENTRAL
Rumors from the Web


Laila Ali Marries Former NFL Star in L.A.

People Magazine, Sunday July 22, 2007

Boxing champ and Dancing with the Stars finalist Laila Ali wed retired NFL star Curtis Conway in L.A. on Sunday, Ali's rep tells PEOPLE exclusively.

Among the 200 guests were Laila's parents, Muhammad Ali and Veronica Porsche Anderson, along with her sister Hana Ali, who was a bridesmaid. Conway's twin sons, Kelton and Cameron, 12, were the ringbearers while his daughter Leilani, 8, stepped in as the flowergirl.

For her big day – which Ali planned while competing on Dancing with the Stars this past spring – "I don't want a big poufy dress," Ali told PEOPLE in April. Instead, the bride, 29, opted for a knockout champagne-colored silk charmeuse strapless mermaid gown by Amy Michelson.

"Laila's approach to the wedding was simple but elegant," says wedding coordinator Juliet Ryan. "There were no lions and tigers and bears. It was about the love."

The pair met two years ago when Conway hosted a small get together at his house, which Ali attended with a friend. Conway, 36, then popped the question last Thanksgiving.

"People think she dominates the relationship," Conway (former Charger) told PEOPLE in May, "but she's a sweetie pie."


 


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