Gameplan for SD Starts with SB 36 ?

[TomBrady'sGoat]

I would be shocked if BB and his crew come away from watching film with any impression other than that Tomlinson is the root of all SD offense. Here's hoping that he's had an idea for slowing him down saved away. Btw, I love having a coach who just might have been sitting on a defensive gameplan because he wouldn't want to show his hand during the regular season.

Tomlinson (I won't call him by his initials, some other guy is LT).

I will only call him Tomlinson too.

You can't reuse the nickname of a hall of famer. besides, he doesn't need a nickname. Barry Sanders didn't need one. Brady doesn't need one.

 

[BelichickFan]

Problem is that if LT is running the ball 30-35 times, it probably means the Chargers are comfortable ahead.

Yeah, he hardly ever does but that's because Turner gets his share of carries too. There's basically no weakness to this running game, it's just up to our Front Seven to have their manhood challenged this week and see who can win the battles. And smack Tomlinson whenever they can - with or without the ball.

 

[boltssbbound]

I would be shocked if BB and his crew come away from watching film with any impression other than that Tomlinson is the root of all SD offense. Here's hoping that he's had an idea for slowing him down saved away. Btw, I love having a coach who just might have been sitting on a defensive gameplan because he wouldn't want to show his hand during the regular season.



I will only call him Tomlinson too.

You can't reuse the nickname of a hall of famer. besides, he doesn't need a nickname. Barry Sanders didn't need one. Brady doesn't need one.

Oh, yes. You wouldn't want to call a guy with 18 letters in his name(Ladainian Tomlinson) by his initials. That would be blasphemous.

It's not like LT is being referred to as "Sweetness" or some other personal and unique nickname. It's just the guy's initials.

Granted, unlike Lawrence Taylor, Ladainian is not a crackhead nor is he as dumb as a box of hammers, but that not should exclude him from sharing the nickname.

 

[TomBrady'sGoat]

Oh, yes. You wouldn't want to call a guy with 18 letters in his name(Ladainian Tomlinson) by his initials. That would be blasphemous.

It's not like LT is being referred to as "Sweetness" or some other personal and unique nickname. It's just the guy's initials.

Granted, unlike Lawrence Taylor, Ladainian is not a crackhead nor is he as dumb as a box of hammers, but that not should exclude him from sharing the nickname.

then call him LTom or something lame like that. or come up with something oririnal. Why not call him The Flu. you know, cause he's sick?

ok, so i'm horrible at this nickname thing. i wonder if it's just something white guys are no good at.

yes, it isn't a big deal. go ahead and call him LT. i don't like it and won't do it, but who am i to tell you you can't?

 

[Boston Jay]

Oh, yes. You wouldn't want to call a guy with 18 letters in his name(Ladainian Tomlinson) by his initials. That would be blasphemous.

It's not like LT is being referred to as "Sweetness" or some other personal and unique nickname. It's just the guy's initials.

Granted, unlike Lawrence Taylor, Ladainian is not a crackhead nor is he as dumb as a box of hammers, but that not should exclude him from sharing the nickname.

I call him LDT. Just to give a little love to all the capitalized letters.

Plus, people are like: why are you talking about Taylor??

 

[BruschiOnTap]

Re: The real "LT"

I always find it amusing when people get upset that LaDanian Tomlinson is referred to as "LT" because Lawrence Taylor was called that first. It is not LT's fault he has the same initials as Taylor, or that he is the best player in football.

Besides, isn't is better to bestow the "LT" nickname on a high character, humble guy such as LaDanian? Lets face it, the original "LT" was nothing more than a modern day Cincinnati Bengal.

I liked the Simmons solution: L-Train or LDT

 

[17Rocks]

call him whatever you want, he's gonna ruin your day next sunday.

 

[Patriotic Fervor]

You are an idiot the Chargers are going to do to the Pats what the Broncos did to them last year, make Brady look stupid. Look for some picks in the endzone.

What - you're going to get the stripes to play for you? That'll open up a lot of possibilities for you, but it still may not be enough!

 

[Fogbuster]

call him whatever you want, he's gonna ruin your day next sunday.

So, that means we'll see you back here Sunday night, no matter what the outcome??

It's going to be the most interesting game of the year, that's for sure.


//

 

[csfoster]

Take a closer look and you will see that the Chargers can't stop the run. Yes the Chargers get sacks but they stuff noone on the ground and don't pick it off as much as the Patriots. The CHargers have won 10 in a row and they are oozing confidence almost to the point of being arrogant. Merriman sent Jason Taylor a lights out hat and T-shirt along with popcorn so he can watch them in the playoffs. Obviously it was a shot at Jason Taylor but I would love for the Patriots to **** kick them and have Jason enjoy the popcorn while his AFCE counterpart Patriots dismantle the Chargers playoff run. The Chargers are primed to lose.

It is ironic that it is the Chargers run defense and not its pass defense is seen as a weakness and I agree. I have consistently stated that the Bolts secondary, complimented by an outstanding pass rush, has improved significantly compared to last year and this has been evidenced by league statistics and the fact that you guys are not talking about it.

Our run defense has been hampered since about the 3rd game this season due to injuries on the defensive line....namely Luis Castillo and Igor Olshansky having missed 10+ games between them and who together have only started and finished perhaps 5 out of 16 games this season. Both will be ready to go this Sunday.

In reference to being arrogant, I would suggest it is relative to one's perspective given that Bolts Fans,unlike Pats Fans, have done nothing to be arrogant about and thus from our perspective we are only confident that we are on track to do what you have done.

And why shouldn't we be confident since from an organizational perspective, we have more than less implemented the Patriots blueprint for success.

Speaking of perspective, it is funny that you view Merriman's actions as an arrogant "shot" at Jason Taylor without stating the obvious that Jason Taylor fired the first shot. And for the record, I did not have a problem what was first said just with who said it first.

From Merriman's perspective he was trying to lighten up any tension the media was hoping to create between the two. And beyond that, why make any more of an issue of it.

 

[PromisedLand]

That is how I'd start out. Not only is Tomlinson a great runner but he's a great receiver with at least 50 catches in each of his NFL season. He's not the same as Marshall Faulk, of course, but he's the same in the sense that the offense revolves around him and not just running the ball. As you'll remember, the first goal of SB 36 was to hit Faulk every time they could to disrupt him in whatever he was trying to do. I would think this would be a decent starting point. Of course, from there the offenses are vastly different.

It's horrible looking at Tomlinson's stats looking for a weakness as he's so good in all ways. But I did find one

Looking at his rushes per game, each set of 5 from 1-5, 6-10, 11-15, 16-20 he's averaging 4.2, 7.7, 4.3, 6.1 respectively. No weakness there. But from 21-25 he's averaging 2.3. From 26-30th carry per game he's averaging 3.3. And he only has 35 carries from 21-25 (2 a game) and about 1 a game from more. So he's a 20 carry a game back and is slowed after that. I know I'm stretching because Turner's carries are pretty darn impressive too . . . but it's something.

I'm fine with that gameplan as long as it doesn't include Willie McGinest getting called for holding LT and negating a potential game-clinching 98 yard touchdown by the Pats defense. My heart can't take that again.

 

[notex]

your similarity with SB 36 is pretty good...however..

i see a few differences/ similarities...

1. start off by saying i think its a good comparision especially what was said about LT being a double threat like Marshall...

2. Chargers have an elite pass catching TE....rams??

3. Rams had one of the best WR corps i can think of...i think the chargers one is a little better then ours but not by much

4. Chargers Defense is better by a landslide...

......to sum it all up......
i would say the rams SB 36 team reminds me a little more of the colts in a way...SD has a great offense with a great pass catching/ rushing tailback like marshall faulk..theyr offense will be hard to contain - hopefully our line can mess with rivers a bit because antonio gates and LT create matchup problems especially with our defense struggling at tackling this year (IMO) or more specifically the angles we take for tackles (See james sanders)

 

[The Dude]

4. Chargers Defense is better by a landslide...

The Rams had the #2 overall defense that year the chargers have the #10

2006 Chargers 310 ypg 18.9ppg

2001 Rams 279.4 ypg 17.1 ppg

 

[AzPatsFan]

Re: Gameplan for SD Starts with Pitsburgh game plans?

Looking at the Bolts I would make the following observations. Their O line is new and young. They are playing a rookie LOT. Their RT is no great shakes either. But they have opened the holes buoyed by the overall talent of the RBs, LT and Turner, and the good lead blocking of the FB.

Their receivers are no great shakes just as ours are not. They are big fast but not especially quick or display great separation ability. Their possession receiver, McCardell went over the hill this year in my opinion. Look at how important that was when the Team leapt upward when Keenan arrived. What else would you expect when their "big time receiver" is a TE?

On Defense, the linemen play both 4-3 and 3-4 but penetrate. They do get run on, however, and their inside LBs are not too big or intimidating, anymore.

For some reason the give up passing yardage and score. Why? Its a puzzle because Marty has invested lots of premium picks on the secondary. I don't know why it hasn't payed off too well though.

I don't know enough about the STs, to have any valid observations.

I think they remind me more of Pittsburgh than the Rams or Colts though. Good run game that burns time and makes the Defense seem better than it is; Lots of OLBs with sacks but the CBs have draft history, but not great production. (Chad Scott types)

 

[BradyManny]

4. Chargers Defense is better by a landslide...

Woah, woah - if I'm not mistaken, didn't the 01 Rams also have one of the best Ds in the league? I think people tend to forget that.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/stats/b...nce=NFL&year=season_2001&sort=1130&timeframe=

They are right up there in PA and Yds/G.

 

[richpjr]

All of this talk about the Chargers defense made me go look up the stats.

The Chargers finished 7th in the league against the run at 100.8 yards per game.

The Chargers finished 13th against the pass at 200.8 yards per game.

The Chargers finished 7th league in points allowed at at 18.9.

Now here are the Patriots stats:

The Patriots finished 5th in the league against the run at 94.2 yards per game.

The Patriots finished 12th against the pass at 200.2 yards per game.

The Patriots finished 2nd in the league in points allowed at 14.8.

The Chargers defense isn't all that bad, only allowing 7 more yards and 4.1 points per game more than the Patriots.

 

[BradyManny]

A random D stat:

The Chargers D only held teams under 14 points a total of 5 times:

Oakland(twice), Tennesee (week 2, aka pre Vince Young), Pittsburgh, Kansas City


The Pats accomplished the feat 7 times:

Cincinatti, Miami, Buffalo, Minnesota, Green Bay, Chicago & Houston

 

[MrBigglesWorth]

The pats game plan against the rams was knock the stuffing out of faulk to disrupt the timing and hurt him all day long even when he didn't have the ball.

Now I tihnk alot has changed since then. things have gotten tick tack with personal foul calls. I don't think they'd get away with it.

The pats just need to play with great gap control and stay disciplined and confuse rivers and hopefully a couple turnovers.

i wonder if they speed up the tempo like they did against the jets.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

That is how I'd start out. Not only is Tomlinson a great runner but he's a great receiver with at least 50 catches in each of his NFL season. He's not the same as Marshall Faulk, of course, but he's the same in the sense that the offense revolves around him and not just running the ball. As you'll remember, the first goal of SB 36 was to hit Faulk every time they could to disrupt him in whatever he was trying to do. I would think this would be a decent starting point. Of course, from there the offenses are vastly different.

It's horrible looking at Tomlinson's stats looking for a weakness as he's so good in all ways. But I did find one

Looking at his rushes per game, each set of 5 from 1-5, 6-10, 11-15, 16-20 he's averaging 4.2, 7.7, 4.3, 6.1 respectively. No weakness there. But from 21-25 he's averaging 2.3. From 26-30th carry per game he's averaging 3.3. And he only has 35 carries from 21-25 (2 a game) and about 1 a game from more. So he's a 20 carry a game back and is slowed after that. I know I'm stretching because Turner's carries are pretty darn impressive too . . . but it's something.

first of all, nice analysis. thanks. now if only those first 20 runs weren't so darn great...

but, the thread's topic is something i started thinking right after yesterday's game was safely in hand.

this pats' team reminds me of the 2001 team more than the highly dominant 03 and 04 teams. and playing the bolts is a little like playing the greatest show on turf. the patriots won that game (with what has been called the greatest single-game Game Plan of all time) by pounding the receivers at the line (we will REALLY miss Rodney), hitting Faulk on the nose every play and taking Warner completely out of his game.

winning on sunday is going to be a huge challenge against this team, but we'll succeed if we can force a couple of early mistakes by Rivers (not necessarily INT's and sacks, as nice as they would be, but some bad throws and a couple of Wilfork knockdowns), cream his receivers in the five yard zone and just do our best to get Tomlinson's attention even when he doesn't have the ball. i hope the genius announcers are focusing on this stuff.

 

[RobertWeathers]

It'll be a helluva game. The Chargers have a dynamic offense with the best player in the game carrying the mail. The defense is athletic and can cause havoc on an opposing offense. A worthy foe for the Pats no question.

But Chargers fans aren't talking about are these main points that have to be knawing at their psyche.

1. How do you account for that choke job vs. the Jets two years ago? Has the team recovered?

2. If the game is close and Brady has the ball and the game in his hands, what will your confidence level be then? Do you think Brady will choke?

3. Let's say Rivers needs to go no-huddle and win the game for you in the 4the qtr of his very first playoff game. What will your confience level be (factor in your response with going against the #2 defense in the NFL and the greatest defensive mind in NFL history).

4. You have a good regular season coach. You have a lousy playoff coach who with his 5-12 playoff record tends to get conservative and indecisive when it matters most. Which one will show up?