It looks like the Chargers got one starter and three backups in the draft.  The last three picks the Chargers made didn’t even make the team.  Here’s a breakdown:

The Chargers selected CB Antonio Cromartie in the first round and he looked rusty.  He played in all 16 games and made 24 tackles and defensed 4 passes, but he is super soft.  He did look good on kickoff returns.  He returned 10 kickoffs for 297 yards (29.7 avg) and he might have a future in it as long as he holds onto the football.

The Chargers hit a homerun in the 2nd round when they took OT Marcus McNeill.  He started every game for the Chargers and dominted.  The 6′7″, 336 pound McNeill was the best offensive lineman drafted last April and will anchor the Chargers offensive line for a long time.

In the 3rd round the Chargers selected QB Charlie Whitehurst.  The Chargers will bring him along slowly after trading for Billy Volek to backup Philip Rivers.  Whitehurst played in 2 games and carried the ball twice for 13 yards (6.5 ypc) and a TD.

In the 5th round the Chargers chose ILB Tim Dobbins.  Dobbins played well on special teams and may have a future at LB for the Chargers.  He played in all 16 games and made 19 tackles and recovered a fumble that he returned for a TD.

OT Jeromey Clary was selected in the 6th round by the Chargers but he didn’t play a down as a rookie.

The three players that didn’t make the cut for the Chargers were K Kurt Smith (6th), DT Chase Page (7th) and C Jimmy Martin (7th).

The Chargers have the best corps of running backs in the whole NFL led by the MVP LaDainian Tomlinson.  Tomlinson is a great runner, receiver and he can throw the football.  Tomlinson carried the football 348 times last season for 1,815 yards (5.2 ypc) with 28 TD runs.  He also caught 56 passes for 508 yards (9.1 avg) with 3 TD receptions.  He also completed 2 of 3 passes for 20 yards with 2 TD passes for a QB rating of 125.0.  For his career, Tomlinson has played in 95 games (all starts) and has carried the football 2,050 times for 9,176 yards (4.5 ypc) with 100 TD runs.  He also has caught 398 passes for 2,900 yards (7.3 avg) with 11 TD receptions.  He also has completed 7 of 10 passes for 126 yards with 6 TD passes for a career QB Rating of 152.1.  LT has rushed for over 1,236 yards in all six of his seasons in the NFL.

Michael Turner finally got to show what he’s got last year.  He played in 13 games this season and carried the ball 80 times for 502 (6.3 ypc) with 2 TD runs.  He also caught 3 passes for 47 yards (15.7 avg).  For his career, Turner has played in 43 games (1 start) and has carried the ball 157 times for 941 yards (6.0 ypc) with 5 TD runs.  He also has caught 7 passes for 55 yards (7.9 avg).

Fullback Lorenzo Neal is a blow-up blocker that doesn’t get the football much.  This season he’s carried the ball 29 times for 140 yards (4.8 ypc) with 1 TD run.  He also caught 17 passes for 83 yards (4.9 avg).  For his career, Neal has played in 210 games (118 starts) and carried the ball 201 times for 750 yards (3.7 ypc) with 6 TD runs.  He also has caught 184 passes for 1,028 yards (5.6 avg) with 11 TD catches.

Young Andrew Pinnock only played in 3 games this season and carried the ball 4 times for 25 yards (6.3 ypc).  For his career, Pinnock has played in 32 games and has carried the football 14 times for 55 yards (3.9 ypc).  He also has caught 3 passes for 26 yards (8.7 avg).

So the Pats won 24 hrs ago.  While San Diego deserved to win with LT and Rivers, they didn’t. And what do they do to take out their frustration?  Criticize the Pats players and coach for celebrating their unexpected victory?  And if the Chargers won, would they have not done the “Merriman dance” in the Patriots faces?  Don’t even say to yourself that they wouldn’t, because you’d be lying to yourself.  And to me, the arrogance shown by the Charger nation in planning a Super Bowl parade before even clinching the AFC shows who the real “class-less” ones are.  And to NOT blame Marty for the coaching blunders and try to transfer the criticism to the Pats is absurd.  From Patriot nation, congratulations on a fantastic season, and it was truly a game that will be remembered.  But LT….c’mon, grow up!

The Chargers might still be playing if Marty Schottenheimer wouldn’t have used a challenge play on a obvious fumble by the Chargers that was recovered by the Patriots.  If the Chargers had that timeout they could have possibly gotten Nate Kaeding closer to the goalposts than 54 yards away.  He missed and the Chargers season ended.  This game really came down to Bill Belichick vs. Marty Schottenheimer and Tom Brady vs. Philip Rivers and the Patriots won both battles.

One big error that the Chargers made on offense is that they should have just kept running the football.  LaDainian Tomlinson was unstoppable as he carried the ball 23 times for 123 yards (5.3 ypc) with 2 TD runs.  He also caught 2 passes for 64 yards.  He could have definately handled a heavier workload in this game.  Michael Turner also wasn’t used enough as he carried the ball 3 times for 24 yards (8.0 ypc) with a TD run.  Antonio Gates was the leading receiver for the Chargers with 6 grabs for 61 yards.  Philip Rivers didn’t play well or poorly.  He completed 14 of 32 passes for 230 yards with an interception.

The defense gave a solid effort for three quarters, but they couldn’t stop Tom Brady and the Patriots in the 4th quarter.  Donnie Edwards had an awesome game as a going away gift for Chargers fans as they are likely to let him go.  He had 13 tackles and picked off a pass in the second quarter that led to a Chargers TD.  Drayton Florence also had a good game with 6 tackles and an interception, but many will only remember his crucial unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that helped the Patriots out.  The Chargers stuffed the Patriots running game as they carried the ball 21 times for only 51 yards (2.4 ypc).  The Patriots completed 27 of 51 passes for 276 net yards passing, but the Chargers did intercept 3 Tom Brady passes.

This loss in going to hurt for a long time because for three quarters the Chargers looked like the better team, only to fold up like a tent in the 4th quarter. 

http://scores.espn.go.com/nfl/boxscore?gameId=270114024

Is this the season that Marty Schottenheimer finally gets the Super Bowl monkey off of his back like Bill Cowher did last season?  We shall see as the San Diego Chargers were the best team in the NFL during the regular season this year.  The Chargers were 14-2 despite replacing Drew Brees with Philip Rivers and Schottenheimer helped make the transition to the new signal caller go smoothly.

For his NFL career, Schottenheimer sports a record of 200-126-1 (61.3%) but his post-season record is only 5-12.  For the Chargers, Marty has compiled a record of 47-33 (58.8%) with a playoff record of 0-1.