The Chargers bench allowed the Seahawks to come back and win this game as they allowed 17 unanswered points in the 4th quarter.  That doesn’t really matter as coach Norv Turner wanted to get a look at a lot of players so that he could evaluate what he’s got.  Philip Rivers looked sharp completing 5 of 7 passes for 71 yards before he left the game.  Second stringer Billy Volek was outstanding completing 13 of 18 passes for 143 yards and a TD.  Young Charlie Whitehurst had some issues as he completed 11 of 22 passes for 79 yards with an interception.  Running back Darren Sproles was outstanding as he has proved that he’s healthy again.  He carried the ball 7 times for 63 yards (9.0 ypc) and he also caught 4 passes for 36 yards (9.0 avg).  Michael Turner was outstanding as usual with 4 carries for 27 yards (6.8 ypc).  Andrew Pinnock found yards tough to come by as he toted the rock 5 times for 13 yards (2.6 ypc).  The young players at wideout and tight end looked pretty good last night.  Malcom Floyd was outstanding with 5 grabs for 65 yards (13.0 avg) and a TD.  Rookie TE Scott Chandler (4 rec, 47 yards) and rookie WR Legedu Naanee (4 rec, 44 yards) both looked like keepers.  The offense looked good overall despite only scoring 16 points last night.  The Chargers ran the ball 22 times for 124 yards (5.6 ypc) and they completed 29 of 47 passes for 253 yards.

The defense was solid in the first half but it broke down in the 4th quarter which skewed the stats.  The Seahawks ran the ball 28 times for 107 yards (3.8 ypc) and they completed 21 of 30 passes for 255 yards.

http://scores.espn.go.com/nfl/boxscore?gameId=270812024

Lorenzo Neal never gets the credit he deserves for his blocking prowess.  But everywhere he goes the tailbacks rush for big yardage by following behind his lead blocks.  Last season the Chargers even threw him some bones by giving him the ball some.  He played in 16 games (11 starts) last season and he carried the ball 29 times for 140 yards (4.8 ypc) with 1 TD run and he caught 17 passes for 83 yards (4.9 avg).  He has now played in 210 games (118 starts) in his NFL career and he has carried the ball 201 times for 750 yards (3.7 ypc) with 6 TD runs and he also has caught 184 passes for 1,028 yards (5.6 avg) with 11 TD grabs.  Andrew Pinnock will be the backup for the Chargers at fullback this season.  He played in 3 games (0 starts) last season and he carried the ball 4 times for 25 yards (6.3 ypc).  He has now played in 32 career games in the NFL (0 starts) and he has carried the ball 14 times for 55 yards (3.9 ypc) and he has caught 3 passes for 26 yards (8.7 avg).

Nate Kaeding was one of the best kickers in the NFL last season and he will be again this year.  He made 89.7% of his field goal attempts last season and he was an amazing 58 for 58 on extra points as he finished last season with 136 points.  Kaeding made 18 of 19 field goals of 39 yards or less and 8 of 10 on kicks of 40+ yards.

Kaeding has now played in 48 career NFL games and he has scored 362 points which is an average of 7.5 points per game.  He has now made 67 of 78 (85.9%) of his field goal attempts and 161 of 162 extra points.  Look for Keading to pad his stats this season as the Chargers should score a lot of points again in 2007.

The Chargers are expected to lose WR Eric Parker for up to 10 weeks after he had surgery on his toe yesterday.  The Chargers will miss Parker quite a bit as he did a lot for their team last season.  He played in 15 games (12 starts) last season and he caught 48 passes for 659 yards (13.7 avg) with 0 TDs and he carried the ball twice for 18 yards (9.0 ypc).  He also returned 2 kickoffs for 19 yards (9.5 avg) and 37 punts for 331 yards (8.9 avg) with 0 TDs.