The Chargers have signed 39-year old long snapper Ethan Albright and 25-year old cornerback Dante Hughes.  Albright played in 16 games (0 starts) for the Redskins last season and he has played in 234 games (0 starts) in his NFL career.  Albright will take over as the long snapper due to Ryan Neill’s season ending injury that he suffered last week against the Seahawks.  Dante Hughes played in 1 game for the Chargers last season and he had 3 tackles.  Hughes has now played in 25 games in his 3 years in the NFL and he has 37 tackles, 4 passes defensed and 1 interception.  Hopefully these two signings will spark improved play out of the special teams.

The Chargers have placed 27-year old long snapper Ryan Neill and 23-year old linebacker James Holt on the Injured Reserve List ending their seasons.  Neill played in 2 games (0 starts) for the Chargers this year.  Holt played in 3 games for the Chargers this season and he had 2 tackles.  Holt has now played in 12 games in his two years with the Chargers and he has 12 tackles.  These injuries will likely hurt the Chargers special teams and they were bad enough to begin with.

The Chargers will be without 24-year old OLB Larry English indefinitely as he will undergo surgery to repair a recurring foot injury.  This will hurt the Chargers’ D a bit.  English has played in 2 games for the Chargers this year and he has 4 tackles and 1/2 a sack.  He played in 16 games for the Chargers last year and he had 36 tackles, 1 pass defensed, 2 sacks and 1 forced fumble. 

KOR Leon Washington was a one man wrecking crew against the Chargers in this game.  Washington returned two kickoffs for TDs in this game (99 yards and 101 yards)!  The 99-yarder came right after the Chargers had tied this game late in the 4th quarter.  Philip Rivers then drove the Chargers down the field before throwing a interception to rookie safety Earl Thomas which sealed up the loss for San Diego.

Philip Rivers completed 29 of 53 passes for 455 yards with 2 TD pass and 2 INTs in this game but it just wasn’t good enough to win yesterday.  Mike Tolbert carried the ball 17 times for 73 yards (4.3 ypc) and he also caught 3 passes for 17 yards (5.7 avg) in this game.  Malcolm Floyd (6 rec, 97 yards, TD) and Antonio Bryant (7 rec, 109 yards, TD) led the way in the passing game for the Chargers yesterday.  The Chargers finished up with 89 yards rushing on 21 carries (4.2 ypc) and they also completed 29 of 53 passes for 429 yards in this game as they had possession of the ball for 36:04.

The defense played pretty well for the Chargers in this game.  Safety Eric Weddle led the way for the Chargers in this game with 6 tackles and 1 tackle for a loss.  LB Brandon Siler pitched in with 5 tackles, 1 sack (resulted in a safety), 3 tackles for a loss and 2 QB hits.  CB Quentin Jammer finished up with 3 tackles, 2 passes defensed and 1 INT in this game.  The Seahawks finished up with 68 yards rushing on 21 carries (3.2 ypc) and they also completed 19 of 32 passes for 203 yards.  The Chargers are off to a very disappointing 1-2 start to the year.

26-year old LT Marcus McNeil has finally signed a 1-year deal with the Chargers but it’s only worth $444,000 bucks instead of the $3.168 million bucks originally offered by the Chargers.  McNeil lost his gamble with the Chargers and it cost him over $2.7 million bucks this year.  McNeil has played in 62 games (all starts) in his first four years in the NFL.  The 6’7″, 336 pound OT won’t be available to play until week #6 against the Rams because he was on the roster exempt list. 

The Chargers got back on the right track in blowing out the Jaguars at home last weekend.  But, they need to watch out for this Seahawks team that won it’s season opener at home 31-6 over the 49ers who have more talent than them.  Here’s a look at the matchups in this game:

When the Chargers have the ball:  The Seahawks are only giving up 57.0 yards rushing per game and 2.0 yards per carry so I see the Chargers starting out this game throwing the ball.  If Philip Rivers has time to throw (which is very likely) he should have little problem picking apart a Seahawks team that is allowing 259.0 yards passing per game so far this year.  Antonio Gates and Buster Davis will work the short stuff while Malcolm Floyd and Legedu Naanee are going deep.  Mike Tolbert will be the thunder and Darren Sproles will be the lightning in the running game for the Chargers this week.

When the Seahawks have the ball:  If the Seahawks were smart they would come out running the ball against the Chargers.  The Chargers are giving up 103.0 yards rushing and 4.1 yards per carry so far this year.  But, I’m not so sure they trust Justin Forsett, Leon Washington and Julius Jones enough to make them the focal point of the offense.  Matt Hasselbeck doesn’t have a go-to receiver and that might be a good thing this week as the Chargers will likely play a lot of man to man D because of that.  If Hasselbeck has time to throw the ball he might have another solid game like he had in the season opener against the Niners.  But, if the Chargers can pressure Hasselbeck he might make some big mistakes as he already has 4 INTs this year.

PREDICTION:  CHARGERS 27, SEAHAWKS 17

24-year old cornerback Antoine Cason is really stepping up his game for the Chargers so far this year.  Cason has 11 tackles, a forced fumble, 5 passes defensed and 2 interceptions (23 return yards) in his first two games of the year.  Cason is taking over Antonio Cromartie’s old role of as the lockdown corner.  In his first two years with the Chargers, Cason played in 32 games in which he had 115 tackles, 10 passes defensed, 1 forced fumble and 4 interceptions (one returned for a TD).  He looks ready to take the next step and be one of the better corners in the NFL.

Rookie RB Ryan Mathews has a high ankle sprain which could cause him to miss multiple weeks.  Mathews has carried the ball 25 times for 104 yards (4.2 ypc) and he also caught 3 passes for 31 yards (10.3 avg) in the first two games of his NFL career.  Mike Tolbert & Darren Sproles will share the carries with Mathews out of action.  Tolbert is a bull of a runner as he has carried the ball 18 times for 108 yards (6.0 ypc) with 2 TD runs so far this year.  He has also caught 1 pass for 13 yards so far this year.  Darren Sproles will be the lightning to go with Tolbert’s thunder.  Sproles has carried the ball 9 times for 37 yards (4.1 ypc) and he also caught 6 passes for 65 yards (10.8 avg) so far this year.  The Chargers’ running game will be in good hands until Mathews is ready to return to action.

The Chargers kicked the crap out of the Jaguars yesterday plain and simple.  Philip Rivers had a outstanding game as he completed 22 of 29 passes for 334 yards with 3 TD passes and 2 INTs.  Mike Tolbert carried the load for the Chargers in the running game after Ryan Mathews got injured.  He toted the rock 16 times for 82 yards (5.1 ypc) with 2 TD runs yesterday.  Darren Sproles pitched in with 37 yards rushing on 5 carries (7.4 ypc) and he also caught 4 passes for 63 yards (15.8 avg) in this game.  Ryan Mathews carried the ball 5 times for 26 yards (5.2 ypc) and he also caught 2 passes for 29 yards (14.5 avg) in this game.  Mathews left the game with an injury and he also lost a fumble in this game.  WR Malcolm Floyd (3 rec, 95 yards, TD), TE Antonio Gates (5 rec, 57 yards, 2 TDs) and Craig Davis (5 rec, 48 yards) led the way in the passing game for the Chargers last night.  The Chargers finished up with 151 yards rushing on 30 carries (5.0 ypc) and they also completed 22 of 29 passes for 326 yards in this game.

The defense played really well in this game for the Chargers despite giving up a lot of garbage yards late in the game.  Safety Steve Gregory led the way for the Chargers yesterday with 13 tackles.  LB Brandon Siler (6 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss, 2 passes defensed, 1 QB hit and a interception), LB Kevin Burnett (5 tackles, 1 pass defensed, 1 interception and 1 fumble recovery) and CB Antoine Cason (6 tackles, 4 passes defensed and 1 interception also had big games for the Chargers.  The Jaguars finished up with 71 yards rushing on 24 carries (3.0 ypc) and they also completed 26 of 42 passes for 279 yards in this game.  The Chargers are now 1-1 on the year.

The Chargers are going to be in a nasty frame of mind in this game after getting beat by the Chiefs last Monday Night.  The Jaguars have not fared well on the West Coast lately as they were outscored 61-3 in two losses against the Seahawks and Niners last year.  Here is a look at the match-ups in this game:

When the Chargers have the ball:  The biggest key in this game for the Chargers will be how well the O-Line protects Philip Rivers.  Because if Rivers has time to throw the ball he is going to have a HUGE game against the Jags.  Legedu Naanee, Antonio Gates and Malcolm Floyd have the size to bully the Jags’ secondary down the field.  If the Chargers get the lead by passing they might turn the game over to Ryan Mathews to help run out the clock.

When the Jaguars have the ball:  The Jaguars are going to come after the Chargers’ D with Maurice-Jones Drew on the ground.  The Chargers gave up 135 yards rushing and 5.2 ypc last week to the Chiefs so they will have to step up to deal with Jones-Drew.  David Garrard was very efficient last week hitting 76.2% of his passes while throwing 3 TD passes.  The Jags like throwing short passes off play action so the secondary might be able to sneak up a bit against them.

PREDICTION:  CHARGERS 31, JAGUARS 17