On Tuesday, the Chargers announced that #1 WR Malcolm Floyd and OLB Dwight Freeney would miss the rest of the season. Floyd had been out since the 3rd quarter of Week 2 when he was sandwiched by Eagles' Nate Allen and DeMeco Ryans. Floyd was diagnosed with a sprained neck, but although there was speculation that the injury was season ending, it wasn't official until Tuesday. Reports say no surgery will be required and that Floyd just needs time to heal.
Freeney suffered a torn quad last Sunday vs. the Cowboys. Freeney is expected to have surgery. I covered Freeney's likely replacements in my last post.
Allen, a 3rd round pick (76th overall) will now get to show why he was projected to be a 1st rounder before suffering a leg injury during his last season at U of California, Berkeley. I would have liked to see Allen get eased into the lineup as the season went on, but now with the Chargers missing their top two WRs from last season, Allen needs to step up now.
The Charges also signed former Titan, Patriot, 49er Lavelle Hawkins. As a journeyman WR I don't expect Hawkins to play much. He's more an insurance policy encase another WR gets injured (let's hope not!).
While the passing game looked good on Sunday without Floyd, I'm still worried. If you read my last post I thought Allen would end up replacing #2 WR Vincent Brown when Floyd came back. Brown has only managed 15 catches, 91 yards, and 1 TD so far this year...that's a 22.8 yards/game average. Allen already has 110 yards (8 catches) which includes his 1 catch -4 yard debut two weeks ago. Obviously, with Floyd out, V. Brown keeps his starting spot. The other thing is that Floyd could stretch the field (24.8 yards/catch this season)...I don't know if Allen can provide that deep threat. Right now, Eddie Royal leads the Chargers' receivers with just 190 yards (Gates leads overall with 364 yards). I fully expect Allen to quickly overtake Royal. Still, WR depth has gone from shallow to non-existent.
I would like to see more of the 2 TE set with old man Antonio Gates and youngster LaDarius Green. Chargers went to it a few times against the Cowboys with success. Although Green didn't catch a pass against the Cowboys he caused a lot of mismatches. On Danny Woodhead's 1st TD, Green was in the slot with Woodhead lined up on the outside. Gates motioned from the left side to the right so the trio all ended up on one side. How many times do you see two TEs and a RB split out to one side?
Can Phillip Rivers keep up this amazing season with two starting WRs that combined have 42 total career receptions in the NFL? It worked against the Cowboys, but we'll see moving forward. While Rivers is still new to this offense, defending it is still new to opposing defenses. As offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt puts in more of the offense for Rivers to use, defenses will be studying more film and trying to find Rivers' tendencies. Going forward, it's going to be interesting to see if Rivers can continue this resurgent season. If he does, he's on pace to set career bests in every passing category.
No comments:
Post a Comment