Find Your Center!
By The King Maker
The San Diego Defensive Coordinator is slowly becoming comfortable with his zone blitzing schemes. The improvement in the defense has been apparent, even with the backsliding of the Charger offense, so it can be argued that the loss of Oakland center, Jake Grove, is being ignored, especially in light of a 10 point Charger victory, where Grove dominated the Charger tackle (Jamal Williams).
Recapping: The Bolts beat Oakland by 10 points with Grove controlling Williams. Now Grove is gone and Williams is facing 33 year old back-up Center John Wade (who looked shabby last week).
The Center is the Quarterback of the offensive line.
The Zone Blitz is designed to create chaos on the offensive line.
The worst part of this is that Oakland's line stinks VS the pass rush (32 sacks; 65.53 passer rating), and now they have a back-up center calling the protection alongside Jamarcus (HMMMM?).
The other paradigm that I need you to consider is the following:
When Oakland needs to pass, they want to use Zach Miller (TE) to decimate the large Charger backers, but how can they effectively pull him out of MAX PROTECT if the line stinks so badly? The same goes for the Oakland running backs. How do you swing them out if the line is getting gouged?
If Oakland fails to run the ball, then this game may get ugly.
So consider this: San Diego may be the 27th ranked defense in the NFL, but their run defense is similar to Baltimore, Tampa, Tennessee, and New York (G)! Those defenses are in the top 5.
And if Jammer and Cromartie are able to force "man coverage", AND THEY ARE BETTER THAN THEIR COUNTERPARTS, Then one of the safeties WILL come into the fray, leaving a high-side safety in the third level. And that's one more man in the box to stop the trick plays from the Oakland backfield.
What I'm saying here is that San Diego can leave a Cover-3, and dump the Cover-4, and this makes a strong run defense MUCH STRONGER! Remember: We have JaMarcus with that horrible passer rating, Lelie hurting and possibly out, and Curry drawn back into the backfield with McFadden, so Jammer and Cromartie can play "Man".
What does this say for covering the best reciever? The Oakland TE? Remember, the Chargers can free up a safety, and that safety should be able to read his "keys", so Zach Miller is not going to be FREE 100% of the time.
1. He has to block.
OR
2. The safety will be waiting for him.
Who knows boys! We may have to really dig here, but I see a potential SD blowout brewing, but only if they contain the run.
I haven't decided on the call in this game, but you must consider the points I'm making, before wagering on this game.
I hope it helps.
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