Offensive line?

I had been screaming from the mountain tops since the end of the season (before that, really) that the Chargers need to upgrade the offensive line.

After nothing was done in free agency nor the draft (at least nothing significant), I started to think maybe I was alone in thinking the o-line was in shambles. The coaches, scouts and front office would know about the team than I would, right? And I had not heard any "talking heads" discuss the San Diego blockers.

But then here comes Grantland to my rescue in an article about teams that got worse this offseason:

"San Diego Chargers
Hole Remaining: Offensive Line
Maybe general manager A.J. Smith is going underground, Keyser Soze–style, and is terrified that he'll be fired if he surfaces long enough to patch up a dismal offensive line. That's the best explanation for the condition in which San Diego's line has been left after the spring. With guard Kris Dielman retiring after suffering a severe concussion and tackle Marcus McNeill failing his physical, the Chargers were left with holes in multiple spots on the line. Instead of bringing in fresh blood, though, Smith elected to hold serve with the players he had. Jared Gaither — on whom two teams gave up last season — was re-signed to play left tackle based on five competent games from the end of last season. Aging center Nick Hardwick was brought back into the fold as well, and the team will hope that backup Tyronne Green will successfully replace Dielman at left guard. Smith's brief forays into the market for help were misses: Former Raiders left tackle Mario Henderson was a washout in Oakland, while fifth-round pick Johnnie Troutman was drafted with a preexisting pectoral injury that will require surgery and likely keep him out of the 2012 season. Oh boy."

I don't think there is a rule about having 2 guys in 1 jersey. We can put Tyrone and Dombrowski together and secretly have an additional lineman.

I think we're good enough to move the ball and score. My biggest worry is that Rivers gets hurt.

There is still time for some wheeling and dealing to be done, but A.J. is running out of time. Again, the needs of this team were many entering the draft and no one draft and free agency period was going to fix all of them. The Defense was far worse than the Offense, across the board.

Santo, I DO agree that they will be able to move the ball and score. Still, the prospect of having Charlie Whitehurst run the Offense scares the Hell out of me. Philip Rivers has proven to be durable, but most of the great Quarterbacks have suffered at least one season where they get knocked out of the line-up. I am hoping Rivers will avoid this but A.J. is going to have to make some moves to get SOMEBODY in there that can be depended on to not only protect #17 but to open up holes for the running game.

About the only way this will happen is to bring in retreads cut from other teams during pre-season or pray that one of the draft picks or stiffs currently on the roster can, miraculously, actually be ready to play IMMEDIATELY! That is a tall order...

this unit sucked the last couple of years--very thin too. Amazing what Norv has done considering

can't have it both ways, Sax!

But the Chargers do: a bad G.M. and a bad Head Coach. We agree on A.J. You love Norv. I think he sucks. End of story.

The unit sucked because they were decimated by injuries. I will give it to the coaching staff (Hal Hunter?) because they made it work towards the end. If we don't have the amount of injuries we had, we're ok.

Maybe DeCastro will suck and help me reason away that we probably missed firming up the left guard position for a decade.

I hope Ingram is a beast!

I am okay with the choice they made. I would have been okay with DeCastro, too, but I DO have a problem with drafting an O-Lineman in the first round and I do know that the Defense needed more help. I am sure that the fans will have no problem with Ingram once he takes the field.