TAKE IT FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH

It's just a preseason game. The first one to be more accurate. Teams aren't playing at full strength. If anything, it's just a glorified practice. Usually what we see in these mid-August games is not necessarily a vision into what the September-January games will bring.

So the Chargers beat the Bears 25-10 in the preseason opener at Qualcomm. Big woop. It's meaningless... right? Well, you could say this victory is as significant as Oakland's 17-9 win over Dallas... or Denver's 33-24 loss to Cincy... or KC's 20-10 loss to Atlanta. All four contests had the same impact on the race for the division: Nothing. By this time next week things could flip-flop... The Bolts could have a poor showing against the Cowboys. The Raiders could get manhandled by the Bears. The Chiefs could bury the Bucs. Or Tebow could throw for 200 yards and 2 TD's against the Lions.

My point is, you take what you get in these preseason games. Don't read into too much. Take it for face value. Learn and adjust.

With that in mind, here are some of my humble thoughts from the Chargers game this weekend:

1. Ryan Mathews needs to slow down and be patient.
It's understandable that he is excited and his mind is racing at light speed. But he can't keep running into his blockers. What most people saw in him was his burst, balance and strength. He ran over Lance Briggs and bounced Urlacher to the turf. BUT - the confrontation with Briggs could have been avoided if he would have let Kris Dielman do his job. The rookie RB ran into Dielman and knocked his lead blocker out of the play. However, I'm sure if that were LT in there, Dielman would have been credited for the tackle... LOL. I'm not going to say the Chargers running game is better... but the signs are certainly encouraging.

2. Rivers looks like he is in mid-season form.
His passes were crisp. His ability to look off the safety was effective. And to the critics who say his receivers make him look better: Watch the video on that TD pass to Legedu Naanee... Rivers looked to one side of the field to draw the safety over, pumped to sell it even more and then came back to the other side and arced a tight spiral over Legedu's shoulder. Pretty. Very pretty.

3. The Defense looks like it is playing with a chip on its shoulder.
There has been a lot of criticism about the strength of the defensive line. Many (including myself) have said the line is the defense's weakest link. Against Chicago the D-line played well. They stuffed the line of scrimmage and the Bears only gained 28 yards on the ground in the first half... and that's with Lovie Smith keeping his 1rst string offensive line in the game until halftime. There was adequate pressure on the QB as well. Although, most of that was dialed up by some creative blitz scheme's employed by Ron Rivera. Most of the blitz packages involved a DB off the corner. The defense tallied 6 sacks and the Bears could barely muster anything with their running game. Again, I caution my optimism here... It's encouraging, but we need to see consistent play on the D-line before we can make a valid argument for their improvement.

4. Missing: Marcus McNeill and Vincent Jackson?
The issue of the holdouts was supposed to be a cloud hanging over the team going into this game. How would they respond? Would it be a distraction? Well, McNeill's replacement, Brandyn Dombrowski, showed why AJ Smith has faith in him. Dombrowski never allowed Julius Peppers to get even a whiff of Rivers' after-shave. And the two WR's expected to pick up the slack for VJ made a couple of great plays as well. Buster Davis caught a Rivers pass on 3rd and long for 22 yards and Legedu Naanee had the TD reception. The first string offense didn't miss a beat. If these guys can prove their respective performances against the Bears were no fluke, then both Marcus and Vincent could become distant memories in the minds of the fans and, unfortunately for them, AJ Smith.

5. Penalties a plenty, but no big deal.
There were several sloppy moments and a few brain farts but that can be expected. If the only blemish on the evening were a handful of false starts and holding penalties then I'll take it. And besides, the offense was still able to dig it's way out of the holes the penalties created. No harm, no... foul? Well, these things should get resolved before the start of the season and unfortunately penalties are a part of the game and nearly impossible to avoid. Just try not to make it a habit of committing 10-12 a game!

6. Big injuries avoided.
The team was fortunate enough not to suffer any major injuries. One game down, 3 more to go. Let's hope they continue to stay healthy.

So those are my early thoughts on the 2010 San Diego Chargers. Just like the preseason game itself, take them for what they are worth. I'm heading out on vacation this Friday for 9 days in Glacier National Park. Which means I will miss the next TWO preseason games... oh well. At least it's not the regular season.

Take care folks.

(photo courtesy of Chargers.com)