NFL Lockout Over, Game On!

It seems anytime I go on vacation something newsworthy happens and this year was no exception.  The NFL lockout was resolved last week and the 2011 NFL season will be played in full...sound the trumpets and cue the celebration complete with dancing in the street.  That is the good news.

And we'll stay with the good news, in terms of my favorite NFL team, the Chargers... a couple of moves that I have liked for the Chargers was the signing of Bob Sanders and Takeo Spikes.  Both veteran defensive players that will hopefully be "difference makers" for the Chargers on defense this season.  Sanders, though, is very injury prone.  When he played the Colts win a Super Bowl...when he doesn't, the Colts lose in the playoffs.

Now, unfortunately, the bad news for the Chargers before the season starts...Antonio Gates is still dinged up from last season and as I have speculated in the past, his toe injury is the same type that has ended careers of other players so, not saying his career is over, but I think the injury could effect his production...as it already has...for the rest of his career.

And of all the other news that has came out of Charger camp thus far, the one that troubles me is that 2nd year runningback, Ryan Mathews - the replacement for LT - came into camp apparently out of shape.  The article tries to 'sugar-coat' the fact that Mathews was winded after conditioning tests but anyone with a clue knows that a runningback should not be the player that has the most trouble during conditioning tests.  Mathews was injured and did little to impress me last season and his start to this season isn't doing much to improve his image with me.  Many Charger fans were quick to anoint Mathews the next greatest runningback or, at the very least, be a capable replacement for LT.  Darren Sproles, after a subpar season last year, is now in New Orleans.  The Chargers still have Tolbert who had an impressive year last season but ended up injured as well, to me, seem thin at runningback.

Add to the fact that the Chargers still don't have any wide receivers other than (I do believe still disgruntled) Vincent Jackson that make a difference.  Phillip Rivers is great and a winner, but with a lackluster run game and reliant solely on the pass game with, mostly, sub par receivers, the Chargers, I think, are in for another long year.

Word from Charger camp is that coach Norv Turner is putting some emphasis on the early season trying to get the team to care about the first 6 games of the season...something past Charger teams he has coached, have not done and most of the time are fighting an uphill battle for the remainder of the season leaving no room for error.  That of course, we will all be able to watch first hand when the season starts.

I will withhold any formal predictions at this time but will offer up my preseason picks, hopefully, prior to kickoff of the first game.