Larry English Official Website

By Christopher Smith, Chargers.com

By Christopher Smith, Chargers.com

This is the third of a three-part series reviewing the 2011 season. San Diego demolished four of its final five opponents, but was officially eliminated from postseason contention with a disappointing performance at Detroit in Week 16.

SAN DIEGO – The Dec. 24 loss at Detroit stands out as a blight among blowout victories during the final month of the season for San Diego.

For a second consecutive season, the Chargers did not achieve their goal of making the playoffs as they needed to be perfect for a long stretch to end the year – and for a second consecutive season, they nearly were.

San Diego (8-8) dispatched Jacksonville by 24, Buffalo by 27, the AFC’s No. 2 seed Baltimore by 20 and Oakland by 12. Wedged in between the final two wins was the loss at the Lions.

The Bolts struggled against elite quarterbacks and talented, fast receivers at times during the 2011 season, losing to Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers, New England’s Tom Brady and Detroit’s Matthew Stafford. All three of those quarterbacks finished top five in the NFL in passing yards and passer rating, and the Chargers allowed their teams a combined 118 points.

The loss at Detroit, though, was a massive blow to San Diego, eliminating it from the playoffs the day before Christmas. It was just the fourth time the Chargers lost by more than 14 points in five seasons under Head Coach Norv Turner.

“A lot of it is the matchups and the style of offense. We have not played well against a wide-open spread offense,” Turner said. “We’ve struggled against teams that spread you out and use three or four receivers and we couldn’t get Detroit’s offense off the field on third down.”

The Chargers’ offense controlled the other four December games as San Diego solved its offensive line issues by successfully claiming Jared Gaither off waivers and re-installing Tyronne Green at left guard once he got healthy enough to play.

The line pitched four shutouts in its final five games – one of its best stretches ever. The Chargers’ re-tooled offensive line accomplished that feat for just the third time in franchise history. It hadn’t been done in 30 years.

Buffalo sacked Philip Rivers twice Dec. 11, but one was a fluke play where the ball slipped from Rivers’ hand as he attempted to throw without imminent pressure. Rookie defensive tackle Marcell Dareus was the only defensive player with a sack against the Chargers in the final 20 quarters of the season plus an overtime period.

As a result, Rivers and company scored 38, 37, 34 and 38 points in its four December wins and completed an improbable eighth consecutive season scoring at least 400 points, the longest such stretch by any offense in NFL history.

The Chargers ended a six-game losing streak Dec. 5on Monday Night Football in Jacksonville and generated national buzz by crushing a Baltimore team that finished 12-4. San Diego also knocked Oakland out of the playoffs and ended a three-game slide against the Raiders by winning in the Black Hole on the final day of the regular season.

“Norv said, ‘Weeks like this bring out the worst in you or they bring out the best in you,’” Rivers said after the Oakland win, a game that had no bearing on the outcome of San Diego’s season. “I’ll take that with me forever, because it really does. When it’s tough, let’s find out. It’s easy when it’s going smooth. I think it brought out the best in us today.”

SCORES

San Diego 38, Jacksonville 14
San Diego 37, Buffalo 10
San Diego 34, Baltimore 14
Detroit 38, San Diego 10
San Diego 38, Oakland 26

KEY MOMENTS

• The Chargers snapped a six-game losing streak in emphatic fashion at Jacksonville, blowing open a close game late in the first half. Vincent Brown (22 yards) and Vincent Jackson (35 yards) caught touchdown passes in the final 1:26 of the second quarter, but it was Eric Weddle’s sixth interception of the season that made it possible. San Diego went from trailing 14-10 at the two-minute warning to leading 24-14 at the half and cruised to a 38-14 win.

• San Diego already had built a 23-10 lead, but Steve Gregory’s first career pick-six against Buffalo put the game away with 4:02 left in the third quarter for the Chargers’ first back-to-back wins in nine weeks.

• Vincent Jackson’s 58-yard catch on third-and-8 set up a 1-yard Ryan Mathews touchdown 26 seconds before halftime against Baltimore. Rivers threw a 28-yard touchdown to Malcom Floyd on the first possession of the second half to turn a 10-7 lead into a dominant 24-7 advantage.

• Detroit’s Calvin Johnson speared a 46-yard catch on the first play from scrimmage en route to a huge day by quarterback Stafford. Johnson, double-covered on the play, made the catch despite Chargers defenders who appeared to be in position to at least break up the pass. The Lions scored a touchdown on the drive, followed by a field goal and two touchdowns in their four first-half possessions.

• Carson Palmer, who played great against the Chargers the last two seasons, led back-to-back scoring drives in the third and fourth quarter to get Oakland within 31-26 in the season finale. The Raiders, playing at home, needed a win to make the playoffs for the first time since 2002. But Mike Tolbert ran for 40 yards on first-and-20 and then Rivers found Floyd for a 43-yard touchdown to secure the outcome and avoid a losing season.

STUDS

• Philip Rivers had a subpar game against Detroit, but went video-game crazy in the four December wins. His passer rating in the games: 146.1, 123.3, 127.1 and 135.1. For reference, 2012 MVP candidate Aaron Rodgers led the NFL with a passer rating of 122.5.

• Ryan Mathews rushed for 316 yards and three touchdowns in wins against Jacksonville, Buffalo and Baltimore in addition to 11 catches for 55 yards.

• Malcom Floyd had games of 108, 96, 95 and 127 yards in the final five weeks, scoring a touchdown in each.

• Mike Tolbert, voted Special Teams Player of the Year by his teammates, made a combined nine tackles in kick coverage against Jacksonville and Buffalo.

• Antwan Barnes sacked his former team Baltimore four times and added another against Buffalo to give him five in the final five games.

• Cam Thomas made three sacks in the final five games, or half his career total through two seasons.

As lawyers for the NFL and the players met into the night on Tuesday in New York, it appeared as if the league's lockout was entering its final stages.

According to several media sources, legal staff for both sides are trying to finalize an agreement so it can be presented to the Players' Association executive committee on Wednesday.
 

The NFL Network reports the committee will present the proposal to the 32 player representatives. They will vote whether or not to recommend the proposal to the Brady plaintiffs.

If an agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement is reached Wednesday, owners could ratify the deal when they meet Thursday in Atlanta.

When the players decertified their union, a lawsuit, led by Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Drew Brees, ensued against the league.

The NFL Network reported one of the proposed settlements has Manning and Brees being immune from the franchise tag for the rest of their careers.

Brees took to Twitter to respond.

"I hesitate to even dignify the false media reports with a response, but obviously they are leading people astray," Brees said.

San Diego Chargers wide receiver Vincent Jackson and New England Patriots guard Logan Mankins reportedly demanded to either be free agents or get $10 million as compensation for being plaintiffs in the case. Both players currently have the franchise tag designation.

A new CBA needs to be reached soon if the preseason is to start on time August 7 when the Chicago Bears and St. Louis Rams play the Hall of Fame Game in Canton, Ohio. The start of training camps, scheduled to begin the end of this week, will likely be delayed.

A source told the NFL Network that the plan was to have some training camps open a day late, but the others on time. The network reported attorney Michael Hausfeld led a group of retired players into negotiations Tuesday. Sources told the network that between $900 million and $1 billion in improvements have been negotiated for retirees.

The lockout, of course, began on March 12 after the sides failed to reach an agreement on how to split about $9 billion in revenue, among other issues like a rookie wage scale, the salary cap and retirement benefits.

In the four months since, they have battled each other in courts and during negotiating sessions.

By Mark Maske, The Washington Post

The NFL and its locked-out players are making a negotiating push that appears to be aimed at trying to complete a deal on a new labor agreement by early July.

Neither side has commented on the specifics of the talks publicly, but people on both sides of the dispute said this week that a concerted attempt is underway to reach a compromise in coming weeks that would ensure an uninterrupted training camp, preseason and regular season.

The tone of the negotiations is greatly improved, both sides said, and while the talks still could break down, there is guarded optimism that a deal can be reached in late June or early July, according to people who are not involved in the talks but have knowledge of them. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the deliberations.

Negotiators for the two sides met this week in New York after several days of talks last week in Chicago. On Wednesday, the NFL and NFL Players Association issued a joint statement that “they continue to be engaged in confidential discussions” with their mediator, Chief Magistrate Judge Arthur J. Boylan of the federal court in Minnesota, and that “discussions are expected to continue.”

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a conference call Wednesday with Tampa Bay Buccaneers season ticket holders that “both sides are working hard to reach an agreement” and that the ongoing talks are “a positive step for everybody.”

Goodell, according to an NFL spokesman, repeated that the league intends to play a full 2011 season. “I believe both sides want to find solutions,” he said. “I’m hopeful we’re going to be successful.”

Goodell was joined by five owners — the New York Giants’ John Mara, the Kansas City Chiefs’ Clark Hunt, the New England Patriots’ Robert Kraft, the Carolina Panthers’ Jerry Richardson and the San Diego Chargers’ Dean Spanos — at this week’s talks. Players Kevin Mawae, Jeff Saturday, Mike Vrabel, Tony Richardson and Domonique Foxworth joined DeMaurice Smith, the executive director of the dissolved players’ union.

“At the end of the day, there is too much at stake to miss a season,” said sports law expert Gary Roberts, dean of the law school at Indiana University. “There is enough revenue. . . . The parties can work out a deal that can make both sides, while not gleeful, at least satisfied. That’s why I’m confident a deal will get done at some point.”

The players have been locked out by NFL owners since March 12 in a standoff that centers primarily on how to divide the more than $9 billion in annual revenue generated by pro football. One person who did not participate in the talks but has knowledge of them said the willingness to complete a deal has increased and, because of that, the negotiating differences between the two sides can be overcome. Others said the timing is right and the proper people now are involved in the discussions.

One person said the benefits of recently excluding lawyers from the talks may be overstated. But others said that development has helped reduce the level of acrimony.

Also, they said, the courtroom phase of the dispute has largely played itself out, with the NFL achieving some victories in a federal appellate court, which has indicated that the league is likely to prevail in its bid to keep the lockout in place.

Mainly, people in the sport said, both sides are realizing that time is running short, with many players unsigned for the upcoming season and the normal opening of training camps less than two months away.

Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay said last month that a deal would have to be reached by about July 4 to allow time for a free agent signing period before a full training camp, preseason and regular season. Teams have been prohibited from signing free agents and trading players during the lockout. Most teams normally open training camps by early August.

A later deal could mean an abbreviated free agency period and a truncated training camp and preseason, with the regular season starting on time. But others view early July as a deadline of sorts, believing that if there isn’t a deal by then, it could indicate differences so great that the start of the regular season is in peril.

Roberts said he doesn’t share that opinion. He said a deal is most likely in August, after a ruling by the appeals court on the legality of the lockout. But he said that “both sides could hedge their bets” by completing a deal sooner, before the appellate court moves the negotiating leverage one way or the other.

“It’s all driven on both sides by the internal politics,” Roberts said Wednesday. “Both sides [initially] staked out rather rigid positions. As we get closer and closer to missing football games, I think the voices of reason will win out over the extremist voices and there will be a deal done.”

Strong sentiment remains that if the NFL and players can settle the central financial issue, the other elements of a deal would fall into place.

Before talks collapsed on March 11, the two sides were trying to agree on an annual salary cap figure for the NFL’s 32 teams. The two sides were about $10 million apart on that issue, or about $320 million league-wide for the first year of a collective bargaining agreement.

But to resolve the core economic issue, the league and players also would have to agree to a split of any future revenue that exceeds projections, a highly divisive issue during the March talks. In addition, any deal would have to address the NFL’s desire to avoid ongoing court oversight of the sport’s labor situation and the league’s proposal to blood test players for human growth hormone. The two sides also would have to find a mutually agreeable rookie pay system.

The talks have buoyed hopes for a deal. Agent Drew Rosenhaus wrote last week on Twitter: “It is nice to see the optimism back regarding a new CBA! Great [to] see both sides negotiating again — things are heading in the right direction.”