The San Diego Chargers are entering the 2013 season with a chance to improve after Norv Turner left and now the team has the chance to turn things around in the preseason, as they have games against the Seattle Seahawks, Chicago Bears, Arizona Cardinals and San Francisco 49ers.
The team will get the true season started against the Houston Texans in the Monday night double header and then will travel to play the Eagles and Titans before coming home against Dallas. The Chargers have the chance to be much improved in 2013 after firing head coach Norv Turner and general manager AJ Smith and with the additions of Max Starks and D.J. Fluker on the offensive line, Philip Rivers is looking to put up big numbers for new coach Mike McCoy.
Rivers had solid stats in 2012, but a porous offensive line didn't give him enough time to set up for throws and that made him turnover the ball more, making the Chargers address the line in the offseason. Starks was brought in to play left tackle after getting rid of Jared Gaither and while he will compete with King Dunlap, chances are Starks will be starting after coming over from the Steelers. The team also has been looking at former Broncos DL Justin Bannan as a possible option on the defensive line, as he once worked with McCoy in Denver.
Mike McCoy and new general manager Tom Telesco have focused on the offensive line during the offseason and they did that in the draft as well, taking DJ Fluker with the team's first round pick out of Alabama. Starks has been a consistent starter during his time in Pittsburgh and Fluker has been considered one of the best prospects in the draft. Starks and Fluker could greatly help the play of Philip Rivers, who was constantly on the run last season and was sacked a ton of times for the Chargers under Norv Turner. Rivers ended up with solid number of 3,606 yards passing and 26 touchdowns, but he also had 15 touchdowns and 15 fumbles and part of that was due to the inconsistent play of the offensive line.
The team is also dealing with an injury to Danario Alexander, as he tore his anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee while working in practice on Tuesday and now he will be done for the year. Alexander is one of the top young receivers on the team and made 37 catches for 658 yards and seven touchdowns in the final nine games after being acquired during the season. Alexander was expected to be a big part of the offense and it is another weapon that won't be around for Philip Rivers.
Robert Meachem may now get more playing time, as will rookie Keenan Allen. Meachem was a mess last season and is due $5 million guaranteed and he had a rough game after dropping a potential touchdown pass in a 7-6 loss at Cleveland last season. Rivers and new head coach Mike McCoy were expecting big things from Alexander on the offense as they try and improve the passing game and now he is the latest Charger to suffer a serious injury.
2013 PRESEASON SCHEDULE
1 Thu, Aug 8
vs
Seattle
10:00 PM
2 Thu, Aug 15
@
Chicago
8:00 PM
3 Sat, Aug 24
@
Arizona
10:00 PM
4 Thu, Aug 29
vs
San Francisco
10:00 PM
