Time to go Norv

Though we love watching and talking about players and how their performances impact NFL games, we also should take the time to talk about the coaching strategies that may even have a bigger impact on the game. Norv Turner, who's been around a long time in the NFL as a head coach, just doesn't seem to get it. He seems to plunge ahead with the same ideas and same schemes no matter who his players are or who his team is playing. Making adjustments is one of the keys to being a good coach and helping your team win football games(or any sport for that matter). And Norv simply doesn't change his game plan to assist to his team's weaknesses and exploit the other team's.

A perfect example of this occurred last night when Chargers starting Left Tackle Marcus McNeill went down with an injury early on in the game. McNeill never returned, and in turn, the offensive line was in complete disarray. Brandyn Dombrowsky was turned to in taking McNeill's spot at Left Tackle, and was put in charge of a mammoth task of defending Phillip Rivers' blind side. Dombrowsky and the rest of the offensive line was continually beat by only four man rushes by the Oakland defense, and ended up sacking Rivers six times and forcing him into rushed throws multiple other times.

What Head Coach Norv Turner didn't do showed his lack of in-game adjustment skills. Countless plays the Chargers would line up in four Wide Receiver Shotgun sets with a single back in the backfield. And in these sets, the inexperienced offensive line was basically put on a complete island against the Raiders' defensive line. Turner gave no help by blocking with the RB to the side of Dombrowsky, or keeping Randy McMichael in the backfield to help out on the side of Kamieron Wimbley(4 sacks in the game). And on top of the fact that there was no chip blocks, no max protection packages, no any sort of "Wow, I should probably change something up here" from the Chargers' coach. The Charger receivers were still running their patented 15-20 yard deep routes. Rivers obviously didn't have time to wait for these receiver's to get open down the field, and in turn, took six sacks.

Norv Turner has been a somewhat successful head coach over time, but his lack of adjustments to not only the changing game style of this new era of NFL but in game lack of adjustments makes me question his abilities as a coach. And I'm sure Chargers' GM AJ Smith is going to ask himself the same questions when contemplating the idea of firing Turner.