A New Era Has Begun.

ESPN's Mark Schlereth sat down with San Diego Chargers' Quarterbacks Vince Young and Josh Freeman after Friday morning's practice to discuss a number of team issues.

Mark: "Thanks for taking the time to talk guys. Looks like you're doing well Vince. Now, with the acquisition of Josh, it appears San Diego has now acquired a new QB, where will you fit in when you get healthy?"

Vince: "Well coach Turner assured me that this off-season, we'll have a competition for the starting job, and I'm ok with that. I'm confident in my abilities, and beyond competition, I'm sure we'll both be able to teach each other things and really feed off one another."

Josh: "Yeah, we're both still young, but Vince has a lot fo experience in this league, and I know there's a lot I can learn from him."

Mark: "Josh, it's a tough move to come from a team that had no chances of making the playoffs to one where they're asking you to keep the ship afloat, and keep them in the hunt for the wildcard spot. Can you fit in with this offense? Can you make the necessary connections with the team that it takes to lead them on a run?"

Josh: "I think so. I consider myself a versatile player, and we've had the bye to get acclimated with one another. Taylor [Price] came over for dinner the other night and we ended up throwing balls for a couple hours just to get our timing down."

Mark: "Well fellas, there's been a ton of injuries to this team, how can you overcome having virtually no running game, a depleted secondary, and an injury riddled linebacking core to make a playoff or possibly superbowl push?"

Vince: "Injuries are apart of the game, Mark. You know that with all those shoulder surgeries. But I think any good team can push through that. Backups are apart of the team too, so they're expected to do their job when needed just as any of the first string would."

Josh: "Let's not forget about Ricky Williams. Coming in here, I knew he was relegated to a mentor position for Steve and Marshawn, but man, taking snaps in practice, I was like, 'he's still got that shiftyness'. We'll miss steve and Marshawn for sure, as well as Dev [McCourty] and TT, but the guys we got are skilled too, I wouldn't be suprised if by season's end they're household names around town. Don't forget about the rook [Brown] either, he's already making a name for himself in the league as a ball hawk. With him back there, forget about receivers being afraid to go over the middle, they're afraid to go over top {laughs}".


Well, San Diego's been a team of questions all year, and tonight against a division leading Patriots team, those questions will most certainly be answered. This is Mark Schlereth signing off from ESPN.

Good stuff right there.

Haha thanks, got too much time on my hands

Well, the Chargers were able to squeak out a win against The AFC North leading Patriots. When asked for a brief quote on his performance after the game Josh Freeman replied: "We won. Mission Accomplished. I made my reads, players made plays."

Well it didn't take long for Young's knack for brevity to rub off on Freeman. San Diego faces off against the 2-8 Packers next Sunday, in yet another must-win to keep their run towards the playoffs on pace.

Great read. Excellent post bro!

This morning ESPN analyst Marcellus Wiley caught up with Chargers QB Josh Freeman in time for a quick interview before Sunday's matchup against the Packers.

MW: "So Josh, it appears as though the Chargers Post season hopes are predicated upon winning a majority of the remaining games, as well as some luck amongst teams in the other conferences. What is the mindset of the team?"

JF: "Well, our focus is on this Sunday's game. We're not really looking 2 or 3 games into the future. We know we have to win NOW, and that's that. As long as we focus on the game at hand, everything else will fall into place."

MW: "Last week at the Patriots, the running game really struggled. Ricky [Williams] had a stellar week when he took over the job after Slash [Slaton] and Mash [Marshawn] went down. But since, he's really struggled to be even remotely effective. With you still being unfamiliar with the system, is their added pressure for you to perform at a high level given that the run game cannot produce?"

JF: "Definitely not. Every part of our team does what is necessary to get the job done. Last week, Ricky had a tough task against that defense, and we had to work through the air and rely on our defense to get the job done. This week we head into the game with a solid gameplan, which i cannot divulge, however, it will give us the best shot possible at a win."

MW: "Well that's all for now, thanks for the time, Free. And good luck this Sunday."

JF: "Thanks a lot."

Well, you've heard it hear first. Check back in with ESPN for post game interviews. Or catch the game on ESPN's live Gamecast at ESPN.com/CheddahsChargers

awesome post lol, glad we can create our own authenticity since madden lacks so much of it...kinda makes the league seem a lot more realistic i like!

Hahah yeah I have to try to find things to make this game fun, since actually playing it isn't usually a good time.

LOL! That post was badass!!!

ESPN Insider analyst Ed Werder broke the news late tonight, that the San Diego Chargers have made a power move, just hours before the trade deadline to bring in stud running back Maurice Jones-Drew. Since he is currently going through a physical and studying the playbook before he suits up for this week's huge game against the Packers, he is unavailable for comment.

San Diego had been experiencing a severe lack of production from their running game since 2nd Team All-Pro running back from a year ago Steve Slaton got injured.