Gekko,
Your thought that the Chargers went with LT because he was feeding them a "line of BS" is what I would say is more the fans way of looking at things. These are expert NFL player evaluators. I assure you they factor into their decisions much more than what the players are telling them. OBviously he is on the backside of his career. But I do not believe that suddenly and magically at 30 all RB have to die immediately like Alexander did.
Let me ask something. If LT retired tomorrow. Do you really think Sproles would be the feather back for SD next year? I would bet anything the answer would be no. So I doubt they see him as someone who can handle the workload.
Through all this friendly debate... no one has addressed the facts I presented earlier. LT had his ankle rolled up on by a monster and it could have happened to ANY RB in the NFL. He also has seen his offensive line get crippled with injuries.. something that also could happen to any RB in the NFL and has nothing to do with age.
I hope they keep LT out past the bye. I just think, as Doughboys said, the typical fan view point is to judge some poor performances and snap judge the talent of said player as opposed to looking at the bigger picture. There is no way the Chargers would have handed the keys to this WIN NOW team to LT if they did not believe he was up to the task.
Winning in the NFL is way too important to pacify egos of big name players. ren - i'm going to go out on a limb here and ask if you are an LT owner. your posts read like you are. i apologize if you aren't (or are for that matter
![Wink ;)](./images/smilies/icon_e_wink.gif)
sure, EVERY NFL franchise wants to WIN. every team has "expert" talent evaluators. these people have never been known to make mistakes...cough...Ryan Leaf...cough...tony mandarich...cough...s.alexander at year 30...cough...brett favre beginning a few years ago...dan marino the last four years of his career...cough...the list is endless...
tomlinson's #'s the past three years...
2006 31 td's, 5.2 avg yards per rush
2007 18 td's, 4.7 avg yards per rush
2008 12 td's, 3.8 avg yards per rush
2009 Preseason 0 td's, 2.3 avg yards per rush
if tomlinson is healthy (BIG IF), he can still put up rb2 type numbers. however, people drafting him in the first round probably bought him thinking he can finish top 5 overall this year.
[ September 26, 2009, 08:50 AM: Message edited by: Gordon Gekko II ]