The opinions below are not that of 619Sports.Net. I am not a journalist beholden to any illusions of professional integrity. I am, however, an armchair philosopher who will attempt to sprinkle conversations with the names of the ancients to make myself feel more intelligent. I will also wear brown attire to games in which Padres owner Jeffrey Moorad has encouraged fans to wear blue.
Football is a war of attrition. Without fail, every team during the season will be faced with the loss of key personnel. Those who adapt will be best suited to wave the banner of champion. This is the nature of contact sport.
Never was this maxim more clearly on display than last week, when the Denver Broncos’ Elvis Dumervil tore a pectoral muscle, likely shelving him for the 2010 season. Will the Broncos adapt? It remains to be seen.
It was actually an injury closer to home that got me thinking about the concept of attrition, and how General Managers attempt to stockpile talent to overcome such adversity.
The loss of rookie Chargers linebacker Donald Butler to a ruptured Achilles tendon got me thinking about the process of depth accumulation. Butler will be replaced this season, but who knows if he’ll ever be the sort of player he was envisioned to be when chosen out of Washington in the 3rd round of the 2010 draft?
The loss of Butler forces the Chargers player-personnel department to ponder the 2011 draft…where there might be a nice little bonus draft-pick. On whom do we Charger fans depend for such a bonus pick? Our future depends on our favorite non-tackling ex-Chargers cornerback…Antonio Cromartie.
Per the trade that sent Cromartie to New York this last spring the Chargers stand to gain a third-round draft pick in 2011. However, if he achieves certain performance goals and the Jets have a successful year, the draft pick could slide up to a second-rounder. This is huge!
Playing next to Darrelle Revis would seem to increase the probability of a top level performance by Cro’ but, to the Jets’ dismay (and perhaps the Chargers’), Revis has threatened to sit out the season. Without Revis available, is it possible for Cro’ to thrive on the corner in New York this season? This fan thinks not.
Fortune, according to the Roman Poet Virgil, favors the bold…and it is this fan who has devised a bold alternative that will allow Cro’ to achieve the sort of 2010 campaign which can ultimately help the Chargers win the vaunted war of attrition.
It is Eastern philosophy to which I turn, to help Antonio T. Cromartie regain his form and maximize the Chargers’ future…(to be continued)
(While you wait for part two of Using Eastern Philosophy to Win The War of Attrition, enjoy Bruce Lee discussing water:)
Craig Elsten -
Chainsaw -
