Chargers’ attempt to shame Bosa remind us they are the Super Bowl champs of pettiness

The San Diego Chargers reminded everybody on Wednesday that they actually do excel at something.

It is called pettiness.

The Chargers are always a championship organization when you measure them up in that regard.

The Chargers sent out a statement Wednesday designed to make sure everybody on the planet knows Joey Bosa is the bad guy in their testy negotiations with the former Ohio State defensive end.

Bosa was the third overall selection in the draft and the Chargers say he and his representation rejected their “best offer” on Tuesday night and that they are now pulling the offer off the table.

They say this move is necessary because Bosa will no longer be able to contribute in all 16 games.

Got quite a laugh over the sudden concern about whether Bosa will be in the fold prior to the season opener against the Kansas City Chiefs on Sept. 11.

If the Chargers were so worried about this, why didn’t they make their “best offer” two days before training camp started?

Funny how all the other 31 NFL teams know how to get a rookie into training camp.

Here is the Chargers’ statement:

“Our contract discussions and offers to the representatives of Joey Bosa have been both fair and structurally consistent with the contracts of every other Chargers’ player.

“Our offer included:

“An initial signing bonus payment that is larger than any player in the League has received in the last two drafts.

“More money in this calendar year than every player in this year’s draft except one (Philadelphia QB Carson Wentz).

“The largest payment and the highest percentage of signing bonus received in the first calendar year of any Chargers’ first-round selection since the inception of the current Collective Bargaining Agreement (2011).

“We gave Joey’s representatives our best offer last night, which was rejected today. The offer that we extended was for Joey to contribute during all 16 games and beyond.

“Joey’s ability to contribute for an entire rookie season has now been jeopardized by the valuable time he has missed with his coaches and his teammates. Since Joey will not report at this time, his ability to produce not just early in the season, but throughout the entire season, has been negatively impacted.

“As a result, we will restructure our offer since Joey will be unable to contribute for the full 16-game season without the adequate time on the practice field, in the classroom, and in preseason games.”

One thing to keep in mind is that NFL teams nearly always keep negotiations quiet and out of the media.

But the Chargers chose to reveal their differences publicly to EVERYBODY on Wednesday.

So you have to try to think like the Chargers — in other words, not rationally — to figure out why they would pull such a maneuver.

We know the two sides disagree on how much of Bosa’s signing bonus is deferred and also over offset language that only comes into play if Bosa is cut and signs with another team before the end of his rookie contract.

Well, if Bosa is indeed cut before the end of his rookie deal, then the Chargers have bigger issues as they must explain how they took a guy with the No. 3 overall pick that couldn’t play. (That will be general manager Tom Telesco ducking under the table).

Pretty soon, some details from Bosa’s side will be leaked out and things will really get messy. That’s because every agent knows an NFL media source or two that will love to write Bosa’s side.

But for now, we have the Chargers’ side and it is hard to understand the club’s rationale.

At face value, this statement was a dumber than usual move for an organization that excels at stupidity — remember the public relations manager telling the fans to take “chill pills?” — and has a history of acrimonious holdout situations with first-round picks.

The team has just assured that its relationship with Bosa will be adversarial and you can expect Bosa’s representatives to dig their heels in deeper after the Chargers’ threat to reduce the offer.

Bosa’s trump card is deciding not to report to the Chargers at all and then putting his name back into the 2017 NFL draft.

If he were to do that, the Chargers look even sillier for wasting the No. 3 overall pick of the draft.

Funny thing is, if the Chargers had just refrained from being petty, it would have been Bosa drawing most of the criticism as the start of the season neared.

Bosa’s mother was recently ripped for making a Facebook comment about how her son should have pulled an Eli Manning — remember that fiasco, San Diego fans? — and not become part of the Chargers.

Plus, the public typically doesn’t approve of a rookie holdout – you know, unproven player wanting millions of dollars — once a season commences. So Bosa’s desire to play football — and his intelligence — would have been greatly scrutinized.

But not anymore.

Fans of the Chargers and the public in general got a first-hand look at why the organization is considered one of the worst in the NFL.

So while the organization isn’t good at winning football games, you can just picture all the buffoons on the second level of Chargers Park congratulating themselves and high-fiving each other over their “best offer” statement.

Because making Bosa look bad and shaming him is somehow more important than resolving the situation and getting him on the field.

So congratulations to the Chargers, you won Wednesday with your petty statement.

But your fans wish you could learn to do more winning on the field on Sundays.

With hour to spare, MrSportsBlog picks …

I’m sure you have all been bracing for my Super Bowl prediction ever since I nailed last year’s winner.

The best thing about having your own Web site is being able to prove I picked the Green Bay Packers to defeat the Pittsburgh Steelers. Yes sir. Just check the archives.

But now another Super Bowl is upon us and the pressure is on as the New England Patriots and New York Giants are now one hour away from kickoff.

The MrSportsBlog scientists, researchers and mechanics have unearthed all the necessary data and are counting on me to come up with the correct pick.

Sure don’t want the MrSportsBlog marketing department or the secretaries asking what went wrong tomorrow morning.

Yeah, the pressure is overwhelming.

This is not an easy life I lead.

I covered these same two teams in the Super Bowl four short years ago in Glendale, Ariz., when the Giants kept the Patriots from setting history with an impressive victory. New England was undefeated entering the contest and prohibitive favorites.

The night before the game, I had a good feeling the Giants were going to pull the upset. Problem was my prediction was already in the books for a New England victory because the newspaper I worked for insisted they needed my preview matchups and game prediction on Wednesday. Yeah, four days before the game.

In other words, no chance at matching my famous prediction of Super Bowl XXXXII in San Diego. While everybody else was picking Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers to annihilate the Denver Broncos that Super Bowl Sunday, I correctly forecasted the upset. (Yep, it was in print the morning of the game).

That was the famous contest when John Elway won his first Super Bowl ring and Terrell Davis overcame in-game migraine headaches to run for 157 yards and three touchdowns. One of the top sporting events I have covered.

So I’m not locked into anything this year as kickoff approaches and I keep thinking about how I picked the Giants to win their two playoff games this season when the so-called experts were picking teams like the Green Bay Packers and New Orleans Saints to be the top Super Bowl candidates in the NFC.

I only picked the Saints to win one playoff game and I correctly picked the Giants to work over the Packers. My only mistake was saying the San Francisco 49ers would beat the Giants on a last-second field goal in the NFC title game.

I regretted that pick well before Kyle Williams messed up for the first time and the Giants ended up winning the game in overtime.

Of course, I picked the New England Patriots to win both their playoff games and picked them to be in the Super Bowl prior to the season.

It’s hard to believe the Patriots have gone seven years since last winning a Super Bowl. But somehow the legend of Bill Belichick and Tom Brady continues to grow.

Hmmmmm, have you seen New England’s shaky defense? That back end is not Super Bowl-quality.

I like New York’s receivers, particularly Hakeem Nicks and Victor Cruz, and see them as the difference-makers in this matchup.

Giants coach Tom Coughlin is no slouch and Eli Manning also has a Super Bowl MVP trophy on the mantle at home.

Hold on, the MrSportsBlog welder has entered the room … he is whispering me some information … good secret stuff too.

That’s it – I see the result. You can now book this prediction.

Giants by a touchdown over the Patriots.

First of the month rant – February: Can I summon commercials away from the TV?

You know the drill on Super Bowl Sunday – you can’t run to the bathroom during timeouts because nobody wants to have to rewind the television to show you the commercial you missed.

Of course, you can’t use the restroom during the action because nobody wants to pause the television set during the middle of a drive either.

What a dilemma for your poor bladder if you are downing sodas or cold beers at the same pace Tom Brady and Eli Manning are throwing darts downfield.

But why such an infatuation with Super Bowl commercials anyway? And how silly it is that advertisers are willing to pay so much money for a 30-second clip.

The average commercial price for Sunday’s Super Bowl in Indianapolis between the New York Giants and New England Patriots is $3.5 million. That’s a lot of coin for 30 seconds.

Makes me wonder if that money could be put to better use.

How about if Coca-Cola decided to purchase two less commercials and give bonuses to all their loyal employees?

What if Budweiser skipped a couple commercials and cut the cost of a 12-pack by a buck?

What if godaddy.com told Danica Patrick to get lost instead of airing the typical must-visit-the-Website to see how it ends trick it pulls every year.

Oh wait, now that Danica Patrick won’t be racing in the Indy 500, Super Bowl Sunday will be the only day we remember she exists. Danica really needs the Go Daddy gig.

But isn’t it silly that companies continue to pay such high rates for 30 seconds of airtime with the troubles the economy has been facing in recent years? Why not reinvest in the company or give away an extra $3.5 million to different charities that help disadvantaged people?

Heck, why not just send me $35,000 just for the heck of it. That might even prompt me to switch from Diet Coke to Diet Pepsi. (You are on the clock, Pepsi … my contact info is in the upper right of the screen).

The average commercial price for last year’s Super Bowl between the Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers was $3 million so you can see the leap in price. By next year, the average price is expected to be over $4 million.

Think about this too – these companies easily spend another million or two with production and filming and finding the right actors that fit their brand and portray their messages. So the real cost to a company is even higher.

Perhaps some people recall last year’s commercials but I have no idea which one was the best last year. Nor do I ever go out and buy something just because a company’s commercial was good.

This commercial stuff just makes no sense to me.

Some of us are more interested in the game – not in commercials or seeing Grandma Madonna onstage at halftime.

If you don’t think there is too much unnecessary stuff associated with the Super Bowl, consider this: Bookmakers released odds on whether or not Kelly Clarkson will flub up the national anthem – what, is she going to “Breakaway” with her own version?

Oh yeah, that’s right — Christina Aguilera couldn’t get all the words straight last year.

I get that one now.

Look, I’ve covered three Super Bowls and nobody inside the stadium has any clue what is going on during those incredibly long breaks in play. Never heard anybody at the game worrying about missing a commercial.

And Sunday’s halftime will be 31 minutes long as opposed to the 12-minute break during the regular season. Totally unfair to the players to have such a drastic change in the typical routine.

But players quickly learn one thing when they enter the league – what’s best for them doesn’t matter to NFL owners. All that matters is making money.

And if companies are willing to hand over boatloads of cash to the NFL and television networks, those greedy folks are more than willing to open their hands and try to catch all the bills.

So count on me to be more interested in the game than the commercials – well, unless “The Summoner” shows up on TV in the AT&T commercial.

You know – the one where the gal asks the guy if he is checking out the game on his phone during a dinner date, which is followed up with this now-famous reply.

“What am I like some kind of summoner who can just summon footage to his phone like that? C’mon?’”

Ahhhhhh, not good. I’m now wondering if AT&T will shell out the cash to give The Summoner some much-deserved air-time on television’s biggest stage.

If only I could summon my own footage … at my price.

For the emotional sake of Jack Harbaugh, only one son can advance to Super Bowl

I’m having a hard time deciding who will win Sunday’s NFL conference championship games but there’s one thing I hope happens.

One of the Harbaughs has to lose and fall short of the Super Bowl.

Don’t care if it is John Harbaugh’s Baltimore Ravens that come up empty or Jim Harbaugh’s San Francisco 49ers. One of them has got to go.

I reached that conclusion because I still recall what a nice person Jack Harbaugh was when he would visit San Diego Chargers training camp while son Jim was one of the team’s quarterbacks.

Jack Harbaugh would catch the first couple weeks of practices prior to the start of his own duties as Western Kentucky’s head coach. He would say hello every morning and genuinely seemed to appreciate that one of his sons was an NFL quarterback.

So I can tell you he’s even prouder to have two sons following in his footsteps and making a mark as coaches at the game’s highest level. Therefore, he doesn’t deserve to have to go through the agony of his sons facing one another on Super Bowl Sunday.

Think about it: If the Ravens and 49ers were to meet in the Super Bowl, one of Jack’s sons would achieve the ultimate of the coaching profession while the other son would be experiencing the biggest low a coach deals with.

How can a parent enjoy a Super Bowl under that scenario?

Here are Sunday’s predictions:

 

AFC Championship Game – RAVENS AT PATRIOTS

Seems like a while since the New England Patriots have been in the Super Bowl, doesn’t it? It has been even longer since the Patriots won one.

Hard to believe Tom Brady has gone six years since beating the Philadelphia Eagles and you have to figure coach Bill Belichick doesn’t want to come up short again either.

The Baltimore Ravens have the pass rush to make things interesting but I keep coming back to one thing: I can’t see Joe Flacco outdoing Brady with a Super Bowl berth on the line.

The Ray Lewis-led Ravens have more than enough defense to win this game but is it the offense – not your fault, Ray Rice – that influences this pick.

Prediction: New England 24, Baltimore 13.

 

NFC Championship Game – GIANTS AT 49ERS

I think I’m the only person west of the Mississippi to predict the New York Giants would beat both the Atlanta Falcons and Green Bay Packers.

New York seems to have that same confident feel it had four seasons ago when it stunningly reached the Super Bowl and then even more surprisingly upset the powerful Patriots.

It is tempting to stick with a successful trend and just pick the Giants, particularly with Eli Manning playing so well.

But the San Francisco 49ers also seem to have a special group and you may recall that I was one of the few people picking the 49ers to win the NFC West prior to the season.

I felt Mike Singletary was overmatched as a coach and that the Jim Harbaugh factor would make a huge difference and it has. Then factor in the fabulous ending while beating the New Orleans Saints – Alex Smith prevailing over Drew Brees in a shootout, no less – and you have to wonder if there’s anything that can keep San Francisco from winning on its home turf.

There isn’t – and don’t be surprised when the game is won on a last-second field goal by David Akers.

Prediction: San Francisco 30, New York 27.

 

LAST WEEK’S RECORD: 4-0

RECORD THIS POSTSEASON: 6-2

 

NFL playoff predictions now in — would picking against Tebow affect my future?

The NFL postseason is down to eight teams and conference championship berths are up for grabs this weekend.

But something seems to be amiss. Is that Tim Tebow preparing to compete in a playoff game?

Who invited Tebow anyway? Remember, he wasn’t even supposed to be able to play in this league, let alone win a playoff game as a starting quarterback.

Tebow tries to keep Denver’s magical season going on Saturday and that makes for a tough prediction. If Tebow really has a direct line to the heavens, who would dare pick against him and the Broncos?

I went 2-2 last week and guess what one of the two misses were? Hint: I went 2-0 in the NFC games and 0-2 on the AFC contests.

I’m shooting for a 3-1 record this weekend but I could easily go 1-3. I see a bit different NFC title matchup than most folks do.

Here are this weekend’s predictions:

SAINTS AT 49ERS

Too many people are comparing quarterbacks and declaring New Orleans as the winner because Drew Brees is a better signal caller than San Francisco’s Alex Smith.

That’s a bit short-sighted.

The true dissection comes down to whether the Saints can put on a high-octane show against the tough San Francisco defense. The 49ers were plus-28 in the takeaway margin and committed just 10 turnovers and will opt for a ball-control style behind top runner Frank Gore.

Two other things to consider: New Orleans has never won a road playoff game and San Francisco is well-rested after having a bye last weekend.

Prediction: San Francisco 27, New Orleans 24

BRONCOS AT PATRIOTS

Would you believe Tim Tebow has won more playoff games in the past seven days than New England star Tom Brady has won over the past four years?

True fact after Denver stunned the Pittsburgh Steelers last Sunday on Tebow’s dramatic 80-yard touchdown pass to Demaryius Thomas on the first play of overtime. The Patriots haven’t won a postseason game since knocking off the San Diego Chargers in the AFC Championship game following the 2007 season.

The Patriots are the No. 1 seed in the AFC but you may recall that was also the case last season when Brady and New England lost to Mark Sanchez and the New York Jets.

What jumps out most about this matchup is the way Brady carved up the Broncos in Denver on Dec. 18 in the Patriots’ 41-23 victory. Based on that 60-minute dose of evidence, it will take a true miracle for the Tebow magic to continue.

Prediction: New England 31, Denver 20

TEXANS AT RAVENS

Baltimore sees a golden opportunity to reach the Super Bowl with Pittsburgh’s ouster to go with memories of the 33-14 beatdown the Ravens gave the Patriots in the playoffs two years ago.

Houston has overcome the loss of quarterback Matt Schaub and everybody has been expecting the Texans to crumble with rookie T.J. Yates filling in. But Yates surely outplayed Cincinnati’s higher-regarded Andy Dalton in last week’s wild-card round as Houston defeated the Bengals.

It’s hard to see Yates having much success against Baltimore’s sturdy defense so it will be up to star back Arian Foster to have a big game. The Ravens have learned – at least one would hope – that putting the game in Joe Flacco’s hands is a risky proposition. So the Texans should expect to see a heavy dose of running back Ray Rice.

The real difference lies in the defenses. The Ravens have Ray Lewis and Terrell Suggs and the Texans don’t.

Prediction: Baltimore 20, Houston 10

GIANTS AT PACKERS

Green Bay has been so dominant since going on its Super Bowl run last year that it is hard to fathom the Packers not returning to the Super Bowl to defend their crown.

Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers and New York’s Eli Manning both rolled up the stats when the two teams met in December so you have to figure another shootout is a possibility depending on the elements.

But what concerns me most is how the Packers will respond after a tough week in which the son of offensive coordinator Joe Philbin drowned in an icy river. Grieving and going to a funeral certainly changes the focus a bit and there’s no telling until the heat of battle begins how the Packers will respond.

Even if there hadn’t been a tragedy, I could see the Giants giving the Packers a good game and we all know what happened when New York played at Green Bay in the NFC title game following the 2007 season, don’t we?

Prediction: New York 34, Green Bay 30

Fool-proof winners of this week’s NFL postseason games. Or will it be fool?

Checked back to September to see I correctly predicted nine of the 12 teams that made the NFL playoffs.

So it reasons that I should be weighing in with my playoff picks.

Anybody can say afterwards they knew a team would win. I will be able to prove my claims.

Or I will look like a complete idiot if I go winless.

Pretty sure that won’t happen with this weekend’s four games. You can count on that.

Then again, consider this: Back in September, I was fairly confident the Philadelphia Eagles, New York Jets and San Diego Chargers would be part of the playoff field.

How lame is it that all three of those teams are sitting home while Tim Tebow is playing in the postseason? The only thing sadder would be missing the playoffs in back-to-back seasons and deciding that Norv Turner is still the best man to guide your football team.

Oh wait, we can’t discuss Dean Spanos being clueless here. This is the place to talk about the teams that do win football games.

Here are the picks for this weekend’s four NFL playoff games:

BENGALS (9-7) AT TEXANS (10-6)

Cincinnati hasn’t won a playoff game in 21 years and went 0-7 this season against teams in the playoffs. The Bengals start a rookie quarterback in Andy Dalton and went just 3-5 in the second half of the campaign. One of the losses was at home to the Texans.

Houston lost its final three games after defeating the Bengals and hasn’t scored more than 22 points in any of its last six games. The Texans also feature a rookie quarterback in T.J. Yates after Matt Schaub and Matt Leinart both suffered season-ending injuries.

This game could go either way and the Texans’ fans will be rabid for the city’s first home playoff games since the Oilers called the city home. But my gut tells me there will be a lot of unhappy folks in Houston on Saturday.

PREDICTION: Cincinnati 24, Houston 20

 

LIONS (10-6) AT SAINTS (13-3)

Detroit was winless just three short years ago so being in the postseason for the first time since 1999 ranks as a huge accomplishment for the franchise. The future is bright with a superb pitch-and-catch duo in quarterback Matthew Stafford and receiver Calvin Johnson. Defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh is a beast when he’s not busy stomping on prone offensive linemen.

New Orleans is vying for a return to the Super Bowl, which it won two seasons ago. The Saints have won eight straight games and haven’t lost at home this season. Quarterback Drew Brees had a historic season with a record 5,476 passing yards and multipurpose Darren Sproles has raised the offense’s production to a new level. New Orleans also has a lot to prove after last season’s embarrassing early exit against a Seattle Seahawks’ squad that went 7-9 in the regular season.

Teams like the Lions often find that initial visit to the postseason to be a bit rough. I see no chance of Detroit pulling off the upset on Saturday – not in the Louisiana Superdome and not against a team as powerful as the Saints.

PREDICTION: New Orleans 45, Detroit 26

 

FALCONS (10-6) AT GIANTS (9-7)

Atlanta is certainly due to win a postseason game since it has gone seven years without winning one. The Falcons were the top-seeded team in the NFC last season before being steamrolled by the Green Bay Packers. Quarterback Matt Ryan and running back Michael Turner both have bad poor games in two previous playoff contests for Atlanta. Figuring out whether the Falcons are ready to break through on Sunday isn’t easy.

New York looked like a goner when it lost four straight games but had incredible luck that its final four games included two contests with the always-underachieving Dallas Cowboys and one against the NFL’s most disappointing team in the New York Jets. The late 3-1 stretch got the Giants the NFC East crown and quarterback Eli Manning is more dangerous now that young receiver Victor Cruz has emerged.

The Falcons definitely have more talent than the Giants but are hard to develop faith in, especially leaving their warm Georgia Dome for the cold elements of New Jersey. Seems to me that all the Giants need to do is keep the game close and Manning (a record 15 fourth-quarter touchdowns this season) will find a way to keep the Falcons winless in the postseason under coach Mike Smith.

PREDICTION: Giants 27, Falcons 21

 

STEELERS (12-4) AT BRONCOS (8-8)

Pittsburgh has the top-ranked defense in the NFL by allowing just 14.2 points and 271.8 yards per game. Worse for Denver is that the Steelers have allowed just three touchdowns in their last six games. That makes for a nice comfort zone with quarterback Ben Roethlisberger gimpy and Rashard Mendenhall out after a season-ending knee injury. Pittsburgh is playoff-tested and has played in two of the past three Super Bowls under top-notch coach Mike Tomlin.

Denver enters with a three-game losing streak and scored just three points in last week’s key contest against Kansas City. The Tim Tebow magic apparently was a short-term potion and hasn’t been located since Dec. 11. The Broncos will stick to the formula of trying to be in the game in the fourth quarter and hope for the best.

Gimmicks only work so long in the NFL and the holes in Tebow’s game are being exposed. If Tebow does have a direct line to somebody in the heavens, this is the week to use it. Otherwise, “Tebowing” is a phenomenon that can be set aside for the rest of the playoffs.

PREDICTION: Pittsburgh 24, Denver 6

Thursday’s Super Bowl report: Manning understands loyalties of New Orleans fans

Peyton Manning grew up in New Orleans as a hard-core Saints’ fan. After all, his father Archie was the team’s quarterback.

But he’s very much aware that many of the people he grew up with in New Orleans would like nothing better than to see himself and the Indianapolis Colts have a very bad night on Super Bowl Sunday.

“I certainly understand people in New Orleans are Saints fans,” Manning said during a Super Bowl press conference. “They have outstanding fans, always have. I certainly appreciate the people of New Orleans supporting me and (younger brother) Eli throughout our careers.

“That is our hometown. It is very important to us – Eli and I – that he and I continue to support New Orleans through charitable endeavors. I understand this game – New Orleans people are Saints fans and I am fine with that.”

The four-time NFL MVP has previously stated that he’d be rooting for New Orleans in the Super Bowl if any other team but his was playing the Saints.

Low defensive ranking, high takeaway ratio

Much is being made about how the New Orleans Saints defense is soft and suspect when it comes to the amount of yardage normally given up by a Super Bowl-caliber defense.

Only seven NFL teams allowed more yards per game than the Saints (357.8) and New Orleans was just 26th in the NFL defending the pass and only 21st in stopping the run.

But on the other hand, the Saints were third in the NFL in interceptions (26) with five of the picks (three by safety Darren Sharper) being returned for touchdowns.

“You know what? Everyone’s talking about the rankings and saying, ‘You have the 25th-ranked defense,’ ” said Sharper, headed to the Pro Football Hall of Fame sometime after he retires. “At the end of the day, at this point, you don’t care about rankings. It’s the defense that plays the best on any given day.

“Our philosophy, as everyone knows, is to take the football away and create turnovers and get the ball back for our offense, and we’ve done a great job with that in the postseason and during the regular season.”

Sharper had nine interceptions in 2009, raising his career total to 63. He has returned 11 interceptions for touchdowns during his 13-year career.

Thursday injury report

Indianapolis defensive end Dwight Freeney again missed practice as he continues to work on rehabbing his injured ankle. Colts coach Jim Caldwell did say that Freeney’s ankle is improving.

Colts cornerback Jerraud Powers (foot) and guard Ryan Lilja (back) also missed Thursday’s practice. Former San Diego State running back Lynell Hamilton (ankle) again missed practice for New Orleans.

Locker makes right move in returning to school

Amazing to see some people are criticizing University of Washington quarterback Jake Locker for deciding to return for his senior season of college instead of chucking his textbooks away and accepting NFL riches.

Seems Locker is pretty sure he needs another year of seasoning and that becoming the best player he can possibly be is a tad more important than cashing paychecks in the fall of 2010.

But no, numerous pundits say Locker should have done the money grab — as in the old hit song by the Steve Miller Band: Take the Money and Run.

Locker probably would’ve been the first quarterback chosen in the 2010 NFL Draft and likely among the Top 5 players selected. Because there’s a chance that an NFL rookie salary scale could be instituted, people are criticizing him for passing up money now that may not be there in a year from now.

But if he takes the money this spring and turns out to be a bust — is that you Ryan Leaf? Hey Heath Shuler, raise your hand too — then Locker gets ridiculed for not being worthy of such a high selection and stealing a boatland of cash.

Not fair at all, particularly when the No. 1 thing you hear about today’s athletes is that they are greedy and how the cash is more important to them than winning or being the best possible player they can be.

Locker obviously assessed his situation closely and decided it was the best move to return to Washington and play another season in Steve Sarkisian’s pro-style offense. Sure he could possibly discover a serious injury like Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford did in September but now that Locker didn’t put his name in the draft, guess who’s projected to be the first quarterback selected?

Yeah, Bradford. Doesn’t sound like the injury diminished his stock all that much.

I see plenty of top-flight NFL quarterbacks who stayed in college for four seasons, including the two leading candidates for NFL MVP — Peyton Manning of the Indianapolis Colts and Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints. A couple other good ones — Philip Rivers of the San Diego Chargers and Eli Manning of the New York Giants — didn’t leave after their junior seasons either.

Of course, Tom Brady of the New England Patriots wasn’t even highly coveted after his senior season at Michigan and he seemed to turn out all right.

Locker has NFL size (6-foot-3, 226 pounds) and is a great athlete but there are definitely things he can improve on. His accuracy has improved each year and his touchdown-to-interception ratio (21 to 11 this season) stands room for improvement.

Most importantly, he’s decided he’s not ready for the NFL yet. And in this era of me-first, grab-the-money-and-run players, that’s a refreshing development.

Chargers notch “Giant” win

There were a lot of things that occurred during Sunday’s contest between the San Diego Chargers and New York Giants that would lead one to anticipate that the Giants would eventually leave the Meadowlands turf with a victory.

Usually, controlling the ball for 15 1/2 more minutes than the opponent, stuffing the running game to the tune of 34 yards and intercepting two passes is the formula that produces a victory. But the Giants sabotaged themselves with numerous mistakes and dumb things and the Chargers took advantage in rallying for a 21-20 victory.

In fact, the Chargers had just 151 yards of total offense when they took over on their own 20-yard line with 2:05 to play and trailing by six points. If there ever was a time for Philip Rivers to show up Eli Manning, this was the time — the game on the line in Manning’s home stadium against the team that drafted him and dealt him to the Chargers to obtain Manning’s services.

Rivers was up to the task, completing 6-of-8 passes on the final drive and hitting Vincent Jackson on the 18-yard game-winning score with 21 seconds left on the clock. So instead of a long plane flight home fretting over a .500 mark at the midway point, the giddy Chargers had an enjoyable excursion as owners of a 5-3 record.

The Chargers have now won three consecutive games with key games against the Philadelphia Eagles (at home) and Denver Broncos (on the road) next on the slate.  

The much-anticipated meeting between Rivers and Manning was a wash statistically. Rivers was 24-of-36 for 209 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions, while Manning was 25-of-33 for 215 yards and two touchdowns.

If the Chargers had lost, Manning would have been the clear winner due to Rivers’ two interceptions. But because of his ability to navigate the Chargers 80 yards to win the game, Rivers (along with Jackson, who caught two TDs) was the hero.

The Chargers were able to sack Manning five times with linebacker Shawne Merriman recording two. Safety Eric Weddle (nine tackles) seemed to be in on a lot of key plays as he becomes more comfortable with being the team’s top safety.

Of course, the Chargers received a lot of help from the Giants, beginning with an opening drive that saw the Giants possess the ball for nearly half the quarter without scoring a point. Despite his team pushing the Chargers all over the field, Giants coach Tom Coughlin decided to kick a field goal on fourth-and-1 from the Chargers’ 21 and kicker Lawrence Tynes inexplicably failed to kick the ball.

In my view, that set the tone for what type of game ensued. It was a monumental momentum boost for the Chargers to see the Giants come up empty. The Giants would fail to take advantage of other opportunities, another key one being the sequence when they settled for a fourth-quarter field goal after Terrell Thomas intercepted Rivers and returned the ball to the San Diego 4.

Giants guard Chris Snee — the son-in-law of Coughlin and a person sure to be greeted rudely at the next dinner-table encounter — was called for holding and New York settled for a 22-yard field goal by Tynes with 2:07 remaining that left the door open for a Chargers comeback.

So the Chargers won on an afternoon in which they could muster just 34 rushing yards — 15 of them on a scramble by Rivers — and the Giants (5-4) suffered their fourth straight loss despite outplaying San Diego much of the day. LaDainian Tomlinson had just 22 yards on 12 carries and those whispers of his rapid decline will soon increase.

But the important thing on this Sunday was that the Chargers won the game — with a Giant final possession.

Finally, Rivers and Manning square off on same field

There has been so much chatter about the two quarterbacks for so many years now that it’s easy to forget one simple (yet important) fact: Philip Rivers and Eli Manning have never played against each other on an NFL field.

The two highest-drafted quarterbacks of the 2004 NFL draft — remember, Manning went first overall to the San Diego Chargers — finally get to compete in the same game when the Chargers and New York Giants meet in the Meadowlands this Sunday.

Manning had no interest in playing for the Chargers and expressed such sentiments prior to the draft. The Chargers picked him anyway and then traded his rights to the Giants after New York selected Rivers with the fourth overall pick. The Chargers also got three other picks in the transaction and two of the picks were used to select linebacker Shawne Merriman and kicker Nate Kaeding.

Manning’s refusal to toil for the Chargers has worked out well for him. He’s got a Super Bowl ring and has developed into an upper-echelon quarterback. He probably wouldn’t have that impressive piece of jewelry if he played for the Chargers.

Rivers sat and learned behind Drew Brees for two years and has been a solid starter since 2006. With the decline of LaDainian Tomlinson, Rivers is now the guy who makes the Chargers’ offense go and the franchise is hoping he will eventually possess his own Super Bowl ring.

Rivers is having a better statistical season than Manning despite his team playing one fewer game. Rivers has passed for 2,036 yards, 11 touchdowns and four interceptions while Manning has thrown for 1,855 yards, 13 touchdowns and eight interceptions.

Manning has been bothered by foot pain the last three weeks and his play has suffered — six interceptions against three TDs — as the Giants have lost all three games. That’s probably not good news for the Chargers in that it is hard to believe the Giants (5-3) could lose a fourth consecutive contest.

The Chargers (4-3) certainly need a big win as their four victories are far from impressive. They beat the sad-sack Oakland Raiders twice, the even sadder-sack Kansas City Chiefs once, and took advantage of Chad Pennington’s shoulder injury to outplay the Miami Dolphins in the second half of a game that could’ve gone either way. 

The Chargers probably need a boost from their sagging running game (31st best in the NFL) to slay the Giants. Tomlinson (267 yards) is 36th in the NFL in rushing and averaging a woeful 3.4 yards per carry. If he struggles, it will again be up to Rivers to carry the load — which isn’t necessarily a bad thing as both Vincent Jackson (third in the NFL with 664 receiving yards) and Antonio Gates (tied with Jackson for the team lead with 37 receptions) are having solid seasons.

The Giants have found a go-to receiver in Steve Smith (fourth with 662 receiving yards) and often control games with the running of Brandon Jacobs (550 yards) and Ahmad Bradshaw (476). And San Diego’s defense has been substandard in stopping the run (27th at 132.1 yards per game) since losing Pro Bowl defensive tackle Jamal Williams.

Who knows, perhaps the outcome will be decided by the play of the two quarterbacks. You can debate which team got the better quarterback from the 2004 draft class — don’t forget, the Pittsburgh Steelers took Ben Roethlisberger in the same draft and have won two Super Bowls with Big Ben — but one thing is real clear.

Picking a quarterback in the first round in 2004 worked out better for the Chargers than the previous time they picked a signal caller in the first round.

Or did you forget Ryan Leaf, taken second overall in 1998 after the Indianapolis Colts picked Peyton Manning first?