Zachary GirsbergerOsgood—worth two Wins?
October 3rd 2010 23:16
Category: No Category
This offseason the Chargers’ front office had several major moves in motion, yet behind the trade to move up to select Ryan Matthews and the holdouts of Vincent Jackson and Marcus McNeill, the loss of Kassim Osgood went unnoticed to most. Many casual fans of the game may not even know Osgood’s name, but in San Diego he was a fan favorite and mainstay on special teams – making the pro-bowl several times as a special teamer. Ultimately, the front office did not sign Osgood because he was unhappy with his role, he wanted to catch balls—he is a wide receiver after all—so the “Mayor of San Diego” sought greener pastures and landed in Jacksonville.
Now why three weeks in the season do we care about Osgood, a background player for the past several years? Look at the Chargers’ record (2-2) and it will give you the answer. Week one the Kansas City Chiefs upset the Chargers in what can only be called traditional upset fashion: on the road in a hostile environment, special teams miscues, and underestimating the opponent. Kansas City regularly beat up on the Chargers’ special teams, including a kickoff return for touchdown, contributing to the loss. This past week, week three, the Seattle Seahawks followed the same blueprint and knocked off the Chargers’, scoring two touchdowns on kickoff returns. Osgood was routinely one of the first, if not the first, men downfield; he earned his title as special team’s demon. Osgood accounted for ninety-seven (cite) combined tackles, averaging just under fourteen per year. Those tackles so far have been sorely missed by San Diego. Thankfully in today’s game, special teams were solid so the Chargers seem to be adjusting.
Osgood however did not just tackle men on special teams; he was superb at downing punts. Mike Scifres became the Chargers’ punter the year after Osgood was picked up by the Chargers. On the surface, Scifres is having a ho-hum year averaging 44.5 yards per punt (44.2 yards per punt is his career average), yet Scifres has already had more touchbacks than he had all of last year (three to two) and is on pace to nearly double his career high in that category (on pace for 16, high of 9 in ’07). Osgood may not have downed every punt, but he sure helped.
So far, Osgood’s absence is noted and thus the Chargers have two fewer wins than they may have at this point in the season. Is not throwing a couple of balls to a guy who has been a foundation of the team not worth two wins? Yet another brilliant move by the “Lord of No Rings,” Albert J. Smith (Thank Archie Manning for one of the greatest nicknames in sports if you see him).
Resources:
NFL.com - Osgood Stats
Yahoo.com - Scifres Stats
Osgood however did not just tackle men on special teams; he was superb at downing punts. Mike Scifres became the Chargers’ punter the year after Osgood was picked up by the Chargers. On the surface, Scifres is having a ho-hum year averaging 44.5 yards per punt (44.2 yards per punt is his career average), yet Scifres has already had more touchbacks than he had all of last year (three to two) and is on pace to nearly double his career high in that category (on pace for 16, high of 9 in ’07). Osgood may not have downed every punt, but he sure helped.
Resources:
NFL.com - Osgood Stats
Yahoo.com - Scifres Stats
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