Tomlinson is only part of what happened in San Diego. He was drafted onto a last place team that then retired Ryan Leaf and went from 1-15 to 5-11. Then they got to 8-8 the next season when they drafted Drew Brees. Then with both Brees and Tomlinson on board they went 4-12... The last piece of the puzzle was Antonio Gates. He's the guy who made them, because the losing stopped for good when he came on board. Rivers replaced Brees and the Chargers became dominant. There's no way Tomlinson is THE guy on that team. Emmitt Smith came on board a team that had gone 4-26 over the previous two seasons and they went to 3 Super Bowls in the next 5 years. That's the definition of a dominant player.
My only argument is that the 4-12 year was the only losing year LT has had post 2003, since then the team has been a winner. Was that year a fluke even with the addition of Gates? I Gates didn't get drafted, do they bounce back and win again.
The Chargers had not been over .500 in 8 seasons before Gates was added to the team. They haven't been under 9 wins in a season since. I'm not saying that LT is not a great player, but you can't look at the chronology and say he is the reason the Chargers improved the way they did. Just like Marshall Faulk is not the reason that either Indy or StL improved the way they did in his proximity. Peyton Manning and Kurt Warner. Those are the key players on those teams. Faulk and Edgerrin James were great contributors but not the keys to those teams winning. Look at the Colts and Rams records with Faulk before Manning arrived and after Warner left.
Why do you guys argue crap like position importance when football is the ultimate TEAM sport? Obviously some positions matter more than others, but when it comes to the team as a whole you get talent at the positions where the talent is available. Who cares how important the RB position is if one (or two) of the elite RB talents in the draft have a chance to be elite players at the RB position? NO ONE turns around a team singlehandedly. People want to jerk Peterson off for turning around the Vikings. What about having two of the most dominant DTs in the game? Or an OL with very good players at LT, LG, C, and RG? Another RB who ran for over 800 yards at 5.4 YPC? Does it mean they regret drafting Peterson? Hell no. Does that mean they will regret drafting Peterson? Nope. An elite talent is an elite talent.
This is pure boredom waiting for the draft... i'd never debate half this garbage if i could watch football or watch a draft,,, the wait has gotten to all of us.... 20 pages on Chad, what a QB is, the importance of the QB, etc.... RBs and if the make a huge impact on a team... dominating the line of scrimmage......... these all popped up after the FA signings were over, now there is nothing to talk about, so we have to nitpick and over analyze everything. We've all already covered who we might take in the draft so many times we dont want to do it anymore. Hell, i predicted the last 2 1st rounds for us (Revis was a curveball but he was my #1, i was praying he'd fall to us, he was our pick in mock drafts for weeks until his pro day and then he was a top 15,,, still wanted him), but now i find that i have no clue who we are getting and its driving me crazy, Gholston? McFadden? Ryan? Which Long may drop? Trade Down? Trade Up?-- its never been this difficult and i'm getting pissed about it. Plus, i don't know if whos at 6 will be worth the $. Its hurting my head. When April ends and its time for may-- this BS will go away and we'll be back to normal. 3 more weeks.
