Bill Williamson

Maybe Norv Turner the head NFL coach is finally getting it. Maybe, just, maybe he has figured out what he needs to do.

Get out of the way.

The Chargers have a chance if Turner simply turns his team over to his players. This doesn’t work often in the NFL. But most teams don’t have the talent the Chargers do. So, Turner needs to stop thinking and just let his players go, starting, of course, with running back LaDainian Tomlinson.

In the past two weeks, Turner has let Tomlinson lose and the Chargers have flourished.  After almost coming to tears after the Chargers lost their third straight to fall to 1-3 a couple of weeks ago, Tomlinson is back to his cheery, dominating, NFL MVP-self. And he should be. He’s getting the rock.

There was no person in the entire NFL who was more on the hot seat than Turner.  Especially after the Chargers went 14-2 last year before Marty Schottenheimer was shown the door after another early-playoff exit. A head coaching failure in Washington and in Oakland, Turner was handed the keys to the Porsche of NFL offensive units. A fine offensive coordinator, the thought in San Diego was that Turner couldn’t mess up a good thing.

But in the first quarter of the season, he did, leading the Chargers to one more loss than they suffered last season. But it seems that Turner has finally come to his sense and is jamming Tomlinson down opponents’ throats.

That’s the way the Chargers have won in the past and that’s the way they will win in the future.

Turner is a passer’s coach. He made Troy Aikman a star. He doesn’t need to make Philip Rivers a star. Tomlinson is the man in San Diego. Rivers will be just fine getting his 200 passing yards a game and the Chargers can run away with the AFC West.

Tomlinson makes the entire team, including the defense better. Now, that you figured that out, Norv, keep it up.

Keep giving No. 21 the rock and you may keep your job.

Cowboys are their own top competition
Now that the Dallas Cowboys are blemished as a result of their polish job by New England last week, they have fallen back to the pack a tad in the NFC.

With 11 regular season weeks remaining, who is Dallas’ top competition in the NFC? Who will get in the Cowboys’ way of making the Super Bowl?

Simple stuff, really. It’s the Cowboys.

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Whether or not the Cowboys can hang with New England is irrelevant for another three-plus months. Dallas probably can’t hang with New England. The Patriots are probably three touchdowns better than the Cowboys. But the Patriots are at least three touchdowns better than every other team in the NFL, sans Indianapolis.

But that’s not the Cowboys’ problem. All they have to worry about is the NFC. That is Dallas’ only focus for the rest of the season. If the Cowboys get past the NFC and meets New England in the Super Bowl, all Dallas will have to concern itself with is being one point better than New England for three-plus hours. I’d take that chance.

But it will be moot if Dallas doesn’t take care of its own business. Dallas is clearly the best team in the conference. Green Bay is also 5-1 but the Packers can’t keep up with Dallas’ offense.

The Cowboys will rush into the Super Bowl, if they can continue their offensive machinery, clean up the untimely penalties and get better secondary play. The NFC is all about Dallas and whether it can take care of its own business.

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Time to sit down, Chad
Chad Pennington is the type of player you root for.

He has come back from serious injuries.  He isn’t a complainer.  He has gotten much more out of his physical ability than he should and he has fought and made the Jets a winner.

Pennington has had a nice career in New York, but its’ time for it to end, at least for now.

There have been public cries in New York to second-year Jets coach Eric Mangini to bench Pennington in favor of Kellen Clemens. And when the public cries in New York, it doesn’t stop until it gets what it wants. Pennington, who was given a stay of execution heading in to the Philadelphia game last week, again doesn’t get the job done and the Jets season is on life support.

It’s time to go with the kid. Clemens has the look of a potential solid player and he had decent success when he played when Pennington was hurt.

Look, finding a quarterback is by far the most challenging job for any NFL franchise. Long runs of both good and bad fortune are predicated on the quarterback position. We know Pennington has given the Jets all he can.

Now, Mangini owes the franchise and its fans (not to mention his own job security) to see if Clemens can develop into a solid player. It’s going to happen at the start of next season anyway, so Mangini better take something positive of this lost season. Sad as it is, the Chad Pennington era should be over in New York.

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