Fantasy News

by Ian Allan
Senior Writer

I'm continuing to push around stats for what happened around the goal line in 2007. Today, the Chargers caught my eye. They were surprising ineffective around the end zone last season -- dramatically ineffective.

Check out these numbers: Inside the 10, Philip Rivers completed only 11 of 34 passes last year, with 7 TDs. A sack as well. That's 32 percent passing. That was worse than every other team in the league.

Antonio Gates caught only 2 of the 10 balls thrown his way (in that area). Vincent Jackson went 0 for 7. And Chris Chambers went only 1 of 4. These are our own home-cooked numbers; they include 2-point conversions, which actually aren't included in official NFL statistics (we include those because we think they've meaningful).

We're not promising that these stat trends will significantly affect where these guys are slotted on our initial draft board for 2008 -- it's just one part of the puzzle. But it does make you go hmm.

Gates will be coming off toe surgery, and his effectiveness in this area has declined the last two years. He was more effective with Drew Brees at quarterback. With Brees at quarterback, Gates caught 6 of 7 balls in 2004 inside the 5 (we didn't track inside-the-10 numbers that year), then went 3 of 4 the following season. Gates caught 4 of 6 passes inside the 10 in the 2006 season, with 3 of those 6 throws going for scores.

ALSO:In response to Morry Steigmann's question, San Diego was only average in rushing inside the 10 yard line. I've got them at 39 carries for 72 yards and 10 TD. The NFL average is about 35 carries for 67 yards and 9 TDs.

LaDainian Tomlinson closed at 31 carries (which tied for league high) for 63 yards and 8 TDs. He was a lot better the previous year, when he went 44 carries for 128 yards and 23 TDs. Turner has carried only 7 times for 11 yards in the two years, with 1 TD.

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