Ron Rivera's first year

[Chris Raiden]

Ron Rivera is entering his first full season as the Chargers' defensive boss. How will his unit perform?

[StevenSD]

Top 10.

Merriman, Phillips and English will provide a pass rush similar or better than the defense in the 2006 season.

I'm counting on Cromartie to make a comeback this year, if not the continued development of Cason could/hopefully makes up for it.

Rivera is all about pressure, and with a full offseason to make and teach his tweaks, I can't wait to see the first game of the season to see what he has stored! We won't see much from preseason, we can count on that, but as much down talk as I've done about Ellison and a few other players, I want to see them play well in this first game.

[MrSlurpee]

I second what StevenSD said. Rivera had the Chargers D playing very well at the end of last season, and that was without Merriman. Getting Merriman healthy, Cromartie healthy, and English in the fold, the Chargers should be much improved.

[MrSlurpee]

I know it was only preseason, and there were some things the Chargers defense needed to work on yesterday, but I was thoroughly impressed with the intensity that the Chargers D played with yesterday. From the first teamers all the way to the practice squad guys, Rivera had the Chargers D playing with the most intensity that I've seen them play with since Junior Seau was around. The Chargers were swarming to the ball on every play, and everyone played with the intensity that you'd expect from a playoff game. I'm really excited about what Rivera can do this season if he has the defense that fired up every game.