Merriman Mid-Season Report
All season we have been tracking the performance of San Diego Chargers linebacker Shawne Merriman as a means to compare his effectiveness to last season when he dominated defensively... but also served a four-game suspension for testing positive for steroids. Now that we have reached the halfway point of the Chargers’ schedule, we felt it was a good time to look at what we have and see how Merriman is living up to his pre-steroid-bust standards.
In his first eight games of the 2006 season, which included seven games before his suspension and one after, Merriman recorded 38 tackles, 10 ½ sacks, and forced two fumbles. He also defended four passes. So far this season he’s collected 41 tackles, 5 ½ sacks, one forced fumble, and again defended four passes.
A quick glance at the numbers shows he is on track with roughly the same number of tackles, but his production in terms of sacks is down. In fact, combined with the forced fumbles, we’ve seen about a 50% drop in the production of impact plays dished out by the Pro Bowl linebacker this year.
In Merriman’s defense, he has dropped into coverage a little more often this season, but he still finds himself in plenty of pass-rushing situations, and he’s simply not getting to the quarterback as consistently as he was in 2006. In fact, he’s been shut out of the sack category in five of the eight games he has played this year. In comparison, last year he was only shut out in three of the 12 games he played.
Is the drop-off due to the effects of steroid use wearing off? It’s probably still too early to tell. All players go through peaks and slumps.
But it will certainly be interesting to see what the second half of the season has in store for him.
Photo: Doug Pensinger / Getty Images
Comments
While I don’t have a problem with comparing player stats from year to year, I do have a problem with the conclusion. You seem to be saying that if this year’s stats end up worse than last year’s, then steroid use is the culprit. I don’t know if you’ve been watching any Charger games, but the whole team is off track from last year. Throwing a whole new coaching staff into the mix is potentially a greater factor than steroids, and requires consideration. Maybe you should look at his 40 time and weight room routine to get a better idea of how he’s changed.
Again, I’m not defending the guy – just your methodology.
I’m not offering any conclusions Ken. In fact, I mentioned in the article that it is too early to pin his drop in production on steroids. The one thing that is indisputable is that he isn’t the same dominant player he was last year. You can draw your own conclusion as to why that is.
To make a comparison from one season to the next and make assumptions that steriod use was the factor for better performance as you have presented is absolutely assinine. For instance, look at Michael Strahan’s career stats. One year he had 15.5 sacks and the next year 5.5 sacks. Another year 22.5 sacks, the next 11.0 sacks…was he on steroids one, got off them, got back on, then quit again…if you follow your logic, I guess so….
I’m not making any assumptions Terplike. In fact, I mentioned the fact that all players go through peaks and valleys, and that it is too early to say why his stats are not as eye-popping this year.