Norv Turner Is Upset

Added on Oct 14, 2010 by Scott in

NFL

Tony Dungy has gone and done it again. A couple months after taking umbrage with Rex Ryan’s proclivity to curse in front of his players, the former Super Bowl-winning coach had some harsh words for Norv Turner’s Chargers on last Sunday night’s edition of Football Night in America. Dungy called out Turner, Antonio Gates and the Bolts in general for playing stupid sloppy football in losing to the Raiders. Well, Norv was none too happy with Dungy’s analysis.

Turner fired back and even took the time to remind Dungy of some beatdowns his Chargers handed Dungy’s Colts a few years back. Uh oh, coach fight! Obviously Norv is bitter over losing to a team they hadn’t lost to since 2003, but taking out his frustrations on a guy who gets paid to be critical seems a tad misguided.

I heard Dungy’s comments and wouldn’t classify them as inflammatory. He simply pointed out the Chargers are too talented and too experienced to be making the kinds of mistakes they are making. Rodney Harrison said similar things on the same broadcast, but evidently Norv doesn’t have a problem with him. I guess we can chalk this up to two bitter coaching rivals taking swings at one another for old times’ sake.

The book on Norv’s Chargers has been written. They get off to slow starts, the fans and media panic, they rebound to win the division, then flop in the playoffs. It looks as if the 2010 story will be exactly the same. They have a potent offense and a solid defense, so once the players pull their heads out of their butts and stop committing egregious errors, the forecast in San Diego should improve.

As for Norv, he might want to focus his energy on cleaning up the idiotic penalties and horrific special teams instead of worrying about what Tony Dungy says. The best way to quiet critics is to play smart, winning football. Norv should already know this, but maybe he needs a reminder.