FanHouse Quentin Jammer

Training camps are underway, the NFL season is right around the corner, and to get you ready for 2008, FanHouse previews all 32 teams, "heat index" style. We'll rate each club in 10 categories on a scale of 1 to 10, high score wins.

Quarterback: Bear in mind, I'm a tremendous Philip Rivers fan. So despite the hilarity of Ape's Marmalard skits, I don't laugh (much). And the fact that everyone focuses on Rivers poor throws amuses me some, since Norv Turner consistently put him in horrible situations for most of the season. I won't mention that he has the stones to go toe-to-toe with Tom Brady sans ACL. Anyway, two years ago he was prepared to take his game to the next level and somehow regressed in 2007. Won't happen this season, providing his coach is smart. Crap. Heat Index: 8

Running Back: Am I allowed to give a heat index of 11? Because, like Nigel's amps, LaDanian Tomlinson is a little bit louder/better than anyone else. The loss of Michael Turner hurts a little, but the poor man's lightning-thunder backup combo of Darren Sproles and Jacob Hester is going to be a pretty devastating change of pace factor for opposing defenses. Heat Index: 11

Wide Receiver: Vincent Jackson was supposed to rise up and become a legit number one last year. Whoops. Fortunately, Chris Chambers and his potentially record breaking low catch rate (based on target % anyway) are in town now. Craig Davis will blossom decently this year and Malcolm Floyd is a pretty nasty, athletic freak, red zone target type. Oh yes, and Antonio Gates counts here too, so there's that. Heat Index: 9

People who said the weather wasn't going to be an issue in today's AFC Championship game might be thinking otherwise just about now. The Patriots have had three possessions, two first downs and two punts. And that third possession ended in a Tom Brady interception, courtesy of Quentin Jammer.

That was Brady's first first-quarter interception in postseason history, and the first first-quarter pick of the 2007 season. It's also worth noting that Brady's hasn't been his usual intense, animated self this afternoon. It's early, I know -- and freaking cold -- but he's looked a step slow. Which explains the underthrows, overthrows, and indeciveness in the pocket.

Sure, some of that has to do with the weather, but the Chargers have also been able to mount a pass rush, something the Jaguars didn't even attempt last week. (Brady was 26 for 28 too.) After the interception, the Chargers went on a seven-play drive that ended with a Nate Kaeding field goal and a 3-0 lead. One of San Diego's keys to having a chance in this game was to win the turnover battle. So far, so good.

Chargers cornerback Quentin Jammer will miss a game due to injury for the first time in his career on Sunday, and it's coming against the Colts, an opponent that the Chargers would really prefer not to face without a full complement of defensive backs.

Jammer's hamstring injury will cause him to miss Sunday night's game, ending a streak of 72 consecutive starts.

"At my position, I have to be able to run and be able to keep up with guys who run 4.3s and 4.4s (over 40 yards)," Jammer said. "Without that hammy, you can't do that. I need to get it better. ...

I'm going to have to be smart about the injury," Jammer said. "I feel I could probably go, but I felt like I could go last week and it ended up catching again and set me down for another week. I don't want that to keep happening.

Jammer was the fifth overall pick in the 2002 NFL draft, and when evaluating past drafts, I've always found him to be one of the hardest players to judge. Most people considered him, at the time, to be the safest pick on the board: A guy who certainly wouldn't be a total bust but who also might not have as high an upside as some other players available. And that's basically what has happened. You can't call a guy who has started 72 straight games a bust, and he's been a much better player than three of the four guys picked ahead of him (David Carr, Joey Harrington, Mike Williams).

But he also didn't have the upside of the fourth player picked ahead of him, Julius Peppers, and he doesn't look like he'll ever develop into a Pro Bowler. We'll see tomorrow night how much the Chargers miss him, playing against the best quarterback in the league at exploiting weaknesses in opposing secondaries.