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Seattle Seahawks at San Diego Chargers

The Seattle Seahawks and San Diego Chargers open up their 2011 National Football League preseason schedules Thursday night in front of a nationally-televised audience on ESPN at Qualcomm Stadium.

Seattle won the NFC West division last year despite finishing with a 7-9 overall record and even advanced to the Divisional round due to a 41-36 home win over the New Orleans Saints during Wild Card weekend.  The Seahawks begin the second yard of a rebuilding process under the watchful eye of Pete Carroll, who has once again made major changes on the roster front. 

Offensively, the team has brought in former Minnesota signal-caller Tarvaris Jackson to run the huddle, as long-time starter Matt Hasselbeck can now be found in Tennessee.  Jackson will have two new weapons at his disposal with the additions of wide receiver Sidney Rice and tight end Zach Miller.

The Seahawks captured a 27-20 win over the Chargers in Week 3 last year, as 3.5-point home underdogs.  Seattle was dominated in that particular contest, but pulled out the victory with two special teams touchdowns and causing five turnovers.  Overall, the squad posted an 8-7-1 ATS mark during the regular season and the ‘over’ finished 8-7-1.

San Diego knows the clock is ticking to cash in on a talented roster, missing the playoffs last year despite posting some of the most impressive defensive and offensive statistics in the league.  The Chargers led the NFL in yardage last year and will likely assume that position when the 2011 campaign comes to an end, as 10 starters return.

Quarterback Philip Rivers is the leader of Norv Turner’s high-powered offense and is coming off a career year.  He finished the year throwing for 4,710 yards and a 66 percent completion percentage.  Focus in camp has been strengthening a run game to shoulder some of this year’s burden, as the former NC State star threw 541 passes a year ago.

The defense will be playing under new leadership this year, as Greg Manusky takes over for the departed Ron Rivera.  He will be leaning heavily on the leadership brought in with free agency signings of safety Bob Sanders and linebacker Takeo Spikes.

San Diego ranked first in pass offense and fourth against the run during the 2010 season, but will likely drop off a bit from those numbers this season.

Bettors will be interested in knowing that the Chargers have dropped their last two preseason home openers when hosting the Seahawks, falling 24-16 in 2007 and 20-14 in 2009.

At the time of this writing, the San Diego Chargers are three-point home favorites and the total stands at 35.