When Brandon Mebane talks, his fellow Chargers should listen.

Mebane owns Super Bowl bling, not to mention nine years in the League. A nose tackle, he anchored a Seahawks line that seized a Lombardi Trophy.

Smart, too, Mebane impressed Seahawks teammates with how he reads clues.

Before the snap, he was known to tell colleagues, “Hey, the ball is going there.” Teammates said his calls were often correct.


The Chargers are a team Mebane is trying to figure out, having joined them in March.

He wasn’t a headline-maker in Seattle with his remarks to media, but when he told football writers this week what he sees in these Chargers, he provided click-bait material.

There is so much talent on this team, it’s unreal. I was telling guys there is more talent on this defense than there was in Seattle. If you look at the draft, you’ve got four first-round draft picks and you have five second-round draft picks all on defense.

In Seattle, you only had two first-rounders and one second-rounder. Everybody else was pretty much down in the draft, or wasn’t drafted. So if we put it together, play together, and work on our skill, I think the sky’s the limit for this defense. It’s amazing, the skill and the talent level is there. All we’ve got to do is just believe in each other and play together.

Vanilla by Seahawks standards, the comments played as bold by Chargers norms.

Be sure that Mebane knew what he was saying, to whom he was saying it and that headlines would follow, which they have.


Bully for him.

I took his comments as, above all, a booster shot of Vitamin C -- Confidence -- for a franchise that’s 0-for-50 in the Super Bowl trophy hunt.

It matters not whether we co-sign on his talent judgment.

Praise from a player of Mebane’s chops is meant to infuse belief within a Bolts defense that has shown glimpses of the right stuff but has lapsed too often.


Coming off a 4-12 season, it’s an apt time to emphasize the positive. Vince Lombardi cuddled his players when they hit the skids.

Mebane, whether he meant to or not, is taking a cue from Seahawks coach Pete Carroll, who understands the confidence game as few coaches do.

When Carroll took over Seattle, the team was coming off hard times.

Carroll, radiating energy and confidence, banished the clouds to the point of seeming loopy.


“We are here to win Super Bowls,” he said.

He had a plan. The Seahawks would buy low on defenders who hated to lose. Coaches and alpha players would mold them into a fierce whole. Draft standing mattered not. If you couldn’t keep up, you were sent out, as No. 4 overall pick Aaron Curry learned when Carroll dealt him to the Raiders.

Players and coaches kept everyone on their toes.

Come Sundays, the chippy ‘Hawks overwhelmed many opponents.


Mebane, a third-round pick out of Cal in 2007, is already a “very vocal” presence among Bolts defensive linemen, teammate Sean Lissemore said. No surprise there. He’s the unit’s elder statesman.

I like that he ventured outside of his position group in his recent comments, that he stretched himself to say something significant about the defense and the whole enterprise.

His comments strengthen the belief that Mebane, 31, didn’t come to sleepy San Diego just to stay in the game, but to win games at a Seattle clip.

That’s because his comments, beyond the initial pat on the back, amount to a tough-love challenge to Chargers coaches and players. Wrapped in kindness and flattery, the message is nonetheless a firm nudge.


The organization has gone large on defense. The expectation, therefore, is large results.

If a defense is loaded with premium draft picks, it’s fair to expect premium results.

Chop, chop, young dudes.