Speaker 1: All right, guys, Before we get started today, a big
Speaker 1: thank you to our partner, Microsoft Surface, celebrating ten years
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Speaker 1: Surface at surface dot com and welcome into the Final
Speaker 1: Drive as the Chargers escape with a thirty to twenty
Speaker 1: eight win over the Cleveland Browns in Cleveland, improving their
Speaker 1: record to three and two. As always, joined by Haley
Speaker 1: Elwood and Eric Smith, and guys, we have a lot
Speaker 1: to get into. So much happened in this game. I
Speaker 1: figured we'd start at the end because I think that's
Speaker 1: the biggest topic of conversation. After the game, Chargers fourth
Speaker 1: and one, fourth and two from their own forty six.
Speaker 1: They fail to convert. They go for it. Failed to
Speaker 1: convert gives the Browns a short field. I think they
Speaker 1: get ten yards on their second player that drive. It
Speaker 1: eventually stalls out, but enough for Kid York to go
Speaker 1: out there and attempt a fifty four yard game winning
Speaker 1: field goal that goes right. Chargers escape thirty to twenty eight.
Speaker 1: We'll get into what Coach Staley said about that that
Speaker 1: final drive and going forward on fourth down. But Haley,
Speaker 1: I'll start with you, just so much happened in this game,
Speaker 1: and I think the end of the game kind of
Speaker 1: overshadowed a lot of what happened. It totally did, and
Speaker 1: I think, you know, we were fifty four yards away
Speaker 1: from having a very different outlook on this team and
Speaker 1: probably on this podcast today. Yeah, when you say so
Speaker 1: much happened, I take notes obviously, like during the game,
Speaker 1: and if scoring plays have something leading up to it,
Speaker 1: I put like in a parentheses like what might have
Speaker 1: happened before, you know, for instance like Cleveland second touchdown,
Speaker 1: parent these off the Chargers turnover rundowns. I have a
Speaker 1: lot of parentheses that are next to scoring blaze and
Speaker 1: notes on the other side that happened in this game
Speaker 1: because it was just really, really wild. The ending to
Speaker 1: that game was bananas. And you could even go back
Speaker 1: a little further and take it to the aloe interception, which,
Speaker 1: oh my gosh, gave me shades of that Jacksonville game
Speaker 1: with Trey Boston, like many many years ago, of it
Speaker 1: essentially being over and then it wasn't and luckily it
Speaker 1: did end up the Chargers way this time. But there
Speaker 1: was so much that happened towards the end and just
Speaker 1: sort of utter chaos. I mean, I tweeted this, but
Speaker 1: Adam arch aldin the third quarter had said, these two
Speaker 1: teams need to play on primetime because every single time
Speaker 1: they get together, it gets freaking wild, and it gets
Speaker 1: really crazy and things happen, and it's like CBS has
Speaker 1: just enjoying the heck out of it because they get
Speaker 1: drama literally until the very very end. There's a lot
Speaker 1: of discourse, if you want to use that word, on
Speaker 1: the internet and the media and television today about what
Speaker 1: happened on fourth down, and ultimately you can say that
Speaker 1: the Charger sort of left out in a sense that
Speaker 1: the fact that Cleveland did miss that field goal in
Speaker 1: the end. I know, I was reading Daniel Popper and
Speaker 1: he talked about and the week prior against the Texans
Speaker 1: they phased a fourth and one from their own forty five,
Speaker 1: led by three and converted. There wasn't as much discussion
Speaker 1: obviously because they made it. I think the difference to
Speaker 1: me was the Browns needed three to win, like that
Speaker 1: was it. They only needed three points to win, and
Speaker 1: luckily they missed the field goal and it didn't end
Speaker 1: up happening. It wasn't like a tie situation or anything
Speaker 1: they would have gone. They were going for the win
Speaker 1: at that point, So you count, you know, you take it,
Speaker 1: You get lucky in a sense, you count your blessings,
Speaker 1: and you move on to what is this week six now?
Speaker 1: But it was chaos at the end. You guys were
Speaker 1: obviously there. I wasn't there. I don't know what the
Speaker 1: tenor was obviously in Cleveland, but holy cow, from my couch,
Speaker 1: I was just dying at one point because you just
Speaker 1: so you were just oh riding the emotional wave of
Speaker 1: what had happened. And then even after the game with
Speaker 1: a win, you're sort of just almost hung over in
Speaker 1: a sense of like, okay, that you got out, you
Speaker 1: escaped it, and now you move on. Eric I was
Speaker 1: in the tunnel there when York attempted that fifty four
Speaker 1: yard field goal and he pushed it right that side
Speaker 1: of the stadium. Everybody's going crazy thinking that he made it.
Speaker 1: You know, it was it was that close. So it
Speaker 1: took me almost like five seconds to get my bearings
Speaker 1: to realize that he actually missed it. But I think
Speaker 1: what everybody was thinking was gonna happen was they would
Speaker 1: punder it away. The Cleveland didn't have any timeouts. You
Speaker 1: make Jacoby Purcette go to the length of the field
Speaker 1: and make him use his arm to get them in
Speaker 1: field goal range, and obviously a different outcome. And sometimes
Speaker 1: I think you said it to me yesterday, it's better
Speaker 1: to be lucky than good, right I did. I did
Speaker 1: say that. Yeah, man, where where to start? UM? Crazy
Speaker 1: final five minutes. UM. I thought the game was over
Speaker 1: after the Alohi interception. I thought we were going to
Speaker 1: milk the clock out, um, and that that was it. UM.
Speaker 1: I was worried when Cleveland had the ball at the
Speaker 1: nine or whatever it was, because I thought they were
Speaker 1: gonna score a touchdown, just kind of given the chaos,
Speaker 1: like like Hailey said, the chaos that was unfolding. UM.
Speaker 1: In terms of the fourth down, I like it. I'll
Speaker 1: just come out and say it. I like the aggressiveness, UM.
Speaker 1: And I get what people are saying, Oh, punted away
Speaker 1: and then you try to play defense and and sure
Speaker 1: and and it's a it's a backup, you know, starting.
Speaker 1: You know, uh, it's it's essentially a backup quarterback, right
Speaker 1: with with Brissette. Um. Maybe if it did a different quarterback,
Speaker 1: maybe it's a different situation. Um. But I like it
Speaker 1: because if you get it, the game is over. It's
Speaker 1: one hundred percent the game is over. And the matchup
Speaker 1: was good. It was Mike Williams on a rookie corner
Speaker 1: and it just didn't didn't hit. Um. If they had
Speaker 1: hit it, people are people gonna say, oh man, that's
Speaker 1: a great call. Like I agree with what coaches saying
Speaker 1: that you have to trust your process and trust your
Speaker 1: numbers and your mindset and your your data and all that,
Speaker 1: and whether it works or not, that shouldn't differentiate you
Speaker 1: from making the call. Um, And I totally understand that
Speaker 1: it didn't work. So people are going to criticize it,
Speaker 1: and as Hayley said, like if you've been on Twitter,
Speaker 1: you've seen it. It is all over the place. Um,
Speaker 1: people are very mad, very mad. But I just think
Speaker 1: that that's the aggressiveness that the Chargers have shown like
Speaker 1: before I got here, like last year, and that's what
Speaker 1: they They didn't show it much early in the year,
Speaker 1: but they have in the last couple of weeks, and
Speaker 1: I just think you have to have that mindset. If
Speaker 1: that's where you're gonna be, then then be it. And
Speaker 1: that's what they've shown. Sure we can say now that
Speaker 1: they got lucky, and they probably did with the midfield goal,
Speaker 1: but it worked, and I think you just trust the
Speaker 1: process and you just stay the course and coach that
Speaker 1: the next time that they're in that situation, they're going
Speaker 1: forward again. So I don't know why people are going
Speaker 1: to be mad about it, because we know what they're
Speaker 1: going to do. Coach Daily after the game quote, we
Speaker 1: believe in our process. We believe in our players on
Speaker 1: both sides. We were coming out here on the road
Speaker 1: to win this game, not kick it and then go
Speaker 1: hope to win. I believed our defense would get a
Speaker 1: stop if we didn't make it, because I knew that
Speaker 1: we could cover them. Later went on to say, there
Speaker 1: was no way I was taking our offense out of
Speaker 1: the field at the end of the game. So to
Speaker 1: your point, Eric, I think coach is this is this
Speaker 1: is what he believes, and that's their process, and that's
Speaker 1: what they did. They improved to three and two. They
Speaker 1: have the Denver Broncos on Monday Night football with an
Speaker 1: opportunity to go four and two and two and one
Speaker 1: in the division. There's a lot of mediocrity in the
Speaker 1: NFL right now. I would say maybe one, maybe the Bills,
Speaker 1: maybe the Chiefs, and the NFC Easts right now are
Speaker 1: the teams that are playing the best ball. Huh Yeah,
Speaker 1: who knew? Right, the NFC East except for Washington, everybody
Speaker 1: else four and ozer or five and zero, four and one,
Speaker 1: four and one, So three and two, you're right, You're
Speaker 1: right in the mix, and you have an opportunity to
Speaker 1: take on a Denver Broncos team who's obviously railing. Their
Speaker 1: quarterback is railing, they have injuries on both sides of
Speaker 1: the football, and we can get into that game later
Speaker 1: on in this podcast. But Haley, if you would have
Speaker 1: told me the Chargers, dead last in rushing offense, would
Speaker 1: out rush the most prolific running attack in football and
Speaker 1: they would combine for four hundred and fifty plus yards
Speaker 1: of rushing offense, I don't think. I don't think I
Speaker 1: would have an answer for I don't know what I
Speaker 1: would have said. I'm not sure what I would have said.
Speaker 1: Austin Eckler kind of set the tone with the seventy
Speaker 1: one yard rush Josh Kelly. I think they took note
Speaker 1: of what Josh Kelly has done through the first quarter
Speaker 1: of the season and limited touches. You got ten touches
Speaker 1: for forty nine yards at a touchdown. Austin obviously did
Speaker 1: this thing. And hats off to the offensive line. And
Speaker 1: you know the fact that Jamari saw your was up
Speaker 1: all Miles Garrett and I realized that there was some
Speaker 1: game planning in there. Get the ball out of your
Speaker 1: hands quickly. You have to give this offensive line a
Speaker 1: ton of credit for not only keeping justin clean, but
Speaker 1: opening up these huge holes and out rushing the Browns
Speaker 1: in their home. Yeah. I mean they got a game ball, right,
Speaker 1: a collective game ball after it, and they so deserved it. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think I go back to Joe Lombardi. I think
Speaker 1: it was just last week where he was asked, you know,
Speaker 1: how do you get the run game going? How do
Speaker 1: you get this kind of turned around? And he said,
Speaker 1: you know, it comes down to execution, but it comes
Speaker 1: down to everyone working together and doing a better job collectively.
Speaker 1: And I think that's what you saw yesterday. I think
Speaker 1: as good as you know, Austin is and Joshua has
Speaker 1: shown promise as well. I think when it comes down
Speaker 1: to that offensive line, and maybe again they faced some injuries,
Speaker 1: they've they've battled through some stuff. Trey went out at
Speaker 1: some point, he came back in yesterday. A lot of it,
Speaker 1: I think is just cohesion and working together. Again, we've
Speaker 1: talked about this a lot, but no preseason snaps, I mean,
Speaker 1: and there are a couple different pieces on that line
Speaker 1: at least Zion and now you have saw you're in
Speaker 1: there as well. But it just came down to everyone,
Speaker 1: I think, working and rushing together. And again, it's so
Speaker 1: funny when you mentioned it, just sort of the tenor
Speaker 1: of the run game in total with over four hundred
Speaker 1: fifty combine yards between these two teams. Because I was
Speaker 1: in the locker room last week and I was asking
Speaker 1: a couple of guys on this defense who played in
Speaker 1: this game against Cleveland last year, you know, what are
Speaker 1: you expecting? Like what do you remember about that game?
Speaker 1: And they just didn't want to talk about it because
Speaker 1: they were like, defensively, we did not have a good
Speaker 1: day because it became a shootout. This became like a groundout,
Speaker 1: if you will, I mean, both teams were just running
Speaker 1: it and just running in and running it, and I
Speaker 1: think from the Chargers perspective, it was just extremely encouraging
Speaker 1: because you hadn't seen it really up until this point.
Speaker 1: And when you talk about justin Herbert and you talk
Speaker 1: about what he has been dealing with physically, it's only
Speaker 1: going to help and it takes the pressure off. And
Speaker 1: so when you kind of couple that with you mentioned
Speaker 1: the sort of quick passing game that they certainly attacked
Speaker 1: yesterday and getting it out really quickly, you could see
Speaker 1: how beneficial it is when it sort of all comes together.
Speaker 1: You know, it wasn't perfect, For instance, that Eckler's seventy
Speaker 1: one yard run turned into a field goal, and it
Speaker 1: would have been nice to get you know, six there
Speaker 1: instead of three seven total. But but in the end,
Speaker 1: I think you've seen promise over these last two weeks
Speaker 1: and it just goes to show you it's a long
Speaker 1: season and sometimes things take time to just kind of
Speaker 1: get your legs literally under you and get going. As
Speaker 1: now we sort of trend into this next quarter chunk
Speaker 1: of the season, but these are the things you want
Speaker 1: to see at this point versus it's still going backwards.
Speaker 1: How about this for balance? There at thirty passing attempts,
Speaker 1: thirty four rushes. Mike Williams continues to be a beast
Speaker 1: on the road ten for one thirty four. He has
Speaker 1: over one hundred yards in every single road game this season.
Speaker 1: Continue to kind of have the passing game run through Mike.
Speaker 1: Outside of that, though, the receiving numbers Josh Kelly was
Speaker 1: number two, two to thirty three, four for twenty six
Speaker 1: for Austin and Josh Palmer three for twenty four. That
Speaker 1: was the only other receiver to have a double digit
Speaker 1: receiving yards. So I think you're starting to see just
Speaker 1: what Keenan Allen means to this passing attack. But to
Speaker 1: get the running game going, I think you'll take it
Speaker 1: for sure. And just imagine the pressure that takes off
Speaker 1: of the passing attack. Because really, in the first, you know, four,
Speaker 1: a game that was conjesting kind of willeth to a
Speaker 1: win because the running game had had been doing almost nothing,
Speaker 1: And that steventy wide yard run is almost as much
Speaker 1: as they had in the first in week one or
Speaker 1: week two, I mean, you're like, hey, here we are.
Speaker 1: You know, we're already we're already there and then you
Speaker 1: had to run for almost two fifty is incredible, you know.
Speaker 1: But I asked coach daily about that after the game.
Speaker 1: I said, you know, how did the run game get going?
Speaker 1: And then why was that important? He said, we don't
Speaker 1: want to be known as the passing team, even though
Speaker 1: we have you know this is me talking now, but
Speaker 1: even though we have a star quarterback, you have to
Speaker 1: have some sort of balance because otherwise eventually it's not
Speaker 1: gonna work and teams are just gonna load up. You know.
Speaker 1: We saw that again. I think Jacksonville was we only
Speaker 1: had twenty six rushing yards and Justin had a good day,
Speaker 1: but it didn't work, you know, So having that balance
Speaker 1: it's okay. I want to touch on on Josh Kelly
Speaker 1: because I know, you know my Twitter mentions and probably
Speaker 1: everyone else's too, was like, why isn't he playing more?
Speaker 1: Coach said yesterday that, you know, the preseason in regular
Speaker 1: season are two different things. I think we all saw
Speaker 1: him ball out in the pre even and we thought, oh, well,
Speaker 1: he's RB two, He's going to be the guy. Then
Speaker 1: we signed signed Sony. You know, there's a little bit
Speaker 1: of a battle there, um and it was pretty even.
Speaker 1: You know, through the first four games of playing time
Speaker 1: and snaps and all that, Yesterday was not I think
Speaker 1: JK played twenty seven snaps and Sony played two. So
Speaker 1: that was the first like clear sign that that JK
Speaker 1: is RB two and he's learned that, you know, he's
Speaker 1: learned that. Eric reject he has learned that. And I'd
Speaker 1: say this week one, we saw it like there was
Speaker 1: a drive where he he was so instrumental in in
Speaker 1: a in a touchdown drive. He's just getting limited touches.
Speaker 1: But even through the first four games of the regular season,
Speaker 1: it was clear to see the Josh was running with
Speaker 1: a lot of power, um, a completely different back than
Speaker 1: he was last year. And you know, I'm just glad
Speaker 1: to see he finally get rewarded. He needs double digit
Speaker 1: touches per game bottom line. Agreed, Agree, And I wonder
Speaker 1: if the struggles in the running game limited his chances, because, um,
Speaker 1: obviously Austin is going to be the top guy. But
Speaker 1: then if the running game isn't working, we have to
Speaker 1: rely on the path. In theory, that's just gonna limit
Speaker 1: h chances to run the ball, even if he is
Speaker 1: running it well, because we're just not going to run
Speaker 1: the ball that much at all. But I'm in agreement
Speaker 1: with you. I think I think he needs to be
Speaker 1: more involved. I mean, he was and he produced you yesterday, Haley.
Speaker 1: I go to this defense and I know they're missing
Speaker 1: Joey Bosa, but you know, in large part they're intact.
Speaker 1: Stopping the run has been an issue all year and
Speaker 1: that has to get tightened up at some point. You know,
Speaker 1: you bring in Sebastian, You're bring in Austin in Khalil
Speaker 1: Livelish obviously, who has a track record to being strong
Speaker 1: against the run. We knew what this was gonna be
Speaker 1: with Chubb and Hunt and it turned out that way.
Speaker 1: I don't think we were expecting what the Chargers did
Speaker 1: on the on the ground, but starting with obviously not
Speaker 1: having Javonte Williams is going to be a big deal,
Speaker 1: but you have Melvin Gordon in the backfield and just
Speaker 1: moving forward with you know, Penny and Kenneth Walker the
Speaker 1: following week, they're gonna have to stop the run and
Speaker 1: they're gonna have to get into habit of making that
Speaker 1: a staple of this defense. Yeah, I think, you know,
Speaker 1: when I look at the defensive report yesterday, Derwin James
Speaker 1: led the team with fourteen total tackles, and when we
Speaker 1: talked about sort of the impact that he made last
Speaker 1: year on this Chargers team, the caveat the flip side was, well,
Speaker 1: guys are getting to that second level and it shouldn't
Speaker 1: be all derwin to be able to contain and sort
Speaker 1: of wrap up and try to clean up at that point.
Speaker 1: You need more pressure at the point of attack. You know.
Speaker 1: The other thing I noticed yesterday they barely got pressure
Speaker 1: too on Jacoby Presette Brissette in terms of just no
Speaker 1: sacks and and things of that sort. And I think,
Speaker 1: you know, that's another thing, and we saw it to
Speaker 1: me at the beginning of that Kansas City game. They
Speaker 1: looked so fast and again Joey, I know was in
Speaker 1: that game, but they looked so fast, and they just
Speaker 1: you felt it like we were so high up in
Speaker 1: that press box, but you just felt sort of that
Speaker 1: that like Mahomes couldn't do anything, that this defense was
Speaker 1: just flying at him. And I think they kind of
Speaker 1: just need to get back to that. But you mention it.
Speaker 1: I mean, with Melvin Gordon coming up, I think Rashad
Speaker 1: Penny might have fractured a leg yesterday so his status
Speaker 1: for Seattle TBD. But regardless, you have Derrick Henry coming
Speaker 1: up later in the season with Tennessee. You were going
Speaker 1: to be facing a litany of really good running backs
Speaker 1: in this league, and you need you just you have
Speaker 1: to do it. You have to stop it. Try to
Speaker 1: make teams one dimensional in that sense too. But you know,
Speaker 1: it's one of those things that you mentioned it. These
Speaker 1: guys are largely intact. Jacy Jackson obviously, I know we're
Speaker 1: talking about the run defense, but he's back there in
Speaker 1: the secondary now relatively healthy. I think you can say
Speaker 1: he's you know, played the last couple of games. It
Speaker 1: definitely needs to be short up and needs to be
Speaker 1: cleaned up. And again maybe this is a product of
Speaker 1: just not really having a whole lot of playing time together.
Speaker 1: But now as you trend into this second quarter of
Speaker 1: this season, just like the rushing offense has gotten better,
Speaker 1: the rushing defense now kind of needs to turn that
Speaker 1: corner and get things tightened up. And Eric, we finally
Speaker 1: saw them outscore an appointent in the second half going
Speaker 1: into today seventy six to thirty one, or going into
Speaker 1: yesterday rather seventy six to thirty one. The Chargers were
Speaker 1: outscored the first four games of the year. In the
Speaker 1: second half, they outscored the Browns thirteen to seven. They
Speaker 1: kind of come alive in that third quarter. And for
Speaker 1: the second consecutive week. You know, we we'll give the
Speaker 1: defense props. Here. You close with the interception that should
Speaker 1: have been the game ceiling interception from ALOHI, yeah, it
Speaker 1: should have been. I think that's what we can agree on. Yeah,
Speaker 1: all week. You know, we heard last week how we
Speaker 1: need to be better than the second half and especially
Speaker 1: the third quarter, believe it or not, Like I almost
Speaker 1: didn't believe it when I looked at the stats on
Speaker 1: the flight home at night. But the Chargers picked the
Speaker 1: shutout in the fourth quarter, which I didn't really believe
Speaker 1: because it was such a crazy game. But but they did.
Speaker 1: You know, that missfield goal helps. Yeah, the pick by
Speaker 1: Lohe was incredible. Um. You know, he obviously made his
Speaker 1: first start of the season in place of Nassar Adderley.
Speaker 1: For that, coaches said he wanted to see some competition,
Speaker 1: you know. I mean, I think we can all agree
Speaker 1: the defense hasn't been, you know, as potent as we
Speaker 1: thought they could be, you know, especially given all the
Speaker 1: big names on that side of the ball, and the
Speaker 1: back end had been struggling in certain areas, you know,
Speaker 1: whether it's the run defense like we've seen, whether it's
Speaker 1: given up big pass plays, and they felt like they
Speaker 1: wanted to give Lowe a chance in there, and he
Speaker 1: stepped up. Um, you know, in terms of the pick.
Speaker 1: I asked him about it in the locker room and
Speaker 1: he said it was almost like speaking of Kansas City Hayley,
Speaker 1: he likened it to like a play that Mahome would make,
Speaker 1: kind of getting outside the pocket and then it's like, Okay,
Speaker 1: they're gonna run it, they're gonna pass. Low said he
Speaker 1: was looking at Jacobe dead in the eye. They were
Speaker 1: eye to eye, and he kind of baited him and
Speaker 1: to throw them that pick. He kind of moved up
Speaker 1: a little bit like he was gonna get him to
Speaker 1: fort Jakobe to throw. And then Jacobe threw it and
Speaker 1: he backed up, and you know, the ball was right
Speaker 1: to him, right to him. It was a great play,
Speaker 1: and sometimes you just kind of need those breaks to
Speaker 1: go your way. So yeah, proped to it. Oh he
Speaker 1: for coming up clutch. I agree. I still think the
Speaker 1: defense is a work in progress, something we probably wouldn't
Speaker 1: want to say heading into week sixth, but I guess
Speaker 1: you just keep at it, keep at it, and keep
Speaker 1: trying to get better. Let me apologize in advance. Here.
Speaker 1: We're twenty two minutes into this podcast and I haven't
Speaker 1: mentioned Taylor Berts to let how about our guy Taylor
Speaker 1: Man three field goals, three extra points. He was clutch
Speaker 1: on the road. Um, he got a game ball and Hilly,
Speaker 1: I mean, listen, thirty to twenty eight. Your backup kicker
Speaker 1: comes in, makes all his kicks. He was the difference
Speaker 1: in the ball game. He was, I mean in in
Speaker 1: a tough place to play too, Cleveland's That's that's a
Speaker 1: hard place. In terms of midges, you got midges everywhere,
Speaker 1: got ye are okay? And uh? I mean I heard
Speaker 1: they're relatively harmless. But um, the backstory of the Haley
Speaker 1: Elvit story of the last couple of weeks, I've been
Speaker 1: dealing with a lot of bug bites and I wanted
Speaker 1: nothing to do with that. So I'm very happy that
Speaker 1: I was on my couch southern California. That Um, it's
Speaker 1: a yeah, that that's what you want. I mean, you
Speaker 1: want that kid to come in make all the extra points,
Speaker 1: all the kicks and not have it be the difference
Speaker 1: in the game. You know, we're not sitting here today
Speaker 1: looking at oh, well, that miss field goal in the
Speaker 1: second quarter. You know it could have been a six
Speaker 1: point you know, five point lad at the end instead
Speaker 1: of two or whatever. It is like you're you're looking
Speaker 1: at it from an entirely positive perspective, and that's a
Speaker 1: that's a job. The kid had never he had never kicked,
Speaker 1: he had never made points in the NFL before he
Speaker 1: bounced around a bunch of different teams. Um. I think
Speaker 1: Jeff Miller noted he's three years older than Joey Bosa
Speaker 1: or something like that. I think. But uh, but it
Speaker 1: doesn't matter, right. That's sort of the beauty of the
Speaker 1: NFL that it's a week to weekly gets the ultimate
Speaker 1: reality shows, I like to say. And every week you
Speaker 1: get a kid, you get a guy who might come in,
Speaker 1: doesn't matter where he came from. But if he has
Speaker 1: the performance like he has, that's incredible. And yeah, you
Speaker 1: mentioned it, he got a game ball. Good for him.
Speaker 1: The only thing I'll say, Eric, is it twenty eight
Speaker 1: yard field goal, twenty five yard field goal, twenty seven
Speaker 1: yard field goal. That means that the red zone offense
Speaker 1: wasn't punching it in. So you know, if they were
Speaker 1: forty and fifty, it'd be one thing. The red zone
Speaker 1: offense he used to convert gets six instead of three. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I was going to touch on that. Props the Taylor
Speaker 1: for sure. I mean I wouldn't even call him a
Speaker 1: backup kicker because he only got here on Thursday. It
Speaker 1: wasn't like he was around, you know, I mean, he
Speaker 1: just I don't even know where he was on Monday
Speaker 1: last week, but he was here. Yeah. Propped to him
Speaker 1: coming up clutch. Yeah, the red zone offense kind of
Speaker 1: stalled out. We mentioned the seventy one yard run that
Speaker 1: led to a field goal, and at the time it
Speaker 1: was fourteen nothing. We're down fourteen nothing, and I wondered, man,
Speaker 1: like we really needed seven there to get back in it.
Speaker 1: It worked out because you know, after going down fourteen nothing,
Speaker 1: we rallied back to I think the seventeen not answered,
Speaker 1: which which is good, good fight. Like, I mean, I
Speaker 1: think that's one thing that got locked a little bit
Speaker 1: yesterday was you know, the crazy ending and the rushing
Speaker 1: attack and all that we were down fourteen nothing. And
Speaker 1: we could have folded, but we didn't, and I think
Speaker 1: that the credit to the team for getting up off
Speaker 1: the mat and fighting back. But yeah, on the flip
Speaker 1: side of that too, if you turn the under thirty
Speaker 1: yard field goals into touchdown, then we're not talking about
Speaker 1: the fourth and two at the end of the game,
Speaker 1: you know, we're just talking about how great they offense
Speaker 1: did when they scored, you know, forty plus points in
Speaker 1: a tough place to play. All right, guys, let's push
Speaker 1: you forward to Denver and Haley. We talked about this
Speaker 1: on the podcast a couple of weeks ago, how we
Speaker 1: can look ahead a little bit, and you looked back
Speaker 1: to back road situation with Houston and Cleveland, and if
Speaker 1: you win both of them, you're three and two. All
Speaker 1: of a sudden, you got the Broncos on Monday Night
Speaker 1: football in your place with a chance to go four
Speaker 1: and two and two and one in the division. That's
Speaker 1: exactly how it's played out. I will say this about Denver,
Speaker 1: for as poor as they've looked offensively, they've been really
Speaker 1: good on defense. I know they have a lot of injuries,
Speaker 1: but Russell Wilson and company have had to hear about
Speaker 1: how poor they've been over this first quarter of the season,
Speaker 1: and they're gonna have ten days before Monday and night football,
Speaker 1: So a METI buy for them, and you can expect
Speaker 1: their best shot. Yeah. I have no idea what to
Speaker 1: make of the Denver Broncos. I am just perplexed that
Speaker 1: Thursday night game was so crazy. But I'll say this,
Speaker 1: and it's to piggyback off of what you said. I
Speaker 1: don't think they want to get embarrassed on national television again,
Speaker 1: and I think they are going to give their best effort.
Speaker 1: The Broncos have been one of those teams with the
Speaker 1: Chargers over the last couple of years. You split like
Speaker 1: that's been sort of a win loss, kind of one
Speaker 1: in one situation. And as we got into this season,
Speaker 1: you know, you have this weird feeling of, well, now
Speaker 1: they actually have a quarterback, like a very competent Super
Speaker 1: Bowl winning quarterback who doesn't really look like it at
Speaker 1: this point right now. And I know he's dealing with
Speaker 1: some shoulder stuff or whatever it is, but it just
Speaker 1: seems to me that I just don't think they're going
Speaker 1: to lay down and die like I think at some
Speaker 1: point they're probably going to turn it around the AFC
Speaker 1: West is so freaking weird. I mean, bottom line, you
Speaker 1: just never know what's going to happen week to week.
Speaker 1: But defensively, you mention it, they are very good, and
Speaker 1: they did deal with some injuries, but again they had
Speaker 1: that Thursday night game. They're on this mini buy, you know,
Speaker 1: kind of like with Herbert and the rib cartilage, he
Speaker 1: had that extra time to try to hopefully get back,
Speaker 1: which he did against Jacksonville. You think that maybe they're
Speaker 1: going to get some of these guys back, But I
Speaker 1: just think that you just can't count this team out
Speaker 1: regardless of how Like I said, I don't know what
Speaker 1: to make of them at this point. Offensively, defensively they're
Speaker 1: pretty good, but you just can't look at this as
Speaker 1: sort of a cakewalk despite what we may have all
Speaker 1: have seen a couple like a Thursday ago, because again,
Speaker 1: these two teams are just it's just so weird. Divisional
Speaker 1: games are just so weird, and you have to go
Speaker 1: in just knowing they're kind of a wounded animal right
Speaker 1: now that again does not want to get embarrassed because
Speaker 1: they have had to hear for ten days what's been
Speaker 1: going on with them and in their building, and there
Speaker 1: are a lot of people that were like, we never
Speaker 1: want to see the Broncos on national television again. We'll
Speaker 1: congrats you get it on Monday Night against the Chargers,
Speaker 1: and I just don't. I just don't see them having
Speaker 1: that same type of performance unless you know, they just
Speaker 1: aren't very good. But I think that game will tell
Speaker 1: you a lot, and you just certainly have to be
Speaker 1: on top of it. And I think from the Chargers
Speaker 1: defensive perspective, you have to be on it. You have
Speaker 1: to be on it from the get go. An offensive
Speaker 1: you need to find ways to find creases in that defense,
Speaker 1: because they were pretty good. They were pretty good against
Speaker 1: against the Colts a couple of weeks. You know, however,
Speaker 1: many days ago Eric would give you the final word here.
Speaker 1: And you know, for as tough as it's been for
Speaker 1: the Charges to get to this point at three and
Speaker 1: two m I feel like these first five games almost
Speaker 1: has felt like a season, right the three and two.
Speaker 1: If you beat the Broncos on Monday Football, you're four
Speaker 1: and two, and two and one in the AFC West,
Speaker 1: with the Seahawks at your place before you go to
Speaker 1: the by it's a it's a golden opportunity to get
Speaker 1: to five and two with frankly not playing your best
Speaker 1: ball and being able to reset for a really tough
Speaker 1: back half of this twenty twenty two regular season schedule. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I was gonna say, for as much as we a
Speaker 1: couple of weeks ago, looked at the two game road
Speaker 1: stretch of huge in Cleveland, Okay, this is kind of
Speaker 1: a big, big opportunity to get above five hundred, to
Speaker 1: get to three and two. These next two home games,
Speaker 1: they're almost in the same basket of Hey, keep it
Speaker 1: going for two more weeks, you know, get pretty much
Speaker 1: give it all you have before you get to the buy,
Speaker 1: because that the buy, you can have your break and
Speaker 1: your rest. But if you can win the next two
Speaker 1: and you're five and two at the buy, that look,
Speaker 1: that looked pretty solid considering the injury, then the crazy
Speaker 1: games and just like you said, the chaos of the
Speaker 1: first you know, five seven games, whatever it is, Yeah,
Speaker 1: it feels like a season. I mean, I'm tired already
Speaker 1: and it's who are not even at mid October yet? Um,
Speaker 1: you know I need that buy for sure. Maybe it's
Speaker 1: that baby at home that's keeping me awake, but yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, that's um. It's a big two game stretch.
Speaker 1: And in terms of the Broncos, I don't think you
Speaker 1: can count them out. Like Hayley said, like you have
Speaker 1: to throw out the record throughout the numbers. Anything can
Speaker 1: happen when you play teams in the FT West. I
Speaker 1: think they're gonna come out strong, and I think I'm
Speaker 1: an agreement with hay The Chargers need to be ready
Speaker 1: to go because the national perception maybe of Denver right
Speaker 1: now with oh, you know, they're they're they're struggling, you know,
Speaker 1: and then they're gonna hear about that. They're gonna come
Speaker 1: and fired up, and we have to be ready for
Speaker 1: that for sure. Yeah, Monday Night Football Chargers a big stage.
Speaker 1: They get to three and two and the three wins
Speaker 1: all coming against AFC opponents, which could mean something as
Speaker 1: we get closer to January if the Chargers are in contention.
Speaker 1: But looking forward to Monday Night at so Far Stadium,
Speaker 1: it's always fun when this team is on a national
Speaker 1: stage and you add in an AFC West opponent and
Speaker 1: Russell Wilson and everything that that brings. Should be interesting
Speaker 1: in Englewood next Monday Night. All right, guys, it's gonna
Speaker 1: do it for us, for Eric Smith and Haleio Wood.
Speaker 1: I'm Chris Hayry. This has been the final drive