Speaker 1: The late fifteen ten touchdown. What's up, guys, Welcome into
Speaker 1: a bye week edition of Chargers Weekly, as always, joined
Speaker 1: by Matt Money. Smith bolts on a much needed bye
Speaker 1: four and three at dead bye with Atlanta on deck
Speaker 1: and Money, I guess we could start with the Seattle game.
Speaker 1: It wasn't what everybody envisioned. Uh, you go down seventeen nothing,
Speaker 1: You're outscored forty one to three in the last three games,
Speaker 1: in the first quarter, a slow start, a tough finish,
Speaker 1: and that's the result. Four and three. Yeah, it's um.
Speaker 1: You know again, I assume we'll probably just start with
Speaker 1: with Seattle and get into that. And yeah, I think
Speaker 1: look when we were talking, you know, on this we're
Speaker 1: we're discussing a six and one and five and two
Speaker 1: and how great will that be? And look at you
Speaker 1: said four and three, you said four three. I mean
Speaker 1: there's still you know, they are, they're still in the playoffs. Technically,
Speaker 1: they'd beat the seventh spot, they'd be the very last
Speaker 1: team in the playoffs of the season ended today. Play
Speaker 1: in the Chiefs in the wildcard round not ideal. I
Speaker 1: think it's less about the record and just kind of
Speaker 1: more about the way they looked and some of the
Speaker 1: concerns there, and just it's been a very I think
Speaker 1: the best word I can use is curious. It's been
Speaker 1: a very curious pattern. And again I never speculate on
Speaker 1: medical because what the look, I barely know what I'm
Speaker 1: talking about when it comes to football, let alone, you know,
Speaker 1: medical conditions. But just like Justin just doesn't look right.
Speaker 1: It just it does not look like the Justin Herbert
Speaker 1: that we are used to seeing, the decision making, the
Speaker 1: just sort of unwillingness to push the ball downfield. And look,
Speaker 1: so much goes into that protection pass catchers that are available.
Speaker 1: You know, what did the play call for? We have
Speaker 1: no idea what you know, where's his hot read? Where's
Speaker 1: he supposed to go? But you know, this is a
Speaker 1: team that is in the very bottom of the NFL
Speaker 1: on offense in explosive plays, and at the very bottom
Speaker 1: of explosive plays allowed on defense. And that is a
Speaker 1: that is a rough combo. Man, when when you're watching
Speaker 1: you know, when you're watching Kenneth Walker take it to
Speaker 1: the house on a pitch, you know, and every week
Speaker 1: we seemingly have one of these explosive plays, especially in
Speaker 1: the run game and meanwhile, you've just got nothing downfield
Speaker 1: from the offense. Um. It's something that we ask you know,
Speaker 1: Coach Staley about on our on our radio show earlier
Speaker 1: this week, and it's clear they're trying to figure it out.
Speaker 1: But to me, like that's the one thing that's really
Speaker 1: raised its hand and I am certainly concerned about it,
Speaker 1: is just how many explosive plays are being allowed and
Speaker 1: how few explosive plays we're seeing on offense. Yeah, well
Speaker 1: let's break it down like offense, defense, and then just
Speaker 1: the injuries. I think offensively, I think what's concerning. So
Speaker 1: I just talked to Austin Ekeler for something we're doing
Speaker 1: for CBOLA. He has fifty three receptions this year money
Speaker 1: he is eighteen more than the next running back in
Speaker 1: the NFL, Christian McCaffrey. A lot of dump offs to Austin,
Speaker 1: which proves your point of not getting the ball down
Speaker 1: the field. They have not been able to run the
Speaker 1: ball efficiently and consistently. They were end the ball I
Speaker 1: think twelve times against Seattle, who was thirty first in
Speaker 1: rushing defense. They allowed one hundred and sixty six nine
Speaker 1: ninety five for the season entering week seven and they
Speaker 1: couldn't run the ball for whatever reason. And you know,
Speaker 1: Lindsley was back and I realized, no, Rashaan Slater. Now
Speaker 1: Keenan comes back. He was on a pitch count. You know,
Speaker 1: he didn't play in the second half. Mike Williams goes down,
Speaker 1: which is gonna be a huge loss potentially, I think
Speaker 1: coach Daley said weeks not days. So there's a lot
Speaker 1: of factors there. The wide receivers, right, if you have
Speaker 1: a Keenan who's less than one hundred percent, no Mike
Speaker 1: Williams against Atlanta, no Jalen Giton who was their fastest receiver.
Speaker 1: What do you do to get the ball down the field.
Speaker 1: And and to your point about Justin, I think that
Speaker 1: rib injury is something man, it's it's something that we
Speaker 1: were told it's not going to go away overnight. And
Speaker 1: he's still I think playing through some pain. He has
Speaker 1: fewer offensive linemen, uh he then he came in with
Speaker 1: and fewer weapons on the outside. Hello, I mean appreciate
Speaker 1: Keenan trying to go, but there's fourteen snaps, you know.
Speaker 1: It's that's it. It's that's all he was able to play.
Speaker 1: You mentioned Mike going down and just when you look
Speaker 1: at the receiving corps, you know that clearly you know
Speaker 1: Michael Bandy and you know is you know, Bandy is
Speaker 1: on as he's being asked to do things that he
Speaker 1: shouldn't be asked to do, I think is the best
Speaker 1: way I can put it. And also you can just
Speaker 1: tell that he and Herbert are not in sync. You know,
Speaker 1: there's balls being put in spots where for whatever reason,
Speaker 1: Bandy's not there. He's not quite there yet, and there's
Speaker 1: just that chemistry. He's not there, So that's an issue. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, guyding like his loss cannot be overstated. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the teams just they're not they're not honoring I mean,
Speaker 1: you're talking about one of the strongest arms. You know,
Speaker 1: it's between he and Josh Allen for the strongest arm
Speaker 1: in the NFL, and defenses just don't care. They're they're
Speaker 1: not honoring it. They don't think he's gonna push the
Speaker 1: ball downfield, and if he does, they're they're not worried about,
Speaker 1: you know, not being deeper than the deepest. So you
Speaker 1: know that's leading to the lack of a run game.
Speaker 1: The box is just stacked. You know, they're squatting on
Speaker 1: routes and you know they're getting tips and interceptions. There
Speaker 1: should have been two interceptions, you know in that game,
Speaker 1: Um that were just flat drops. I mean hitting guys.
Speaker 1: Michael Jackson got hit right between the numbers, you know,
Speaker 1: on one. So and it's because they're squatting, because they're like, yeah,
Speaker 1: he his balls and not getting pushed down field. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna jump routes. I'm gonna watch these guys and they're
Speaker 1: gonna be sticks and I'm gonna jump it. And you know,
Speaker 1: Guyden would at least offer that threat when he's taken
Speaker 1: off you out of you know, he's got four three
Speaker 1: speed and you're going to send a safety that way
Speaker 1: or at least some help, or you're gonna have a
Speaker 1: corner playing way off of him. So like, none of
Speaker 1: that's happening, and I think that's contributing to the last
Speaker 1: lack of success in the run game. And you know,
Speaker 1: I'm just looking at I got the game pulled up
Speaker 1: right now, and like, you know, the flip side of
Speaker 1: that is, I mean, well, you know what, we can
Speaker 1: just stay there. We'll get to the pass rush in
Speaker 1: a second and just the defense in a second. But
Speaker 1: you know, I don't know what the answer is. You know,
Speaker 1: it looked like early on like DeAndre Carter was going
Speaker 1: to be a nice addition, and look, man, he was open.
Speaker 1: He was open on a touchdown throw, and he was
Speaker 1: open on after it was seventeen fourteen. There was another
Speaker 1: play where he's there. I mean, he's he's got a
Speaker 1: step on his guy streaking and it's just a check
Speaker 1: down to Austin. And like I said, I think there's
Speaker 1: I don't know what it is. I wish I wish
Speaker 1: I knew. I'm sure Joe and you know, Coach Lombardi
Speaker 1: and Coach Staey have better answers than I do, and
Speaker 1: so does Justin Herbert and the guys that are in
Speaker 1: the middle of it all. But man, when when you
Speaker 1: sit where we sit, you know, we have a much
Speaker 1: different perspective than the players themselves. I mean, we've got
Speaker 1: the All twenty two in front of us when we're
Speaker 1: calling the game. We're up on the seventh level, so
Speaker 1: we can see it all, you know, and I'm just
Speaker 1: trying to figure out, you know, why the shots aren't
Speaker 1: being taken, you know, and what because the pockets, you know,
Speaker 1: it's it's all right, it's there, you know, and we
Speaker 1: know how good Justin's been in the pocket, climbing it, moving,
Speaker 1: rolling out to extend plays, to use that arm of his,
Speaker 1: and it just has not happened, has not happened at
Speaker 1: all since really since Kansas City. You know, there are
Speaker 1: a couple of shots in the in the Cleveland game,
Speaker 1: but not really. It's just been really one check down
Speaker 1: and routes getting broken off ever since then. And you
Speaker 1: know that's I think you mentioned it, Chris. Part of
Speaker 1: me wonders, you know, kind of what you said, which is,
Speaker 1: are those ribs a lot worse than they're letting on
Speaker 1: and they're trying to protect the long term of their
Speaker 1: franchise as opposed to, you know, allowing him to maybe
Speaker 1: take some shots in the short term to try to
Speaker 1: get some wins here twenty twenty two. Yeah, and you
Speaker 1: know they even said it, I think coach they said
Speaker 1: it after either the Jacksonville game or whatever was after that,
Speaker 1: is that that's not going to go away overnight, Like
Speaker 1: this rib injury is something that that may linger offensively money.
Speaker 1: What do they do against Atlanta? Like I'm trying to
Speaker 1: think of the guys coming back, let's say, Keenan's back
Speaker 1: and Mike is not going to be out there, you
Speaker 1: get Palmer and Palm hopefully back after they were in
Speaker 1: concussion protocol. There has to be a commitment to running
Speaker 1: the football. Does Isaiah Spiller get more than one touch?
Speaker 1: What do you do there? Because I think the loss
Speaker 1: of Josh Kelly we didn't really talk about that, but
Speaker 1: that seemed to have hurt this football team on Sunday.
Speaker 1: They need speed, you know, they need speed, and we
Speaker 1: said it before the season. There was speculation that, you know,
Speaker 1: Jamison Williams was there, would they take him at seventeen?
Speaker 1: Is there a speed plays it? Dotson? Is it one
Speaker 1: of these guys that they're going to take to add
Speaker 1: to that receiver room. You know, we talk and we
Speaker 1: don't talk, but you know, it's it's something that I've
Speaker 1: lifted from DJ and he lifted it. I don't know
Speaker 1: which coach he took it from. But you need the
Speaker 1: basketball team and right now they don't have a basketball team.
Speaker 1: You know, they do not have that speed. You know,
Speaker 1: and when I say that, I mean you need the
Speaker 1: guys that can post up, the guys that are super
Speaker 1: athletic and run exceptional routes, and then you need the speed,
Speaker 1: you know, the point guard who's just lightning quick getting
Speaker 1: down the court. That's the idea. They don't have that,
Speaker 1: and I think until they figure out a way to
Speaker 1: get it, um, defenses just aren't going to back off,
Speaker 1: you know. I think that's that that's the main concern is.
Speaker 1: I think it's tough for them to run the ball
Speaker 1: because defenses don't you know, they're just stack in the
Speaker 1: box um and you know what, they're struggling to run
Speaker 1: in light boxes too. I mean there's there's a couple
Speaker 1: of those. So I think, you know, the buye might
Speaker 1: have come at a perfect time. They got two weeks
Speaker 1: to really unpack all this stuff and figure it out.
Speaker 1: Is it? Is it? I guess what I'm like. One
Speaker 1: of the things I really want to sort of what
Speaker 1: I'm trying to point out, is that coach Lombardi has
Speaker 1: taken a ton of incoming. You know, he is Warren sharp,
Speaker 1: and I love Warren. I think he does a great
Speaker 1: job with his football perspectives that he drops every year.
Speaker 1: But he has had it out for Lombardi for a
Speaker 1: while since he got hired. Really, so he's gonna you know,
Speaker 1: exploit any failures on offense to the detriment of coach Lombardi.
Speaker 1: It's not all on him. There's some plays out there,
Speaker 1: and we've got to figure out why the decisions are
Speaker 1: being made in the crux of a play call that
Speaker 1: are being made, because I do think there's some plays
Speaker 1: out there, and I know we've discussed it before that
Speaker 1: Justin's just such a fast processor that the second he
Speaker 1: sees because he's able to scan the whole field, and
Speaker 1: the first guy that he sees open, bang, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: hit him. And for some reason, he's not letting those
Speaker 1: downfield plays develop enough or as soon as he sees
Speaker 1: that player, he's just content to take that and it's
Speaker 1: leaving him with a lot of third downs and it
Speaker 1: just has not It's not been great. It's it's not
Speaker 1: been great on offense. But yeah, to answer your question,
Speaker 1: because I think they need to figure out how to
Speaker 1: take the top off of the defense. They need to
Speaker 1: get some breathing room out there on offense or else
Speaker 1: they're going to continue to struggle running the ball, and
Speaker 1: they're going to struggle and moving the ball because defenses
Speaker 1: are just gonna pack it in and continue to jump
Speaker 1: routes and just play to stop the run. And I
Speaker 1: guess that could potentially be a trade deadline question right
Speaker 1: November first is the trade deadline. Do you make a
Speaker 1: move for a speedy receiver. Do you make a move
Speaker 1: to try to improve the offense knowing the injury situation
Speaker 1: on the offense with Mike and some of the other pieces,
Speaker 1: and also do you try to change the identity of
Speaker 1: the offense right now? Frankly, I'm not sure what the
Speaker 1: identity of the offense is, but or the defense, yeah,
Speaker 1: or the defense. But I use Chicago as an example. Listen,
Speaker 1: you're not gonna make Justin run the ball with those
Speaker 1: ribs like the way Justin Fields ran them. But they
Speaker 1: changed their offense based on their personnel and kind of
Speaker 1: what didn't work the first five or six games of
Speaker 1: the season. What is that? And I don't have the
Speaker 1: answer to this, you know, that's that's something for coach
Speaker 1: Stale and coach Lombardy. But what do you do at
Speaker 1: the buy to maybe say, oh, you know what, this
Speaker 1: is the strength of our team right now as it's
Speaker 1: currently constructed. We have to play this way offensively in
Speaker 1: order to be successful. I don't know what that is, Well,
Speaker 1: I think you know, I think you alluded to it
Speaker 1: at the start of that, Chris, and that's something that
Speaker 1: we we talked about. I think it was three weeks ago. Like,
Speaker 1: it leads me to believe that there's there's not a
Speaker 1: move out there. They're just not comfortable making a move
Speaker 1: mid season. They may not think it'll pay benefits. But
Speaker 1: you know, when Robbie Anderson, who's had all of his
Speaker 1: money tied up and signing bonus was only going to
Speaker 1: cost you like a million bucks for the remainder of
Speaker 1: the season, And is you know, essentially traded, you know,
Speaker 1: to the Cardinals, not essentially is traded to the Cardinals
Speaker 1: for six and a seventh It's nothing, It's it's very
Speaker 1: little draft capital. If you go through the Charger's roster,
Speaker 1: how many sixth and seventh round picks are still on
Speaker 1: the team. You know from a couple of years ago.
Speaker 1: I know, John and deem me the huge play against
Speaker 1: the Broncos in overtime, and that's your six and seventh
Speaker 1: round pick. Horvof is a seventh round pick. He had
Speaker 1: touchdown in each of the first two games. But again,
Speaker 1: you know, talking about someone who could dramatically change the
Speaker 1: way your offense operates, you know, by bringing in a
Speaker 1: guy that is a four three guy who's six foot
Speaker 1: two and isn't going to impact your cap situation now
Speaker 1: there maybe you could look, the guy was thrown off
Speaker 1: the field the week he was traded, so they could
Speaker 1: have just done their due diligence and said not worth it,
Speaker 1: you know, don't don't want to bring that element in,
Speaker 1: And there's part of that for sure. But I guess
Speaker 1: what I'm getting at is it seems like, you know,
Speaker 1: and then I think about the running the struggles of
Speaker 1: the running game and the fact that Robinson was acquired
Speaker 1: for a late mid round pick, you know, so like
Speaker 1: that's by the Jets, Like that's kind of what I'm
Speaker 1: looking at. Doesn't seem like the price has been that
Speaker 1: high for positions of need that fit the Chargers and
Speaker 1: what they need. So it leads me to believe that,
Speaker 1: you know, their content, or maybe there's another play out
Speaker 1: there that there keypen their eye on and they would
Speaker 1: rather you know, acquire, because look, there's gonna be teams
Speaker 1: at the trade deadline that are gonna unload guys, you know,
Speaker 1: for for draft picks. You know, and that's to me,
Speaker 1: that's the answer. I don't I don't know what the
Speaker 1: other possible answer could be. I don't think any of
Speaker 1: the guys on the team are going to turn into
Speaker 1: four three guys, you know. And Keenan's gonna help with
Speaker 1: his return. Uh. You know, Mike's not gone for the season,
Speaker 1: so you know he'll be back. Corners. Interesting, they need
Speaker 1: a corner, there's no doubt about that now. You know,
Speaker 1: at JC gone for the year, they're gonna need to
Speaker 1: figure out a way to get another corner in here
Speaker 1: unless they feel better about the development of jar or
Speaker 1: dean Um moving forward. But yeah, they they need players.
Speaker 1: You know. Injury, the injury Ferry has not been kind. Uh,
Speaker 1: it has been an injury devil to the to the
Speaker 1: Chargers this season. Yeah, and we've seen a ton of
Speaker 1: them on defense, and you know, we're sensing a theme
Speaker 1: with the run defense. It seems like every week, except
Speaker 1: for that Denver game, they've given up a long run
Speaker 1: for a touchdow or just a long run in general.
Speaker 1: And the latest installment being that Kenneth Walker, who who
Speaker 1: Kenneth Walker is incredible. He's an incredible player. Man. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but they helped him, you know, they they helped him.
Speaker 1: I mean, my goodness. Every time you looked at like
Speaker 1: there's just you know, there's certain things like I'm going
Speaker 1: to the team stats real quick. Yeah, so they're five
Speaker 1: of nine on third down. They had a third and fifteen.
Speaker 1: They had a third and sixteen. They converted them both,
Speaker 1: you know, and it's like one of penalty one just
Speaker 1: straight converted it. You know, when you look at their
Speaker 1: their rushing yards, they rushed for two hundred and fourteen
Speaker 1: yards on thirty four attempts. I know one of those
Speaker 1: was the explosive play, but that's that that doesn't wash
Speaker 1: away that they were getting fives and sixes and eights
Speaker 1: like it was nothing. Um So that's that's an issue.
Speaker 1: The run defense is not good. It's just it's not
Speaker 1: I mean, there's no there's no two ways around it.
Speaker 1: They restaffed, you know, they stacked it. We felt better
Speaker 1: about it against you know, Las Vegas in Kansas City,
Speaker 1: but they still had those explosive plays, you know, and
Speaker 1: we kind of we're like, hey, you know, Derwin got
Speaker 1: face masked on that Edwards or that you know that
Speaker 1: that fifty two yard run. We can explain that away.
Speaker 1: But you can anymore because we can't. We can't say
Speaker 1: take that away and they did this now, right, We
Speaker 1: can't say it every week. It happens every week. Like
Speaker 1: I said, this defense gives up the most explosive plays.
Speaker 1: I think it's it's in the bottom three for explosive
Speaker 1: plays allowed in the NFL. So, you know, we thought
Speaker 1: the run defense might be fixed. It's not Joey boss out.
Speaker 1: That's a huge part of it. When when you talk
Speaker 1: about how good Joey is against the run and how
Speaker 1: good Khalil Mack is against the run, and you know
Speaker 1: on that long run, it was Van Noy that got
Speaker 1: washed out, you know, on that run, and that would
Speaker 1: be Joey or Khalil if Joey's healthy. So yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: not saying it's you know, I understand there's extenuating circumstances,
Speaker 1: but with the players that are put on the field,
Speaker 1: you know, it was very curious, Like to me, I
Speaker 1: I just didn't quite understand the amount of respect they
Speaker 1: were given Geno in the past game. It just seemed
Speaker 1: like every snap there was a lot of cushion and
Speaker 1: it was just you know, they and Pete and the
Speaker 1: offense were just content to take it, and it just
Speaker 1: seemed like it was easy. I mean, I'm looking at
Speaker 1: the pass rush and there there was none. You know
Speaker 1: that you had a couple sacks, you know, obviously had
Speaker 1: the interception early. And that's that's the other thing too
Speaker 1: that I've just found curious and I'd love to kind
Speaker 1: of catch up and try to figure out. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's not the right time to do it, because you know,
Speaker 1: of how sideways it's kind of gotten here recently that like,
Speaker 1: I don't quite understand the whole hurry up on the
Speaker 1: third and shorts and the fourth and shorts has not
Speaker 1: worked this year. I haven't looked up to see exactly
Speaker 1: if it has worked, but I do feel like every
Speaker 1: single time they rushed to the line of scrimmage, and
Speaker 1: I don't know why they do it, what advantage it
Speaker 1: is they think they're gaining. But you know, they get
Speaker 1: the interception to start the game, they get incredible field position.
Speaker 1: Now they've got a fourth and inches and they don't
Speaker 1: convert it. Now they convert that, they score a touchdown,
Speaker 1: they go up seven nothing. I think that completely changes
Speaker 1: the character of the game because now Geno's made a
Speaker 1: mistake they've capitalized on a mistake. They've gone up seven zero,
Speaker 1: and I think that certainly sets a different tone. And
Speaker 1: that fourth and you know, a quarter of a yard,
Speaker 1: it was like fourth and a foot, you know, or
Speaker 1: a third of a yard. I just don't get it.
Speaker 1: I don't I don't understand the advantage that they think
Speaker 1: they're gaining by rushing to the line of scrimmage and
Speaker 1: running that play, because I've seen it multiple times this year,
Speaker 1: and I've watched it failed damn near every time. So
Speaker 1: that's a bit of a concern. I'm kind of all
Speaker 1: over the play. I look, it was a bad game.
Speaker 1: It was it was like Jacksonville. It was a really
Speaker 1: bad game for this team. And it's it's one thing, Okay,
Speaker 1: you convert that and you score. I agree with you that,
Speaker 1: I think the whole tenor of the game changes, or
Speaker 1: you just take the points and you say, hey, we
Speaker 1: got three three points because the geno it's a mistake,
Speaker 1: and you start to get that's Birdlelet too. Though you
Speaker 1: know Chris, like remember in Cleveland, none of his field
Speaker 1: goal attempts were beyond thirty yards, So you almost wonder
Speaker 1: if they just didn't quite trust them whatever, But you
Speaker 1: know what I mean, like, yeah, um, and you know
Speaker 1: what I think. Look, we know what this team's identity is.
Speaker 1: They're not kicking a forty nine yarder there. They're going
Speaker 1: for it. Man, it's fourth, it's Brandon Staley's the charges
Speaker 1: what they do, which I'm fine with. I'm totally fine
Speaker 1: going for it. I just didn't like the play call.
Speaker 1: I don't get how that's an advantage. And um, I
Speaker 1: can't just so many questions when when you come out
Speaker 1: of a game like that, when they look like that. Um.
Speaker 1: And obviously with the losses that they incurred. J C.
Speaker 1: Jackson injury, money was was tough to watch. Um. You know,
Speaker 1: DK Metcalf left that game too, we should say before
Speaker 1: he was the first one to go out. He was
Speaker 1: the first one to go out. But Jac's injury was bad, Um,
Speaker 1: And you hate to see that, you know, I know
Speaker 1: that he was just trying to get his footing in
Speaker 1: general with this football team. He was in coverage on
Speaker 1: that play, he was step for step. He was about
Speaker 1: to explode and either intercept that ball or swatted away.
Speaker 1: I mean, he had that thing red. That's the sad
Speaker 1: part of it is for all the incoming. He's taken
Speaker 1: like he had that play dialed up. He was in
Speaker 1: great position, and then when he went to leap to
Speaker 1: make a play on the ball and he went down,
Speaker 1: it was just like, oh man, you just you knew it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the injuries like that, the second they happened, you're like, ah,
Speaker 1: that's just man, that's a bummer. So Jac's not coming back,
Speaker 1: and you know you mentioned the edge, Chris Rump. Your
Speaker 1: depth is super tested now on the edge with him
Speaker 1: out weeks not days according to Staley, So now it's
Speaker 1: it's Kyle van Noyen. I guess Tusca, right right, I
Speaker 1: mean those are the two guys. Yeah, I mean you'll
Speaker 1: probably bring someone up from you know, I would guess
Speaker 1: from the practice squad. I don't have it in front
Speaker 1: of me right now. I can't think of I'm trying
Speaker 1: to them in. Gaziano's more of an interior guy. But yeah, look,
Speaker 1: since Joey went down, they haven't had any pressure from
Speaker 1: that spot. You know, it's their their pressure has come from.
Speaker 1: You know, they're two sacks against the Seahawks were Morgan
Speaker 1: Fox and Austin Johnson. You know, they're two interior players
Speaker 1: and the interior of their line has been super leaky. Um,
Speaker 1: so they took advantage of that, and you know that's
Speaker 1: that's that's a main concern. They just have not had
Speaker 1: any pass rush on that opposite edge of Khalil since
Speaker 1: Joey went down. It has not come from Kyle van Noi.
Speaker 1: It has not come from from Chris Rump. You know,
Speaker 1: I think Chris, I want to say here, if I
Speaker 1: just go to the season, let me hit all get
Speaker 1: rid of the preseason here. And you got Chris who's
Speaker 1: got ten total pressures and Kyle van Noy who's got eight. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, and when you just go through hurries, it's
Speaker 1: a total of fourteen. You know, between the two of them.
Speaker 1: It's just not there. You know, they're not And I
Speaker 1: don't know what percent and a lot and you know what,
Speaker 1: I would slash those by fifty percent based on this.
Speaker 1: You know. Sometimes it says they're a pressure and the
Speaker 1: quarterbacks already climbed the pocket and delivered a strike, So
Speaker 1: I would cut those in halfs You're what I'm getting
Speaker 1: at is there has not been a lot of pressure
Speaker 1: on that side. So that's another concern, you know with
Speaker 1: Chris down look, Kyle's going to have to be on
Speaker 1: a pitchcount. He can't play the whole game like Khalil does.
Speaker 1: You know. So that's yeah, there's we're really getting into it,
Speaker 1: aren't we. I'm trying to find some positives here. Then
Speaker 1: you know what, the records the positive, they're four and three.
Speaker 1: The records the positive. But but what's gonna be challenging
Speaker 1: coming out of this buy is you have an unconventional
Speaker 1: offense in Atlanta who runs the football, right, you have
Speaker 1: a forty nine ers offense who runs the football with
Speaker 1: now Christian McCaffrey, the Chiefs come to town, then you
Speaker 1: go to you go to Arizona, and then I mean
Speaker 1: then we'll know a lot right Raiders part of the
Speaker 1: schedule set of Chris the early You've said it all
Speaker 1: season long, and the early part of the schedules where
Speaker 1: you had to get your equity, you know, six and one,
Speaker 1: five and two, that's what we're talking about, you know,
Speaker 1: in atlant And we were all excited about Atlanta, and look,
Speaker 1: Arthur Smith is doing great things down there, and they
Speaker 1: are so much more competitive than anybody thought they'd have
Speaker 1: a chance to be. And you're talking about a quarterback
Speaker 1: that can run and has four three speed. M Cordero's
Speaker 1: been out, but you know they're running game state effect
Speaker 1: and the lgier that's there. If I remember right, I
Speaker 1: think they got er by you. Yeah, he's been solid
Speaker 1: and you've got nightmare matchups. Drake London's been exceptional as
Speaker 1: a rookie and Kyle Pitts is a nightmare. And he's
Speaker 1: finally on the same page as Marcus Mariota. You know,
Speaker 1: their defense has been a league. Well, he's a good player,
Speaker 1: you know, Mariot is a good player. He's just always
Speaker 1: you know, Mariota's issue has always been he's taken a
Speaker 1: beat too long to cut it loose, and it's you know,
Speaker 1: it's always been just that extra half second that he
Speaker 1: can't afford to take, that he has needed to take.
Speaker 1: And it seems like he's gotten over that a little bit.
Speaker 1: He's a more willing runner. He was kind of an
Speaker 1: unwilling runner for about two years there after he kind
Speaker 1: of got his butt kicked a little bit, and that's
Speaker 1: totally understandable. No one wants to get hit by two
Speaker 1: hundred four pound guys that can run four four repeatedly
Speaker 1: in football games. You know, it's bad enough that you
Speaker 1: come out feeling like you're in a car crash. You
Speaker 1: don't want to feel like you've been in ten So
Speaker 1: I get that. But it seems like he's a little
Speaker 1: bit more willing now, um, at this point of his career,
Speaker 1: recognizing he's had a bit of a tipping point. Um.
Speaker 1: It's a dangerous team and it's a it's gonna be
Speaker 1: a rough stretch of the schedule coming out, UM, but
Speaker 1: hopefully you know, rest and a reassessment of scheme and
Speaker 1: and what they do well and how to do it,
Speaker 1: you know, even better is going to be their salvation
Speaker 1: real quick. On Austin, I mentioned all those receptions. What's
Speaker 1: the best way to use Austin Ekeler right, especially now
Speaker 1: with with Josh down and maybe Isaiah it seems like
Speaker 1: they favored Sony obviously over over Isaiah last week. What's
Speaker 1: the best way to use Austin? Because I feel like
Speaker 1: these checkdowns they just I think that it's gonna wear
Speaker 1: him down, right, yea hits you know, yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: he's got fifty six catches for three hundred and eighty
Speaker 1: five yards. It's crazy, six point five yards per catch.
Speaker 1: I mean which means you're getting tackled, you're getting you're
Speaker 1: getting dragged to the ground, you're not running out of
Speaker 1: bounds for an average of seven yards per reception, you know.
Speaker 1: So yeah, that's he's getting beat the hack. You know,
Speaker 1: he's available. He always breaks the first tackle. You know,
Speaker 1: you saw it a little bit. You saw both backs
Speaker 1: out there a couple different times. But again, I know
Speaker 1: I sound like a broken record to me. It's you've
Speaker 1: got to figure out a way to open it up.
Speaker 1: You know, You've just got to take shots down the
Speaker 1: field to get defenses to back off, and then that's
Speaker 1: going to help Austin, you know, because he's not going
Speaker 1: to be facing eight man boxes or a bunch of
Speaker 1: safeties that may look like they're in single or too
Speaker 1: high and they're just waiting to creep up and get
Speaker 1: after them because they just you know, look, the tape
Speaker 1: is the tape, and it says that this team throws
Speaker 1: everything underneath, and your average depth of target is like,
Speaker 1: you know, because of all the behind the line of
Speaker 1: grimmage passes to Austin, it's like four yards. So that's
Speaker 1: what they're gonna do. I mean, that's what you should do,
Speaker 1: is you know, play with the numbers to you got
Speaker 1: seven games, you know, of information to play and if
Speaker 1: that's what it tells you then And that was kind
Speaker 1: of the thing I was getting out with the defense.
Speaker 1: It's like, you know, I know Gino has been pushing
Speaker 1: it a little bit, but I'll live with that, you know,
Speaker 1: I'll live with him trying to take a shot down
Speaker 1: field to DK or lock it as opposed to watching
Speaker 1: him just be able to stand in the pocket with
Speaker 1: no pass rush and you know, let these underneath routes
Speaker 1: develop because you're playing a lot of too high and
Speaker 1: he's just taking the middle of the field over and
Speaker 1: over again, you know, for eight yards for twelve yards,
Speaker 1: for fourteen yards, for seven yards. So I think that's
Speaker 1: you know, the look. Coach Staley and coach Lombardi, they
Speaker 1: got their work cut out for him because it's tough.
Speaker 1: You know, they can't the Chargers have not been able
Speaker 1: to find a pass rush and they've not been able
Speaker 1: to take the top off a defense. So essentially they're
Speaker 1: given quarterbacks extra time to throw, asking their corners to
Speaker 1: be a little bit more sticky than maybe they're possible,
Speaker 1: you know, than is realistically possible, and they're trying to
Speaker 1: move the ball against defenses that are right up on
Speaker 1: the line of scrimmage and not giving them any breathing
Speaker 1: room because they're not taking shots down field. Next time
Speaker 1: we talk money, the trade deadline will have passed, so
Speaker 1: we'll see if anything comes through, which in there we'll
Speaker 1: get into Atlanta a little bit more. Yep, But we've
Speaker 1: talked about just the overall mediocrity of the NFL this
Speaker 1: year four and three. Has he in the playoffs right
Speaker 1: now against the Chiefs, like you said, and there's a
Speaker 1: lot of football to go. You can catch fire. I
Speaker 1: think we have to see it soon though. Right it's
Speaker 1: starting in Atlanta one hundred percent. I mean, look, I'm
Speaker 1: staring at the standings right now. You know, the Patriots
Speaker 1: were in the Super Bowl, were in the playoffs last
Speaker 1: year three and four. The Bengals were in the Super
Speaker 1: Bowl four and three. The Broncos are two and five,
Speaker 1: the Browns are two and five, the Steelers are two
Speaker 1: and five. You know, you go to the NFC and
Speaker 1: my goodness, you've got both the Buccaneers, the Packers and
Speaker 1: the forty nine Ers. Those are your three favorites to
Speaker 1: make the Super Bowl along with the Rams, and the
Speaker 1: Rams are three and three and the other three or
Speaker 1: three and four. It's just been a weird year. You know,
Speaker 1: Defenses have caught up. Defenses have caught up to offense.
Speaker 1: That's what this to me, that's the theme of this
Speaker 1: year is you are seeing low, lower scoring games. You're
Speaker 1: seeing exceptional quarterbacks not have exceptional seasons. Um and points
Speaker 1: are at a premium and you better be able to
Speaker 1: cash him. Like you look at um, shoot, what game
Speaker 1: am I thinking of? Uh? Traded field goals for for touchdowns?
Speaker 1: Um ah, that was the Ucla Oregan game. Like at
Speaker 1: my two levels of football, field goals for touchdowns And
Speaker 1: I'm like, yeah, that's what happened to Ucla. They were
Speaker 1: trading field goals for touchdowns and they lost the game.
Speaker 1: But you know that's that's just the story of the
Speaker 1: season to me is defenses have been dominant compared to offenses,
Speaker 1: and um, you know, it's it's gonna be tough. It's
Speaker 1: gonna be a tough couple of weeks for him, But
Speaker 1: you know, I got faith in them. You know, they
Speaker 1: won nine games last year and you know they're already
Speaker 1: four and three, so you know, you kind of string
Speaker 1: that out and you're talking about a nine win season again,
Speaker 1: and that's probably gonna be enough to get you in.
Speaker 1: But you know ten and ten and seven to be
Speaker 1: awfully nice. Yeah, two and one in the Division two,
Speaker 1: I mean exactly when you're division games and you get
Speaker 1: the Chiefs here in a few weeks after these, uh,
Speaker 1: these NFC back to backs against Atlanta and San Francisco.
Speaker 1: So we'll be back next week. Money. Enjoy the rest
Speaker 1: of your bye, brother, and two yeah Chargers weeklies in
Speaker 1: the books for the bye week. We'll see you next week.