Speaker 1: The league fifteen ten touchdowns. What's up, guys? Welcome into
Speaker 1: a week eleven edition of Chargers weekly back to back
Speaker 1: Sunday night football games, as always, joined by Matt Muney
Speaker 1: Smith Money. Probably the biggest one so far to date.
Speaker 1: Charges to five and four, an opportunity to get to
Speaker 1: six and four, three and one in the division, but
Speaker 1: it won't be easy against the Chiefs. Let's rewind just
Speaker 1: for a few minutes. Back in Santa Clarup. They played
Speaker 1: really good football for three and a half quarters in
Speaker 1: terms of just holding onto the lead, playing with the
Speaker 1: guys they had. I think in the end, just you're
Speaker 1: ran out of bodies, You're ran out of guys. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think you you ran out of guys, and ultimately
Speaker 1: the talent of the forty nine Ers defense overcame, you know,
Speaker 1: just the struggles of the players that the Chargers had
Speaker 1: out there on the field that day, you know, I think, again,
Speaker 1: huge tip of the cap. There's no moral victories in
Speaker 1: a seventeen game season because each win is so important
Speaker 1: to get into the tournament. But I thought it was
Speaker 1: one of the best games, if not the best game,
Speaker 1: that the defense had played. Considering the circumstances, you know,
Speaker 1: to have Sebastian Joseph Day play his career high snap count,
Speaker 1: To have Brandon Fojoko comes straight from the practice squad
Speaker 1: and playing every snap in the fourth quarter against that
Speaker 1: physical front, you know, to have you know, Khalil or
Speaker 1: Van Noy or Morgan Fox or whoever it was that
Speaker 1: was on the end, have to deal with Trent Williams
Speaker 1: for all those snaps, you know, when you're down and
Speaker 1: you can't rotate guys, you know, because Joey and Rump
Speaker 1: for out, I thought they played really, really well, and
Speaker 1: I thought it was going to be an ugly night.
Speaker 1: I'll be honest with you, Chris, I just said, man,
Speaker 1: the forty nine ers are getting healthy at the worst
Speaker 1: time for the Chargers, as they are the least healthy
Speaker 1: that they've been, and it got worse during the game.
Speaker 1: And man, you just feel terrible for someone like Tito,
Speaker 1: who really, as a fifth round pick, started coming on.
Speaker 1: I mean, he really started playing good football, and there
Speaker 1: was a reason why you were starting to see his
Speaker 1: snap counts, you know, creep from ten or twelve to
Speaker 1: twenty to in the thirties, and he's playing half the
Speaker 1: snaps on defense because of how fast and how quickly
Speaker 1: he progressed and became an important part in integral part
Speaker 1: of this defense and that rotation on the interior. And
Speaker 1: I think when Austin Johnson went down, who had been
Speaker 1: their best run defender, you know, the coaches look, we
Speaker 1: were all like, man, what's this team going to do?
Speaker 1: And I think the coaches were excited about the opportunity
Speaker 1: that had presented Tito, and man, it just it's such
Speaker 1: a bummer for that young man to not be able
Speaker 1: to get the rest of the reps this year that
Speaker 1: he had earned. So I think all things considered, you know, defensively, incredible,
Speaker 1: Derwin had an incredible game. I think the linebackers played
Speaker 1: really well, you know, and again there were just a
Speaker 1: couple missed assignments, you know, crashing instead of setting the
Speaker 1: edge that allowed a couple of those runs to pop.
Speaker 1: And that was the difference in the game, you know,
Speaker 1: the the inability to get off the field. You know,
Speaker 1: you had some some well timed blitzes that just did
Speaker 1: not get home. You know, just way too many third
Speaker 1: and eight pluses, you know, way too many third and tens,
Speaker 1: third and elevens. You know, you had a first and
Speaker 1: twenty and they're able to get out of that hole
Speaker 1: and score on that drive. And I think that ultimately
Speaker 1: just comes down to it's gonna get you sooner or
Speaker 1: later offensively, you know, I think the the old line, Look,
Speaker 1: it's the best defense in football. It's it's in the conversation,
Speaker 1: I mean, coming in, it's the least amount of points,
Speaker 1: the least amount of yards, talking about sacks coming from everywhere.
Speaker 1: And I think, you know, ultimately it caught up to him.
Speaker 1: They had a great game plan to start, you know,
Speaker 1: that first drive, popping it in the end zone, shaking
Speaker 1: off those woes of falling into a deep hole, and
Speaker 1: unfortunately a couple of those turnovers turned into threes instead
Speaker 1: of sevens. And ultimately that was the difference not being
Speaker 1: able to build up a bigger a lead. And you know,
Speaker 1: the second half, they just couldn't get anything going. And
Speaker 1: I know we'll dig into that a little bit more. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they were on the field for too long, that defense.
Speaker 1: They were on the field for thirty seven minutes. I mean,
Speaker 1: that's that's just that's too long. It was all the
Speaker 1: second half, Chris, it was all the first half was dead.
Speaker 1: Even so the first half was fifteen fifteen, So think
Speaker 1: about that, you know, it was all I think it
Speaker 1: was eleven and a half minutes in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 1: Three first downs for the Chargers offense, I think in
Speaker 1: the second half. So that was a big reason. And look,
Speaker 1: you look at the run numbers for the Niners money,
Speaker 1: I mean, they ran the all forty one times. It's
Speaker 1: a lot of plays, but the Chargers didn't give up
Speaker 1: any explosives. Christian McCaffrey fourteen for thirty eight, Elijah Mitchell
Speaker 1: had a pretty good clip four point nine eighteen for
Speaker 1: eighty nine. But when when Tito goes down and then
Speaker 1: Covington goes down, and you're playing with three healthy defensive
Speaker 1: linemen and you just see this this Niners running game
Speaker 1: coming at you, and they're just chipping away, right, there's
Speaker 1: chipping away. And what I saw from the Chargers offense
Speaker 1: in the first half, I mean, Justine own the ball
Speaker 1: down the field, DeAndre Carter's making plays, Josh Palmer's making plays,
Speaker 1: Gerald Everett made a play, Everet goes out, and then
Speaker 1: that second half just they couldn't get the running game
Speaker 1: going at all. And that's something I kind of want
Speaker 1: to dig in today. Money is this Chargers running game.
Speaker 1: And you know, I saw something on NFL Live this
Speaker 1: week where they're just talking about this is the year
Speaker 1: of the running back and the running game, and I
Speaker 1: think the NFL average is like four point five yards
Speaker 1: to carry. And I know that injuries have a heck
Speaker 1: of a lot to do with this, especially on the
Speaker 1: offensive line for the Chargers, but they're gonna have to
Speaker 1: find a way to run the football this Sunday with
Speaker 1: some sort of combination, whether it's Eckler and Spiller, Eckler
Speaker 1: and Michelle, whoever it is. I think they have to
Speaker 1: give the running game a little bit more of a
Speaker 1: chance because I think that's probably your best bet to
Speaker 1: beat the Chiefs is Keith Patrick Mahomes off the field
Speaker 1: for as much as possible. We saw what the Commanders
Speaker 1: did to Jalen Hurts company on Monday Night. They ran
Speaker 1: a ton of plays. They were just efficient enough in
Speaker 1: the running game to where they could get first downs
Speaker 1: keep that Philly offense off the field. And I just
Speaker 1: feel like that's kind of the formula right now, because
Speaker 1: I don't know if you can expect this Charger's offense
Speaker 1: to look like what it's looked like in the past
Speaker 1: going against the Chiefs with Keenan Allen and Mike Williams.
Speaker 1: As we take this, those guys are back in practice
Speaker 1: in a limited fashion. Will know much more as the
Speaker 1: week ends. But I just look at that Chargers running
Speaker 1: game and I feel like it's something's missing there and
Speaker 1: they got to figure out what it is and maybe
Speaker 1: try to stay with it a little bit more on
Speaker 1: Sunday night. Yeah, so a lot there at ton Pack one.
Speaker 1: I think the first, you know, the first names to
Speaker 1: that I wouldn't mention are the running backs. It's an
Speaker 1: O line issue. It was. I watched every snap against
Speaker 1: the forty nine Ers. I watched it back, and you know,
Speaker 1: it's and look, I'm not I always say this. I
Speaker 1: always kind of qualifi find my comments on these pods,
Speaker 1: and I just want to make sure it's not I'm
Speaker 1: not taking shots. This is not meant to be malicious
Speaker 1: and stuff. But you know, you've just got missed assignments
Speaker 1: and that's what it was, you know. And and I
Speaker 1: think part of it though, is that you've you're staring
Speaker 1: at I mean literally nine men in the box stacked.
Speaker 1: You've got six stacked on the line. Of scrimmage, and
Speaker 1: you've got three guys three yards behind them on those
Speaker 1: first downs, and they're running it every time, and every
Speaker 1: time you've got you're not getting a hat on a hat.
Speaker 1: And there were you know, Foster Serrel struggled in run
Speaker 1: block and really struggled and just was confused at times
Speaker 1: for where he's supposed to be. And you've just you
Speaker 1: couldn't run to the right because they're just there were
Speaker 1: there was always a freeman that was there to fill
Speaker 1: up a hole. Um, you know, and look again, this
Speaker 1: is the number one rush defense in the league. It's
Speaker 1: the number one defense in the league, so that you
Speaker 1: know that shouldn't be surprising that that they struggled with
Speaker 1: this offensive line. Zion and Foster on that side really
Speaker 1: really struggled and it was just impossible to get anything
Speaker 1: going that way. Now you go to the other side
Speaker 1: and you know you're the tight ends. The tight ends
Speaker 1: just have to do a better job blocking. I think
Speaker 1: that's the only way I can put it is they've
Speaker 1: got assignments, and whether it was Rogers or McKitty, there's
Speaker 1: just missed assignments or they're just not getting there quick
Speaker 1: enough to put a hat on a hat and try
Speaker 1: to create a lane. They had one run in the
Speaker 1: second half where they brought in the extra linemen. So
Speaker 1: Storm comes in, lines up outside Jamari and then you've
Speaker 1: got McKitty or Rogers. It was one of the two
Speaker 1: outside of him, and inexplicably, Storm just pops out and
Speaker 1: they block the same guy. And here's you know, I
Speaker 1: can't remember if it was Fred Warner or if it
Speaker 1: was Jimmy Ward. I don't but anyway, there's just a
Speaker 1: guy standing right in front of them. It's waiting for
Speaker 1: Austin to hit that hole and make a tackle on
Speaker 1: first down. So I think it's important to point out
Speaker 1: it's it's really more up front than it is on
Speaker 1: the line on the running backs. It's it's got to
Speaker 1: get blocked better, um, and it's it's been a real
Speaker 1: struggle up front. I think you mentioned, just to kind
Speaker 1: of build off of that, the look at Gerald. Everet's
Speaker 1: not a blocking tight end. He's he's a great receiving
Speaker 1: tight end. And we saw that was that was the
Speaker 1: mismatch they were ready to exploit in that game. You
Speaker 1: could see it. Hafonga his feet just got stuck and
Speaker 1: Everett was really getting after him UM, and it looked like, okay,
Speaker 1: they got their cheeto and this is where they're going
Speaker 1: to go. And that was a big part of that
Speaker 1: first scoring drive. And you saw it again in the set,
Speaker 1: you know, with with McKitty. You know, late in that
Speaker 1: first half, that's a touchdown. You know if I think
Speaker 1: if Gerald's out there, he catches that ball on the
Speaker 1: right sideline and that's gonna be a thirty five yard touchdown.
Speaker 1: I mean it hit Trey Wright in the hands and
Speaker 1: was just dropped to the ground and ultimately they settled
Speaker 1: for three UM. So that was a big hit because
Speaker 1: it looked like that was the mismatch for them in
Speaker 1: that game. Uh. The receivers just struggled, you know, they
Speaker 1: really struggled to get open. I thought, I thought Josh
Speaker 1: had a handful of opportunities, especially on that first drive
Speaker 1: he had. He had a really nice catch and a
Speaker 1: nice route to start the second half when they had
Speaker 1: those back to back plays to Josh and Austin to
Speaker 1: get that drive started, that just stalled at midfield UM.
Speaker 1: And then guys just couldn't get open, you know, they
Speaker 1: they they could not. When when Justin's looking up, there's
Speaker 1: just nothing. There's no separation for Bandy, for Carter, for
Speaker 1: you know, for Palmer, a touch for mckiddie, and and
Speaker 1: it just was a struggle. You know, it's a real struggle.
Speaker 1: But again, I stress this is the number was. This
Speaker 1: is probably the best defense in the league, um and
Speaker 1: and I think they played like it. And and yet
Speaker 1: you know, when you talk about the end of that game,
Speaker 1: and I know the coaches aren't making excuses, and I'm
Speaker 1: not trying to make an excuse either, but I think
Speaker 1: what I'm saying is that they they had a chance
Speaker 1: to win that game with a touchdown and an extra
Speaker 1: point with with fifty five seconds left. You know, had
Speaker 1: Herbert arm not getting hit got had not been hit,
Speaker 1: he would have connected with Josh at midfield and they
Speaker 1: would have had a drive starter there. What I'm getting
Speaker 1: at is, you're down fifteen players that you expect to
Speaker 1: play on Sunday at the end of that game. Fifteen
Speaker 1: of those fifteen ten or starters. Of those ten starters,
Speaker 1: five or Pro bowlers. That's what you're down. And you're
Speaker 1: playing against a team that a lot of people think
Speaker 1: is going to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl,
Speaker 1: and you hung in there, and I think that speaks
Speaker 1: to the character of the team, and I think it
Speaker 1: speaks to the fight and the want and the dedication
Speaker 1: you know, of these coaches and these players believe in
Speaker 1: one another that they could go out when everything was
Speaker 1: stacked against them and maybe get a win. Yeah. You know,
Speaker 1: we're twelve thirteen minutes into this podcast, and really we
Speaker 1: could sum it up with that last sent It's like
Speaker 1: they just don't have the guys. They didn't have the
Speaker 1: guys to compete with the forty hours in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 1: You know, they're down so many dudes on offense and defense,
Speaker 1: and you know, going into that locker room money, they
Speaker 1: were just flat exhausted. They were spent, They were totally spent,
Speaker 1: and they left it all out there. Man. You got
Speaker 1: to give those guys who played a ton of credit.
Speaker 1: And again, there's no moral victories. As you said in
Speaker 1: the NFL to seventeen game season, the Chargers find themselves
Speaker 1: right now, I think eighth place in the AFC, outside
Speaker 1: looking in, but just right in the mix. And shoot,
Speaker 1: what a what a baby m A changing game on
Speaker 1: Sunday for this season if they can somehow get a
Speaker 1: win against Kansas City, who's playing really good football right now.
Speaker 1: They found a running game. Um they did what they
Speaker 1: did against Jacksonville, and I don't I just don't know.
Speaker 1: I don't know what to expect on Sunday because not
Speaker 1: knowing the status of Mike and Keenan as we taped
Speaker 1: this really changes the complexion of what they can do offensively. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think, you know, I think before where we get
Speaker 1: to Kansas City, like what I would say is I
Speaker 1: would not look at this as a one game. You know,
Speaker 1: they're gonna have to look at it as one game
Speaker 1: because they can't look ahead. You know, they've got to
Speaker 1: figure out a way to beat the Chiefs. You know,
Speaker 1: one of the best offenses and one of the best quarterbacks,
Speaker 1: if not the best quarterback in the league. So they've
Speaker 1: got to figure that out. We can we can play
Speaker 1: this game. I think the forty nine Ers are a
Speaker 1: great example of what the Chargers need to do here
Speaker 1: these next four weeks. You know, this is a forty
Speaker 1: nine or team that lost its starting quarterback, that lost
Speaker 1: its you know, offensive MVP. Last year you could argue
Speaker 1: in Elijah Mitchell, you know, first half a Week one
Speaker 1: and lost Nick Bosa for a stretch, lost Debo for
Speaker 1: a stretch, you know, lost Trent Williams for a stretch,
Speaker 1: like Kittle was out for a while, like they and
Speaker 1: what did they do? They just they figured out a
Speaker 1: way to tread water. You know, they were one and two,
Speaker 1: they were three and four, and now they're five and four,
Speaker 1: and now everybody's back. And now now everybody's talking about oh,
Speaker 1: you know, remember they were talking Jimmy Garoppolo is a
Speaker 1: live this team? Will you know? This team's two, one dimensional,
Speaker 1: all of it. And now it's oh, this is this
Speaker 1: is the It's the proverbial team nobody wants to face
Speaker 1: in the playoffs because they were able to just maintain
Speaker 1: enough to win enough games until their guys got back.
Speaker 1: And I think for the Chargers that's the key. You know,
Speaker 1: you've got to win that game in Atlanta. You know,
Speaker 1: you've got to win the game in Arizona next week.
Speaker 1: And now guys are going to start coming back. I
Speaker 1: hope they're back this week. If they're back this week,
Speaker 1: you know, look, I still think they could if you
Speaker 1: go through. I mean, I mean, I'm we talked about
Speaker 1: that game against the Chiefs. They should have won that game.
Speaker 1: I don't mind being the guy with the powder blue
Speaker 1: colored glasses saying the ref screwed him. The ref screwed
Speaker 1: him in that game. They got absolutely screwed in that game.
Speaker 1: The interception that was that was waved off because of
Speaker 1: the past interference called on Bryce Callahan when it absolutely
Speaker 1: was not Bryce Callahan led to a Chief's touchdown because
Speaker 1: the Chargers didn't get possession there. Assante had that ball,
Speaker 1: you know, his hand was under it, and they ended
Speaker 1: up calling that, you know, waving that thing off that interception.
Speaker 1: That's two turnovers. You know, I think that's it. Just
Speaker 1: they played better than the Chiefs in that game. So
Speaker 1: and I bring that up because as I'm kind of
Speaker 1: going through it now, you know, these games Brandon Staley
Speaker 1: calls a good game against the Chiefs. He has figured
Speaker 1: out a way to play Patrick Mahomes defensively. You know,
Speaker 1: you look at last year they lose an OT, they
Speaker 1: win in Kansas City, you know, and even if you
Speaker 1: go back to the year before with Herbert, they lose
Speaker 1: an OT, they win in Kansas City. Like, these teams
Speaker 1: play each other well. So I'm not going to be surprised,
Speaker 1: you know, Like I was again Honestly, I was surprised
Speaker 1: in the effort on Sunday night. I am not going
Speaker 1: to be surprised if they're in this game. I do
Speaker 1: think there's mismatches that you can exploit against the Chiefs
Speaker 1: that they are not as scary a team without Tyreek Hill.
Speaker 1: I don't care what anybody says about the numbers and
Speaker 1: how he's spreading it around. And now they're a more
Speaker 1: physical team because they're running Pacheco. I don't care. It's
Speaker 1: not the same. It is not the same. And you know,
Speaker 1: I know Travis ended up getting them ultimately in that
Speaker 1: game because of the way they ultimately had to play it.
Speaker 1: You know, ends up Actually, no, he didn't. What am
Speaker 1: I saying? I thought? I thought he did have a
Speaker 1: big game. He had the one I thought he had,
Speaker 1: oh no, five for fifty one. There you go the
Speaker 1: Derwin effect of Travis Kelsey. Then you just go through
Speaker 1: that whole game. You've got, you know, Watson fifty yards,
Speaker 1: Hardman forty nine yards, a layer of forty four yards,
Speaker 1: Scantling thirteen yards, Smith Schuster ten yards. Like they were
Speaker 1: able to contain Pat Mahomes to two touchdowns and he
Speaker 1: should have had two picks and one of those touchdowns
Speaker 1: should have come off the board because it came on
Speaker 1: that drive, on that inexplicable flag thrown on that shameful referee,
Speaker 1: thrown by that shameful referee. I can't get over it. It
Speaker 1: It is such It is one of the worst flags
Speaker 1: I've ever seen. So they can do it. And one
Speaker 1: of the reasons why I believe they can do it, Chris,
Speaker 1: is because of what we saw. We were talking about
Speaker 1: this on the broadcast of the forty nine er game.
Speaker 1: You know, we were in meal before we went to
Speaker 1: before we got on the buses. I think, were you
Speaker 1: sitting with me for breakfast before we get on the buses. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: And remember we were talking. We're watching the Buffalo game
Speaker 1: and we're sitting at a table, and right in front
Speaker 1: of us is the table where Herbert's sitting, and we're
Speaker 1: watching Josh Allen put on a show. You know, ultimately
Speaker 1: the Bills lost that game, but we're watching Allen put
Speaker 1: on a show. He's trucking linebackers and carrying him ten yards.
Speaker 1: He's pushing the ball down field and it was so wild.
Speaker 1: It was funny to see. Because when Minnesota wins that game,
Speaker 1: or when when Josh Allen throws the interception to end
Speaker 1: the game. Like everybody in the room, you know, it's
Speaker 1: just it's natural. You're watching football, you make some sort
Speaker 1: of noise or something like that. Herbert's just doesn't even flinch.
Speaker 1: He doesn't he I was watching him and he's just
Speaker 1: staring at the TV. He just slowly stands up and
Speaker 1: he gets his stuff and he walks out and and
Speaker 1: DJ and I said, you know what, I guarantee that
Speaker 1: had an effect on him. I guarantee Herbert was watching
Speaker 1: Alan use that size, use that athleticism to carry his team,
Speaker 1: pushing the ball downfield. And sure enough, we saw an
Speaker 1: even another level of Herbert from what we saw from Atlanta.
Speaker 1: He's tucking the ball and running. He's quarterbacks sneaking for
Speaker 1: first downs. He's pushing the ball downfield, you know, but
Speaker 1: specifically with the legs is the first time we've seen
Speaker 1: justin talk and take off when he had Green in
Speaker 1: front of him multiple times. So I'm hoping that sticks,
Speaker 1: and I think if it does, we know Herbert loves
Speaker 1: playing the Chiefs. I mean, look at that game in
Speaker 1: Kansas City thirty three to forty eight, for three thirty
Speaker 1: four and three touchdowns. I mean, we know that he
Speaker 1: loves playing this team, so you get that justin Herbert,
Speaker 1: and just like we said against the forty nine Ers, man,
Speaker 1: anything's possible because that guy is out there. He's healthier, right,
Speaker 1: He's healthier. He was the second leading in that game
Speaker 1: last Sunday. And you said it, you know primetime. Herbert's
Speaker 1: a real thing too money. That is a way like
Speaker 1: he shows up when when the lights are brightest and
Speaker 1: he's on a national stage, he shows up. I go
Speaker 1: back to the last win the Chargers head against the
Speaker 1: Chiefs four turnovers. I don't think they need four turnovers
Speaker 1: on Sunday, but getting a couple against Patrick Mahomes will
Speaker 1: do them well. And I'm looking at this turnover differential
Speaker 1: from from week two and I see one to zero,
Speaker 1: and I feel like the Chargers had like six turnovers
Speaker 1: in the game. They had zero. Yeah, and they had
Speaker 1: four opportunities, yea, four opportunities. They blew two of them,
Speaker 1: but I think they secured two of them. And that's
Speaker 1: the key. We said it last week going into this game, right,
Speaker 1: how do you win? You know, when I was talking
Speaker 1: to you for CBS turnovers. You have to take advantage turnovers,
Speaker 1: and they did. You know, they blocked upont got three,
Speaker 1: they forced to fumble, got three. Now you get sevens
Speaker 1: there and you win the game. That's the difference. But look,
Speaker 1: Mahomes is going to give you opportunities. We know that
Speaker 1: because he does every single game. You just have to
Speaker 1: cash him in. And again in that game against Kansas City,
Speaker 1: I believe they cash two of them in. You know,
Speaker 1: a Sante in that game against San Francisco, look, Asante,
Speaker 1: you know, is looking at Ayuk on that errant throw
Speaker 1: by Jimmy and the ball ends up hitting him right
Speaker 1: in the chest because he was just looking the wrong direction.
Speaker 1: If he's looking at Jimmy instead of Ayuk, he's got
Speaker 1: to pick six. I mean, that's that's that's where that
Speaker 1: was going. So we note we said that with Jimmy,
Speaker 1: he's gonna put them up. You've got to take advantage
Speaker 1: of them. And they did again. You know, they took
Speaker 1: they got two turnovers. Unfortunately they couldn't, you know, get enough,
Speaker 1: but they got six points instead of fourteen out of them.
Speaker 1: You've got to do the same thing, exact same thing.
Speaker 1: And with Derwin out there, I'm one hundred percent confident
Speaker 1: he can do it. He talked about how staut that
Speaker 1: San Francisco defense is money, and just going back to
Speaker 1: the running game conversation, you get Pipkins back. You mentioned
Speaker 1: the assignments missed up front. If they can clean that up,
Speaker 1: you get treyback. How important do you think it is
Speaker 1: to run the football in I guess in an effort
Speaker 1: to really keep your defense off the field, because like
Speaker 1: thirty seven minutes of defense for a d that is
Speaker 1: down as many guys as it is. Tyler Davison was
Speaker 1: picked up this week from the Browns practice squad. He'll
Speaker 1: probably play a decent amount. Joe Gazio, I imagine will
Speaker 1: be brought up, but almost playing keep away from from
Speaker 1: the Chiefs. Do you think that that's an element that
Speaker 1: you have to consider considering Keenan and Mike's status right now.
Speaker 1: So I to me, it's not so much playing keepaway.
Speaker 1: It's well, it is, but it's just it's not necessarily
Speaker 1: running the ball. It's just however you have to do it,
Speaker 1: you gotta do it. You've got to score touchdowns on drive,
Speaker 1: so if that means you know, look, they scored twenty
Speaker 1: four against the Chiefs, and you know, Herbert threw at
Speaker 1: forty eight times and they ran at twenty four. So however,
Speaker 1: you got to do it to keep it away. That's
Speaker 1: just the key, you know, It's it's not necessarily the
Speaker 1: manner in which you do it. You just have to
Speaker 1: do it. And you know the health of Keenan and
Speaker 1: Mike is a big part of that. And Gerald. You know,
Speaker 1: if those if Everett, Williams and Allen are all coming back,
Speaker 1: or if you can get two of those three, you know,
Speaker 1: I feel dramatically better, considerably better than I do if
Speaker 1: they're not coming back. I think Trey is a huge
Speaker 1: ad because again, look tip of the cap to Sarah,
Speaker 1: he I thought, considering the circumstances, he did a heck
Speaker 1: of a job. But again, you know it's to be expected.
Speaker 1: You know, there's some issues there of trying to figure
Speaker 1: out what your assignments are specifically in the run game,
Speaker 1: and you know you're trying to my falling back. Am
Speaker 1: I pushing forward? Am I dive it down to block
Speaker 1: this guy with Zion? Am I supposed to be kicking
Speaker 1: out to block this guy? Am I looking for someone
Speaker 1: to the next loot? That's a lot. That's a lot
Speaker 1: to ask a guy that was, you know, essentially signed
Speaker 1: to be a break glass in case of emergency type player.
Speaker 1: So I think getting Trey is going to be a
Speaker 1: big help, certainly, and it sounds like he's going to
Speaker 1: be back there. But I also think you've got to
Speaker 1: be as close to, you know, as close to full
Speaker 1: strength as possible just to be able to score touchdowns
Speaker 1: and not field goals against this team with the defense
Speaker 1: that you have right now. You know, I know the
Speaker 1: Titans were able to shut them out again. That's in
Speaker 1: the conversation, is the best defense in football with how
Speaker 1: well they've been playing and they're healthy. So to me,
Speaker 1: it's kind of goes back to the offense. You know,
Speaker 1: you've got to be able to put points on the board,
Speaker 1: and I think ultimately that's the way this season's gonna
Speaker 1: work out, Chris. They're gonna get healthy on the offensive
Speaker 1: side before the defensive side. Yeah, you know, based on
Speaker 1: the way coach was talking yesterday and the presser. You know,
Speaker 1: I don't know when Joey's coming back. We obviously know
Speaker 1: what the secondary looks like, what the interior the defensive
Speaker 1: line looks like. You know, so I think as you
Speaker 1: as Trey gets back, as you've got Mike Williams, Keenan Allen,
Speaker 1: Gerald Everett, you know we've seen Isaiah take that next step.
Speaker 1: Josh Kelly should be back by Arizona, Like you're gonna
Speaker 1: have to start scoring points. This a team that's going
Speaker 1: to have to start scoring points to win games. And
Speaker 1: I'm talking about twenty eight thirty five is what we
Speaker 1: got to start seeing from this offense when they start
Speaker 1: getting healthy. So just to give you a snapshot out
Speaker 1: with the Chiefs did last week, Mahomes twenty six thirty
Speaker 1: five touchdowns and interception. You talked about how they spread
Speaker 1: the ball around. Now Kelsey six or eighty one, lads
Speaker 1: scantling McKinnon out of the backfield six or fifty six,
Speaker 1: Schuster two for thirty three. How about this Kadarius Tony
Speaker 1: though this pick up for them four for fifty seven
Speaker 1: and a touchdown. He had this incredible grab on the
Speaker 1: sidelines and then the running game Clyde Edwards Hilari has
Speaker 1: kind of been phased out. It's Yea Pacheco's show. Now
Speaker 1: sixteen for eighty two, five point one to pop Mahomes
Speaker 1: with his legs forty yards, very balanced, And I talked
Speaker 1: to DJ about this. He did a film room Mahomes
Speaker 1: versus Herbert and just how different the offense looks without
Speaker 1: Tyree Kill and you alluded to it. They're spreading the
Speaker 1: ball around to a bunch of different dudes. Yeah. Look,
Speaker 1: and they want to be a physical team with Pacheco.
Speaker 1: That's why he's getting all those carries, you know, and
Speaker 1: then they're running some play action off of that once
Speaker 1: he gets established. You're not used to seeing it with
Speaker 1: the Chiefs, but that's what it's what it's become. And
Speaker 1: you know what their offensive line is probably better suited
Speaker 1: the run block then pass block. We know that with
Speaker 1: Orlando Brown, he's not a real good pass blocker. He's
Speaker 1: darn good run blocker, and so you're seeing a lot
Speaker 1: of runs going his way, and that's helping extract value
Speaker 1: from him because that's the way he played in Baltimore.
Speaker 1: That's why he ended up fetching a first round pick.
Speaker 1: You know, all the big grades that they were putting
Speaker 1: on Orlando Brown, it's like, oh, yeah, it doesn't really
Speaker 1: have to hold his blocks at all the pass and
Speaker 1: then I think they learned that the hard way last
Speaker 1: year and now they're starting to find a sweet spot
Speaker 1: for you know, what's the best way to use Orlando.
Speaker 1: So I expect a lot of that because again the
Speaker 1: Chargers defense has been suspect against the run, and then
Speaker 1: you're gonna see Mahomes make plays off of that. So
Speaker 1: I think you'll see a very similar game plan from
Speaker 1: Kansas City. The big difference is, like I said, offense
Speaker 1: has to come through. You know, the the Jaguars in
Speaker 1: that game, they missed two field goals in the first half.
Speaker 1: They had a couple of three and outs, so you know,
Speaker 1: they kind of did themselves in. You know, if it's
Speaker 1: instead of being twenty to seven at the half of
Speaker 1: it's twenty thirteen and then you get a field goal
Speaker 1: on their opening drive of the second half, well okay,
Speaker 1: now it's twenty sixteen. Now you got a little pressure there,
Speaker 1: you know, and you can get a little bit more
Speaker 1: aggressive defensively. So again, I think the que with the
Speaker 1: Chiefs is taking advantage of your opportunities, be it on
Speaker 1: defense and getting those turnovers, be it on offense and
Speaker 1: making sure I thought I thought coach made a really
Speaker 1: good point and I thought it was a fair question.
Speaker 1: I think Papa asked it. I think it's completely fair question,
Speaker 1: you know, because of the answer that Fred Warner gave
Speaker 1: and the fact that it gets some traction on social
Speaker 1: media of him saying, yeah, we just called the same
Speaker 1: play over and over and over again in the second half.
Speaker 1: And I thought coach, you know, made a great point.
Speaker 1: He's like, yeah, they did because they were doing in
Speaker 1: the first half, we were getting them and when they
Speaker 1: ended up changing, the guys just didn't get wins, you know.
Speaker 1: And ultimately, and I appreciate Coach saying, and we couldn't
Speaker 1: get anything on first down, and that goes back to
Speaker 1: kind of what what I was talking about with the runs.
Speaker 1: You know, I think there were six first down run
Speaker 1: calls in the second half, if I remember right, and
Speaker 1: not a one of them did anything. So it's like
Speaker 1: you've got you can't okay, one, okay, two, uh all right, three, four, five, six,
Speaker 1: Let's not do that. Let's you know. And one of
Speaker 1: those was that quick pitch to DeAndre Carter, which is
Speaker 1: why are you running that at nick Bosa? And I
Speaker 1: think everybody pointed that out, you know, that's you're running
Speaker 1: at nick Bosa and Foster Sarah, what are we doing here?
Speaker 1: Or actually know it was Nick Bosa. Yeah, it was
Speaker 1: Nick Bosa and Foster, Sarah, why are you doing that?
Speaker 1: So I think it's I do think there there is.
Speaker 1: I think some of the incoming is warranted for that.
Speaker 1: But at the same time and watching it back, they're
Speaker 1: just there were no there weren't plays to be made,
Speaker 1: and I don't think they're gonna face that gnarrowly of
Speaker 1: a defense this time around. Look that Chiefs front is good.
Speaker 1: We know, Chris Jones is the best pass rushing interior
Speaker 1: defensive lineman this year. He's actually been better than Aaron
Speaker 1: Donald this year. You know, Frank Clark is good. I
Speaker 1: like Karl Loftie's We've talked about that before. So they're good,
Speaker 1: you know. I mean, it's it's a good fun It's
Speaker 1: gonna be tough to run against. But again with Herbert,
Speaker 1: I think you take advantage of some of those openings
Speaker 1: and you use his legs as your weapon, and I
Speaker 1: think that's how you get to be a little bit
Speaker 1: more effective. And I would love to see them change
Speaker 1: it up. You know. I'm actually just gonna while we're talking,
Speaker 1: pop into there because I want to make sure. I'm
Speaker 1: I'm right on that when I look at the play
Speaker 1: by play sheet with the Chargers, So let's see five plays. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Austin Eckler up the middle for two yards on a
Speaker 1: first and twenty five. Austin Nuckler left for two yards.
Speaker 1: Justin Herbert passed short middle for That's that when I
Speaker 1: was talking about the carter. So it's really a sweep
Speaker 1: minus six yards. This one next drive is that's right
Speaker 1: DeAndre hit That was when they were at the one.
Speaker 1: So it was four consecutive first down runs that went nowhere.
Speaker 1: And I think if you go back to the first half,
Speaker 1: even that's a pass to Eckler that does well short right, yeah,
Speaker 1: pass pass right end for minus one yards on first down,
Speaker 1: and this is a Herbert scrambles for two yards. So yeah,
Speaker 1: they were much better on the first half. Second half
Speaker 1: it was just run, run, run, and it was fail fail,
Speaker 1: fail fail four times in a row. Yeah. The momentum
Speaker 1: that they would get awful win against the Chiefs is
Speaker 1: one thing. They get the six and four and you
Speaker 1: get so much in front of you. But like we
Speaker 1: can look ahead, like you said, you're looking for like
Speaker 1: the path to ten wins and it's there, like whether
Speaker 1: or not you get the one against the Chiefs on Sunday, Cardinals, Raiders,
Speaker 1: and then I see Dolphins Titans at home. Those are
Speaker 1: gonna be You're probably your two toughest games. Then you
Speaker 1: have the Colts Monday Night Football, the Rams who are
Speaker 1: struggling at three and six right now, and the Broncos
Speaker 1: to close the season. You keep getting guys back money.
Speaker 1: The path to ten wins is there, even if you
Speaker 1: drop this one this Sunday they got five and three. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but if you get this one on Sunday, Man, I
Speaker 1: tell you this, this team could this could be like
Speaker 1: that that point where, like you said, offensively you start
Speaker 1: scoring points. If Keenan or Mike comes back, at least
Speaker 1: you have something in the passing game that you can
Speaker 1: rely upon. Tight end is what scares me a little bit,
Speaker 1: especially with Gerald being down, palms already down, um you know,
Speaker 1: relying on McKitty and Rogers to get offensive production. There's
Speaker 1: not something I would count on this Sunday because there's
Speaker 1: nothing there. That's why I said you got to get
Speaker 1: two of those three back, you know, and I'm hoping
Speaker 1: it's Look, I'd love to get three or three back.
Speaker 1: But I think you really got to get two or
Speaker 1: three back. If it's Keenan and Everett, if it's Keenan
Speaker 1: and Mike, if it's Mike and Everett, I think, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm hoping you can get two of those three guys
Speaker 1: back because you need it, you know, you absolutely need it.
Speaker 1: It is too hard for those other guys to win.
Speaker 1: There's a reason why you carry him on their practice
Speaker 1: squad and you know, you use him in the pinch
Speaker 1: and you can drop a great you know, set up
Speaker 1: plays for them, you know, in one game. All right,
Speaker 1: we're gonna get you four targets. Let's hope you catch
Speaker 1: three of them. Michael Bandy, Jason Moore, you know, and
Speaker 1: that's what it should be, you know. But if you
Speaker 1: can get Keenan, Mike and Josh Palmer out there, you know,
Speaker 1: and Gerald Everett and Austin Eckler, now we're cooking. Now
Speaker 1: we're cooking with gas. And that's what I'm talking about.
Speaker 1: So the one issue with the way we're playing, the
Speaker 1: schedule and the path to five wins there, you know,
Speaker 1: the opponents that you feel best about are all on
Speaker 1: the road. That's that's the one issue. It's Colts Road,
Speaker 1: it's Raiders Road, it's Cardinals Road, it's Broncos road. It's like,
Speaker 1: that's the issue. And look, there are no easy opponents.
Speaker 1: We know that the Jets are six and three. You
Speaker 1: know there are no easy opponents in the NFL. The Dolphins.
Speaker 1: The Dolphins have put themselves in a nice situation. The
Speaker 1: AFC East right now seven and three with a win
Speaker 1: against the Bills. Yeah, I mean, look, the AFC has
Speaker 1: got four teams in the playoffs. They've got four teams
Speaker 1: in the playoffs right now, the Bills, the Patriots, the Dolphins,
Speaker 1: the Jets. They're all in the playoffs right now, four teams.
Speaker 1: And it was supposed to be one of the weakest divisions,
Speaker 1: and the AFC West was supposed to be the best division,
Speaker 1: and they've got one the Chiefs and the Raiders are
Speaker 1: the second worst team in football behind the Texans. So
Speaker 1: the Bronco the Broncos aren't too far behind. No. I mean,
Speaker 1: that's how weird this game is and how quickly it
Speaker 1: can change. So I'm with you. Look, it's that's why
Speaker 1: we said it, and I keep repeating it. The win
Speaker 1: in Atlanta was huge, It was huge to get that one.
Speaker 1: So if you got to play, you don't dip under
Speaker 1: five hundred if you lose to Currently, you know, two
Speaker 1: of the favorites to make the Super Bowl right now,
Speaker 1: the forty nine ers in the Chiefs. You win against
Speaker 1: the Chiefs, and you talk about getting some equity, you know,
Speaker 1: and a little bit of a you know, a little
Speaker 1: bit of leeway there. It's a big game, Don't get
Speaker 1: me wrong. It is a huge game because you can split,
Speaker 1: and now you got a shot at the division. You know,
Speaker 1: you split with them, you're only a game behind, and
Speaker 1: you have and at least you have the split. You
Speaker 1: improved to three and one in the division. And next thing,
Speaker 1: you know, you can go four and one, five and one.
Speaker 1: Now if you beat the Raiders and the Broncos and
Speaker 1: now that's your tiebreaker. You know that, you hope, you know.
Speaker 1: And I'm gonna go look at the standings and know
Speaker 1: I'm doing a lot of flipping around right now. I'd
Speaker 1: be better prepped for the people listening right now. My
Speaker 1: great apologies, but I look at the Chiefs. So they
Speaker 1: are two and zero in division. You hand them their
Speaker 1: first one, they're they're first lost there, they're four and
Speaker 1: two in conference. Right now, the Chargers are four and
Speaker 1: two in conference, two and one in the division. They
Speaker 1: would improve to three and one in the division. The
Speaker 1: Chiefs would be two and one. They would improve to
Speaker 1: five and two in the conference. The Chiefs would be
Speaker 1: four and three. Now you've got the tiebreaker. You know
Speaker 1: you've got the tiebreaker, you're a game behind. Start getting
Speaker 1: guys back, win your games, and see if you can
Speaker 1: win this division and get a little bit of traction
Speaker 1: here and independent of the division if you're just looking
Speaker 1: at a wildcard tiebreakers too. Look at Cincinnati. They're owing
Speaker 1: three in the division, they're two three in conference right
Speaker 1: and if you look at their schedule, it is not
Speaker 1: easy and they're still down Jamar Chase. The Patriots are
Speaker 1: the one team i'd be able maybe a little bit
Speaker 1: more concerned about their four and two in conference. They're
Speaker 1: coached by Bill Belichick. They're five and four right now.
Speaker 1: They have a game against the Jets this Sunday, which
Speaker 1: I think is huge in just the AFC playoff picture
Speaker 1: in general, because the Jets. Can the Jets sustain this.
Speaker 1: That's the one for me, Chris, That's the ones that
Speaker 1: I think is going to fall out just because of
Speaker 1: all the injuries they've had to deal with. And you're
Speaker 1: talking about going to New England this week, two Minnesota,
Speaker 1: traveling to Buffalo, traveling to Seattle, traveling to Miami. They've
Speaker 1: got a pretty rough stretch ahead of them. But I
Speaker 1: think they're a good team. I think they're well coached.
Speaker 1: I love their defense, their secondary. You could argue it's
Speaker 1: the best pair of corners in the league right now.
Speaker 1: Quinnon Williams is an absolute nightmare to deal with on
Speaker 1: the interior. So I'm not saying that they're going to
Speaker 1: get blown out or they're a pushover, but they've got
Speaker 1: a pretty rough schedule because of the road games they have, Dolphins, Seahawks, Bills, Vikings, Patriots.
Speaker 1: It's all on the road. And you could maybe see
Speaker 1: that slide back a little bit here. You know. It's
Speaker 1: interesting to listen. The Colts are four or five and one,
Speaker 1: and Jonathan Taylor. I think the healthier he gets, and
Speaker 1: maybe the better the offensive line gets, maybe the better
Speaker 1: the Colts are. But their schedules pretty brutal. They got
Speaker 1: the Eagles, they got the Cowboys, the Vikings, the seven
Speaker 1: and two Giants, and look how different the Steelers. Look,
Speaker 1: with TJ. Watback, they're a different team. Like that's a thing.
Speaker 1: You know. It's like anybody that was able to play
Speaker 1: the Steelers before Watt was back, you got a bonus.
Speaker 1: Now I know Minka's down, but like he just watch
Speaker 1: changes everything changes everything for that team. So you know,
Speaker 1: the Colts, congratulations you beat the Raiders. You got to
Speaker 1: shut up all the sanctimonious people that were, you know,
Speaker 1: crying about Jeff Saturday getting that job. But now it
Speaker 1: gets Now, like you said, okay, now what happens. Eagles,
Speaker 1: Steelers with Watt, Cowboys, Vikings, Chargers. There you go. Let's
Speaker 1: now let's see what you got. And then at Giants
Speaker 1: you know, so again it's it's there. It is there
Speaker 1: for the Chargers, which is why I think it's so
Speaker 1: smart and and look every coach does it, but I
Speaker 1: do think you know, they pound that message. I don't
Speaker 1: care about anything else but what's in this room. You know,
Speaker 1: take care of what we got and you'll get in
Speaker 1: the tournament. And if you get in the tournament, and
Speaker 1: now you're fine. Now we're hearing if they make the playoffs,
Speaker 1: Slater could be available. Joey's coming back. I think Joey's
Speaker 1: probably coming back that Miami game. That's the one I'm figuring.
Speaker 1: I don't think it's you know, some people were talking
Speaker 1: about Arizona. I don't think that's going to be the case.
Speaker 1: I think if you look at that Miami game, you know,
Speaker 1: December eleventh, it's about a month from now, I think
Speaker 1: that looks about right. If you can get him back there.
Speaker 1: You want to talk about changing your defense. You know,
Speaker 1: we know what that looked like, you know, through a
Speaker 1: game and a half with Joey and Khalil out there
Speaker 1: against Kansas City and against Vegas. So now you're now
Speaker 1: you're loaded for Miami, Tennessee, Indie, the Rams, and the Broncos.
Speaker 1: If that's the spot where Joey comes back, and by
Speaker 1: then the offense should be completely healthy. So that's what
Speaker 1: I'm talking about. Like if you're six and five, seven
Speaker 1: and five, when you're coming out of the Raider game,
Speaker 1: and now you've got five games left and you're healthy,
Speaker 1: you know, just get in. There's no juggernaut team this year.
Speaker 1: There isn't There is no team that you should be
Speaker 1: afraid of, you know, this season, So all you gotta
Speaker 1: do is get in because at this point, money, Like,
Speaker 1: who's the number one seed in the Santas City Right now,
Speaker 1: it's Kansas City, But if Kansas City takes a little
Speaker 1: bit of a tumble, it could be Baltimore, it could
Speaker 1: be Miami. So you're you're looking at you know, let's say,
Speaker 1: if you're like the six or seven seed in the AFC,
Speaker 1: you could play anybody. You could play Miami, you could
Speaker 1: play Baltimore, you could play Tennessee. If Kansa City's the
Speaker 1: number one overall seeds, I think the three teams outside
Speaker 1: of Kansas City the Chargers fans should have their eyes
Speaker 1: on right now is Cincinnati, New England and the Jets.
Speaker 1: Those are the basically I think the three teams that
Speaker 1: you're competing for as far as the wildcards concerned. And
Speaker 1: then heck, like you said, if they beat the Chiefs,
Speaker 1: then then we're talking, all right, where are we in
Speaker 1: the division right now? Now? You want to try to
Speaker 1: make a run at the division. Now you're talking about
Speaker 1: making a run of the division and not having to
Speaker 1: be a wildcard team that has to win three road
Speaker 1: games in order to get in to the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1: So you know, at the same time, that wouldn't worry me,
Speaker 1: Like there are issues with all of these teams, every
Speaker 1: single team. Kansas City is not as explosive as they were.
Speaker 1: Patrick Mahomes gives the ball away. They still have defensive issues.
Speaker 1: Miami's defense is a mess. Yes, their offense is a
Speaker 1: nightmare to contend with no doubt about it. But I
Speaker 1: think the way that Brandon Staley is coached, and you
Speaker 1: talk about just keeping everything in front of you, playing
Speaker 1: that too high, you know, can you take it away?
Speaker 1: Can you force them to try to be you know
Speaker 1: more that, can you force them out of their comfort zone?
Speaker 1: Because the defense has been terrible Tennessee, the offense it's
Speaker 1: one dimensional right now. They have no pass catchers whatsoever.
Speaker 1: You know, now Ryan Tannhill's coming back, that'll change a
Speaker 1: little bit. I expect to see that get a little
Speaker 1: bit better. We know what happens to Baltimore if they
Speaker 1: fall behind in the playoffs. You know, they struggle to
Speaker 1: pass the ball. You know, in Buffalo, we've just seen mistakes,
Speaker 1: critical mistakes from Josh Allen. The inability to have an
Speaker 1: offense that isn't Josh Allen centric. Every one of those
Speaker 1: teams are gettable. Last year, I felt like the Chiefs.
Speaker 1: It's funny like last year, I felt like the Chiefs
Speaker 1: and the Bills were so far ahead of everybody else,
Speaker 1: and the Bengals end up going to the super Bowl,
Speaker 1: which is funny, but I think it's just weird how
Speaker 1: that worked out. It was almost felt like a quirk
Speaker 1: in the matrix, you know. But this year I do
Speaker 1: not feel that way about the Bills and the Chiefs
Speaker 1: like I did last year. Yeah, hey, let's take a
Speaker 1: quick break. We'll answer a few fan questions and get
Speaker 1: out of here. All right, guys, I want to introduce you.
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Speaker 1: All right, money, I asked for some questions from Chargers fans.
Speaker 1: Let's kick it off of our boys from the Charger
Speaker 1: Chat podcast. Do you think this team has been galvanized
Speaker 1: having to fight through these injuries. In which one player
Speaker 1: do you think will make the biggest difference to our
Speaker 1: team when they return from injury? You answer that first,
Speaker 1: you sure, yeah, I mean last one first, I mean Bosa.
Speaker 1: I think that's there's no question. You know, Joey changes
Speaker 1: the defense. We have not been we have not seen
Speaker 1: a pass rush opposite Khalil Mack. So teams are able
Speaker 1: to chip in shade and run away you know, his
Speaker 1: direction with extra protection, and they're able to run away
Speaker 1: from him and there's nothing their way and for him.
Speaker 1: So Joey's gonna change everything. You know, credit Kyle van
Speaker 1: Noy for giving it a go, but I think it's
Speaker 1: been a real struggle for him playing edge. So getting
Speaker 1: Bosa back will change everything everything. And I think and
Speaker 1: just about think about what coach did last week. And
Speaker 1: I loved I loved seeing j T. Woods out there
Speaker 1: because it just cut Durwin loose. Drwin played edge last week.
Speaker 1: Derwin played a lot of line that money linebacker spot.
Speaker 1: Like you look at his snap distribution. He played in
Speaker 1: the slot, he played outside corner, he played high safety,
Speaker 1: he played linebacker, he played edge, you get Joey back,
Speaker 1: and now you're getting a little more comfortable, maybe JT's
Speaker 1: getting some more reps, and you're like, this is what
Speaker 1: I envisioned, JT and nas High, Joey and Khalil coming
Speaker 1: off the edges, Drew quarterback on that defense from the
Speaker 1: middle linebacker spot, and Derwin wrecking shop from all over
Speaker 1: the place. So that's that's the key. You know, they've
Speaker 1: the sooner they get Joey back, the sooner this thing
Speaker 1: changes dramatically. As far as galvinized, I don't. I don't
Speaker 1: necessarily buy into that. I've just been around too many
Speaker 1: football players to see what a nightmare this life is.
Speaker 1: Playing professional football. You get the crap kicked attie every
Speaker 1: single day. It's just you know, you I've heard I
Speaker 1: don't remember who I heard it say at first. It's
Speaker 1: been around forever though, but it's like it's like getting
Speaker 1: into multiple car crashes every single Sunday. It takes such
Speaker 1: a physical toll that you're already galvanized that. It's why
Speaker 1: if you've ever been around football players, and this is
Speaker 1: this is at every level. It's high school, it's college,
Speaker 1: it's you know, but the higher you get obviously the
Speaker 1: more physically punishing. It is, like if you see, guys, oh,
Speaker 1: you know what we played against each other back in
Speaker 1: ninety four. I was. It's just there's this connection because
Speaker 1: you've lived that. You've lived that experience. So you don't
Speaker 1: need any extra adversity to galvanize a football team. They're
Speaker 1: already galvanized because of the sacrifices they're willing to make. Yeah,
Speaker 1: agreed on that, and I one thousand percent agree with
Speaker 1: you on boasts. I'd add Keenan Allen to that mix
Speaker 1: because we have not seen him all year, and you
Speaker 1: saw how the offense moved with him last year when
Speaker 1: he was one hundred percent. And it may take Keenan
Speaker 1: if he comes back this week, it may take him
Speaker 1: a couple of weeks to get to one hundred percent.
Speaker 1: But when he is, that's the chain mover for this offense,
Speaker 1: you know. And I think you'll just see the complexion
Speaker 1: of the offense change when Keenan gets back into it.
Speaker 1: So both your questions here, Hey, Justin has thrown three
Speaker 1: hundred plus yards twice this season, do you attribute that
Speaker 1: to injuries defense is faced or pushing more of a
Speaker 1: run game that's from bolt Up fifteen eighty four. I mean, really,
Speaker 1: I think it's just injuries. It's it's kind of what
Speaker 1: it is, right if you don't have your host on
Speaker 1: the outside, both his own. It's injuries at every level.
Speaker 1: It's wide receivers that aren't creating separation and getting open.
Speaker 1: It's Justin's ribs, where clearly we've seen a different Justin
Speaker 1: Herbert these last two weeks than we saw immediate in
Speaker 1: the immediate aftermath of that injury the second half of
Speaker 1: Week two. And it's the offensive line. You know, it's
Speaker 1: just protection upfront, and Justin's done a great look. The
Speaker 1: sack numbers aren't there. He's you know, the Chargers are
Speaker 1: leading the league in least sacks allowed, but they're also
Speaker 1: lasting the league in most pressures. So that goes to
Speaker 1: tell you he's got to get rid of the ball
Speaker 1: quick because he's under pressure, or he's gonna take sacks.
Speaker 1: He's not taking sacks because he's getting rid of the ball.
Speaker 1: And now we're starting to see a little bit more
Speaker 1: holding the ball, willing to push it, willing to take
Speaker 1: the punishment because he feels better. So I think, well,
Speaker 1: I thought we had a shot at that three hundred
Speaker 1: yard game last week, and then it fell apart. You know,
Speaker 1: it just fell apart, and and you know, the adjustments
Speaker 1: were made and guys just couldn't get open from Dodge
Speaker 1: Bolt King. A lot of talk about putting grass in
Speaker 1: all NFL stadiums is so far capable of having grass
Speaker 1: based on the roof and the way it's built. You
Speaker 1: know what. I remember in August the MLS put in
Speaker 1: grass for like a friendly, like a Galaxy Friendly. But
Speaker 1: there's been a ton of talk about grass and NFL
Speaker 1: stadiums in the injuries, and I think you're starting to
Speaker 1: see players a little bit more vocal about this topic. Money. Look,
Speaker 1: I think every stadium should have grass. You know, I've
Speaker 1: just talked to way too many people and heard what
Speaker 1: they've set players, and heard what they've said about turf
Speaker 1: and what it does do them, even if it's not
Speaker 1: an injury, just the way they feel after a game
Speaker 1: on turf versus a game on grass. The thing with
Speaker 1: SOFI is that it is a six billion dollar investment,
Speaker 1: and in order for Stan Cronky to get his money back,
Speaker 1: he's got to have a lot of events there. He's
Speaker 1: got to have a lot of concerts, he's got to
Speaker 1: have Supercross, he's got all that stuff that's hard with
Speaker 1: grass kills the grass you know when you put the
Speaker 1: floor down and you put the stage down, when now
Speaker 1: your grass is dead and now you got to bring
Speaker 1: a new sod and now that's a fortune. So that's
Speaker 1: that's why SOFI has turf, because you know, they want
Speaker 1: to have two hundred events a year or one hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty events a year instead of just the ten
Speaker 1: football you know, twenty football games between the two teams.
Speaker 1: So that's I mean, ultimately, that's what we're talking about
Speaker 1: why SOFI doesn't have grass. So until you can get
Speaker 1: you know, operations and Cronky and the people that own
Speaker 1: the building to sign off on that, which I think
Speaker 1: is the longest of long shots, you're going to continue
Speaker 1: to see turf in that building. This is from Mason
Speaker 1: eisen Zimmer. Do you think the Mahomes Herbert yearly matchup
Speaker 1: not talked about enough? I think I think with Alan
Speaker 1: and Mahomes, those guys played in the playoffs, and when
Speaker 1: you play each other in the playoffs, I think the
Speaker 1: regular season matchups get more amplified. So I think until
Speaker 1: maybe these guys meet in the playoffs and it's more
Speaker 1: of a national story and the charges get on that
Speaker 1: level of the chiefs more consistently. It's probably what it's
Speaker 1: going to be. I mean, look, this will be This
Speaker 1: will be the sixth time they have played each other,
Speaker 1: and it will be the fourth time it's in primetime.
Speaker 1: So I think that should tell you all. Yes, it's
Speaker 1: getting the attention. They've played three Thursday nights in a
Speaker 1: Sunday night, so the Amazon launched their relationship with the
Speaker 1: NFL with Herbert and mahomes o U I get what
Speaker 1: he's saying. Yes, it's getting the attention that the people
Speaker 1: that know and the people that you know are are
Speaker 1: financially invested in this. They're like, yeah, we like this one.
Speaker 1: This is a good one for us. Let's keep getting
Speaker 1: more of this and the more you have And like
Speaker 1: you said, Chris, when when Herbert makes the playoffs and
Speaker 1: makes a run in the playoffs and ultimately wins a
Speaker 1: super Bowl, yes, then that will take it to the
Speaker 1: next level. Andrew a couple more here. If Gerald ever
Speaker 1: camp play on Sunday, which practice squad player could be
Speaker 1: called up and replicate his efficiency the most. I feel
Speaker 1: like McKitty and Rodgers don't have enough juice in the
Speaker 1: passing game. I don't know if there is a guy
Speaker 1: on the president right right camp camp Moore is the
Speaker 1: only at the tight end, and then a hunter Camp Moyer.
Speaker 1: They let go a stone smart he get really they
Speaker 1: may He mentioned a couple of these receivers, high Tower
Speaker 1: and Doss. I mean high Tier's got speed, but I
Speaker 1: don't know if he's what Gerald ever does. I like
Speaker 1: Heelan Doss a lot. I was surprised that that, you know,
Speaker 1: he wasn't kind of plugged in there though, just kind
Speaker 1: of one of the more curious things that I couldn't
Speaker 1: quite get my head around. I didn't know why Larry
Speaker 1: was active against the forty nine ers. I was trying
Speaker 1: to figure that out, like why is there is somebody hurt?
Speaker 1: I initially I initially up. Yeah, I initially thought it
Speaker 1: was going to be to spell DeAndre Carter because his
Speaker 1: offensive workload was going to be a lot. But that
Speaker 1: wasn't the case. Yeah, I mean that was interesting, Like
Speaker 1: I was, I truly was surprised that Gaziana wasn't active.
Speaker 1: I was like, why would Joe not be active for
Speaker 1: this game? With considering you know Austin's down and in
Speaker 1: Jerry was wave like, That's what surprised me. So, m no,
Speaker 1: there's those are their options, and I think that's something
Speaker 1: that will be explored this offseason. To me, that will
Speaker 1: be priority number one, and I would have loved to
Speaker 1: have seen it addressed at the trade deadline. You know,
Speaker 1: the Hockinson deal that the Vikings got from Detroit. I
Speaker 1: so desperately wish that would have been the Charters that
Speaker 1: acquired him instead of the Vikings because he would have
Speaker 1: been exactly what this team needed. All Right. It's a
Speaker 1: great sick into our final question from Karen. I know
Speaker 1: the draft isn't coming up anytime soon, but what will
Speaker 1: be more important to the Chargers? Do it all tight
Speaker 1: end or an explosive wide receiver? Both? Well, you know, yeah,
Speaker 1: I think the look to do it all tight ends
Speaker 1: are hard to find. I think if you can find one,
Speaker 1: that is, if you can find a really good pass
Speaker 1: catching tight end, get him, and I mean really good.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm not talking about Jared Cook one year,
Speaker 1: you know, Gerald Everett the next. I'm talking about like, look,
Speaker 1: Mike Gisiki is not going back to Miami. They franchise
Speaker 1: tagged him. They were talking about trading him at the deadline. Maybe, Like,
Speaker 1: that's a fit to me, free agent wise, go get
Speaker 1: that big target, athletic target that Herbert can really take
Speaker 1: advantage of in the middle of the field. If it
Speaker 1: were up to me in the draft, it's OH line
Speaker 1: D line, O line, D line, O line, D secondary,
Speaker 1: O line, D line secondary, OH line, D line second theary,
Speaker 1: Like that's we've seen it. You just you need that.
Speaker 1: You've got to have players at those positions. You just
Speaker 1: gotta have waves of them. Um. Hey, we haven't mentioned
Speaker 1: his name in a while. Jalen Guiden has been a
Speaker 1: big blow. Not having him stretched in the field. You
Speaker 1: need speed, you know, you've got to get speed. Um,
Speaker 1: So yeah, that's that's certainly something to think about. But look,
Speaker 1: I think we're now seeing with the Rams who spend
Speaker 1: and draft skill position players, like they the Allen Robinson
Speaker 1: contract might have been the worst one to hand it
Speaker 1: out this offseason. They need a lineman and they're dropping
Speaker 1: fifty million bucks on Alan Robinson. They need a lineman
Speaker 1: and they're drafting two two at well in the second round. Like, no,
Speaker 1: that's not the path. The path is the lines make
Speaker 1: sure your lines are right. Um, I know people don't
Speaker 1: know defensive lineman or offensive lineman like they know you
Speaker 1: know Jordan Addison and you know these other players in
Speaker 1: the in college football draft, O lineman and D lineman.
Speaker 1: What you need to do, well said, Let's get out
Speaker 1: of here with your key to victory. For me, it's
Speaker 1: it's simple. I'm gonna kind of home in on on
Speaker 1: third down defense for the Chargers. The Chiefs second best
Speaker 1: in the league on third down. You got to give
Speaker 1: the homes off the field so you can get a
Speaker 1: Herbert on it. And if they can limit what the
Speaker 1: Chiefs do on third down, you put yourself in a
Speaker 1: nice position. Yeah. You know, look, it's it's boring. Get
Speaker 1: them turnovers. Man, he's gonna give them to you. He's
Speaker 1: going to give them to you, and you gotta cash
Speaker 1: him in. Asante, Mikey Davis, Drwin, you know Khalil, Like,
Speaker 1: I think that's a fun I like what Eric Smith,
Speaker 1: our friend at a Chargers dot com posted that Khalil's
Speaker 1: had at least a half sack and I think sixth
Speaker 1: straight or seventh straight against the Chiefs. So Kalil, get
Speaker 1: another one, get another one, make it a strip, sack,
Speaker 1: scoop that thing up and cash in turnovers. That to
Speaker 1: me is priority one, Priority two. You already said it.
Speaker 1: Get off the field on third down. Do not give
Speaker 1: these guys second chances. Mahomas is so good at at
Speaker 1: you know, extending plays and overcoming third and twelves and
Speaker 1: third and fifteen. He's the best in the league at it.
Speaker 1: You can't allow him to do it. To you. That
Speaker 1: was the death knell from the forty nine ers. They
Speaker 1: had so many third and longs and the Chargers just
Speaker 1: could not get off the field. So that's going to
Speaker 1: be the key back to Beck. Sunday night football games. Money.
Speaker 1: You gotta love calling games on Sunday night. It's great.
Speaker 1: It's great. I love it. I love the primetime. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm all about it. I dig it. It's it's nice
Speaker 1: knowing that you're you're you're doing the one game that
Speaker 1: every single person in America's watching that watches football. There
Speaker 1: it's not split. They're watching your game and you get
Speaker 1: to call it. It was fun calling it last week
Speaker 1: and I look forward to it again. It's been a
Speaker 1: minute since we've been at Sofi Stadium, so be good.
Speaker 1: Good to get home for a Sunday night football game,
Speaker 1: and we look forward to seeing you guys there. Money
Speaker 1: always appreciate her brother, I will see you on Sunday.
Speaker 1: I'll see you guys on Sunday. For money, I'm Chris
Speaker 1: has been Chargers Weekly The sh