Speaker 1: The late fifteen ten touchdown. We'some guys, welcome into a
Speaker 1: week twelve edition of Chargers Weekly. Thanksgiving week as always
Speaker 1: joined by Matt money Smith Monday, let me be the
Speaker 1: first to wish you happy Thanksgiving, but on this Wednesday,
Speaker 1: as we take this not me whatever, try to take
Speaker 1: the moral high ground in which me a Thanksgiving birth.
Speaker 1: Happy Thanksgiving first. Yes, we are thankful sincerely to all
Speaker 1: of you that podcast and listen and interact with us.
Speaker 1: We have a good time doing this podcast every week
Speaker 1: and we really appreciate all of you listening to it.
Speaker 1: We hope it's entertaining and truly, truly we thank you
Speaker 1: for all of your support and hope y'all have a
Speaker 1: great holiday weekend extended Hollie weekend. It's my favorite holiday
Speaker 1: of the year. It's not even close. I love it.
Speaker 1: I eat, I hang out with my family. You know,
Speaker 1: for people like me, you have kids at college, it's
Speaker 1: it's them coming back for the first time since they
Speaker 1: left for the first semester. So it's always pretty special
Speaker 1: and yeah, very excited, very thankful, and I mean that
Speaker 1: sincerely for all of you people that support the Chargers,
Speaker 1: that support us. We really are thankful for you, and
Speaker 1: we truly can't thank you enough. And whatever, Chris hope
Speaker 1: you haven't okay Thanksgiving? Hey, I echo, I echo all
Speaker 1: of that. You guys are the best. We can keep
Speaker 1: seeing that. You wish me a happy Thanksgiving, and then
Speaker 1: I get the high ground by wishing the listeners the
Speaker 1: happy Thanksgiving. I win. You end up winning in the end,
Speaker 1: you end up winning, and I have to echo. I
Speaker 1: have to echo those sense of its. And now when
Speaker 1: you say that, I'm stuck with the the teen Wolf
Speaker 1: song at the end when Michael J. Fox is taken
Speaker 1: on the dragons win in the end. You gotta win
Speaker 1: in the end. There you go. I'll have a montage.
Speaker 1: People check it out. Oh my god, you know what,
Speaker 1: that's a Thanksgiving movie. That's a movie you could watch
Speaker 1: showing a Friday. You know why not? It makes perf
Speaker 1: makes sense. A guy turns into a wolf starts playing basketball,
Speaker 1: and all the students in the stands, they don't react whatsoever.
Speaker 1: They're just like, oh, this is normal. We're not going
Speaker 1: to run away because this wolf is gonna bite my
Speaker 1: throat out. No, I'm just gonna sit and see how
Speaker 1: this plays out. It makes perfect sense. I encourage our
Speaker 1: listeners to watch teen Wolf before the Charges play the
Speaker 1: Cardinals on Sunday and report back, maybe maybe getting Money's
Speaker 1: replies and share your favorite parts of the movie. And
Speaker 1: this is the eighties teen Wolf, by the way, not
Speaker 1: the not the reboot, not teen Wolf two with with Bateman,
Speaker 1: not teen Wolf the series on Netflix, No, the original
Speaker 1: is it is easily. I'm trying to think if I
Speaker 1: can come up with another one. It is the worst
Speaker 1: athletic performance by an actor in the history of film.
Speaker 1: Like Michael J. Fox can't dribble, he can't shoot like
Speaker 1: you would think that he was launching half court shots
Speaker 1: with his free throw form like it's he's jumping like
Speaker 1: a foot off then and shoving the ball toward the
Speaker 1: basket when he's taking his free throws. It's hilarious. All right, Sorry,
Speaker 1: dangent to get us started. Put it on your holiday
Speaker 1: viewing list, whether it's Thanksgiving or Christmas. Hey, we're gonna
Speaker 1: get into Chargers Cardinals this Sunday, huge game for the Chargers.
Speaker 1: But we always start with what happened last week and
Speaker 1: we'll just rewind a few days. Money. This has been
Speaker 1: the theme throughout this Chargers Chief series over the last
Speaker 1: several years. Chargers so close, yet they can't figure out
Speaker 1: how to beat Kansas City. And one forty six was
Speaker 1: I guess a little bit too much time for Patrick Mahomes.
Speaker 1: Joshma Palmer scores, but Mahomes and Travis Kelsey connects on
Speaker 1: their third touchsdown of the evening and the Chargers lose
Speaker 1: thirty twenty seven. Man's it seems like a lot of
Speaker 1: the same here last few years. Yeah, it's followed the pattern.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think that's what's so frustrating is in
Speaker 1: every single one of each of these last three games,
Speaker 1: the Chargers have a game plan. They execute it in
Speaker 1: the first half, they build a lead, a double digit lead,
Speaker 1: and it disappears, and then they retake the lead late
Speaker 1: and they lose the game. And that's been the patterns.
Speaker 1: So when you go through it and you try to
Speaker 1: figure out why, why is this happening? Unfortunately for the Chargers,
Speaker 1: it followed the same script from the majority of the season,
Speaker 1: and that is great second quarter, horrible third quarter. And
Speaker 1: you know, I, you know, I think we had Tom
Speaker 1: talesco on yesterday and I tried to I never want
Speaker 1: to call out specific plays because I think then you're
Speaker 1: just trying to assign blame, like, hey, why did this
Speaker 1: happen on this play? So I just said, hey, when
Speaker 1: you watch, when you go back and watch, are there
Speaker 1: ever plays that you look at and you're like, man's
Speaker 1: that's the one. And I was like, I'm not saying
Speaker 1: a win or a loss comes down to one play,
Speaker 1: but there are certain plays in games and when you're like,
Speaker 1: that's the one right there, And for me, that was
Speaker 1: you know, that was the end of the first half,
Speaker 1: and you've got a second and it's less than a yard.
Speaker 1: It's second in like maybe a foot. You know, a
Speaker 1: yard is three feet. It looked like it was really
Speaker 1: close to that one yard line, so I'd say it
Speaker 1: was probably second and a foot. They were super effective
Speaker 1: with the quarterback sneak all day. And they run a
Speaker 1: pitch to Austin and it goes for a loss of
Speaker 1: three and they can't convert the third down and they
Speaker 1: settle for three. That's a four point swing right there.
Speaker 1: And I just felt like, man, and I said it
Speaker 1: in the moment on the broadcast, I was like, TJ,
Speaker 1: I hope that does not come back, because man, that
Speaker 1: just is such a missed opportunity. You've got your timeouts,
Speaker 1: you've got thirty five seconds. First downs not touchdowns. You
Speaker 1: know that's a that is a first down, not touchdown.
Speaker 1: I get it. You liked the look. You thought you
Speaker 1: caught them first down. Man, you got a first and
Speaker 1: goal from inside the one, just go get it. And
Speaker 1: that was a tough one. And I think, you know,
Speaker 1: and I bring up that play because then the third
Speaker 1: quarter got away from them again. You know, it's a
Speaker 1: it's a three and out and and it's a punt
Speaker 1: on a fourth and inches or a fourth and one
Speaker 1: from their own thirty fourth something like that. So that's
Speaker 1: it's kind of why I bring up that, particularly because
Speaker 1: then you're up eleven instead of seven, and I just
Speaker 1: feel like Chiefs had a little bit of momentum maybe
Speaker 1: going into the half, like ooh, dodge the bullet there.
Speaker 1: And you know, I think the thing to remember is
Speaker 1: people maybe get frustrated by these games is Chiefs do
Speaker 1: this to everyone. They're they're the best team in the
Speaker 1: league right now. And there's a reason, you know it.
Speaker 1: We're not alone. You are not alone. It is every
Speaker 1: single team that plays the Chiefs that pulls their hair
Speaker 1: out because that's just how good Patrick Mahomes, Andy Reid
Speaker 1: and Travis Kelcey are. They just you know what's coming,
Speaker 1: and I'll be damned, no team in the league can
Speaker 1: stop it. It's just it's it's one of those things.
Speaker 1: And it's it is not exclusive to the Chargers, is
Speaker 1: it is universal in the National Football League that this
Speaker 1: is what happens when you give Patrick. The Bills gave
Speaker 1: him thirteen seconds in the AFC Divisional Round last year,
Speaker 1: thirteen seconds and he figured it out. He's just he's
Speaker 1: just that good team in the division has ever stopped it.
Speaker 1: Patrick Mahomes is undefeated on the road in the division.
Speaker 1: It's crazy, it's never it's never happened, like no team
Speaker 1: has ever solved this riddle. And I want to I
Speaker 1: want to share the step because it goes in line
Speaker 1: with which you just talked about that play um Our
Speaker 1: pr Ace. Danny Market has said this to me over
Speaker 1: the last two weeks, weeks ten and eleven, Justin Herbert
Speaker 1: has recorded a rushing first down on third and one
Speaker 1: or less five times, and that leads all players in
Speaker 1: the NFL, not just quarterbacks. I mean, you look at you.
Speaker 1: You got Herbert at one, Zeke at two with four
Speaker 1: and then hurts Henry Brian Robinson Shod White with three.
Speaker 1: So it's funny too because like with Philip, that would
Speaker 1: never happen. Well, that's what I think is that That's
Speaker 1: what plays into it too for me, is there's some
Speaker 1: scar tissue there is. Philip refused to quarterback sneak. He
Speaker 1: said that, you know, he's he just he didn't like
Speaker 1: getting hit. He didn't like having his hands and that mass.
Speaker 1: You know, felt like guys were always grabbing at his
Speaker 1: fingers and twisting them and stuff, and he just refused
Speaker 1: to do it. And it would drive me crazy because
Speaker 1: it's like, dude, I stand next to you on the plane, like,
Speaker 1: I know what you look like. You are six foot
Speaker 1: six freaking two hundred and twenty five pounds. Get your
Speaker 1: nose in there and get a freaking yard. And so
Speaker 1: now that they have a guy that's built similarly and
Speaker 1: it's willing to do it and it's really good at it,
Speaker 1: it's frustrating when they don't do it because it's like,
Speaker 1: you know, it works, it works, you can't stop. You know,
Speaker 1: you have your two best players on offense. Corey Lindsley
Speaker 1: justin Herbert. They're right there. They are connected on this
Speaker 1: and they're gonna get it. And now with you know,
Speaker 1: the advent of we're not going to throw a flag
Speaker 1: for running backs pushing you in the back to get
Speaker 1: the extra ard. It can't be stopped. It just it
Speaker 1: can't be stopped. And it's just it's really frustrating when
Speaker 1: they go away from that when it's third and less
Speaker 1: than a yard. I just don't I'll never understand that. So,
Speaker 1: you know, the play for me money that I go
Speaker 1: to is that I think it was Kelsey's sick and
Speaker 1: touchdown that drive. Yeah, a third and seventeen, That third
Speaker 1: and seventeen that gets converted, and I get it. We
Speaker 1: talked about this on the podcast last Thursday, how good
Speaker 1: Kansas City is on third down? Yeah, the third and
Speaker 1: seventeen can happen, you know, And I don't care if
Speaker 1: it's Patrick Mahomes or whoever. Third and seventeen. You got
Speaker 1: to get off the field and get your offense back
Speaker 1: on it. And that was just I think one example
Speaker 1: of the second half that allowed the Chiefs to keep
Speaker 1: that drive going. Also at the beginning of the second half,
Speaker 1: just Pacheco, I mean that guy was getting like nine
Speaker 1: yards easy every single carry. I think he ended up
Speaker 1: with like seven yards a pop. They ran the ball
Speaker 1: like five straight times in at the start of the
Speaker 1: second half, And it's just one of those things we
Speaker 1: talked about on Monday where the Chargers, their bugaboo has
Speaker 1: been stopping the run all season long, and even the Chiefs,
Speaker 1: as explosive as they are, recognized that and took time
Speaker 1: out of this game to really just give the ball
Speaker 1: to Piceco and let him do his thing. Well, I
Speaker 1: think that's you know, the thing about that too, is
Speaker 1: and I'm going to pull if people are watching on
Speaker 1: the YouTube, I'm going to that third and seventeen because
Speaker 1: I'm trying to refresh my memory and uh because I
Speaker 1: can't remember. I felt like, um, someone was there. I
Speaker 1: felt like, you know, there was someone there that was
Speaker 1: about to make the sack and somehow he escaped. Um.
Speaker 1: Oh that's why I couldn't see it, because that's the
Speaker 1: wrong Charger game. Um the casey seven. Yeah, so I'm
Speaker 1: pulling up right now, Yeah, all the way back at
Speaker 1: the seven. The uh so, they they've got four they
Speaker 1: rushed four Mahomes has all kinds of time and yeah,
Speaker 1: see so that's this. This is again. Look, this is
Speaker 1: one of my this is one of my great issues.
Speaker 1: Um if there's one thing that you don't want to do,
Speaker 1: it's give a you know, give that kind of look.
Speaker 1: I know it's not Travis Kelsey. I think it was Gray.
Speaker 1: Was it Noah Gray? Or was it um Forts I
Speaker 1: name was Sportson or no? It was Justin Watson. Watson. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Justin Watson, the pen Quaker. So he's being checked by Mikey,
Speaker 1: I think right, and he goes he does a little
Speaker 1: bit of motion into the slot. Dude, Mikey is lined
Speaker 1: up at the first down. It's like, dude, they're at
Speaker 1: the seven and Mikey is set up at the twenty. Like,
Speaker 1: I get it. Justin Watson's good. I remember watching the
Speaker 1: Penn Brown game and I came out of that going, oh,
Speaker 1: I just saw an NFL player on an IVY League
Speaker 1: game when we played the Patriots and we were staying
Speaker 1: in Rhode Island, and I remember coming out of that
Speaker 1: game and I was like, dude, this guy Justin Watson.
Speaker 1: I'm not trying to pat myself on the back of
Speaker 1: some sort of scout, but he was just so much
Speaker 1: better than everybody on the field. I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: I saw an NFL player today, And it's funny how
Speaker 1: that works. When you watch like IVY League football, there
Speaker 1: tends you know, if there's someone that's going to make
Speaker 1: the league, there's so much better than everybody else on
Speaker 1: the field because they're IVY League players and very few
Speaker 1: of them are going to the league. But like you know,
Speaker 1: I'm watching, I'm rewinding it out. So at the snap
Speaker 1: he is, Mikey is standing at the seventeen and by
Speaker 1: the time they snap the ball, he's already back pedaled
Speaker 1: to the twenty and you've got two high safeties. Derwin
Speaker 1: is at the twenty five. Nazatterly is at the thirty.
Speaker 1: What are we doing? It is a third and seventeen.
Speaker 1: What are we doing? Like, I just don't get it.
Speaker 1: It's you know, that's it's again. There's just too many
Speaker 1: of these where they're third, they get him off schedule,
Speaker 1: and they have these incredible cushions of trying to keep
Speaker 1: people in front of them, and like, truly, I'm looking
Speaker 1: at it, Mikey is four yards behind Watson when he
Speaker 1: makes that reception at the first down marker, and they
Speaker 1: ended up going they needed seventeen and they ended up
Speaker 1: getting twenty six. Yeah, like, it's just I'm with you, dude,
Speaker 1: I don't it is. It is very frustrating. I just
Speaker 1: it's not tyreek Hill. It's not tyreek Hill. No, he's
Speaker 1: not on the roster. He's not on the roster there.
Speaker 1: It's Justin Watson who was waived by the Bucks and
Speaker 1: picked up by the Chiefs and he burned Remember he
Speaker 1: burned the Chargers in Week two for a touchdown like
Speaker 1: that too. It's like, why why is that guy getting
Speaker 1: a fifteen yard cushion? You can't man that guy up?
Speaker 1: You kidding me? And then look it's it's the call, right,
Speaker 1: it's court. I think they're playing quarters on that. But
Speaker 1: it's just again frustrating. I thought. I thought in that
Speaker 1: Atlanta game and even in the San Francisco game, they
Speaker 1: were just much more aggressive in their coverage, much more
Speaker 1: aggressive blitzing, you know, making sure they pressed a lot more.
Speaker 1: I just, man, that drives me. I'm with you, Chris.
Speaker 1: It's it's a little frustrating to see that sort of
Speaker 1: respect for a receiver like that that just has to
Speaker 1: catch the ball and and fall forward to pick up,
Speaker 1: you know, twenty six yards. Yeah, it was a ten
Speaker 1: play eighty six yard drive. The first play of the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter was the Travis kelcey thirty two yards, right,
Speaker 1: and that you know, again, the Chargers had the lead
Speaker 1: going into the fourth quarter in back to back Sunday
Speaker 1: football games against two playoff teams, and right, they're playing
Speaker 1: good enough. They played good enough until the end. And
Speaker 1: this is what I contend though. I got like, if
Speaker 1: this team wants to kinda pulled itself into the playoffs
Speaker 1: and show that they're a playoff team with a minute
Speaker 1: forty six to go, and I get you, listen, we
Speaker 1: just would went through all of it. Patrick Mahomes does
Speaker 1: this to everybody. But you gotta get a stop, you
Speaker 1: gotta you gotta show the league that you are a
Speaker 1: playoff caliber team. Yeah, because if you look at the
Speaker 1: five wins, none of those teams are making the playoffs.
Speaker 1: Maybe the Falcons by default in the NFC South, but
Speaker 1: the other four teams aren't making the playoffs. Now. I
Speaker 1: like your silver lining though, Chris, Like, I think that's
Speaker 1: important for people, you know, to remember, like they're in
Speaker 1: these games, they are they are not getting blown off
Speaker 1: the field by the forty nine ers, like the Cardinals were,
Speaker 1: like the Rams, Did you know they're not getting blown
Speaker 1: off the field by the Chiefs close? Yes, like so
Speaker 1: many other teams are like they're hanging in there. They
Speaker 1: just need to execute. Like And that's what I think
Speaker 1: gets people really frustrated, is, Okay, you've got this. You're
Speaker 1: the defense has played good enough to put them into
Speaker 1: a third seventeen, you know, to force a penalty, to
Speaker 1: get a sack, to put him in this down and distance,
Speaker 1: Just execute it. You've certainly got the personnel, because you've
Speaker 1: proven you got the personnel. So I think that's what
Speaker 1: can get frustrating is they're good enough to get these
Speaker 1: teams off schedule, to get a tackle for loss, to
Speaker 1: force a holding penalty with a pass rush, to put
Speaker 1: them in these you know, disadvantaged situations, and they're not
Speaker 1: able to just pay it off. And I think that's
Speaker 1: what gets frustrating. It happened against the forty nine ers.
Speaker 1: There are way too many third and longs that we're converted,
Speaker 1: and it's like, just keep doing what you're doing, man,
Speaker 1: do what you're doing to get you to third and seventeen.
Speaker 1: Don't adjust and have two high safeties five yards beyond
Speaker 1: the first down marker, like Tyreek Hills not out there.
Speaker 1: He's not going to blow by someone and get a
Speaker 1: ninety three yard touchdown. So that's what I think is
Speaker 1: just sort of the frustrating part of that particular players.
Speaker 1: You bring it up. What do you think of the
Speaker 1: Chargers offense and kind of how they started the game.
Speaker 1: It's great, started the game exceptional. I mean, it was
Speaker 1: just like, oh, okay, yeah, this is this is what
Speaker 1: it looks like. This is what it's like. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: when Mike and Keenan are out there and Josh Palmer
Speaker 1: is the third guy and he's able to take advantage
Speaker 1: and get that fifty yard touchdown because you know he's
Speaker 1: got the third best corner around him. You know, Keenan
Speaker 1: made a couple you know, obviously the long grab that
Speaker 1: set up the touchdown was exceptional, but he you know,
Speaker 1: the thing for Keenan is just yeah, picking up like
Speaker 1: even that short that first catchy had, Oh yeah, it's
Speaker 1: fir first down, it's third down, first down. Perfect, So
Speaker 1: we want you know, Mikey's toe tap is exactly Michael
Speaker 1: Mike Williams, you know, yeah, that's what he does, so
Speaker 1: that was great, but you know, it's just I think
Speaker 1: it's again frustrating in the second half to see how
Speaker 1: they kind of go away from a lot of the
Speaker 1: stuff that's working. And I know a lot of that
Speaker 1: is the past protection was breaking down and it was
Speaker 1: you know that the Chiefs had kind of figured something out.
Speaker 1: Frank Clark really came alive in that second half, so
Speaker 1: did Chris Jones. So it just kind of changes what
Speaker 1: you're able to do. But I just felt like they
Speaker 1: went away with some of this from some of the
Speaker 1: stuff that was working, you know, the play action setting
Speaker 1: up the big explosive of plays like they had in
Speaker 1: the first half. It felt like they went away from that.
Speaker 1: And granted they only had two drives in the third
Speaker 1: quarter again for what I think six plays, no se
Speaker 1: three because they got one first down on the one drive.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I think it was like eight or nine
Speaker 1: place is all they had. You know, they had a
Speaker 1: four point they had a four minute time of possession
Speaker 1: advantage at the end of the half, and by the
Speaker 1: end of the third quarter it was dead. Even like
Speaker 1: that's how bad the third quarter went for him. Third
Speaker 1: quarters have been brutal, and yeah, the last two weeks
Speaker 1: seven points in the second half combined. And we went
Speaker 1: through this stretch before Money where they were just so
Speaker 1: bad in the first quarter, and I know, right, they
Speaker 1: fixed that problem, but yet we still have the second
Speaker 1: half issue. You can't score seven points in the second
Speaker 1: half against the Chiefs that expect to win. I was
Speaker 1: I think it was talking to Eric Williams at halftime.
Speaker 1: We're looking at the score. It's like, you probably need
Speaker 1: thirty four. You probably need thirty four to win this game,
Speaker 1: Like you can't. Yeah, that was always Gus's you know,
Speaker 1: when Gus was here, he had a twenty eight. You've
Speaker 1: got to you've got to get above twenty eight, he said.
Speaker 1: I think it's it's very hard to keep the Chiefs
Speaker 1: under seven points a quarter, so just assume they're going
Speaker 1: to be able to do that. He's like, so to
Speaker 1: beat this team, you're gonna have to get at least
Speaker 1: twenty nine from your offense. That's that's what you're going
Speaker 1: to have to to notch in. Hey, you know what
Speaker 1: was it? You know, the Chargers scored twenty seven, So
Speaker 1: it's yeah, again, I think it's just it's it's right there, man,
Speaker 1: just like it was last year on the Thursday night
Speaker 1: football game right there, and you just think about how
Speaker 1: much different the season looks when you knock the Chiefs off,
Speaker 1: and you know, you either last year they would have
Speaker 1: got the season sweep, this year they would have got
Speaker 1: the split, been just a game behind them, with a
Speaker 1: real favorable part of the schedule coming up, these two
Speaker 1: back to backs against the Cardinals that are certainly struggling,
Speaker 1: and obviously there's a lot going on there right now,
Speaker 1: uh you know, with some players sort of you know,
Speaker 1: you know, this is all the sort of message board
Speaker 1: social media crap. It's just people not happy with Kyler
Speaker 1: Murray still out with that hamstring. What the hell's this problem?
Speaker 1: Kind of stuff. And then you've got the coach that
Speaker 1: just got let go second one this year, Cliff Kingsbury,
Speaker 1: you know, even though he just signed that deal, reportedly
Speaker 1: the ownership's not happy with him. So you've got a
Speaker 1: lot going wrong out there that you just got it.
Speaker 1: And not to mention all the injuries, you know, Hollywood
Speaker 1: Brown is out, I think three fifths of Hernandez is out,
Speaker 1: Hudson is out. Their offensive line is decimated. So that's
Speaker 1: the good nsive starters exactly, So you just got to
Speaker 1: take advantage of that. And that's the great thing is
Speaker 1: it's I do think it's set up for the Chargers.
Speaker 1: They got to go five and two, and I think
Speaker 1: it sets up favorably for them. Their tough opponents are
Speaker 1: at home, not on the road, you know, so you'd
Speaker 1: like to, hey, I know Miami and Tennessee are really good,
Speaker 1: but we get him here, you know, so advantage Chargers
Speaker 1: on that front. And then you go on the road
Speaker 1: to play you know, the Cardinals, the Raiders who probably
Speaker 1: should not have won that game again just pe poor
Speaker 1: management by Nate Hackett at the end of that contest
Speaker 1: to put it into overtime. So you've got a Raiders
Speaker 1: team that you know is feeling a lot better about itself,
Speaker 1: but still it does not looked that great all season long.
Speaker 1: And then you get the home games again. You get
Speaker 1: them at home, Miami and Tennessee, you know, split those,
Speaker 1: and you feel pretty good about going to Denver Colts
Speaker 1: on the road and the Rams, whom I would not
Speaker 1: be surprised if they shut down Matthew Stafford for the
Speaker 1: rest of the season after back to back concussions, I
Speaker 1: do you know, I don't know what what what are
Speaker 1: you doing? What's it worth? You know doing that? And
Speaker 1: obviously they let go a Henderson. It's just almost like
Speaker 1: they're all right, let's just flush this thing out. See
Speaker 1: what we can find on the back end of the roster.
Speaker 1: Who might be a keeper, you know, who might not
Speaker 1: be So you know, five and two is absolutely realistic.
Speaker 1: I you know, they'll be favored, the Chargers will be
Speaker 1: favored in at least five games. And if your favorite,
Speaker 1: you should win, you know. So that's that's kind of
Speaker 1: my silver lining is and for and I said it
Speaker 1: last week, just get in, man, just get in, you know,
Speaker 1: because Boss is probably coming back in two weeks. That
Speaker 1: seems to be the feel, and this defense is going
Speaker 1: to look completely different with him. I mean completely different
Speaker 1: with him. It's just they're they're getting very little pass
Speaker 1: rush opposite Khalil Mack and they're loading up on Khalil
Speaker 1: and it's just it's it's hard. Morgan Fox is doing
Speaker 1: a great job of creating some pass rush. But I think, um,
Speaker 1: you get Bosa back and now you can put Bosa,
Speaker 1: Morgan and Mac out there. Now we're cooking. So how
Speaker 1: many times we talked about Bosa against the run too.
Speaker 1: I mean, like one hundred percent losing him. I mean
Speaker 1: you see all these big chunk plays that they're giving
Speaker 1: up in the in the run game, Bosa would wipe
Speaker 1: out a lot of those, Yeah, because a lot of
Speaker 1: them are that that end is crashing or whoever has
Speaker 1: contained on that side. It's typically Kenneth and Kyle van Noy,
Speaker 1: uh Marine and Vanoy. It's just been an issue, you know,
Speaker 1: a little bit of communication, a little bit of guess
Speaker 1: and wrong kind of stuff, and that doesn't happen with Bosa.
Speaker 1: He's because and it's nothing against those guys, just both
Speaker 1: to the best in the league. Like there is no
Speaker 1: end that is better at diagnosing containing run than Joey Bosa.
Speaker 1: So when you get that back, it really does change
Speaker 1: the calculus completely. Before we get into the card, let's
Speaker 1: just dive into this this AFC playoff picture. Our guy Henry,
Speaker 1: who watches the podcast all the time, he wanted to.
Speaker 1: He had a question, he said, what's what's the path?
Speaker 1: What's your prediction? And I think you just kind of
Speaker 1: outlined it. You think they can get to ten and seven? Yeah, No,
Speaker 1: nine and eight's not going to get in. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: will get you in nine and eight will not get
Speaker 1: you in. So um, for me, what I'm looking at
Speaker 1: we brought this up on the earth too, uh duj
Speaker 1: to with dj um. To me, the path is probably
Speaker 1: the Jets and the Bengals. I think the Patriots are
Speaker 1: gonna make it. That defense is really good, and I
Speaker 1: look at their remaining schedules this week it sounds like
Speaker 1: too yeah. So so I just mean for the Patriots,
Speaker 1: they're at six wins right now. Um, they get the
Speaker 1: Cardinals the Raiders at home, and then you know, it's like,
Speaker 1: can they do to the Vikings tomorrow night? You know
Speaker 1: when we're recording this on Thanksgiving night? You know what
Speaker 1: kind of what the Cowboys did defensively and fresh right them?
Speaker 1: You know, they get the Bengals at home, So that's
Speaker 1: a big one. So one of those two teams is
Speaker 1: going to get a lost from that game in particular.
Speaker 1: Then they get the Dolphins at home on January first,
Speaker 1: and the cold let's see if Miami's is good and
Speaker 1: that kind of weather is they are on a fast
Speaker 1: track when it's warm out. And then they go to
Speaker 1: the Bills, so they've got a little bit of issues there. Okay,
Speaker 1: maybe I just I feel like, can they go? Can
Speaker 1: they go? Four and three? That looks a little bit
Speaker 1: more favorable to me than the Bengals. The Bengals have
Speaker 1: got a buzz saw to deal with at Titans, Chiefs
Speaker 1: at home, Browns with DeShawn Watson. Who knows how that's
Speaker 1: how much different that's going to look at Tampa at
Speaker 1: New England, Bills at home, Ravens at home. I mean
Speaker 1: that is they will have earned it. They will have
Speaker 1: earned it. Yes, if they can get to ten, they
Speaker 1: got to earn it. So you know, these are the
Speaker 1: three teams ahead of the Chargers right now. And then
Speaker 1: you've got you know, the Jets who are in the eight.
Speaker 1: So they're on the outside looking in. But I think
Speaker 1: you know, you've already got issues where he's benching Zach Wilson.
Speaker 1: They're looking for a scapegoat, you know kind of thing
Speaker 1: that's I think, well, how will how will Mike White
Speaker 1: change what they do offensively? Because the defense is really good?
Speaker 1: They got the price Monday, Um, we don't really know.
Speaker 1: I mean, the Vikings are rating two, but it looks
Speaker 1: looks a little shaky at this point. But yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: saying the Jets. Like you look at at Dolphins, at Seahawks,
Speaker 1: at Bills at Vikings, you know they can only lose three.
Speaker 1: I think they're losing four. So for me, you can
Speaker 1: jump those two teams I think and get into this seven.
Speaker 1: It's but you've gotta go five and two. And the
Speaker 1: good news is the Chargers right now are four and
Speaker 1: three in conference. The Bengals are three and three, so
Speaker 1: perhaps they can just gain an advantage there and and
Speaker 1: get that conference you know, get that conference number up,
Speaker 1: because that's what it's gonna come down to. Unless you're
Speaker 1: in division and you're fighting off the Broncos or the the Raiders,
Speaker 1: which obviously they're not gonna do, It's gonna come down
Speaker 1: to conference record. That'll be your first tiebreaker. Yea. And
Speaker 1: this this Chief's Charges series wrapped up before Thanksgiving, but
Speaker 1: who knows what happens over these next few weeks. If
Speaker 1: KC doesn't get the number one spot, there's sure as heck,
Speaker 1: probably could be number two and you may set up
Speaker 1: round three. Tarrelhead right, take it man, Hey, look it
Speaker 1: happened last year for the Rams, right they lost the season.
Speaker 1: They got swept by the forty nine Ers in the
Speaker 1: season series, won the NFC Championship and went on to
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl. They won the one that counted. So
Speaker 1: hard to beat the team three times in a season,
Speaker 1: that's what they always say. But you know that's the
Speaker 1: other thing too, is like, that's why I say just
Speaker 1: get in, you know, I look at what's ahead of them.
Speaker 1: If they get in at the seven as it stands
Speaker 1: right now, they would play the Dolphins in the first round.
Speaker 1: I'm not afraid of the Dolphins. You know, their defense
Speaker 1: has been abysmal all season long, you know, and if
Speaker 1: boasts back and if Khalil Mack is back, you know,
Speaker 1: totally fine to take on the Titans. Great. Do they
Speaker 1: have enough offense if if Mike Williams and Keenan and
Speaker 1: the Chargers offense is at full you know, operational capacity.
Speaker 1: I don't know if they can score enough points to
Speaker 1: keep up with them. Obviously the running attack can keep
Speaker 1: the offense off the field. But I don't need to
Speaker 1: get deep into all of that. What I'm getting at
Speaker 1: it seeing with they're all beatable money is that they're
Speaker 1: gonna see them in desid see it. We'll see what
Speaker 1: it looks with Bosa. With Bosa exactly. So I look
Speaker 1: at Indianapois at four to six and one. Had they
Speaker 1: beaten Philly, I would have said, maybe maybe look out
Speaker 1: for them, But they have a pretty difficult schedule, and
Speaker 1: I don't know if they can recover from from four
Speaker 1: to six and one. At this point, I think the
Speaker 1: Chargers of all the teams, have the best schedule. That's
Speaker 1: the thing, you know. It's it's two three win teams
Speaker 1: and the Broncos and Raiders. A. What are the Cardinals
Speaker 1: four wins? Three wins? What are they? I think they're
Speaker 1: three four and seven. So you've got two three three
Speaker 1: win teams. You've got one four win team. Uh A,
Speaker 1: two four win teams. Check that culture. So you got
Speaker 1: two three win teams, two four win teams. Uh look
Speaker 1: at this now I gotta correct myself again. Three three
Speaker 1: win teams, Rams, Rams, Raiders, Broncos. Three win teams. You
Speaker 1: got those three. You've got to get to five wins
Speaker 1: and you've got two four win teams. You know, the
Speaker 1: Colts and the Cardinals. Win those games. Win against the
Speaker 1: teams that are sub five hundred and have serious issues,
Speaker 1: and you will punch your ticket to the playoffs. Be
Speaker 1: healthy and let's make a run. Starts with the Cardinals.
Speaker 1: Take a quick break, and we'll talk about them all right, guys,
Speaker 1: want to tell you about Chargers Picks now. The official
Speaker 1: LA Chargers Pick Them contest is where you predict the
Speaker 1: game outcomes for a chance to win a Chargers Jersey.
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Speaker 1: Ultimate Chargers Play now inside the LA Chargers app. So money,
Speaker 1: I thought I'd fire up my HBO Max for the
Speaker 1: first time in months and watch the Cardinals hard time.
Speaker 1: I haven't watched it yet. How is it? It's interesting.
Speaker 1: It's interesting, especially when you have a struggling team. They
Speaker 1: started a cliffs like empty house. He's got to get
Speaker 1: empty mansion. So we get a little tour there. But
Speaker 1: what I thought was interesting was they they pretty much
Speaker 1: put on their projector. Cliff is like, listen, we have
Speaker 1: these three NFC West games to go. We win these three,
Speaker 1: you know, are we win these next two? We're we're
Speaker 1: in the mix share first place. Monday night in Mexico City,
Speaker 1: they lose the Seahawks. Um, they beat the Rams with
Speaker 1: Colt McCoy and then we haven't seen the episode in
Speaker 1: Mexico City yet, so it looks like a mess. Listen,
Speaker 1: it's it's hard knocks, so you get a snapshot, final
Speaker 1: sale over what they Yeah, the Cardinals have final sale
Speaker 1: over what gets released. But they they're an organization, UM
Speaker 1: that's reeling right now on and off the field. Their
Speaker 1: offensive line is a mess. Uh. The quarterback position is
Speaker 1: in flux as we tape this. I listened to Cliff
Speaker 1: Kingsbury's press yes yesterday, which was Tuesday, and it sounds
Speaker 1: like Kyler is making progress and that he could go Hollywood.
Speaker 1: Brown could be back as well. But this is a team,
Speaker 1: man that you mentioned, you have a coach that gets
Speaker 1: fired in Mexico City, the offensive line coach of all positions,
Speaker 1: the one where they're they're the lanist. I guess they're
Speaker 1: terrible at home. They're like the worst home team in
Speaker 1: the NFL. Um they're one in five. I guess one
Speaker 1: in four because I think the Mexico City game was
Speaker 1: a home game. So this is a game the Chargers
Speaker 1: have to go in and just take care of business. Man.
Speaker 1: You have to go into Arizona, get to six and
Speaker 1: five and get ready for the Raiders. I don't think
Speaker 1: you can really do much if you can't beat the
Speaker 1: Cardinals on Sunday. Yeah. Look, it's a completely different team
Speaker 1: with Kyler Murray. I know he hasn't had the best season,
Speaker 1: but you know, he still leads the team in Russian
Speaker 1: and like, I think we know the issues that the
Speaker 1: Chargers have had, you know, with stopping the run. I mean,
Speaker 1: he's averaged six over six yards per carry, he's got
Speaker 1: a couple of touchdowns, He's got a forty two yard
Speaker 1: run on the season. James Connor has kind of come
Speaker 1: back to earth after a great season last year, you know,
Speaker 1: sort of his career numbers averaging just three under four
Speaker 1: yards per carry, he's got the four touchdowns, He's got
Speaker 1: zero big runs this year. So I think that's something
Speaker 1: that plays into the Charger's hands. So one thing I'll
Speaker 1: say is, look, DeAndre Hopkins is still a He is
Speaker 1: a mess to contend with. Man, He's so good, he
Speaker 1: is so physical. He's very keenan Allen like, where he's
Speaker 1: as good a route runner, and he will break that
Speaker 1: thing off and you see defensive backs just tumbling backwards
Speaker 1: five to six yards. He's just and Colt McCoy is
Speaker 1: really effective at throwing those routes. That's one thing that
Speaker 1: stood out to me is you know he's letting that
Speaker 1: ball go before you know, Hopkins is getting into that
Speaker 1: break just trusting that he's going to be there, and
Speaker 1: he's always there and when he catches it, he's getting
Speaker 1: an extra four or five yards because he's just that
Speaker 1: physical of a receiver. So you know that's going to
Speaker 1: be one to keep an eye on. And and like
Speaker 1: you said, you know Marquis Brown is super fast, so
Speaker 1: that then brings the add element in and obviously with
Speaker 1: the arm strength of Kyler is a lot different than
Speaker 1: Colt McCoy. So you know, if you look these last
Speaker 1: two for Cold, it's been just a ton of short
Speaker 1: a lot of short throws and and hoping for you
Speaker 1: know that they can block him up and get yards
Speaker 1: after catch, and then just some intermediate routes and most
Speaker 1: of the deep stuff is kind of a back shoulder
Speaker 1: come back sort of Hey, you know, I'm going to
Speaker 1: throw this thing fifteen yards down field, just break it
Speaker 1: off and it'll be there waiting for you as opposed
Speaker 1: to go routes where he's pushing that thing. He just
Speaker 1: doesn't have the arm strength. So I think it changes
Speaker 1: so much because Kyler's got a strong arm, Like he's
Speaker 1: a tiny guy, but he can really push the ball.
Speaker 1: So that's a big one. You know, I think it
Speaker 1: changes a lot because again, if you've got a weak
Speaker 1: offensive line, okay, well now you've got one of the best,
Speaker 1: you know, mobile quarterbacks in the league. I mean, he
Speaker 1: is fast, he can extend, he'll peer away at three
Speaker 1: four times, keep a play alive and just break your heart.
Speaker 1: So that'll be a big one. It'll be a much
Speaker 1: different approach if he plays versus Cole defense has been good, actually,
Speaker 1: their defense has not been bad. They got some good players.
Speaker 1: You know, those two linebackers, Collins and Simmons are really
Speaker 1: starting to come on. We know boot is, you know,
Speaker 1: one of the better safeties in the league, and Wat's
Speaker 1: actually having a little bit of a renaissance year. You know,
Speaker 1: he's playing pretty well. So I think, you know, I
Speaker 1: don't think their defense is getting enough credit because just
Speaker 1: you know, they're losing these games. They're getting blown off
Speaker 1: the field, and a lot of these games, and a
Speaker 1: lot of it's just the offense hasn't been able to
Speaker 1: do anything, so their defense is getting tired. Sound familiar,
Speaker 1: So you know, I think you know, for me, it's
Speaker 1: it's a game. I want to see the Chargers blow
Speaker 1: them out. I know it's hard to blow teams out
Speaker 1: in the NFL, you know, because everybody's good. It's why
Speaker 1: most of these teams are, you know, they there's so
Speaker 1: much parody and so many teams jump up year to
Speaker 1: year about I mean, they got twenty one to the Chiefs. Uh,
Speaker 1: they lost by ten to the Seahawks, you know, by
Speaker 1: eight to the Vikings, by ten to the Seahawks, by
Speaker 1: twenty eight to the forty nine ers, you know, like
Speaker 1: just a way. Yeah, they blew it up with their
Speaker 1: playmakers in the second half too, Deebo and Kittle and um,
Speaker 1: the Chargers are gonna have to do the same thing.
Speaker 1: They got the guys to make big splash plays against
Speaker 1: this defense. I do I do worry a little bit
Speaker 1: now that you mentioned it with Kyler and um they're
Speaker 1: reeling right now and both teams need a response. Frankly,
Speaker 1: you know, how are the Chargers going to respond to
Speaker 1: this back, these back to back losses on primetime versus
Speaker 1: the Cardinals, whose season is really hanging by a thread. Now,
Speaker 1: playoffs even in the NFC doesn't look like a possibility.
Speaker 1: But Kyler, you know, is gonna want to get back
Speaker 1: in there and and show both the coaching staff and
Speaker 1: his teammates that he's the franchise guy. And you know,
Speaker 1: could be the game where he does come back and
Speaker 1: try to make that statement against the Chargers team that
Speaker 1: that really needs this one. And I look at the
Speaker 1: schedule Money Raiders or Cardinals Raiders. That's almost like you
Speaker 1: gotta get that block to get to the next block
Speaker 1: of playoff contenders right now. Dolphins, Titans. Yeah, yeah, that's
Speaker 1: kind of where we are right now. The AFC West
Speaker 1: out of reach to this point, getting swept by the Chiefs.
Speaker 1: So like it's almost like this first block two non
Speaker 1: playoff teams on the road. Um, never easy when you're
Speaker 1: on the road. But the Chargers have played pretty pretty
Speaker 1: well traveling this year. Look the thing to like you said,
Speaker 1: the Cardinals still have a chance to get right you know, Um,
Speaker 1: it does not look like it's going to line up
Speaker 1: for him. Um, But at the same time the Raiders,
Speaker 1: it's going to be their super Bowl. They're not getting in,
Speaker 1: but if they can screw the Chargers, it's going to
Speaker 1: be there. You know, for the second year in a row.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be a huge game for them. And we know,
Speaker 1: you know how much you know, Raid fans hate the Chargers,
Speaker 1: how much the Chargers hate them. It's Raider Week, It's
Speaker 1: Charger Week, you know, in both of these towns. So
Speaker 1: it's that that's going to be a high energy game,
Speaker 1: you know. I think the differences, and we've seen a
Speaker 1: little bit of an issue with the Chargers at some
Speaker 1: of these I think the Arizona game is going to
Speaker 1: be a bring your own energy kind of game. You know.
Speaker 1: I think there's just so much disappointments to running this
Speaker 1: team that started last year ten and zero. You had
Speaker 1: the weird offseason with the clause and the contract with Kyler,
Speaker 1: and then the peed suspension DeAndre Hopkins and just all
Speaker 1: the issues they had with two different coaches, you know,
Speaker 1: dealing with assault at sexual assault allegations or groping allegations,
Speaker 1: like it's just been a big mess. So I think
Speaker 1: it's I think the fans are turned off a little bit,
Speaker 1: and I think it's going to be a bring your
Speaker 1: own energy, get up on these guys like you did Houston,
Speaker 1: and this time stay on top of them. You know,
Speaker 1: get up, stay up, and pack your bags early. You know,
Speaker 1: save some of that that stress and sweat equity for
Speaker 1: the Raider game the following week, because you're gonna need it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: well said, well said. It's a game. It's a weird game.
Speaker 1: It's it is weird game when I when I look
Speaker 1: at it four and seven, we don't know what the
Speaker 1: quarterback situation is as we tape this, right, they have
Speaker 1: so many offensive linemen out, their running game has been
Speaker 1: really inefficient. Yet they still have these these playmakers on
Speaker 1: the outside that are fast and you know, DeAndre Hopkins
Speaker 1: still among the best in football at what he does.
Speaker 1: So all it takes is a couple of big plays
Speaker 1: from the Cardinals to keep them in games. Right. You know,
Speaker 1: I feel like what we saw out of the Chargers
Speaker 1: offense so money, we really saw what it's supposed to
Speaker 1: look like. And you know, hopefully they get good news
Speaker 1: on Mike. I don't know if Mike's gonna be able
Speaker 1: to go or not Sunday. Yeah, it's hard to tell
Speaker 1: from Staley's pressor may he made it sound like it
Speaker 1: was he was fine, you know, it made it sound
Speaker 1: like it was fine, But I don't know. You know, again,
Speaker 1: that could be game planner, just like Cliff was doing
Speaker 1: yesterday saying oh yeah, he's getting better, you know, because
Speaker 1: you want the team to have to plan for you know,
Speaker 1: put extra work and do extra film and do extra
Speaker 1: assignment football, you know, in practice. So um, I hope
Speaker 1: he's able to come back his man. That was a
Speaker 1: beautiful catch and it was such a quick reminder of
Speaker 1: this guy's so freaking good. These Clemson receivers too, have
Speaker 1: dedre teammates. Could be cool. It could be cool. Kenneth
Speaker 1: Murray was teammates with Kyler Murray too. Yes, absolutely, uh
Speaker 1: he was. I do quickly, um, because I got this
Speaker 1: through the the Instagram. Um from a listener Jeremiah, there's
Speaker 1: an end on It looks like Jeremiah, but it's also
Speaker 1: Jeremiah Williams. Mister Williams is the safety play on this team,
Speaker 1: particularly deep safety, hurting the defense more is at the
Speaker 1: erratic play of the linebackers, and which is the more
Speaker 1: pressing need going forward? I think we talked about the
Speaker 1: deep safety, you know on that third and seventeen um.
Speaker 1: I know that coach said that Derwin was man up
Speaker 1: on Kelsey on that that game, you know, that that
Speaker 1: go ahead touchdown what ended up being the game when
Speaker 1: he touchdown, But it certainly looked like he had outside
Speaker 1: leverage and he thought Nas was going to be there
Speaker 1: to pick him up and he wasn't. So that would
Speaker 1: speak to to maybe some of the deep safety communication
Speaker 1: things going on. Linebacker. You know, Kenneth went down and
Speaker 1: Troy Reader made to play of the game man, you know,
Speaker 1: so stoked to see him get in there and punch
Speaker 1: that thing out and get a fumble right back after
Speaker 1: the Charger's fumble, which they cashed in for a touchdown
Speaker 1: to go up. So I think Drew's had a great year.
Speaker 1: Tranquills had a really good year. So for me, the linebackers,
Speaker 1: I think Kenneth in terms of like there have been
Speaker 1: a couple issues here and there, but he's also had
Speaker 1: some really great splash plays as well. So I feel
Speaker 1: like the linebacker play has been pretty darned good. You know,
Speaker 1: if you're talking about the edge, we already got to
Speaker 1: that with some of the edge crashing on one side there,
Speaker 1: you know, without Bosa and some of the stuff they're
Speaker 1: trying to clean up there. But yeah, I think the
Speaker 1: deep safety stuff. You know, there've been a couple of
Speaker 1: angle issues, a couple of big play issues, and I think,
Speaker 1: you know, it's stuff they'll they'll figure out. You know,
Speaker 1: you gotta get remember, you gotta get a pass rushman.
Speaker 1: Otherwise you're leaving those guys out there too long and
Speaker 1: they're gonna get roasted. And I think that's one of
Speaker 1: the issues too, is getting Bosta back, getting a real
Speaker 1: pass rush on both sides, as opposed to letting teams
Speaker 1: just run away, you know, double or Chip Khalil run
Speaker 1: to the other you know, run the other direction, roll
Speaker 1: the end of the direction and you're you're fine, you know,
Speaker 1: And now you're just keeping those guys out there too
Speaker 1: long and expecting them to hold coverage and stuff is
Speaker 1: really hard. You know. One of the cool things about
Speaker 1: SOFI Stadium is like when when you leave your seat,
Speaker 1: I can still hear you and DJ different parts of
Speaker 1: the press box and right, different parts of the stadium.
Speaker 1: And I think it was Kelsey's second touchdown. People see
Speaker 1: Kelsey's numbers and they automatically think like, oh, Darwin was
Speaker 1: responsible for all of this. You guys had a stature.
Speaker 1: He had like one catch for like three yards. This
Speaker 1: was like maybe entering the fourth quarter he had Yeah,
Speaker 1: two touchdowns sixty one yards, all other h cover you know,
Speaker 1: people that were covering him. Derwin one catch three yards. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so yeah, it's pretty good. It's right. Yeah. I heard
Speaker 1: I heard another podcast saying like, oh, Kelsey abused it
Speaker 1: all pro. It's like, well, you know you didn't you
Speaker 1: didn't see the game, then, yeah, you got him on
Speaker 1: the one play. And I think you know, I tried,
Speaker 1: I put the I tried to bait coach and he
Speaker 1: wouldn't bite on Tuesday when we talked to him, or
Speaker 1: what's today, Wednesday? So when we talked to him on Monday,
Speaker 1: and I just said, coach, you know, we're right above
Speaker 1: your sideline and I could see you. You know, we're
Speaker 1: really upset with the officials after the the what looked
Speaker 1: to be offensive pass interference on Marques Veld scantling on
Speaker 1: Callahan and it was right in front of you, and
Speaker 1: it was right in front of that official and they
Speaker 1: didn't throw the flag. I said, I'm not asking you
Speaker 1: to come in on that. But what I'm asking is
Speaker 1: you've got that and it's like, a hey, we're letting
Speaker 1: him play. It's final drive, okay, and now you're gonna
Speaker 1: throw the flag on Derwin for that hold. And it
Speaker 1: wasn't that blatant of behold. It was pretty close to
Speaker 1: still being within five yards. Kelsey had got his fingers
Speaker 1: right into Derwin's collar on that big Pacheco run and
Speaker 1: they didn't throw that flag, and it's like, okay, well
Speaker 1: they're letting him play, fine, and then you throw the
Speaker 1: flag on that on a third and four and it's
Speaker 1: just like, you know, that's and Coach's response is kind
Speaker 1: of exactly what I was going for, and that is
Speaker 1: just be consistent. Man. If you're gonna let these guys
Speaker 1: fight and you're gonna let them play all game, then
Speaker 1: do it. Don't don't change, you know. And I know
Speaker 1: it's one guy one side versus the field got you know,
Speaker 1: field judge on the other side. But it's like, you
Speaker 1: can't do that. You cannot swallow the flag or tuck
Speaker 1: the flag and be swallowed the whistle. You can't tuck
Speaker 1: the flag on on that offensive pass interference on mvs
Speaker 1: and then throw the flag on Durwin four plays later,
Speaker 1: either they're both getting flagged or neither are getting flagged.
Speaker 1: And that's just I was a little upset by that. Yeah, hey,
Speaker 1: it's it's I expect fans be frustrated by being five
Speaker 1: and five at this point, but also look at it
Speaker 1: this way. You're in the playoff picture, right, and like
Speaker 1: you said, just get in that. I thought that this
Speaker 1: team played valiantly against the Niners in Chiefs. I mean again,
Speaker 1: there's no moral victories. Close like Derwinstad in locker room.
Speaker 1: Close isn't good enough. Close is not good enough. And
Speaker 1: there's a lot of close games last year that precluded
Speaker 1: them from getting in the playoffs. But now you have
Speaker 1: an opportunity with seven games remaining to get into the tournament.
Speaker 1: And justin Herbert, this is his third year in the NFL.
Speaker 1: He's got to get in the tournament. And if you
Speaker 1: get him a shot, who knows what the heck can happen,
Speaker 1: especially against some of these teams that you mentioned. Money, Like,
Speaker 1: I'm not like, listen, if you go to Buffalo in
Speaker 1: a snowstorm, Yeah, that's that's tough, real tough. But but
Speaker 1: even still I'm still confident in this team, like I
Speaker 1: just I think that's the key. Last year it felt
Speaker 1: like there was some separation. But this year, I just
Speaker 1: feel like this team, at full strength can hang with anyone.
Speaker 1: I've seen Justin marchand Arrow hid and win. I've seen
Speaker 1: him keep it close in pretty much every game against
Speaker 1: Pat Drew Brees, New Orleans, Tom Brady Tampa, like just
Speaker 1: from his rookie year on, you know, And I think
Speaker 1: that's the thing that I I would assume for Justin
Speaker 1: has got to be frustrating if he although I don't
Speaker 1: get the sense he really pays attention, but if he did, like,
Speaker 1: uh see, another one gets away from Herbert with the
Speaker 1: interception at the end. It's like, dude, the guy gave
Speaker 1: his team a four point lead with one hundred and
Speaker 1: six seconds left. That's enough into You're you're trying to
Speaker 1: make a play, Like what do you like exactly? I mean,
Speaker 1: come on, So, I don't know, I just think there's
Speaker 1: you know, as frustrating as some of these losses are,
Speaker 1: I get it, um, there's things that have not gone
Speaker 1: the way that I think people have envisioned. But still, yeah,
Speaker 1: you got two more coming up against non playoff teams
Speaker 1: that can get you to set him five and then
Speaker 1: you reset again against the Dolphins and Titans at home.
Speaker 1: And I think it's um, I think you know what, Chris,
Speaker 1: I don't mean it rep sorry, just the way that
Speaker 1: I think, um, I think for the fans like at
Speaker 1: this point, to me, it's it truly is just a
Speaker 1: week to week. It's like we gotta we gotta look
Speaker 1: at him like the players do and like the coaches do.
Speaker 1: I think it is a one week one win, one
Speaker 1: week one win. It's not Hey, if we beat the Raiders,
Speaker 1: and I was guilty of it earlier, you know, hey,
Speaker 1: look we got these four on the road and these two,
Speaker 1: these three at home, and these are three win teams.
Speaker 1: I think it is just a get healthy, make sure
Speaker 1: that game plan is right, make sure that third quarter
Speaker 1: is right, keep doing the things you're doing that are
Speaker 1: working in the first half. Don't get away from them.
Speaker 1: So to me, it really is a focus on the Cardinals,
Speaker 1: gotta win this game, have to win this game, and
Speaker 1: then the following week focus on the Raiders. Have to
Speaker 1: win that game. Absolutely, have to win that game. I'm
Speaker 1: looking at the Raiders right now, they are look the
Speaker 1: Cardinals are coming off a short week, They're beat to hell.
Speaker 1: There is a ton of turmoil inside that organization right now.
Speaker 1: Win that game, you know, you need to see money Sunday.
Speaker 1: What do you need to see from the Chargers? I
Speaker 1: told you I want to see a blowout. I want
Speaker 1: to see them blow this team out. And I know
Speaker 1: that does not happen a lot, but I'd love to
Speaker 1: see this team be able to build a lead and
Speaker 1: hold it, you know, and just keep don't adjust the
Speaker 1: way you play, keep pushing man, foot on the gas.
Speaker 1: All those explosive plays in the first half disappeared in
Speaker 1: the second, and I just want to see him continue,
Speaker 1: you know, I want to see I want to see
Speaker 1: aggressive Brandon Staley. I want to see fourth and fourth
Speaker 1: and under one. You know, on your own thirty four.
Speaker 1: Go it's what you do, man, it's your identity, it's
Speaker 1: this team's identity. Go, don't punt. You know, I just
Speaker 1: want to see a little bit more gas, a little
Speaker 1: bit less break. I think it's kind of what I'm
Speaker 1: getting at. More aggressive defense. Third and seventeen. We talked
Speaker 1: about the hell with that man get up on these guys,
Speaker 1: press them, blitz, just more aggression. It just feels like
Speaker 1: when they play on their heels or when they try
Speaker 1: to play conservatively, it goes horribly wrong. When they're aggressive,
Speaker 1: feels like it goes great. You know. That's what happened
Speaker 1: in that Atlanta game. That's the most aggressive I'd seen
Speaker 1: this defense all year. Same with the forty nine er game.
Speaker 1: In that first half, Man, they were getting after it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think that's just to me, that's the key. I
Speaker 1: want to see an aggressive defense and aggressive offense, and
Speaker 1: I'd love to see that, you know, two touchdown advantage
Speaker 1: in the first half and just be able to keep
Speaker 1: your you know, foot on their throats and go get
Speaker 1: it sixty minutes right like, from start to finish, I
Speaker 1: think is what I'd like to see. Because we talked
Speaker 1: about their first quarter struggles that they found a way
Speaker 1: to kind of fix. Now we're seeing the second half
Speaker 1: struggle put it all together. Like like you said, Houston,
Speaker 1: they got up, but they let them back in right, like,
Speaker 1: sixty minutes play sixty minutes. They haven't blown a team
Speaker 1: out yet. M No, you know, they started to what
Speaker 1: were they up twenty four nothing in Houston and that
Speaker 1: thing got to be a one score game in Houston,
Speaker 1: had a chance to take the lead, Like, just blow
Speaker 1: a team out, because you're good enough, go blow a
Speaker 1: team out. You got back to back three and seven
Speaker 1: teams right now, you know, the Cardinals and the Raiders
Speaker 1: are three and seven. Go blow this first three and
Speaker 1: seven team out. Get that swagger, you know, get those
Speaker 1: good vibes back in the locker room and on the
Speaker 1: flight home from a Thanksgiving weekend that you got to
Speaker 1: cut short because you got to travel the Arizona on Saturday.
Speaker 1: It just feel good, man, Feel good going into Vegas,
Speaker 1: you know, just in case the Raiders are able to
Speaker 1: beat the Seahawks up in Seattle and win two in
Speaker 1: a row and feel like they got a little bit
Speaker 1: of swagger, you know, freaking get the wind, blow them out,
Speaker 1: and feel like, Okay, we got this now. Keenan's back,
Speaker 1: Mike's back, you know, Herbert's back from the rib energy injury.
Speaker 1: We cannot be stopped. Let's go get it. You know,
Speaker 1: That's what I'd really like to see, ye before we
Speaker 1: go camera, dicker Man, let's go right. I mean, look,
Speaker 1: I I said it. I said it during the game.
Speaker 1: I think I said Did I say it on the air.
Speaker 1: I might have said it when we were in commercial break.
Speaker 1: I think I said it to DJ and commercial And
Speaker 1: I'm not pulling a Lebron here pretending like I did
Speaker 1: something that I didn't. But I was all right. So
Speaker 1: for those you know you saw the thing where like
Speaker 1: he said, oh, I knew Kobe was gonna go for
Speaker 1: eighty one. So I was, you know, I think, were
Speaker 1: you working with the Lakers then too, I was working
Speaker 1: with the Lakers then, anybody knew he was going for
Speaker 1: are one. My first year was the year after, so
Speaker 1: I was working with the Lakers then. I think, you know,
Speaker 1: Code was having a great year. It's the same year
Speaker 1: he had sixty in three quarters. But like to think, yeah,
Speaker 1: this is the game he had like thirty the game before,
Speaker 1: like twenty eight the game before. It's like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: he's gonna go for eighty one. Yeah, thanks, thanks Lebrun.
Speaker 1: He does that all the time. Thought he invented Taco Tuesday,
Speaker 1: thought he invented the barbershop talk television show. He's out
Speaker 1: of his mind. But where was I at? Oh? Sorry,
Speaker 1: I said, that's okay. No, I said to DJ, I said,
Speaker 1: you know what it's like, I said, if you if
Speaker 1: you because they had no more flex ups from the
Speaker 1: practice squad. I said, if you let Dicker go down,
Speaker 1: he's getting claimed he's too good of a kicker. He's
Speaker 1: way too good of a kicker. All of his kickoffs
Speaker 1: go out of the back of the end zone. The
Speaker 1: ball explodes off his feet. You can off his foot,
Speaker 1: you can tell mentally he's got it. I love the
Speaker 1: slow walk. Just when he after he makes a kick.
Speaker 1: He doesn't do some huge Marteine Grammatica style celebration. It's
Speaker 1: just like, well, yeah, that's what I'm supposed to do.
Speaker 1: So all right, yeah, Hi, fight for you, Hi, fight
Speaker 1: for you. Whatever. I'm just gonna go back over here.
Speaker 1: So I said, with Hopkins having a quad or a hammy,
Speaker 1: like I just I do not want to I don't
Speaker 1: want to play with that. I do not want to
Speaker 1: play with that and have to dig back into the
Speaker 1: you know what kickers are out there. It's exactly what
Speaker 1: I said to him. I was like, dude, I just
Speaker 1: throw him on the ir Just put him on the
Speaker 1: ir see if he can get fully healthy and roll
Speaker 1: with Dicker, because to be honest, you know, and not
Speaker 1: taking a shot at Dustin, it's just what the numbers say,
Speaker 1: Dicker has been better just the he has not missed
Speaker 1: a kick yet all of his kickoffs like dustins or
Speaker 1: out of the back of the end zone, which is
Speaker 1: a huge important part of this and one of the
Speaker 1: great one of the reasons why Hopkins is so valuable,
Speaker 1: because that's a big, big deal to have someone that
Speaker 1: has that big of a leg. But just feel like,
Speaker 1: this guy looks like he's nails like he is, And
Speaker 1: you got to remember, this is a team that watched
Speaker 1: Lamba go to the Jags and be the best kicker
Speaker 1: of the year, watched Young Wayku go to the Falcons
Speaker 1: be the best kick of the year, and prior to that,
Speaker 1: they had Carlson in for a workout before ultimately they
Speaker 1: went in a different direction and he signed with the Raiders,
Speaker 1: and he's not one of the best kickers in the league.
Speaker 1: It's like, Tom, you've got a good eye for this.
Speaker 1: You know, let's let's see if let's just you know,
Speaker 1: you got a guy who's got a hamstring. You cannot
Speaker 1: mess with that. So just throw him on ir let
Speaker 1: him get a one hundred percent healthy and then when
Speaker 1: he's ready to come off, I r in four weeks,
Speaker 1: have a competition and see how you feel about it,
Speaker 1: you know, or maybe Dicker will just win the job.
Speaker 1: Dustin was heroic in Denver, unbelievable, unbelievable, unbelievable effort, unbelievable
Speaker 1: in Cleveland, like never kept the game. But but Dicker,
Speaker 1: you know, he won me over in Atlanta. And then
Speaker 1: he's just done nothing but make his kicks. And let's
Speaker 1: give some credits. Let's get some credit to Ryan ficken
Speaker 1: Man Special teams group, like this is this is the
Speaker 1: the third phase of the game that has plagued the
Speaker 1: Chargers over the last several years. And I really feel
Speaker 1: like he's kind of turned things around there, stabilized that
Speaker 1: and you know it's not something you really have to
Speaker 1: worry about on a weekly basis. Yeah, completely agree. Special
Speaker 1: teams has not been a concern at all. You got
Speaker 1: the you know, I don't I don't care what the
Speaker 1: gross numbers are and where JK falls into that category.
Speaker 1: You know, netyards and return yards. You know, his his
Speaker 1: return yards are the best in the league. Nobody's able
Speaker 1: to return any of his punts because you know, typically
Speaker 1: he's either getting a great bounce if they're low and
Speaker 1: they don't want to feel him, or he's got incredible
Speaker 1: hang time and they're just fair catch. And it's net numbers. Fine,
Speaker 1: it's not number. I think it is forty one something,
Speaker 1: so great, take it, absolutely take it. And again, like
Speaker 1: we said, it doesn't matter if it's Hopkins heroic against Denver,
Speaker 1: if it's Bertolette heroic against Cleveland, if it's Dicker heroic
Speaker 1: against Atlanta and kicked his tail off against San Francisco
Speaker 1: and in Kansas City making everything. And those were long
Speaker 1: kicks against Kansas City. Those were not those We're not bunnies.
Speaker 1: Those were forty seven's and forty sixes, and you know
Speaker 1: those are big kicks, and those are kicks that look
Speaker 1: like they'd be good from sixty. He's got a big
Speaker 1: old leg, man, and I you know, so I'm stoked because,
Speaker 1: like we said, very rarely are there blowouts, even though
Speaker 1: I just called for one in Arizona. A lot of
Speaker 1: times times it does come down to that kicker, and man,
Speaker 1: I feel super confident about that guy. Well, I think
Speaker 1: charges fis hoping, Dickers just kicking pats. Let's do that, man,
Speaker 1: make all those a blowout. Win. Money's calling it right,
Speaker 1: blowout I want to blow up, blow out, John Travolta, blowout, Blowout. Yeah, terrible.
Speaker 1: By the way, don't watch that all right, watch so
Speaker 1: you've learned that, actually blow it's pretty good. I was
Speaker 1: thinking of something else, just thinking of the aerobics movie.
Speaker 1: I don't remember what that was called teen Wolf over Blowout. Oh,
Speaker 1: teen Wolf. Absolutely people, if you've never seen it, watch
Speaker 1: t Wolf just for the worst athletic performance by an
Speaker 1: actor in the history of film. Fantastic, Happy Thanksgiving. Man
Speaker 1: enjoyed with Thanksgiving. Yep, I'll see you on Saturday as
Speaker 1: we hit Arizona. Always appreciate you guys listening watching Happy
Speaker 1: Thanksgiving for money. I'm Chris. This has been charges week
Speaker 1: s