Speaker 1: Late fifteen to ten touched up What's up?
Speaker 2: Guys, Welcome into a brand new episode of Chargers Weekly,
Speaker 2: as always, joined by Matt Bunny Smith. It's the first
Speaker 2: week of summer vacation. I guess we haven't double one
Speaker 2: of these in a while. And Money, this is a
Speaker 2: first Lindsay theory ESPN making your roundtable debut. And the
Speaker 2: last time we had this gentleman on, he was upside
Speaker 2: down in his Fiata. If you watch the podcast video,
Speaker 2: I think he's got it all figured out now, Money,
Speaker 2: It's true story.
Speaker 3: Jeff Miller did make an appearance and the frame was
Speaker 3: upside down and he was in an automobile, and all
Speaker 3: automobiles it.
Speaker 4: Was a mosta Miata.
Speaker 3: So yes, it was Lindsay got a lot to live
Speaker 3: up to. Good luck trying to match what Miller was
Speaker 3: able to accomplish the last time he was on.
Speaker 5: There's no way I can even top that. That sounds
Speaker 5: like a great legend, right there be told over and
Speaker 5: over again.
Speaker 3: Yes, I believe that there's a folk song written about it.
Speaker 3: You can hear it at Hurricanes there on Main Street.
Speaker 4: They've they've put it on a loopt.
Speaker 1: Jeff that's on the top of the resume.
Speaker 6: No, it's it's probably the as I I think I
Speaker 6: mentioned at the time, it's that is probably the best
Speaker 6: thing I've ever delivered to this program right there, that
Speaker 6: moment is more than anything I ever said, any insight,
Speaker 6: any opinion, anyone else.
Speaker 7: As that was the best thing I've ever delivered. So
Speaker 7: I can't go down.
Speaker 1: I can't wait for what this next thirty forty five minutes.
Speaker 7: Hold up.
Speaker 1: You know, you guys have been out there pretty much
Speaker 1: the entire offseason. Money. I'll start with you, We'll go
Speaker 1: around the horn.
Speaker 2: We've talked about so many different things from January to present.
Speaker 2: What would you say was the biggest takeaway? What did
Speaker 2: you learn about this Chargers team this offseason? If you
Speaker 2: had to kind of distill it down.
Speaker 3: To one thing, there's really not you know, it's tough
Speaker 3: to have any real takeaways from you know, kind of
Speaker 3: guys running around in shorts and helmets, as you know.
Speaker 3: But I think for me just based on and obviously
Speaker 3: I read everything that Jeff and Lindsay are posting and
Speaker 3: writing along with the other people that cover the team,
Speaker 3: and that's the true excitement is around Kellen Moore and
Speaker 3: I think it was born of some of the frustrations
Speaker 3: surrounding what a Joe Lombardi offense looked like. And we
Speaker 3: don't even really know what the offense is going to
Speaker 3: look like, but it's the unknown, and we know that
Speaker 3: the Cowboys offense has been good the last couple of years,
Speaker 3: and so I think that's to me, it feels like
Speaker 3: that's the centerpiece of Hope Springs Eternal, what's going to
Speaker 3: make the Chargers take the next step this year? And
Speaker 3: Lindsay and Jeff I feel like Kellen Moore seems to
Speaker 3: be the centerpiece of what a lot of people are
Speaker 3: talking about.
Speaker 8: Definitely money. You took the words right out of my mouth.
Speaker 5: Though the offseason program, it's like, what's really going on
Speaker 5: out here?
Speaker 8: You can't it's hard to have any solid takeaways.
Speaker 5: Also because is such like a learning period and it's
Speaker 5: not really about competition. It's about getting the rookies up
Speaker 5: to speed on the playbook. It's about installing new things,
Speaker 5: trying new things, testing the limits on what they've already done.
Speaker 5: So it's a bit difficult to gauge. But to your point,
Speaker 5: Kellen Moore has absolutely been the focal point. There's a
Speaker 5: couple obviously rehab assignments that have been interesting to kind
Speaker 5: of monitor, but it's all about Kellen Moore and what
Speaker 5: he's going to do, especially with Justin Herbert, and obviously
Speaker 5: the Charters went into the draft and went to get
Speaker 5: another big receiver, so that was also interesting to monitor
Speaker 5: what Quinn Johnston's been doing and what teammates are saying
Speaker 5: about him.
Speaker 6: Yeah, just echo the same thoughts, and I think the
Speaker 6: I think the other element of that is Justin Herbert
Speaker 6: and his health and the fact that I don't think
Speaker 6: we can We all talked about it, wrote about it
Speaker 6: forever during the season, but I think it's good to
Speaker 6: remember how limited he was for a good stretcher last
Speaker 6: year and now, you know, he appears to be healthy.
Speaker 6: And I think it's just that idea of like we've
Speaker 6: you know, our quarterback is healthy, we got a new
Speaker 6: offensive coordinator. So I think if you're the Chargers, you're
Speaker 6: their fans, you you know, you look at what the
Speaker 6: Cowboys did you look at you know, Mike McCarthy after
Speaker 6: the season last year talking, you know, had that quote
Speaker 6: about all Kellen Moore wants to do is score points
Speaker 6: and you and run up the you know, run up
Speaker 6: the totals and yeah, and people are like, well, what, yeah,
Speaker 6: that's the offensive.
Speaker 7: So you hear stuff like that and then you think, okay,
Speaker 7: now you you know, he did that with.
Speaker 6: Dak Prescott, and now he's got you know, Justin Herbert,
Speaker 6: who I think we all can agree is another level
Speaker 6: of passers certainly, and I think that's why, you know,
Speaker 6: people are just are super excited.
Speaker 7: About what what this will look like.
Speaker 6: And as everybody said, we have no idea yet, but
Speaker 6: you know, we'll learn that once the pads come on
Speaker 6: and once they get moved around a little bit, and
Speaker 6: especially those joint practices, you know, this summer.
Speaker 4: Money.
Speaker 2: When we left Jacksonville that night, I think there was
Speaker 2: a lot of uncertainty as to who was even going
Speaker 2: to be back, what they were going to do in
Speaker 2: terms of the offense, the coaching staff, different moves that
Speaker 2: they can make this offseason. And I think the biggest
Speaker 2: thing to set out to me is, you know, you
Speaker 2: look at Keenan's cap number and Mike's cap number. They're
Speaker 2: running this thing back with largely the same crew that
Speaker 2: they did it with this past year, and I think
Speaker 2: that they're confident that they can make that next leap
Speaker 2: and win a playoff game or two with this current group.
Speaker 2: But when we left Jacksonville that night shoot, I think
Speaker 2: everything was on the table in terms of what would
Speaker 2: happen in twenty twenty three.
Speaker 1: But it looks like they're going to keep that.
Speaker 2: Continuity, and that was really the I think that's stuck
Speaker 2: out to me the most going over these last six months.
Speaker 3: Well, I think, you know, part of that is born
Speaker 3: from just real you know, economic reality, and the fact
Speaker 3: that they spent all their money last offseason to get
Speaker 3: Brandon Staley the pieces that he wanted and had limited
Speaker 3: resources to spend this offseason. I think what you're speaking to,
Speaker 3: Chris is also, you know, you got older receivers, particularly Keenan.
Speaker 4: Typically guys that.
Speaker 3: Are over twenty nine don't necessarily put up big seasons
Speaker 3: in the NFL. It's just sort of the way, you know,
Speaker 3: history has been our guide at that particular position. So
Speaker 3: I thought maybe that'd be a way to free up
Speaker 3: some cap space. But the more I thought about it,
Speaker 3: the more I just think about where we were exactly
Speaker 3: a year ago after.
Speaker 4: They signed J. C.
Speaker 3: Jackson, after they signed Sebastian Joseph Day, and Austin Johnson
Speaker 3: and everybody was talking about this team as a legitimate
Speaker 3: super Bowl threat, and I think, you know, it may
Speaker 3: sound a bit optimistic going into this season, or I've
Speaker 3: worked for the Chargers, so perhaps it's a homer take
Speaker 3: people can say that, but it's a really good roster,
Speaker 3: Like that was a really good roster last year that
Speaker 3: got absolutely beat to hell and they still made the playoffs.
Speaker 3: They still had a twenty seven zero lead at halftime
Speaker 3: before things just went horribly wrong. They you know, once again,
Speaker 3: we're trading blows with the Chiefs into the final two
Speaker 3: minutes of a game, only to watch, you know, defeat
Speaker 3: emerge from victory. So I think there was a lot
Speaker 3: of reasons why you would you would want to run
Speaker 3: it back. The one thing that I'd like to see
Speaker 3: more of, you know, Lindsay is and we've talked about
Speaker 3: it's just depth, you know, so that doesn't happen again,
Speaker 3: so there is more depth available if in fact injuries
Speaker 3: show up.
Speaker 8: Yeah, you know, it's been really interesting.
Speaker 5: I think just this entire offseason is it is the
Speaker 5: same roster that a year ago we were talking about.
Speaker 5: We were talking about it, outsiders, national people all kinds
Speaker 5: of people were talking about this is a super Bowl
Speaker 5: caliber roster, and then you look at it and arguably
Speaker 5: it did get a little bit better when you bring
Speaker 5: back or you bring in Eric Kendricks, a you know,
Speaker 5: inside linebacker. Obviously there's a couple of questions in the secondary,
Speaker 5: but the narrative is just really changed, at least from
Speaker 5: kind of a big picture of perspective, it's like the
Speaker 5: team's another year older at under achieved last year. I
Speaker 5: think it's just be really interesting to see if this
Speaker 5: group can stay healthy, which seems to be a big question,
Speaker 5: If this group can stay healthy, candidate achieve at the
Speaker 5: level that they were anticipated to a year ago. It's
Speaker 5: just it's been really just an interesting thing to watch
Speaker 5: how they went from being among the favorites and then
Speaker 5: it's like maybe they people just don't trust them anymore,
Speaker 5: right do you trust them after you blow a lead
Speaker 5: like that? Because it looks like on this roster, I
Speaker 5: mean when I go through it and I make like
Speaker 5: off season roster projections, it's like, from top to bottom
Speaker 5: at every position, they're really good. Depth is a concern,
Speaker 5: but I think you look at a lot of teams
Speaker 5: and depths always going to.
Speaker 8: Be a concern if you're bringing stars at most starting positions,
Speaker 8: which arguably the Chargers have.
Speaker 7: Yeah, you know, I don't know about you, guys.
Speaker 6: There's a part of me that if I was sort
Speaker 6: of handicapping this team, there's a little bit of a concern.
Speaker 6: You know, when teams don't make changes, a lot of
Speaker 6: times it doesn't work. Like it seems like in sports
Speaker 6: that if teams like a ton of changes, like they
Speaker 6: add a bunch of guys, you see it in all sports.
Speaker 6: A lot of times that doesn't work. It takes a
Speaker 6: year or so. And then when teams don't do much
Speaker 6: a lot of times that.
Speaker 7: Doesn't work either.
Speaker 6: So I would be a little bit leary just you know,
Speaker 6: there really hasn't been other than Kendricks replacing Drew tranquill
Speaker 6: and and Nozadlely retiring. I mean, right, there's not much.
Speaker 6: Not much has changed on the on the roster. Now
Speaker 6: they change coordinators and they shuffle the coaches, which which
Speaker 6: I'm sure you know they'll they would point to that
Speaker 6: and say, well, you know, things have changed, and to money,
Speaker 6: as Money said, they a lot of this was economically
Speaker 6: driven where they couldn't really do a ton but there
Speaker 6: is part in the back of my mind I have
Speaker 6: been thinking, you know, all off season that you know,
Speaker 6: they haven't done a whole lot, and I've covered a
Speaker 6: lot of teams and other you know, in football, other
Speaker 6: sports where when they don't change a lot, it doesn't always,
Speaker 6: it doesn't always you know, recapture any kind of thing,
Speaker 6: you know, glory that they thought they were going to have.
Speaker 7: Now, the other aspect of that is a bunch.
Speaker 6: Of guys were hurt last year, so you know, we
Speaker 6: didn't really see that team necessarily the way they anticipated.
Speaker 6: So maybe that's you know, maybe that factors into it too.
Speaker 6: But I know I have been thinking about the fact that,
Speaker 6: you know, I don't want to say it's stagnant, but
Speaker 6: it is. You know, they're they're running it back basically
Speaker 6: almost intact.
Speaker 2: Jeff, it's a great point, and I think it starts
Speaker 2: with the quarterback, and you alluded to his health last year.
Speaker 2: I think there's three parts to the Justin Herbert off
Speaker 2: season story right now. Right his health, which seems to
Speaker 2: be pretty good right now, the contract, which we expect
Speaker 2: to be coming here sooner than later, and then really
Speaker 2: his play on the field, and if Kellen Moore can
Speaker 2: unlock another level to Justin Herbert that he's gonna need
Speaker 2: to get to to beat the Patrick Mahomes and all
Speaker 2: these quarterbacks that we talk about in the AFC and money.
Speaker 2: I kind of want to dig into that that last
Speaker 2: point because I think to Jeff's point, not much has changed,
Speaker 2: but I think they are expecting Kellen More to unlock
Speaker 2: another level at Justin Herbert that can perhaps get them
Speaker 2: to the Divisional championship and eventually a Super Bowl.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think I'll pick up on something Jeff sort
Speaker 3: of finished with there about the you know, it's a
Speaker 3: roster that's coming back in tex So where you know,
Speaker 3: where do you get that extra push? And you know
Speaker 3: it's a new Green Dot, So you've got a new
Speaker 3: you know, head of communication on defense, and you've heard about,
Speaker 3: you know, kind of what Derwin has said and sort
Speaker 3: of how they feel about Eric Kendricks now manning that role.
Speaker 3: It sounds like that's a big positive. But I think
Speaker 3: beyond that, and this is a tough thing to measure
Speaker 3: because I think, you know, we're fortunate enough to see
Speaker 3: it here that fans don't what players look like at
Speaker 3: the end of a football game. You know what what
Speaker 3: that sixty minutes does to their bodies and the toll
Speaker 3: that it takes. So for people you know that talk
Speaker 3: about motivation and well, you know, Joey's going to want
Speaker 3: to prove, you know, to the people you know about
Speaker 3: how that ended in Jacksonville and all those games that
Speaker 3: he missed, and same thing with you know, they were
Speaker 3: Shawn Slater, who was you know, was lost in the
Speaker 3: third game, and he wants to be that protector. And
Speaker 3: I appreciate all that. At the same time, I know
Speaker 3: what this game does to these guys, and so I
Speaker 3: think the idea that they have some sort of motivation
Speaker 3: to prove to people, oh this this is I'm really
Speaker 3: going to show you.
Speaker 4: You watched to see what you know j. C.
Speaker 3: Jackson has in store for you, Well, yeah, I mean
Speaker 3: you're getting your head caved in for sixty minutes seventeen
Speaker 3: times a year. So I think those motivations are hard
Speaker 3: to predict and hard to project. But I think Jeff,
Speaker 3: just kind of to your point of you know what's different.
Speaker 3: I think the flip side of that and kind of
Speaker 3: where I'm going with it is there are other guys
Speaker 3: in your position group that are out there getting their
Speaker 3: asses kicked while you're on a stationary bike. And I
Speaker 3: do think there is some of that. I feel responsible.
Speaker 3: I feel as though I am indebted to them because
Speaker 3: I wasn't out there with them. So I think that's
Speaker 3: maybe where some of that will come from the way
Speaker 3: the game, the way the season ended, how much better
Speaker 3: they felt that just the way they lost those two
Speaker 3: games to the Chiefs. You know, you've got Corey Linsley
Speaker 3: goes down and that pretty much directly leads to the
Speaker 3: to the injury to Justin Herbert, you know, nothing against
Speaker 3: you know Clapp, but like that's what happened. It was
Speaker 3: a blown assignment on the interior that led to Justin
Speaker 3: you know, getting beat up. So that's where I'm looking
Speaker 3: along with Chris what you said with Kellen Moore, I
Speaker 3: think that's where I'm looking for. That that change that
Speaker 3: could make things a little bit different this year and
Speaker 3: and maybe make it feel like, Okay, it's not going
Speaker 3: to end that the way it has the last two seasons,
Speaker 3: with this incredible disappointment on the last game that we've
Speaker 3: played of the season.
Speaker 2: Lindsey, what are your thoughts on on Justin taking another step.
Speaker 1: In his career were on the field.
Speaker 2: You know, we've seen him break every singing record you know,
Speaker 2: throughout his first two three years. But I think there's
Speaker 2: an extra gear he needs to get to if this
Speaker 2: team is going to get to where.
Speaker 4: They want to go.
Speaker 3: Unless you want to build on that elongated disaster of
Speaker 3: an answer I just gave to this question, I don't
Speaker 3: think I even.
Speaker 5: I will touch on just let me take My brain
Speaker 5: doesn't work anymore, so I just have to take notes
Speaker 5: on like the points I'm trying to make, just touching
Speaker 5: on the chain. It was really interesting last year because
Speaker 5: I was.
Speaker 8: The first time not first time a.
Speaker 5: New beer bord of my first year on the beat,
Speaker 5: and I I'm not gonna lie to you, guys, I
Speaker 5: had a really challenging time writing about this team because
Speaker 5: it's like every week there was a new important role
Speaker 5: person or star player who wasn't available, and so it's like,
Speaker 5: by the end of the season, I was like, what
Speaker 5: the heck do they even have here? Most vivid game
Speaker 5: in my mind when they performed well was Week two
Speaker 5: and so I think, okay, like we didn't see that
Speaker 5: iteration of that football team again for the rest of
Speaker 5: the season. So just kind of going back around to
Speaker 5: what Matt and Jeff said is just I think there
Speaker 5: is change because you didn't have your star left tackle
Speaker 5: out there most of the season. You didn't have Keenan
Speaker 5: and Mike going for Justin Herbert, which brings me, we'll
Speaker 5: circleing like this to Justin Herbert. I think we do
Speaker 5: need to see him take another step, and I think
Speaker 5: he's going to be able to do that one just
Speaker 5: by his play. Kellen Moore is gonna say, you have
Speaker 5: got a heck of an arm.
Speaker 8: Let's go use it.
Speaker 5: I mean, I can't tell you how many opposing coaches
Speaker 5: I've spoken to over the last two years covering this
Speaker 5: team in twenty twenty for mostly television purpose or twenty
Speaker 5: twenty one for mostly television purposes.
Speaker 8: The last season, I.
Speaker 5: Taught you so many opposing coaches and they're like Justin Herbert.
Speaker 5: One guy said, is build a quarterback. He's like the
Speaker 5: absolute physical specimen you want. His arm can do anything.
Speaker 5: So hopefully Kellen Moore and watching this what he wants
Speaker 5: to do this spring, really pushes Justin and enables him
Speaker 5: and empowers him to go down the field, and then
Speaker 5: I think we can see a whole new dynamic open
Speaker 5: up when you have Keenan and you have Mike. Keenan's older,
Speaker 5: but he's still a good receiver. He's going to catch
Speaker 5: the football, He'll be more open, he'll have more space
Speaker 5: to work in if you can stretch the field like
Speaker 5: what they're anticipated do with Quentin Johnston and Mike Williams.
Speaker 5: So I also think there's a component where Justin in
Speaker 5: his going to his fourth season, he's got all the
Speaker 5: physical tools, undoubtable, undoubt, but I don't know. I do
Speaker 5: question whether or not he can take this team to
Speaker 5: a super Bowl because there's more to being a franchise
Speaker 5: quarterback than throwing the football a really long way. And
Speaker 5: absolutely that helps, but I think that there's some moments
Speaker 5: in the locker room, some moments around where you just
Speaker 5: feel like they need a little bit stronger presence from him.
Speaker 5: And that's really hard to quantify. It's it's very like
Speaker 5: an intangible but just in going on eight years covering
Speaker 5: the NFL, when you've been around championship quarterbacks, you feel
Speaker 5: feel a little bit more.
Speaker 8: Of a vibe from them off the field.
Speaker 5: So maybe as teammates feel it and we just don't
Speaker 5: see it, But personally, I'd like to see a little more.
Speaker 3: Is it like the dog there's the kids like to say, Lindsay,
Speaker 3: you want to see the dog in him?
Speaker 2: Well, I don't know.
Speaker 8: I think he's got plenty of dog.
Speaker 5: I mean, he went out there and played with broken ribs,
Speaker 5: he went out there and played with a hurt shoulder.
Speaker 8: I think he's got plenty of dog in him. But
Speaker 8: I think there are moments.
Speaker 5: When you kind of feel like guys are looking around
Speaker 5: looking to.
Speaker 4: Be legal vocal vocal, maybe vocal.
Speaker 8: Maybe it's just I don't know, but it's not like
Speaker 8: raw raw.
Speaker 5: But I do get the sense that there are young
Speaker 5: people or people who are new to the organization who
Speaker 5: sometimes look around and you kind of see it, and
Speaker 5: you know, Justin's a lead by example, and maybe sometimes
Speaker 5: there could be a little more element of just the
Speaker 5: total embodiment of a franchise quarterback.
Speaker 8: I'm gonna get killed for this, right, you know.
Speaker 3: Look, I think, Lindsay, I think just In Jeff, I
Speaker 3: know you want to pick that up. But I think
Speaker 3: one of the things that we heard coming out of
Speaker 3: the Jacksonville game is and it's fair or not, but
Speaker 3: it's like, you know, and this is what he's got
Speaker 3: to deal with because of his talent level. Is Joe
Speaker 3: Burrow's not losing a twenty game they lead twenty seven
Speaker 3: to ohn, Josh Allen is not losing a game they
Speaker 3: lead twenty seven to other. Patrick Mahomes is not going
Speaker 3: to lose a game, whether it's on Justin or it's
Speaker 3: on the defense, or they couldn't run the ball. I
Speaker 3: think that's what you're talking about, I feel, I mean,
Speaker 3: I don't want to put words in your mouth, but
Speaker 3: I think that's what a lot of people said coming
Speaker 3: out of that game, like, Hey, if you're the guy,
Speaker 3: if you're the bild A quarterback.
Speaker 4: You gotta win that game like that, that's a.
Speaker 3: Game that you have to win in the postseason. And
Speaker 3: so I think that's perhaps what'll at least I think
Speaker 3: kind of what I would point to this season is, Yeah,
Speaker 3: those are those are the moments that you're trying to
Speaker 3: figure out, like you can't lose that game, that that
Speaker 3: game cannot be lost, and the quarterback gets the credit,
Speaker 3: the head coach gets the credit, and the quarterback gets
Speaker 3: the blame and the head coach gets the blame. And
Speaker 3: I think that's perhaps what are that well it's not.
Speaker 3: Perhaps it's what the last takeaway was from last season.
Speaker 8: Yeah, and when you look at what they're about to
Speaker 8: give him as far.
Speaker 5: As a contract, you know, you make a lot of money,
Speaker 5: soon to be making a lot of money.
Speaker 8: You carry a lot of there's a lot on your shoulders.
Speaker 8: You know.
Speaker 5: It's just it's a it's the hardest position in sports
Speaker 5: for a reason, like a lot of praise, a lot
Speaker 5: of blame. You know, at some point all those stats
Speaker 5: need to equate to wins in the postseason.
Speaker 2: Jeff Money and I talked about this last week, and
Speaker 2: Money had a much better point about this than I did.
Speaker 2: I we talked about the Jacksonville game, and these guys
Speaker 2: are like, we don't want to talk about Jacksonville anymore.
Speaker 1: It's a new season, and I was like, you know.
Speaker 2: What, maybe this is the start to the end of
Speaker 2: talking about Jacksonville and they could actually focus on this
Speaker 2: team with Kellen Moore. And I know it's a lot
Speaker 2: of the same guys, but it's each season is different.
Speaker 2: This thing ain't going away because every time we talk
Speaker 2: about this team, Jacksonville gets mentioned, as it should, and
Speaker 2: I think that this team is going to have to
Speaker 2: find that balance of all right, let's focus on a
Speaker 2: new season, and also we're gonna have to live with
Speaker 2: this because it ain't going away.
Speaker 6: Yeah, And I think what a few of the players
Speaker 6: have said this. Derwin James said it the other day.
Speaker 6: They just need to play a game, and then typically
Speaker 6: in sports, when you play a game, that other game
Speaker 6: goes away. Now, if they come out and they win
Speaker 6: their open or big and everything's great, then that'll a
Speaker 6: lot of that will go away until they get to
Speaker 6: the end of the season they have a must win
Speaker 6: or they're in the playoffs, and we all go back
Speaker 6: to it again.
Speaker 7: But that's the nature of sports.
Speaker 6: And you know, Money said that, it's these quarterbacks. The
Speaker 6: wins and losses are on the quarterbacks and the head
Speaker 6: coaches and by extension, the coordinators. Always that's what that's
Speaker 6: how this league works. It might not be fair, but
Speaker 6: that's how it works.
Speaker 7: And I remember a.
Speaker 6: Couple of years ago, I think it was training camp,
Speaker 6: I asked Justin Herbert about the the notion of wins
Speaker 6: and losses being on a quarterbacks record, and he gave
Speaker 6: a really good answer and basically saying he thought that
Speaker 6: was kind of silly that it's you know, it's eleven
Speaker 6: men on the side. It's you know, there's it's true,
Speaker 6: there's so much involved in it that you put it
Speaker 6: on one guy is kind.
Speaker 7: Of ridiculous, but we all do it and we all look,
Speaker 7: you know, you go to you know.
Speaker 6: Pro Football Reference and the quarterbacks records are there as
Speaker 6: a starter, and so I thought that was interesting and
Speaker 6: now here a couple of years later, we're looking at
Speaker 6: that and to think that's his perspective is is he
Speaker 6: kind of isn't in that group of it's kind of
Speaker 6: silly to grade quarterbacks that way, but that's how he's
Speaker 6: going to be graded. And Money said it exactly right.
Speaker 6: You know that that's the the nature of sports is
Speaker 6: Patrick Mahomes doesn't lose that game, you know, Josh Allen
Speaker 6: doesn't lose that game. That it's not necessarily fair, but
Speaker 6: that's the reality and that's the you know, that's the
Speaker 6: reality the these guys are all facing, and no one
Speaker 6: more so than than Justin Herbert.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think, to Lindsay's point, like the the one
Speaker 3: thing I think of and again, look, I you know,
Speaker 3: I do a radio show every day, so it's like,
Speaker 3: you know, we're in the middle of it, and plenty
Speaker 3: of you guys you know, I mean, you post columns
Speaker 3: or we all have social media feeds, we interact with people,
Speaker 3: and and I think to your point, lindsay about Justin, like,
Speaker 3: what what is it? Like, what what is it that
Speaker 3: you're looking to see? I don't need to see more
Speaker 3: talent from Justin Herbert. I can just see him throw
Speaker 3: the ball more downb it, that's not it. Like if
Speaker 3: I were to try to put a you know, to
Speaker 3: put a pin on it, it would be when Joe
Speaker 3: Lombardi calls in that freaking jet sweep to Michael Bandy
Speaker 3: on you know, on a third and one, Herbert goes,
Speaker 3: He goes, f you are you out of your mind? Everybody,
Speaker 3: we are quarterbacks sneaking this. I'm taking I'm six foot six,
Speaker 3: two hundred and forty pounds and we're getting the first
Speaker 3: down can jet sweep? And then when you go to
Speaker 3: the locker room, you put your finger in his chest
Speaker 3: and you're like, don't ever do that again. Don't ever
Speaker 3: call that play again. And that's that's kind of what
Speaker 3: I think we're speaking to. That's being comfortable, like, Okay,
Speaker 3: this is what I have to do. I'm not just
Speaker 3: out here to execute, because I can execute every play
Speaker 3: that is called into me perfectly. I know, and we
Speaker 3: know he can do that, Like we've seen it play
Speaker 3: in and play out. It's feeling comfortable overruling and saying
Speaker 3: this is not your offense. This is my offense, all right,
Speaker 3: and from now on, don't ever do that again. Like
Speaker 3: that's that's I think what you're trying to look for,
Speaker 3: you know, because we see it, right, we see what
Speaker 3: was that argument with you on the sideline with you know,
Speaker 3: and that's what makes great quarterbacks.
Speaker 4: You know why.
Speaker 3: I'm not saying you have to do that all the time,
Speaker 3: but it's those patent member Hey, Patrick and Andy Reid,
Speaker 3: we're getting into it on the sideline, well you know,
Speaker 3: Jalen Hurts and Shane we're into it on the side. Well, yeah,
Speaker 3: that's what happens. That's what you're talking about. When those
Speaker 3: quarterbacks feel comfortable, you know, to say, hey, what are
Speaker 3: we doing here?
Speaker 4: Man?
Speaker 3: Like I'm out there, I see it all. Why would
Speaker 3: you call that play that's not okay? You know, I
Speaker 3: think that's it's kind of what we're talking about.
Speaker 2: You want the guy to wait wave off on fourth down,
Speaker 2: get the get the team off the field.
Speaker 4: We're going for it exactly too. We're going exactly exactly.
Speaker 8: Yeah, I just want exactly.
Speaker 4: I want to make sure I crystallize it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I want to make sure it's just a case
Speaker 3: people forgot was a disaster.
Speaker 5: I mean, I just remember what like, you're talking about
Speaker 5: one play and stakes out. You just in the press box,
Speaker 5: You're like, what are they doing?
Speaker 3: That's Lindsay, That's exactly what I said on the air,
Speaker 3: and I actually thought of I was like, I probably
Speaker 3: shouldn't have said that.
Speaker 4: I said, what are we doing? What are we doing?
Speaker 4: You know?
Speaker 3: And that's and that's perhaps why we're talking about Kellen
Speaker 3: Moore today.
Speaker 6: It reminds me a little bit remember the Anthony let
Speaker 6: the end of Anthony Lynn's tenure, when they had a
Speaker 6: couple those plays where they inexplicably ran the ball when
Speaker 6: you absolutely can't run the ball.
Speaker 7: I remember at the time.
Speaker 6: Saying that the quarterback has to know we can't run
Speaker 6: this play.
Speaker 7: And now we're a.
Speaker 6: Couple, you know that was you know, we're a couple
Speaker 6: of years later and money's right, and if you know
Speaker 6: they're about to give this guy whatever one hundred and
Speaker 6: thirty one hundred and fifty million dollars and guaranteed. You know,
Speaker 6: in guarantees, you need him to overrule in certain situations.
Speaker 6: And part of that, I think it's Justine's personality. I'm
Speaker 6: sure part of it's is upbringing. You know, it's if
Speaker 6: you think about it's got to be it's tough for
Speaker 6: to overrule your coach. But he's in a position where
Speaker 6: he's that's that might be that.
Speaker 7: Next step we're talking about her looking for.
Speaker 6: Is that, Yeah, that's what you have to do.
Speaker 7: That's how you're getting paid to do.
Speaker 6: And you know, if it if it rubs some people
Speaker 6: the wrong way, who cares.
Speaker 7: I mean, you're the quarterback, you're the franchise.
Speaker 6: You know, you you take taking this thing. And I
Speaker 6: think that's I think the Chargers would love to see
Speaker 6: him do that.
Speaker 3: And I think a lot of that too is you know,
Speaker 3: think about who we're you know who we're talking about, right,
Speaker 3: Andy Reid, who's a quarterback whisperer and empowers his quarterbacks,
Speaker 3: and it's all about this is yours we're doing this to.
Speaker 3: You know, hear about those meetings earlier in the week
Speaker 3: that he has and the quarterbacks in it. Let's find
Speaker 3: the plays and let's you know, and then you hear
Speaker 3: about you know, think about Joe Burrow, the guy played
Speaker 3: for Ed or Jaron for God's sakes, I mean, the
Speaker 3: man's a psychopath. So you know, like he was like, oh,
Speaker 3: you got to get the dog, got it, Joe? You know,
Speaker 3: So justin came from Mario Christaball who basically told him
Speaker 3: you are not to turn the ball over. We have
Speaker 3: a great defense. We will run the ball. You will
Speaker 3: run the ball. The last thing we can do is
Speaker 3: put the look in a one a rose bowl. And
Speaker 3: then Anthony Lynn was a run first head coach. My
Speaker 3: defense is gonna play for me. We're gonna run the ball,
Speaker 3: run the ball. We're not we're gonna protect the ball.
Speaker 3: I love Tyrod Taylor. That's my kind of quarterback. Like so,
Speaker 3: I think it's also important to remember like this, this
Speaker 3: is this guy's upbringing. These are the coaches that he
Speaker 3: played for. And so I think to have a new
Speaker 3: head coach or a new coordinator that and and then
Speaker 3: there's Joe Lombardi. You know, Drew Brees, ball's out, Ball's
Speaker 3: got to be out. Let's get the ball out, you know,
Speaker 3: Let's let the receivers do the hard work. You don't
Speaker 3: need to stand back there and wait. Let's ball in
Speaker 3: receivers hands. AT's all about run after. It's all YAK.
Speaker 3: So that's why I'm excited about Kellen. You know, he
Speaker 3: was able to pair the talent of DAK, the leadership
Speaker 3: of DAK, the processing. Dak is an incredible process or like,
Speaker 3: all of that into a top into a number one offense,
Speaker 3: and so I think he needs that. Hey man, and
Speaker 3: look what happened with Shane. You know what was Shane
Speaker 3: Shane's quarterback. Shane was a quarterback at UNLV's. He's a
Speaker 3: guy that knows and he's like, no, what are we doing.
Speaker 3: We're pushing the ball downfield, t Billy, Jalen, Guyton, Let's
Speaker 3: go sling it.
Speaker 4: So to have that guy in that position, I think
Speaker 4: is going to go a long way.
Speaker 2: Jeff Lindsay Money and I talked about this at length
Speaker 2: last week. All Eckler, his whole situation, the devaluation of
Speaker 2: the quarterback or the running back.
Speaker 1: Rather, you guys were there, you heard him talk to
Speaker 1: the media. You guys ask questions to him.
Speaker 2: What is your take on what happened? With Austin this
Speaker 2: offseason and what it's going to look like moving forward.
Speaker 8: Lindsay my take on what happened with Austin.
Speaker 5: You know, I think for Austin's sake, he had to
Speaker 5: go see what was out there and if anybody would
Speaker 5: give him a big deal.
Speaker 8: He has outplayed his contract, There's no doubt about that.
Speaker 5: I think the handwriting was a little bit on the
Speaker 5: wall that there is currently not a market out there
Speaker 5: for running backs to go make a lot of money,
Speaker 5: especially you know, Austin's proven himself, but he's twenty eight.
Speaker 5: He has a lot of miles on those tires, and
Speaker 5: he's bet on himself.
Speaker 8: And I respect that, and I respect it.
Speaker 5: This undrafted guy who led the NFL in touchdowns last year,
Speaker 5: who put up an insane I think number one in
Speaker 5: the league and yards after catch, so he he had
Speaker 5: every right to ask for more, to go look for more.
Speaker 5: I don't think it's surprising at all that he's back.
Speaker 5: I don't think it's surprising that he had only one
Speaker 5: point seventy five million added an incentives, because at the
Speaker 5: end of the day, teams just don't have to pay
Speaker 5: running backs. And I think we could argue till we're
Speaker 5: blue in the face. Why that is or why that shouldn't.
Speaker 8: Be, But that is what it is.
Speaker 5: And you know, I think Austin has wants to come
Speaker 5: back out. I think there's been some questions like, well,
Speaker 5: how motivated is it gonna be in this his final
Speaker 5: year here? Well, yeah, and he's playing to prove that
Speaker 5: next year he gets another contract somewhere.
Speaker 8: So I mean, I.
Speaker 5: Think Austin's gonna put in the same work that he's
Speaker 5: always put in. I think he's gonna have a fantastic
Speaker 5: season with Kellen Moore. I don't think it's gonna be
Speaker 5: the season it was a year ago, because I think
Speaker 5: Kellen Moore is going to be a coordinator who can
Speaker 5: find other guys in the red zone.
Speaker 8: But he's a tool that they absolutely need.
Speaker 5: And I have no doubt that Austin's gonna go out
Speaker 5: there and put forth the same effort and contribute greatly
Speaker 5: to the offense.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I definitely he's a guy. Yeah, he's not a
Speaker 6: guy you need to worry about. I think Lindsay's right
Speaker 6: on it. And it's just a bad time in the
Speaker 6: history of the NFL to be a running back.
Speaker 7: That's just the reality of it. But I think, you know,
Speaker 7: when when.
Speaker 6: He first requested a trade and the Chargers gave him
Speaker 6: permission and gave his agent permission, I thought maybe that
Speaker 6: there was maybe a chance somebody could do something just
Speaker 6: because of his production, his Red Zone production, his touchdowns.
Speaker 6: But you know, as the market unfolded, it just it
Speaker 6: was even it was even more glimb than than I
Speaker 6: think that then a lot of us had anticipated. I mean,
Speaker 6: it took even more of a downturn. So at that point,
Speaker 6: I think it was pretty clear he was coming back.
Speaker 6: But I don't think anybody needs to worry about his
Speaker 6: motivation or what He's gonna be the same guy and
Speaker 6: the you know, the charge is gonna need him to
Speaker 6: be the same guy because they they have the same
Speaker 6: running backs and uh so, uh it gets back to
Speaker 6: the Kellen Moore thing and and.
Speaker 7: How he's going to be able to.
Speaker 6: Exploit Austin And I think, you know, Lindsey's probably right,
Speaker 6: and I think it would be best for the Chargers
Speaker 6: if if she is right, and and his his he's
Speaker 6: maybe not a productive scoring wise, which means other guys
Speaker 6: are more involved, which which they need because you can't
Speaker 6: just keep you know, you can't keep counting him to
Speaker 6: score uh whatever it is, you know, half your half
Speaker 6: or more and half your touchdowns.
Speaker 1: Yeah, buddy, I wanted.
Speaker 4: To go ahead, Yeah, go ahead, Chris No.
Speaker 1: I was just gonna get your thoughts on this.
Speaker 2: But also it reminded me yesterday Sony Michelle was signed
Speaker 2: by the Rams. You remember at the beginning of the year,
Speaker 2: we were we were wondering, like, hey, Josh Kelly's getting
Speaker 2: like five yards of pop and they take him out
Speaker 2: and Sony just for whatever reason, didn't have it.
Speaker 1: So, you know, it's a kind of a two part thing.
Speaker 2: With Yes, I think Austin's gonna have a productive year,
Speaker 2: but they're looking for that second guy, and maybe it
Speaker 2: is Josh Kelly.
Speaker 1: We've talked about Isaiah Spiller a lot.
Speaker 2: But I just it struck me funny when I saw
Speaker 2: the Sony signing, and I was like, man, it just
Speaker 2: reminded me that Josh Kelly had a pretty good start
Speaker 2: of the year. But in like two, three, four touches
Speaker 2: a game.
Speaker 3: You know, it'll be interesting, you know what players are
Speaker 3: still out there the first week or the second week
Speaker 3: of training camp, because that's where a lot of these
Speaker 3: players are gonna get signed. And we've talked about this
Speaker 3: at nause and right, Chris Janiking Gockway is still out there,
Speaker 3: and Frank Clark is still out there, and Leonard Floyd,
Speaker 3: who Brandon Staley knows, is.
Speaker 4: Still out there.
Speaker 3: You know, there's a lot of players out there in
Speaker 3: particularly at the running back position.
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 3: So if that second player does not raise his hand
Speaker 3: in a hurry in training camp, I'll be interested to
Speaker 3: see if some of that money that's still out there
Speaker 3: is used, because Kellimore likes having that second back. So
Speaker 3: that's I think, and it's something that Austin has not
Speaker 3: shied away from.
Speaker 4: I think the one thing about Austin.
Speaker 3: And we said this repeatedly, yes he is he is
Speaker 3: severely underpaid for the production that he provides. But he's
Speaker 3: also lucky that he was an undrafted free agent and
Speaker 3: he was able to get that second contract.
Speaker 4: At least he got that.
Speaker 3: At least he got his twenty five million bucks, which
Speaker 3: a lot of running backs don't. They're drafted in the
Speaker 3: fourth round. They chew him up over four years, they
Speaker 3: may not even get a second they might even get franchised.
Speaker 3: And you're talking about a career earnings of like three
Speaker 3: and a half million bucks and you put up, you know,
Speaker 3: three four thousand yards of offense and twenty plus touchdowns.
Speaker 3: So I'm happy for Austin that he was able because
Speaker 3: he does bust his tail and he always come and
Speaker 3: you saw him at camp. He always comes in camp
Speaker 3: in shape. He's great in the community. He just built
Speaker 3: that weight room for Long Beach. Polly Like, he's a
Speaker 3: great dude, he's a great teammate, he's a great player.
Speaker 3: The sad thing is, and we said this, you know,
Speaker 3: we talked about this last week, Chris like, I don't
Speaker 3: think it's fair.
Speaker 4: I get it.
Speaker 3: I wish that running backs could get to their second
Speaker 3: contract sooner that for you can't do that. The CBA
Speaker 3: has already been negotiated. But if we could just get
Speaker 3: them to their second contract by year three or something,
Speaker 3: running backs don't pt. The numbers just are not there
Speaker 3: once they hit twenty eight, twenty nine years old. It
Speaker 3: is a steep slope that the players that do continue
Speaker 3: to produce are complete and total outliers. And that's why
Speaker 3: these numbers look the way they do, and that's why
Speaker 3: the contracts look the way they do.
Speaker 4: So I'm hopefully hits all.
Speaker 3: Of his incentives that he makes eight million bucks this year,
Speaker 3: and I don't know what it'll look like going forward.
Speaker 3: So to me, it's just a it's a very narrow focus.
Speaker 3: It's how's Austin going to play this year? And I
Speaker 3: think anything beyond that is Look, Josh Jacobs doesn't want
Speaker 3: to report for camp. Josh James led the league in
Speaker 3: rushing last year and he couldn't find a multi year deal.
Speaker 3: Like it's it's just crazy the way that position is
Speaker 3: is treated in the league, and now everybody's sad.
Speaker 6: Sorry, and the show grinds.
Speaker 4: He's like, man, that is too bad these guys, that's
Speaker 4: it's terrible.
Speaker 2: We you know, we we've no the awesome story has
Speaker 2: been running to the ground.
Speaker 1: We've talked a lot about it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's still got some trend on the tires.
Speaker 1: Jeff Lindsay. Defensively, I think you can go in a
Speaker 1: number of directions. What's the biggest.
Speaker 2: Defensive storyline entering this year? You know, the Bosa and
Speaker 2: mac tandem. Maybe staying healthy comes to mind.
Speaker 4: J C.
Speaker 2: Jackson and really just overall this defense getting better in
Speaker 2: an effort to help the offense, which we expect to
Speaker 2: score points.
Speaker 8: Lindsay yeah, for me, it's Bosa Mack you hit on it.
Speaker 8: And then J C.
Speaker 5: Jackson, I think this is the last time we'll see
Speaker 5: Bosa and Mac together. I don't see it in twenty
Speaker 5: twenty way you were in twenty for twenty four that
Speaker 5: those guys are going to be able to make it happen.
Speaker 8: With their contracts, they both were structured.
Speaker 5: I think one of those guys is probably not gonna
Speaker 5: be here for the long haul, so whether or not
Speaker 5: that partnership can really kind of come to fruition and
Speaker 5: be what it was expected to be like, which is
Speaker 5: one of the most feared tandems in the NFL. Obviously,
Speaker 5: if they get going, that would be a big, big
Speaker 5: boost for this defense, because if one of them gets hurt,
Speaker 5: I think they're in a world of hurt without a
Speaker 5: really strong pass rush and no proven backups. So I
Speaker 5: think that's a big position that I will be watching.
Speaker 8: And then J C. Jackson, I don't think he'll be
Speaker 8: emphasized enough.
Speaker 5: Obviously, this guy is signed a huge contract, he's coming
Speaker 5: off a devastating injury, and I think it would be
Speaker 5: a little bit easier to say, Okay, all he's got
Speaker 5: to do is rehab and get better and come back
Speaker 5: out because he.
Speaker 8: Was doing great last year.
Speaker 5: Unfortunately for him, he wasn't playing well last year before
Speaker 5: the injury.
Speaker 8: It just seemed like he wasn't a fit for the defense.
Speaker 5: Whether that was mentally physically what they were asking him
Speaker 5: to do, I think that much is kind of unclear.
Speaker 8: Still might have been both. But he is a huge
Speaker 8: wild card.
Speaker 5: And someone who when you look at the personnel in
Speaker 5: the secondary, they absolutely need him to play.
Speaker 8: The amount of money he's taken.
Speaker 5: Up and the lack of depth at the position they
Speaker 5: need J. C.
Speaker 8: Jackson to perform.
Speaker 6: I am glad that we got to the defense because
Speaker 6: being the boring guy on this among the spoortsom that's
Speaker 6: the one thing I keep talking about and I write
Speaker 6: about it really the everyone and I get it with
Speaker 6: Kellen Moore and Justin.
Speaker 7: And everything else on offense.
Speaker 6: But to me, they're gonna throw the ball, They're gonna
Speaker 6: their offense is gonna be okay. I think this it's
Speaker 6: gonna be determined. This season is gonna come down to
Speaker 6: their defense, and it's it's sort of accentuated by the
Speaker 6: fact that their head coach got his job because of
Speaker 6: what he did as a defensive coach. So I will
Speaker 6: promise you that it bugs the crap out of Brandon
Speaker 6: Staley what's happened to his defense the last two seasons.
Speaker 7: And he, I'm sure.
Speaker 6: Is one hundred percent confident that they're going to really
Speaker 6: take a step forward and they're going to be a
Speaker 6: lot better against the run. They're gonna be a lot
Speaker 6: better getting off the field than they've been, And to me,
Speaker 6: I think that as this season unfolds, that's the thing
Speaker 6: that's really going to determine what this team does, because
Speaker 6: I don't have any doubts about what's going to happen
Speaker 6: on offense. I think they're going to be more explosive.
Speaker 6: I think they're going to score, and I think Herbert's
Speaker 6: going to put a big numbers and Austin's going to
Speaker 6: do his thing, And to me, it just comes down
Speaker 6: to the defense is going to really determine the fate
Speaker 6: of this season.
Speaker 7: And so.
Speaker 6: It's not nearly as exciting to talk about, but I
Speaker 6: think it's I don't think we can talk about it
Speaker 6: enough or emphasize enough.
Speaker 7: They need to be better.
Speaker 6: In those crucial moments than they were and they you know,
Speaker 6: twenty seven to nothing. They played a lot a big
Speaker 6: role in that falling apart too.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I think that's a great point, Jeff, because look, Brandon
Speaker 3: is very polarizing in the media, from his fourth down
Speaker 3: aggressiveness his first season, to having Justin Herbert and not
Speaker 3: making the playoffs his second season, to losing a twenty
Speaker 3: seven to zero lead, and his last season. The one
Speaker 3: thing I'll say about coach Staley is his game plans
Speaker 3: have been fantastic. You know, Miami is ripping the league apart.
Speaker 3: And let's even go to the week before that, right,
Speaker 3: they go into San Francisco, and the narrative is this
Speaker 3: is going to be humiliating. This is a nationally televised game.
Speaker 3: The Charger's supposed to make the Super Bowl this year,
Speaker 3: and Kyle Shanahan is going to make a fool of
Speaker 3: Brandon Staley in this game. And everybody's hurt and how
Speaker 3: are they and they're in that game, they are trading
Speaker 3: punches until the fourth quarter with a completely decimated roster.
Speaker 3: The following week, oh boy, could lose three games in
Speaker 3: a row. Here, you know what Mike McDaniel is doing
Speaker 3: to the league and all this speed. How are they
Speaker 3: to contend with it? And he's got a brilliant game
Speaker 3: plan and he drops his second level of the defense
Speaker 3: a little bit deeper, keeps everything in front, and the
Speaker 3: defense wins that game. So that's the thing about coach
Speaker 3: Staatea that I think it's very unfortunate for him, and
Speaker 3: I do think a lot of it is of his
Speaker 3: own making. He really kind of puts himself out there
Speaker 3: in the media, and I think that causes people to
Speaker 3: pick sides on do you like him, do you not
Speaker 3: like him? But I think the one thing that I
Speaker 3: will always stick up for coaches the game plans are there,
Speaker 3: and they are they're there. For Kansas City, I thought
Speaker 3: they got absolutely screwed in that third week of the
Speaker 3: season on Thursday Night with some horrible calls by officiating
Speaker 3: that should have led to two turnovers that didn't. The
Speaker 3: pass interference call, which was an abject failure that should
Speaker 3: have led to a turnover. Instead it led to a
Speaker 3: touchdown for the Chiefs because it gave him a goal
Speaker 3: to go situation, and then of course to pick off
Speaker 3: by a Sante Samuel that looked like an interception. I
Speaker 3: think that was really hard turnover so that I don't
Speaker 3: want to, you know, legislate those things. But what I'm
Speaker 3: saying is the game plans are there. Like I think
Speaker 3: it's hard to argue that he's not a good defensive strategist.
Speaker 3: He has been able to win games, I think based
Speaker 3: on his schemes and what his approach is going to
Speaker 3: be to try to get the better of these offenses
Speaker 3: going in and the roster has just been decimated. I
Speaker 3: do think there are moments where it's gotten away from
Speaker 3: him where you know, perhaps you know whether it's personnel
Speaker 3: or and that happens to everybody. But I guess what
Speaker 3: I'm getting at is, if you guys want to build
Speaker 3: on it is I do feel like he's a good
Speaker 3: defensive coach, Like you see these first half of games
Speaker 3: and the way these things stack up and the turnovers
Speaker 3: that are created are the numbers that they're being posted.
Speaker 3: It's just got to the results gotta be there. The
Speaker 3: results are not there. I feel like I don't know
Speaker 3: what I'm trying to say. I don't know if he
Speaker 3: gets out adjusted at halftime or what's going on if
Speaker 3: there's no such thing as halftime adjustments. But you know
Speaker 3: what I'm getting at It just feels like it feels
Speaker 3: like it's there, like what you're looking for, Jeff, I
Speaker 3: feel like is available. I just don't know why it's
Speaker 3: not led to better results.
Speaker 2: Lindsey, let me jump in real quick. I want you,
Speaker 2: I want to get your take on this, because Warren
Speaker 2: Sharp had a tweet last week. They got a lot
Speaker 2: of traction. The Chargers won ten games last year. These
Speaker 2: are the quarterbacks that they beat. Davis Mills, Marcus Mariota,
Speaker 2: Jacoby Brissett, Baker Mayfield who was with the Rams for
Speaker 2: a cup of coffee, Nick Foles who we know was
Speaker 2: there for a second, Russell Wilson in overtime, Ryan Tannehill,
Speaker 2: Kyler Murray coming back from injury, Derek Carr and Tua.
Speaker 1: You don't see Josh.
Speaker 2: Allen or Patrick Mahomes or Aaron Rodgers on that list.
Speaker 1: And guess what you're going to New York this year.
Speaker 2: Lamar Jackson's coming here, justin Fields is coming here. So
Speaker 2: I think, collectively, as Money said, collectively, this defense just
Speaker 2: has to get better and there are gonna be times
Speaker 2: where they're gonna have to stop Patrick Mahomes or Josh
Speaker 2: Allen or Russell Wilson with Sean Payton in order to
Speaker 2: win football games, and you know you win and you
Speaker 2: who's in front of you on your schedule, but the
Speaker 2: quarterback you go one up in class in twenty twenty three.
Speaker 5: Yeah, without question, And I, like money said earlier, I
Speaker 5: don't want to be a Brandon Staley apologist, but in
Speaker 5: one season watching this defense, they did. They went in
Speaker 5: with a great game plan in San Francisco. They had
Speaker 5: a good game plan Week two against the Chiefs. They've
Speaker 5: had some good game plans. Why they can't capitalize on
Speaker 5: that and why they can't produce a win out of that?
Speaker 5: Sometimes it's like you really scratch your head and you
Speaker 5: know it's hard to put your thumb on. I mean,
Speaker 5: there's no team that I've covered that was as challenging
Speaker 5: to define as this team was last year. And you
Speaker 5: think of the San Francisco game and three healthy defensive
Speaker 5: linemen by the end of it. I know every team
Speaker 5: goes through injuries, but this team was decimated by injuries.
Speaker 5: And so for me with Brandon stay with even with
Speaker 5: the quarterbacks, he's facing tough ones this season, like this
Speaker 5: has to be the year the defense produces, like it
Speaker 5: can't be excuses about injuries, it can't be any There's
Speaker 5: nothing that can come into play other than ten your
Speaker 5: defense produced, regardless of who's out there, regardless.
Speaker 8: Of who you're facing.
Speaker 5: If you want to get to the super Bowl, you're
Speaker 5: going to have to beat the Chiefs. And so this
Speaker 5: is kind of the the make or break for the
Speaker 5: defense year three, and you have to see the results
Speaker 5: because there's no other excuse to come turn to at
Speaker 5: this point.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and the thing that's tough to push back against,
Speaker 3: Lindsay is the numbers. You know, it's the worst run
Speaker 3: defense in the league. It's a terrible third down defense.
Speaker 3: It's like, that's that's what's just sort of maddening. I
Speaker 3: think you said it. You hit it on the head.
Speaker 3: It's so hard to define, you know, this this this team,
Speaker 3: this defense, because when you cover the team and you
Speaker 3: watch the team play in and play out, you're like,
Speaker 3: this a good team. Like they're doing this, this is
Speaker 3: a hell of a coaching job. Like did you watch
Speaker 3: that San Francisco, Well, yeah, but they lost. You know,
Speaker 3: did you watch the Chiefs can Well yeah, but Patrick Mahomes,
Speaker 3: well yeah, Gerald, you know, Joe, they're calling a play
Speaker 3: in when Gerald Everett's trying to tap out and it's
Speaker 3: a pick six. That's the difference in the game. Not
Speaker 3: to mention, like I said, two interceptions that are overturned,
Speaker 3: but that's not reality. Reality is they lost the game
Speaker 3: and Patrick Mahomes beats them every single time. And you
Speaker 3: know that's a Brandon Staley coach defense that you've got
Speaker 3: to lead with three minutes left in prime time at
Speaker 3: SOFI Stadium, and somehow the call comes in and Travis
Speaker 3: Kelcey breaks away from Derwin James, and that's who you want,
Speaker 3: That's who I want. I want Derwin James opposite Travis
Speaker 3: Kelcey one on one, Let's go your best and see
Speaker 3: you later, touchdown, game over. And it's just it's it's
Speaker 3: hard to qualify. It's hard to quantify because what the
Speaker 3: numbers tell you it is and what you feel like
Speaker 3: you're seeing it's just a weird It's a that side
Speaker 3: of the foot is so freaking hard to analyze, describe,
Speaker 3: and get.
Speaker 4: A feel for.
Speaker 5: Well, can I just add in, it's also hard to
Speaker 5: analyze and describe because I have talked, I've covered Brandon
Speaker 5: as a defensive coordinator with the Rams covered him now
Speaker 5: obviously with the Chargers, and his defense isn't simple. You
Speaker 5: talk to a lot of his players and it is
Speaker 5: quite complicated. It took some time when he became the
Speaker 5: DC for the Rams for those guys to understand because
Speaker 5: Brandon sees so much and the call would come in
Speaker 5: for the defense and the play caller or the signal
Speaker 5: caller out on the field, the green dot as everyone
Speaker 5: looks to call him. Right, he had a hard time
Speaker 5: initially communicating what Brittan.
Speaker 8: Was communicating because Brandan sees so much and so I
Speaker 8: don't even know where I was going with this. Oh,
Speaker 8: it's hard for us to find because I think he is.
Speaker 5: Yeah, because he he is a defense of mind.
Speaker 8: He does see so much. But sometimes that can also
Speaker 8: cloud you because things can get over complicated. But maybe
Speaker 8: that means that with.
Speaker 5: Some of those complications that now three years then these
Speaker 5: guys have it down.
Speaker 1: Jeff.
Speaker 2: It goes back to your point about change versus kind
Speaker 2: of staying the same. I think the personnel kind of
Speaker 2: stays the same. But you know, we saw Michael Davis
Speaker 2: take a huge leap learning that defense from year one
Speaker 2: to year two.
Speaker 1: All those injuries.
Speaker 2: If jac comes back and Khalil and Joey can stay
Speaker 2: healthy for a majority of the season, then you can
Speaker 2: unlock Derwin James to do what we thought he was
Speaker 2: going to do last year.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 2: I feel like we always go into a season saying,
Speaker 2: all right, Darwin's going to be this chess piece, you
Speaker 2: could put it all over the field, and then a
Speaker 2: ton of dudes get hurt and he gets stuck just
Speaker 2: being like the guy in the secondary that has like
Speaker 2: tried to basically cover all bases.
Speaker 7: You know.
Speaker 2: So I think maybe if it's injury injury, like it's huge.
Speaker 2: But Jeff, I'm looking at Darwin and if if those
Speaker 2: guys that I mentioned healthy, Darwin can really do a
Speaker 2: lot of damage as a first.
Speaker 1: Team love pro.
Speaker 7: Oh absolutely.
Speaker 6: And we you know there was a stuff the other
Speaker 6: from a week ago or a couple of weeks ago,
Speaker 6: whatever it was now on social media the Chargers put
Speaker 6: out about him working on the edge, which we've seen
Speaker 6: some of that, and obviously he can he can.
Speaker 7: Do that and he can play anywhere.
Speaker 6: You know, when you're you're thinking about Derwin's uh situation,
Speaker 6: I mean j T.
Speaker 7: Woods comes into play there.
Speaker 6: That's a guy who Brandon Staley, I think is convinced
Speaker 6: he can turn into not only a starting NFL player,
Speaker 6: but a really good NFL player. And one of the
Speaker 6: things that that Staley prides himself on is development. And
Speaker 6: that doesn't get talked about a whole lot, especially as
Speaker 6: a head coach, but he he's convinced that he.
Speaker 7: Can develop a guy like j. T.
Speaker 6: Woods into an effective defensive player. And if that that happens.
Speaker 6: We've talked about the depth and the lack of depth
Speaker 6: that in some spots. If that happens, now you you
Speaker 6: know Derwin. You can turn Derwin loose a little more.
Speaker 6: And you know, a guy like a guy like that
Speaker 6: that you know, or guy even a guy like Mark Webb.
Speaker 6: You know, if that guy can can give them some
Speaker 6: defensive snabs, some quality out there. You know that Again,
Speaker 6: that's another thing that could free up Derwin.
Speaker 7: So I do.
Speaker 6: I mean, everything we're saying is uh, I think is accurate,
Speaker 6: and it's it's right on. And in talking about this
Speaker 6: team and the difficulty and trying to sort of.
Speaker 7: Define why they maybe not have.
Speaker 6: The success that you'd expect, the one thing I was thinking,
Speaker 6: listen to all you guys say that was how many
Speaker 6: long time Charger fans are sitting there would be watching
Speaker 6: this going, yeah, no kidding.
Speaker 7: We've been saying this for fifty years.
Speaker 6: This is the Chargers, and unfortunately that is the reality
Speaker 6: of this franchise. You know, you know, you want to
Speaker 6: get Brendan stately going on something, ask him about the
Speaker 6: history of the team and how it affects this this
Speaker 6: year's team, and you know he I know, he's told
Speaker 6: all of us repeatedly. I'm sure that he can't believe
Speaker 6: we get lumped in with the history of this team,
Speaker 6: but he understands that's the reality of sports, and that's
Speaker 6: part of this franchise, and that is until they win,
Speaker 6: until they overcome all this stuff. That is going to
Speaker 6: be one of the narratives around the Chargers is they're
Speaker 6: just this team that's hard to figure out because they
Speaker 6: seem better in most seasons. They seem like they're better
Speaker 6: than their record ends up being.
Speaker 3: I think just sort of quickly, Chris, because I you know,
Speaker 3: I'm a slow processor, so I've got to, like, you know,
Speaker 3: figure these things out. And then I'm going to go
Speaker 3: back a question earlier an ad But I really like
Speaker 3: Warren Sharp. I'm a big fan of his he has
Speaker 3: had it out for the Chargers since they hired Joe Lombardi.
Speaker 1: Oh, no doubt.
Speaker 4: What I would say is rock.
Speaker 3: Purty made the AFC Championship Game, and if teams had
Speaker 3: beat brock Purty, you best bet your ass that that
Speaker 3: would have been on that list. Davis Mills brock Purty,
Speaker 3: Like I don't care who the quarterback is. All you
Speaker 3: gotta do is punch your ticket into the tournament and
Speaker 3: anything can happen. We have seen the Giants win three
Speaker 3: wild card games and win a Super Bowl. We saw
Speaker 3: the Tampa Bay Buccaneers win three you know, start in
Speaker 3: the wildcard round and win three road games and win
Speaker 3: a Super Bowl. Whatever path you've got to take to
Speaker 3: get into the tournament, take it. And the Bengals, the
Speaker 3: freaking Bengals made the Super Bowl two years ago. So,
Speaker 3: like the whole what does it mean about this team
Speaker 3: that these are the quarterbacks? I don't give a damn,
Speaker 3: you know, I care about what is the win total?
Speaker 3: Can you get to ten wins? Because if you can
Speaker 3: get to ten wins is the Jaguars are going to
Speaker 3: tell you anything can happen in the playoffs. You can
Speaker 3: be down twenty seven to nothing and find yourself with
Speaker 3: a lead in the third quarter in Kansas City against
Speaker 3: the eventual Super Bowl champions. So and so, what's the
Speaker 3: narrow gonna be after five weeks? If the Chargers are
Speaker 3: four and one, well they beat Tua and Tannehill and
Speaker 3: Kirk Cousins and Jimmy Garoppolo and you know, Mike mccarthew
Speaker 3: can't even coach offense anymore. Like, I don't care, win
Speaker 3: the games, win the games. Is it gonna be a
Speaker 3: tougher slate?
Speaker 4: Maybe? I don't know.
Speaker 3: I don't know what the Raiders are gonna look like.
Speaker 3: Their offensive line still sucks. Jimmy Garoppolo's okay, He's not great?
Speaker 3: Is Russell Wilson? I love your workout video, Russell Sweet
Speaker 3: way to go, dude, that's what you want to put
Speaker 3: out there after last season? Show me throwing some iron around.
Speaker 3: That's great. So, like, you know, I don't I can
Speaker 3: we can buy into it, you know, we can buy
Speaker 3: into all that stuff. It's it's a much tougher quarterback slay.
Speaker 3: Aaron Rodgers was ninety percent retired three months ago.
Speaker 4: Does he really give a damn?
Speaker 3: I don't know, you know, I don't know, you know
Speaker 3: who's his offensive coordinator, Nate Hackett. How did that look
Speaker 3: last year? Like, so there's so many variables that go
Speaker 3: into the thing about is this going to be tougher?
Speaker 4: Is it going to be easier?
Speaker 3: It lays out great at the start, and then you
Speaker 3: got to deal with I mean they got you know,
Speaker 3: is Justin Fields was had the lowest passer I think
Speaker 3: he was what thirty third in or thirty fourth in
Speaker 3: QBR and passer and things like that guy's gonna be
Speaker 3: a nightmare to defend. Team's not good, but that guy's
Speaker 3: a freaking nightmare to try to figure out if he's
Speaker 3: just gonna grab the ball and run around like a
Speaker 3: psychopath like that can blow up a defense. You don't
Speaker 3: know what to do. Like it's you know, the league
Speaker 3: is weird. The schedule that we are looking at today
Speaker 3: is not going to look like that, you know in
Speaker 3: week fifteen or week fourteen. Who knows what it's going
Speaker 3: to look like, you know what I mean? Like that
Speaker 3: stuff to me is so crazy to try to try
Speaker 3: to lean on. Well, the Chargers weren't really that good
Speaker 3: last year because look at the quarterbacks they beat. Okay,
Speaker 3: well what quarterbacks beat them. You know, Derek Carr beat them,
Speaker 3: Brock Purty beat him. You know, it's like it was
Speaker 3: supposed to be a too of Justin Herbert Showdown and
Speaker 3: tour was humiliated.
Speaker 4: You know, is that fair?
Speaker 3: No, it's crazy, like it's crazy to try to Matt
Speaker 3: Jones is probably gonna beat him because Bill Belichick is it.
Speaker 4: Is a nightmare to play against. You know, it's just
Speaker 4: like it's it is what it is.
Speaker 6: I love the I love it, I know, I love
Speaker 6: I love when uh money gets a little salting, it
Speaker 6: gets a little.
Speaker 7: A little disparaging. I love it. I love it. It's great.
Speaker 7: It gets discussed.
Speaker 2: Warrit Sharp has headed out for the Chargers too, like
Speaker 2: you know you he probably I really do it for
Speaker 2: great tweet warranges. This is a great tweet to get
Speaker 2: people fired up. I will say that. List there, there
Speaker 2: weren't a lot of top tier quarterbacks, and you play
Speaker 2: who's in front of you one hundred percent. You win
Speaker 2: ten games in the AFC, you deserve to go to
Speaker 2: the tournament. But when Lamar Jackson comes to town, and
Speaker 2: you know, Nate Hackett and.
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers, Rogers want a MVP with him.
Speaker 2: A couple of years ago, so you know, Josh Allen's
Speaker 2: coming to SOFI Stadium, Patrick Mahomes twice, Russell Wilson can't
Speaker 2: be any worse than he was last year.
Speaker 1: So it's just the AFC is a beast, which is
Speaker 1: kind of my final question.
Speaker 2: Guys, what does this charge seem going to look like
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty three in this loaded AFC?
Speaker 8: Lindsay, of course you're starting with me.
Speaker 5: What are they gonna look at? I hate, I don't know,
Speaker 5: I don't know. The AFC is a gauntlet, is daunting.
Speaker 8: I heard. I haven't verified this yet, but.
Speaker 5: I heard that when the schedule makers were looking at
Speaker 5: the schedule, they're looking at every all the factors. What
Speaker 5: makes the schedule tough, what makes it easier? The common
Speaker 5: denominator was do you have to play the Kansas City Chiefs.
Speaker 5: The Chargers have to play them twice? So who knows
Speaker 5: how they're going to do? As long as they're in
Speaker 5: the same division as the Chiefs. They're chasing them, obviously,
Speaker 5: so the best they can hope for is to maybe
Speaker 5: beat them.
Speaker 8: I think realistically, you hope that you come in second.
Speaker 5: In the division to them, and then you give yourself
Speaker 5: a chance once you reach the playoffs.
Speaker 8: But how is is gonna shake out? I don't know.
Speaker 5: I mean that the Bills, obviously, the Bengals with Aaron
Speaker 5: Rodgers coming over to the conference. It's it's looking tough,
Speaker 5: But this is that's why you get paid. And why
Speaker 5: do these guys make all the money to go play
Speaker 5: the tough games?
Speaker 8: Right?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 6: Remember a year about this time, we were all talking
Speaker 6: the AFC West is it's unbelievable.
Speaker 7: All these teams are gonna be have.
Speaker 1: Winning records Division of Football.
Speaker 6: And then we saw it that the so so money
Speaker 6: is exactly right.
Speaker 7: The strength of schedule stuff.
Speaker 6: Talking about it right now is ridiculous because who the
Speaker 6: heck knows with any of the stuff. I think, uh,
Speaker 6: you know, I think the Chargers. I think they're gonna
Speaker 6: be good. I think they're gonna be a playoff team.
Speaker 7: The Chiefs are going to get one of these. The
Speaker 7: Chiefs aren't going to win the.
Speaker 6: Division, and I think the Chargers are the next best choice.
Speaker 6: And you go back two years ago that Thursday night
Speaker 6: game against the Chiefs at home. If they win that game,
Speaker 6: they're in first place. So I mean they were really close.
Speaker 6: Uh you know, in Brandon Stately's first season. So I
Speaker 6: don't there's no reason for me to you look at
Speaker 6: this team to think that they're they're going to go backward.
Speaker 6: I think, you know, and maybe you know this time
Speaker 6: of year, everybody's better and everybody's.
Speaker 7: You know, going to be really good.
Speaker 6: But I do think there's all kinds of reasons for
Speaker 6: optimism for this team, and I would be very surprised
Speaker 6: if if if I would maybe not if they don't
Speaker 6: make the play I'd be very surprised if they're not
Speaker 6: in the conversation at the very end again like they
Speaker 6: were in the last two years.
Speaker 7: But I you know, I fully expect.
Speaker 6: Them to to to challenge the Chiefs and to make
Speaker 6: the playoffs and and take another run at it.
Speaker 3: You know, I just go what we focused on too
Speaker 3: much in the AFC, and I understand it's quarterback le
Speaker 3: We just keep talking about these quarterbacks, and we keep saying, well,
Speaker 3: you know when you go through Justin Herbert Joe Burrow,
Speaker 3: and we're guilty of it.
Speaker 4: I'm not absolving myself from this. I've done it.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: I'm just looking at so I'm looking off to the
Speaker 3: side here. So Joe Burrow, Aaron Rodgers, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson,
Speaker 3: Deshaun Watson, Trevor Lawrence, Patrick Mahomes, Justin Herbert Russell Wilson.
Speaker 3: Like two of those guys aren't going to make the playoffs,
Speaker 3: And that's what we're focusing on when we should be
Speaker 3: focusing on the entire team. You know, like of all
Speaker 3: those teams, the Broncos roster is stacked. We know how
Speaker 3: good that defense was last year. And if Sean Payton
Speaker 3: can make any sort of impact, like just make them
Speaker 3: forty percent better on offense. You know, Javonte Williams being
Speaker 3: back and like what that could mean.
Speaker 4: Like that's the thing is do we trust the Jets?
Speaker 3: Do we really believe in that offensive line that has
Speaker 3: a swing tackle at left tackle and they have I
Speaker 3: think Mackai Beckton might play. Does it feel like playing football?
Speaker 4: I don't know.
Speaker 3: That's the offensive line that we're talking about. So we
Speaker 3: know the Bengals are going to be good. We know
Speaker 3: the Chiefs are going to be good. I think last
Speaker 3: year we saw a little bit of an issue with
Speaker 3: the Bills with the offense and it got a little
Speaker 3: sideways there for a while. We were talking about they
Speaker 3: can't run the ball and Josh Allen's got to do
Speaker 3: too much and it's going to catch up with them
Speaker 3: at the end of the season. And it didn't mitigate
Speaker 3: obviously mitigating factors going into just the nightmare that they
Speaker 3: had to deal with toward the end of the season.
Speaker 3: But I think when you start going through if you
Speaker 3: don't just name quarterbacks, you start talking about coaches and
Speaker 3: rosters and like those sort of things. It's not just
Speaker 3: going to be the nine quarterbacks that come into play
Speaker 3: for seven spots. It's going to be did you go
Speaker 3: into a game against San Francisco, like you said, Lindsay,
Speaker 3: with three healthy defensive players, Like that's that's going to
Speaker 3: come into play as to which one of these teams
Speaker 3: gets excluded and you know, people get cut and the
Speaker 3: coaches it fired because it's like, no, we got a
Speaker 3: really good roster, they could have won the Super Bowl
Speaker 3: and we didn't even make the playoffs. And that's what's
Speaker 3: gonna happen this year, and it's it's gonna be competitive,
Speaker 3: and it's gonna be tough, and it's going to go
Speaker 3: beyond you know what the quarterback does.
Speaker 4: It just it has to.
Speaker 3: I mean, the Jets were terrible at quarterback last year,
Speaker 3: and they were in it until the final three weeks
Speaker 3: of the season.
Speaker 4: You know, so any anything.
Speaker 3: Could happen, and it doesn't have to be predicated on
Speaker 3: the success of the quarterback or what the name is
Speaker 3: on the back of their jersey.
Speaker 2: Mundy to piggyback off that you didn't mention the Steelers
Speaker 2: or Patriots because they don't have that quote unquote franchise
Speaker 2: quarterback they got. And you know, the Steelers, they finished
Speaker 2: the season very strong last year. Kenny Pikett looked encouraging,
Speaker 2: you know, and if if Mac Jones gets another weapon,
Speaker 2: you still have Bill Belichick coaching that team.
Speaker 4: That's great about me.
Speaker 3: Here's here's what's great about me is watch just the
Speaker 3: incredible hypocrisy that shows up immediately because I've been hearing
Speaker 3: too much about this Pittsburgh run at the end of
Speaker 3: the season and you just you can't help but go
Speaker 3: through the games and just be like, Okay, let's you.
Speaker 1: Play who's in front of your money.
Speaker 3: You play who's in front of you But to suggest
Speaker 3: that that is a precursor for success this year is
Speaker 3: I think a little foolish there. They played what did
Speaker 3: they closed with? Atlanta with they closed with Indianapolis when
Speaker 3: Atlanta Desmond Ritter. I don't even know who was quarterback
Speaker 3: in that team in Indianapolis at that time. So then
Speaker 3: you've got Atlanta when they lost to the third string
Speaker 3: quarterback of the Ravens.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 3: They beat Carolina, who in that game started Sam Darnold.
Speaker 3: After that, they beat Vegas after Derek Carr that was
Speaker 3: his last game, remember before he got benched and he
Speaker 3: was already on the way out. Then they end up
Speaker 3: beating Baltimore with the third string quarterback. And see what
Speaker 3: I mean. Like, and here I am being a hypocrite,
Speaker 3: like I'm just saying projecting future success for the Steelers
Speaker 3: based on the way they finished last season is a
Speaker 3: little bit misleading.
Speaker 2: If you just go to the last fifteen years, Mike,
Speaker 2: Mike Tomlins never had a losing record, You've.
Speaker 4: Got that's exactly right. Yes, that's what I would bank on.
Speaker 3: Like the Steelers are always in the mix and they
Speaker 3: have an incredible defense.
Speaker 6: That sounds to me like money had the under on
Speaker 6: the Steeler win total last year.
Speaker 3: You know what it is, it's it's my dear friend
Speaker 3: Dave Damashek and I screaming and yelling at each other
Speaker 3: when he suggested the Steelers were gonna win eleven games
Speaker 3: this year because of how strong they finished the season
Speaker 3: last year, and I said, that's just the dumbest thing
Speaker 3: I've ever heard. You want to project them to win
Speaker 3: eleven games five, but don't tell me it's because of
Speaker 3: how they finished the season last year against those teams
Speaker 3: that they finished against.
Speaker 4: Sorry you sniffed it out.
Speaker 3: Though, Jeff, there was an underlying agenda attached to that brand.
Speaker 2: Guys, we've kept you way late. Lindsey twenty seconds. What's
Speaker 2: a storyline for fans to keep the around a training
Speaker 2: can maybe a player or position group that you're kind
Speaker 2: of excited to watch come into July.
Speaker 5: I'm just gonna keep beating this drum, the Kellen Moore storyline.
Speaker 5: I mean, I really think that that is going to
Speaker 5: determine what this offense can do this season, is going
Speaker 5: to determine how far they go in the playoffs, and really,
Speaker 5: I mean that ultimately determines who's back next year.
Speaker 8: So I really it's what Kellen Moore.
Speaker 5: Can do with Justin Herbert, with Justin Herbert can do
Speaker 5: with what is now a plethora of talent.
Speaker 8: Mine is a little question market tight end.
Speaker 5: But you know, they feel confident what they got, so
Speaker 5: we'll see how that plays out. So for me, I
Speaker 5: just again it's the Kellen Moore situation, and then you
Speaker 5: got to talk about, Oh, Kellen has a great success.
Speaker 5: So what happens in twenty twenty four with Kellen Moore?
Speaker 5: But we'll save that for.
Speaker 1: Later a whole nother podcast.
Speaker 3: Right, yeah, right, you'll be invited back, so you congratulations,
Speaker 3: Jeff Man.
Speaker 6: I'm gonna stick with defense. Maybe that's my theme im.
Speaker 6: It'll be fascinating to me to see what happens with
Speaker 6: j C. Jackson, you know, just if he can make
Speaker 6: it back. He seems to be uh on schedule and
Speaker 6: and as Lindsay mentioned, it'll be really interesting to see
Speaker 6: if he can perform in this defense because we don't
Speaker 6: know if he can yet, and you know what he
Speaker 6: did in New England, you can't deny that it was.
Speaker 6: Those numbers are ridiculous and if he if he can
Speaker 6: bring that to this team, it would be an enormous boost.
Speaker 7: So that's good.
Speaker 6: That would be the one guy if I was gonna
Speaker 6: watch one guy just to see see where he's at.
Speaker 6: And see how he comes along, because he could make
Speaker 6: a huge difference for this defense.
Speaker 1: M money, what you got?
Speaker 3: Why not kicker competition? The Chargers play close games. They
Speaker 3: play close games, they always do, and and I've been
Speaker 3: around long enough to see kickers ruined seasons for this team,
Speaker 3: completely ruined season. So I'm a I like Dustin Hopkins.
Speaker 3: I love Cameron Dicker. I do think they're to me.
Speaker 3: They just they play close games that the Chargers do
Speaker 3: for whatever reason, and and kicking can be the difference
Speaker 3: in wins and losses.
Speaker 5: Yeah, Lindsay, isn't the good news with this kicking competition
Speaker 5: is like they both were really good. I mean Dustin
Speaker 5: Hopkins I just wrote about that he lost he could
Speaker 5: potentially lose his job for kicking like a game winning
Speaker 5: field goal in overtime like that. That that is at
Speaker 5: least a much different scenario than like guys who couldn't
Speaker 5: hit a field goal to save their life.
Speaker 8: I mean, these are two guys.
Speaker 5: Who are are good, and so it's like an it's
Speaker 5: like an exciting competition, not like a oh my gosh,
Speaker 5: can anyone kick.
Speaker 8: A field goal?
Speaker 4: Competition?
Speaker 3: And that's and the exciting thing about that too, or
Speaker 3: it shouldn't it exciting. The good thing about it is
Speaker 3: they're both going to have jobs. Whichever one of them
Speaker 3: is cut is going to be signed to be the
Speaker 3: starting kicker for another team. So it's not like they're
Speaker 3: going to be out of a job. Kicking at Santa
Speaker 3: Monica high Seema tape I'm ready to go and.
Speaker 4: Wants to sign me?
Speaker 3: Like not, you know that's not gonna You should say
Speaker 3: Crossroads Santa Monica Like that's so, that's the way I
Speaker 3: think it'll end. There's a happy ending for whichever one
Speaker 3: of these two doesn't make the team. So there you go, Chris,
Speaker 3: there's mine. Let's keep going the Kickers.
Speaker 1: We haven't talked.
Speaker 2: About the fact that there even is a competition. I
Speaker 2: think because reason both both guys were very good last year.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Kevid Dick good reason. We want people to download
Speaker 3: and listen to the pod. This will be the this
Speaker 3: will be the headline, this will be the title for
Speaker 3: this podcast.
Speaker 1: Kicking Competition FI time code.
Speaker 3: We needed, we needed forty We needed four different voices
Speaker 3: to weigh in on how this kicking competition and is
Speaker 3: U That's why.
Speaker 2: I'll just quickly add two guys that I'm just excited
Speaker 2: to see j T. Woods and Isaiah Spiller, two guys
Speaker 2: from last year's rookie class who didn't really see the field,
Speaker 2: you know, Jeff Lindsay money, I talked about the fact
Speaker 2: that it seemed very apparent that a low heat Gilman
Speaker 2: is the starter, feels very comfortable with the low he
Speaker 2: back there.
Speaker 4: And then you know, for.
Speaker 2: Isaiah Spiller, youngest player drafted last year, didn't see much
Speaker 2: of them.
Speaker 7: Uh.
Speaker 2: It was a curious kind of running back rotation, to
Speaker 2: say the least last year behind Austin anyway, So maybe
Speaker 2: Isaiah can can be that guy and he and Josh
Speaker 2: can push push each other to get some run behind Austin.
Speaker 4: So there you go.
Speaker 3: There we go, Jesff and Lindsay go seek out Chris
Speaker 3: Smith at training camp. You've earned yourself a bucket hat
Speaker 3: for for an hour and.
Speaker 4: Seven minutes of podcasting today. Well done. So you did great.
Speaker 2: Jeff, no uh no Miata, no miata tricks in the
Speaker 2: in the uh with the phone.
Speaker 6: Totally professional today, totally all pro performance by me.
Speaker 7: I'm just gonna throw it out there.
Speaker 2: You guys are the best. Lindsay thirty ESPN. Jeff Miller,
Speaker 2: La Times, and the great bat Muddy Smith.
Speaker 1: I'm Chris.
Speaker 2: We'll see you next week.