Speaker 1: What's up, guys? Chris Harry with you on a week
Speaker 1: fourteen edition of Chargers Weekly. Chargers hosting the Atlanta Falcons
Speaker 1: this Sunday at Sofi Stadium. Coming up, we're gonna get
Speaker 1: this week's opposing view from d Orlando Ledbetter of the
Speaker 1: Atlanta Journal Constitution. But first we're gonna see what's on
Speaker 1: the menu powered by Subway with the voice of the Chargers,
Speaker 1: Matt money Smith. Buddy, you look back to Saturday forty five. Nothing,
Speaker 1: not much you can really do with that tape instead
Speaker 1: of maybe not watch it, move on to Atlanta. I
Speaker 1: don't know what you do. Yeah, that's what you always hear.
Speaker 1: When it's that bad, you almost want to just flush
Speaker 1: it and again not relive. What's you know? I've been
Speaker 1: calling games for ten years in football. It's the worst
Speaker 1: game I've ever called, you know. I talked about it
Speaker 1: earlier this week on the radio show. The only thing
Speaker 1: that's comparable, and this is just me anecdotally personally, games
Speaker 1: I've called, you know, calling a game every single week
Speaker 1: in college or the NFL are sometimes doubling up with
Speaker 1: one on Saturday and Sunday since twenty ten. The only
Speaker 1: thing that's close is I called that Rams Falcons game,
Speaker 1: which is funny because the Felements are coming to town.
Speaker 1: At the Coliseum back in twenty sixteen, I think they
Speaker 1: jumped out to a forty two nothing lead. The opening
Speaker 1: kickoff bounced off the returners. I think his name was
Speaker 1: Michael Thomas, not that Michael Thomas, but Thomas Thomas. Helmett
Speaker 1: was like grabbed out of the air for a score
Speaker 1: and it just spiraled from there. And this was even worse.
Speaker 1: So I think the one thing besides, you know, I
Speaker 1: don't want to burn the tape, I think it's important
Speaker 1: to at least get a count who's running special teams,
Speaker 1: you know, have the right number of guys out there.
Speaker 1: I don't know what's going on with assignments. Blocking assignments
Speaker 1: have been just terrible the last couple of weeks. So
Speaker 1: I think, you know, those are things to me that
Speaker 1: King had cleaned up. I would assume easily. I'm not
Speaker 1: out there, you know, strapping it up and taking on
Speaker 1: you know, one of the best special teams teams from
Speaker 1: the last twenty years and trying to figure out what
Speaker 1: they're doing to us. But at the same time, it
Speaker 1: seems like just the number of missed assignments on the line,
Speaker 1: the mistakes, the count, you know, ten twice, twelve ones.
Speaker 1: That's just got to get cleaned up. And that to
Speaker 1: me seems like an easy fix. Yeah, the special teams,
Speaker 1: I feel like every week we're talking about something that
Speaker 1: had happened in that phase of the game that really
Speaker 1: kind of affects the rest of the game. You know,
Speaker 1: when you have a missfield goal and a seventy yard
Speaker 1: punt return for a touchdown, I mean, those are two
Speaker 1: glaring things that happened that kind of set the tone.
Speaker 1: I mean, obviously running ten times in your first third
Speaker 1: team plays and killing seven minutes off the clock to
Speaker 1: start the game, that that kind of set the tone.
Speaker 1: But when you had these special teams miscues and then
Speaker 1: at the end of the half, that was just kind
Speaker 1: of the dagger. Those things they just they can't rear
Speaker 1: its ugly head in a game where you know you're
Speaker 1: already behind the eight ball. And we've talked about this
Speaker 1: each and every single week. It just it has to
Speaker 1: be cleaned up. Against Atlanta, Yeah, I think, I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, just kind of pulling that apart, right, there's
Speaker 1: a lot there. One Mike Badge's got to make kicks.
Speaker 1: You know, he makes that kick, and we're not having
Speaker 1: the same conversation today. Even if it's just three points,
Speaker 1: it's not the worst shutout in Charger history. It's not
Speaker 1: the worst shutout in NFL history since nineteen eighty nine. Likes,
Speaker 1: that's now off the board and it's seven to three,
Speaker 1: and it's like, hey, yeah, they sucked seven and a
Speaker 1: half minutes off the clock when they scored seven and
Speaker 1: we only got three. But you still answer to scoring
Speaker 1: drive with the scoring drive. And I'm not saying it
Speaker 1: would have changed everything, but I think it would have
Speaker 1: gone a long way, because now you're not looking at
Speaker 1: a zero and starting to wonder, Okay, are we gonna
Speaker 1: get on the board? We gotta get on the board,
Speaker 1: and that starts hanging over you two. I think, you know,
Speaker 1: what do they always say about Bill Belichick? You know,
Speaker 1: he's the best coach in the history of football and
Speaker 1: perhaps the history of sports. And what does he do.
Speaker 1: He holds up a mirror and he shows you in
Speaker 1: magnifies your flaws better than anybody else. He has done
Speaker 1: it for two decades. And what did we know going
Speaker 1: in that the Chargers had serious, serious special teams issues.
Speaker 1: Boy did he exploit those and boys, it ugly when
Speaker 1: you're looking at mirror and and I think that's clearly
Speaker 1: what you know everyone, Oh, you know we talked about
Speaker 1: it last week, right, Well, it's probably gonna take away
Speaker 1: keenan all And I'm like, no, I don't know, I
Speaker 1: might take away offs and no, that dude looked at
Speaker 1: special teams and said, we're gonna crush this team on
Speaker 1: special teams. I can tell you that right now. And
Speaker 1: they went out there and they did. Yeah, and I
Speaker 1: mean he really took away the entire offense. They couldn't
Speaker 1: get into a rhythm, yeah at all. And you know
Speaker 1: that's but you're right, it starts with those special teams
Speaker 1: because if you can't win there and you give up
Speaker 1: gigantic plays, you're not gonna win a game against Anybody's
Speaker 1: just deflating, It's right, It's just you know, it's deflating.
Speaker 1: It's humiliating. It's you know, because it's it's found points, right,
Speaker 1: It's it's they find and like she's just look at
Speaker 1: the kickoffs, right, when you look at Bailey in those kickoffs,
Speaker 1: what if we seen all season long through, what's it
Speaker 1: been out thirteen games or whatever, Yeah, twelve games, what
Speaker 1: have we seen. We've seen eleven teams routinely boot the
Speaker 1: ball out of the back of the end zone. You know, hey,
Speaker 1: we don't want to return, let's just get it out
Speaker 1: of the back of the end zone. They'll start at
Speaker 1: the twenty five. They're dumb enough to bring it out.
Speaker 1: Then you know, good for us. Every single one of
Speaker 1: those kicks was dropped in the right corner or the
Speaker 1: left corner at about the negative one to the two
Speaker 1: yard line, And like that just goes to show you
Speaker 1: this is someone who's looked at what the options are
Speaker 1: and said, oh, wait a minute, I think we can
Speaker 1: figure out how to exploit this because we're five yards closer.
Speaker 1: My coverage team can get down there. We're not given
Speaker 1: them the twenty five. We're going to give them the seventeen.
Speaker 1: And that's going to give us eight yards every single kickoff.
Speaker 1: And that's that's that's that's a plus for us. That's
Speaker 1: something we can exploit. I think I think there's a
Speaker 1: lot to be taken away with their special teams and
Speaker 1: kind of watching the way they ran that game and
Speaker 1: then just speaking to your you know, your your next
Speaker 1: point on the defensive line versus the offensive line. It
Speaker 1: was I mean it was you know, it's a t
Speaker 1: KO and it was first round knockout, and it's tough, man,
Speaker 1: it is tough. They are so good at what they
Speaker 1: do and not letting you know where those stunts are,
Speaker 1: who's coming, who's dropping out? Um, you know that win
Speaker 1: a bitch passed was a perfect example of a rookie
Speaker 1: quarterback not being able to get over on Belichick. It's
Speaker 1: like he knew it was coming and he just sat
Speaker 1: there lying in wait and Herbert never saw him and bang,
Speaker 1: there's your there's your interception. They're just they're so good,
Speaker 1: They're so freaking good, and it's it was terrible to
Speaker 1: watch it, but at the same time, it was poetic
Speaker 1: to watch it and just see, you know, kind of
Speaker 1: what a team that's been able to do it for
Speaker 1: for two decades straight, how they find those little things
Speaker 1: and are able to execute them. Yeah, Tom Brady or no,
Speaker 1: Tom Brady, you still got Bill Belichick back there, and
Speaker 1: you now know, you know why the Patriots have been
Speaker 1: so good for so long. Uh you flip it to
Speaker 1: to Atlanta. They've won I think three or five I
Speaker 1: think they're only losses of to come against in New
Speaker 1: Orleans Saints, they're playing better football. Yeah, and we've talked about, hey,
Speaker 1: you got to stop the run. You knew the run
Speaker 1: was coming. With New England, they have two number one
Speaker 1: receivers and Julio Jones and Calvin Ridley, so you're gonna
Speaker 1: have another challenge in terms of the secondary. They're gonna
Speaker 1: be challenged a lot more than they were less Sunday
Speaker 1: with Julio Jones and Calvin Ridley. No question, it'll be
Speaker 1: completely different game, one hundred and eighty degrees different, right,
Speaker 1: I mean no, Look, Todd Gurley has been solid, hasn't
Speaker 1: been spectacular, but solid. But yeah, they're going to air
Speaker 1: it out. They're gonna throw it all over the yard,
Speaker 1: and they've done a great job of it. The big
Speaker 1: difference is defensively. You know, they're not very good defensively.
Speaker 1: You know they're still trying to find that pass rush,
Speaker 1: and you know the secondary has been so so. So
Speaker 1: I think this is one where and I think that's
Speaker 1: important just because of how bad Herbert had it and
Speaker 1: not entirely all this fault. It's hard to get anything
Speaker 1: going when you get knocked down eleven times, sacked a
Speaker 1: couple of times, and it's Bill Belichick that's running games
Speaker 1: on you with you know, stunts and twists all over
Speaker 1: the place, so you're not going to see that. So
Speaker 1: I think, you know, probably the most important thing I think,
Speaker 1: and this one is is much like we said after
Speaker 1: the Miami game, right, let's see if Herbert can bounce
Speaker 1: back and get back to that three hundred plus yard game,
Speaker 1: three touchdown game kind of thing, and see if we
Speaker 1: can just you know, maybe trade punches, if if Falcons
Speaker 1: are gonna come swinging and you're gonna have some issues there,
Speaker 1: and you know, see if you can just answer and
Speaker 1: find yourself in another one of these you know, thirty five,
Speaker 1: thirty two, thirty two, twenty eight kind of games and
Speaker 1: kind of get back to doing what we've seen from
Speaker 1: Herbert in this offense most of the year. Got to
Speaker 1: get into a rhythm. Just there was zero rhythm on offense.
Speaker 1: Last Sunday gets the Pats and you know, I know,
Speaker 1: Austin Ekeler's back. You know, you have a full compliment
Speaker 1: of weapons that are healthy. Hunter, Henry Keenan Allen, Mike
Speaker 1: Williams got to get into a rhythm early. I think,
Speaker 1: I guess a team like this who you know, a
Speaker 1: couple of weeks ago, they beat the Raiders forty three
Speaker 1: to eight. They handled the Broncos a few weeks ago,
Speaker 1: so they've played well inside the AFC West. Again. It's
Speaker 1: a team with an interim pit coach and Raheem Morris
Speaker 1: who has them playing pretty well into December. So you know,
Speaker 1: you take their record and kind of throw it out
Speaker 1: the window. They're playing pretty good ball right now. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I think also, you know, kind of a couple
Speaker 1: couple issues that I would be a little concerned about,
Speaker 1: you know, with them, and that's um, you know, pass
Speaker 1: rush number one, and I think it's on both sides,
Speaker 1: right it's you know, this is a good it's a
Speaker 1: solid offensive line, but i'd like to see Bosa get
Speaker 1: back after. You know, the interior of the Patriots might
Speaker 1: be the best in the league, those interior three along
Speaker 1: with the Raiders, you know, when they're healthy. So I
Speaker 1: knew that was going to be a bit of a struggle.
Speaker 1: And they do such a good job with so many
Speaker 1: big bodies. I mean, they were you know, they were
Speaker 1: running traps against both of that whole game where they're
Speaker 1: letting him come clean and then next thing you know,
Speaker 1: he's got one of those cards, just blowing him off
Speaker 1: when he thinks he's got a clear path. They're just
Speaker 1: they're so good at coming up with that. You're not
Speaker 1: going to see that with the Falcons. It's going to
Speaker 1: be more, hey, your best guy versus my best guy,
Speaker 1: much like we saw with the Bills. And let's see
Speaker 1: if bos you can kind of get back to what
Speaker 1: we saw there with Buffalo. And two. I was really
Speaker 1: disappointed with the offensive line against against the Patriots and
Speaker 1: so against the Bills. I think, you know, last week
Speaker 1: they were one hundred percent healthy with you know, Blaga Turner,
Speaker 1: Tabby Phoene lamp out there. This week, of course they
Speaker 1: lose Tabby storm nort goes and he looked lost. Just
Speaker 1: the assignments were blown. There were guys getting free runs
Speaker 1: on three man rushes and Herbert's taking a hit. I mean,
Speaker 1: they're they're they're rushing three and dropping that fourth lineman
Speaker 1: out on a lot of those third downs, and he's
Speaker 1: taking sacks and getting hit. And I don't think that's
Speaker 1: all on him not knowing where it's coming from. I
Speaker 1: think it was just bad play by the offensive line.
Speaker 1: You know, Phoene and lamp had a great start to
Speaker 1: the season and like they were really really good through
Speaker 1: like probably the first nine eight nine weeks, and that's
Speaker 1: tailed off a lot. And I don't know if that's
Speaker 1: just more film and defenses maybe finding something and exploiting it.
Speaker 1: But would love to see them, you know, return to
Speaker 1: the level of play because they were playing solid, you know,
Speaker 1: and it's just not been great these last couple of weeks.
Speaker 1: So don't know what the case is with Sam and
Speaker 1: whether or not he'll be back, but appreciate coach given,
Speaker 1: you know, Norton the shop there. I just I don't
Speaker 1: quite see that happening again, not not with the way
Speaker 1: it played out against the Patriots. It's hard to highlight
Speaker 1: this in a loss and the Chargers were so far behind.
Speaker 1: But you know, Kenneth Murray fourteen tackles, I think twelve solo,
Speaker 1: his first career sack. We started to see what we
Speaker 1: think he can be in this league. And I, you know,
Speaker 1: I appreciate the passion that he played with, and you know,
Speaker 1: Joey was very complimentary of the way that finished that game,
Speaker 1: and I think that's good it's it's what you want
Speaker 1: to see moving forward as as someone who could potentially
Speaker 1: be a cornerstone on this defense with Durwin and with Joey,
Speaker 1: maybe with Trank Will. Perhaps it was good to see
Speaker 1: Kenneth Murray kind of turned into the guy that we
Speaker 1: were expecting him to be. He was. He was far
Speaker 1: and away the best player on the field for the Chargers,
Speaker 1: no question about it. He played great, and I think
Speaker 1: you know, it's something that we've talked about repeatedly here,
Speaker 1: right you know, Ken Murray's just got to stop thinking
Speaker 1: and start playing. Yeah, you know, and the coaches even
Speaker 1: alluded to that maybe we put too much on his play.
Speaker 1: It's something that we've talked about repeatedly. That's why I'd
Speaker 1: like to see him moved outside. Just just take it
Speaker 1: all off his plate and just cut them loose, let
Speaker 1: him go after it. And I think you saw some
Speaker 1: of that this last week, and you mentioned Drew, and
Speaker 1: I think when Drew comes back, ultimately that's what they'll
Speaker 1: do because Drew is so good in the middle, and
Speaker 1: I think Kenneth can just be phenomenal if you just
Speaker 1: kind of put him outside and let him Because you
Speaker 1: saw it, I mean, you just saw the athleticism tracking
Speaker 1: down backs from behind, you know, closing on receivers that
Speaker 1: look to be open. And you know the sack, the pressure,
Speaker 1: shadowing cam, blowing up screens like he was doing it all.
Speaker 1: It's like, okay, yeah, this is the Kenneth Murray I
Speaker 1: remember from Oklahoma, making play sideline to sideline all over
Speaker 1: the field. So it was it was a great game.
Speaker 1: I mean, there was there was nothing good to come
Speaker 1: out of that, but that was something really good to
Speaker 1: come out of it. If he can build on that
Speaker 1: close this season, you know, these last four games here
Speaker 1: looking like that man, that's going to go a long way,
Speaker 1: Like you said, feeling good about twenty twenty one with
Speaker 1: the return at Derwin and shrank Will and having that
Speaker 1: Kenneth Murray out there. Boy, that's gonna be great. It
Speaker 1: is h Listen, we talked about special teams. We talked
Speaker 1: about the offense get into a rhythm other than those
Speaker 1: two things, and you know, we want to see more
Speaker 1: more of a pass rush obviously, what's gonna be the
Speaker 1: key to trying to get a win against this Atlanta
Speaker 1: team who you know, we talked about the guys on
Speaker 1: the outside. You know, your back to back former league
Speaker 1: MVPs coming into so far Cam last week, Matt Ryan
Speaker 1: this week, and again they haven't lost anybody but the
Speaker 1: Saints over these last five weeks. What are the Chargers
Speaker 1: need to do to make this a competitive football game? Well,
Speaker 1: you know, it goes back to something we've talked about earlier,
Speaker 1: which is, you know the Gus Bradley scheme, right this
Speaker 1: this cover two, cover three scheme that he plays, and
Speaker 1: that's your rushing four and you're dropping seven, so seven.
Speaker 1: They got to be connected. They got to be on
Speaker 1: the same page. We've talked about miscommunication or blown assignments
Speaker 1: far too much too often. I feel like we're seeing
Speaker 1: Adderley just kind of floating around out there. We're seeing
Speaker 1: Kenneth Murray kind of floating in space. Not sure you know,
Speaker 1: those are your two younger players out there, youngest players
Speaker 1: out there in terms of experience, Like, it's got to
Speaker 1: be connected. The front and the back have got to
Speaker 1: be connected. And if you're going to drop those seven
Speaker 1: and play that zone, then they better be on their
Speaker 1: assignments because, like you said, they have got some killer
Speaker 1: weapons out there man that Matt and Ryan can find
Speaker 1: a former MVP, so you know, you're better. I just
Speaker 1: I want to see those doubles on Julio take him away,
Speaker 1: you know, and maybe Casey's healthy enough to go one
Speaker 1: on one with Ridley or you know, he doesn't really
Speaker 1: follow or travel, so I don't know how they'll you know,
Speaker 1: kind of approach that, but I think that's probably you know,
Speaker 1: the most important thing I want to see is, you know,
Speaker 1: what are their assignments? Are they executing them? And you know,
Speaker 1: just far too often, I feel like we've seen that
Speaker 1: back end out of position, whether it's bad angles into
Speaker 1: the hole and runners going for twenty thirty yards or
Speaker 1: if it's just floating in space. Thinking back to the touchdown,
Speaker 1: who was the tight end that got Keene that broke
Speaker 1: free for that touchdown when you had three guys just
Speaker 1: standing staring at one another when he found himself on
Speaker 1: the back of the end zone for the touchdown, And
Speaker 1: it's like, that's that's the sort of stuff I think
Speaker 1: that you got to clean up in order to be
Speaker 1: able to kind of trade punches here with the Falcons. Yep,
Speaker 1: this could be a different game than what we saw
Speaker 1: last Sunday in terms of what kind of office is
Speaker 1: coming to Sofi Stadium and hopefully it's a different game
Speaker 1: for the Chargers and get back on track after quite
Speaker 1: the wake up call on Sunday. Money. Always appreciate you
Speaker 1: doing this, brother, and I'll see you all Sunday then,
Speaker 1: all right, Buden, looking forward to it. See out there,
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Speaker 1: ward delivery while supplies last. All right to get this
Speaker 1: week's opposing view from Atlanta, let's bring in d Orlando
Speaker 1: Ledbetter Atlanta Journal Constitution. De How are you today, Chris?
Speaker 1: I'm doing great. Thanks for having me on your podcast.
Speaker 1: Looking forward to talking about the game with you. Hey,
Speaker 1: We're excited about it. This Atlanta team, you know that
Speaker 1: you start O one, five and now four and three
Speaker 1: in the last seven looks like a different football team
Speaker 1: right now. D Well, what's been the difference? One has
Speaker 1: been the evaluation of you know, the talent, you know,
Speaker 1: and then trying to find things for them to do
Speaker 1: that can make them, uh no, successful. They had problems
Speaker 1: with the pass rush. None of those guys have come
Speaker 1: through for them. Tack McKinley's since been let go, Dante
Speaker 1: Fowler's been playing hurt. So they had the fabricator pass
Speaker 1: rush and they've been able to do that, and then
Speaker 1: they had to play a little bit more time control
Speaker 1: ball control offense where they didn't have that defense out
Speaker 1: on the field as much. So Rahim Morris and his
Speaker 1: staff have come up with a formula to play better games,
Speaker 1: to stay in the games and actually you know, close
Speaker 1: a couple of them out, which we know has been
Speaker 1: a problem with the Falcons. It was a problem with
Speaker 1: the Falcons under Dan Quinn dating back even to the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl. So I look at the AFC West and
Speaker 1: what the Falcons did to the Raiders a couple of
Speaker 1: weeks ago, and the Broncos a month back. What do
Speaker 1: you attribute this success to as of late, you only
Speaker 1: lose to the Saints. I think in the last five
Speaker 1: weeks is your only loss. What do you think Raheem
Speaker 1: has done it? And do you think Raheem could be
Speaker 1: the long term solution there in Atlanta? Yeah, what he's
Speaker 1: done is a good coaching job here, Chris. He you know,
Speaker 1: got the Tampa bag job at age thirty two. So
Speaker 1: he's been getting ready to be a head coach again somewhere,
Speaker 1: whether it's here or um, you know, elsewhere, New York,
Speaker 1: wherever you know the openings go. But he's certainly shown
Speaker 1: that he's a head coach, he's a head coaching candidate.
Speaker 1: He can manage a game, can get the most out
Speaker 1: of his roster. Uh, you know his problems right now
Speaker 1: and flipped you know the offense. The team was built
Speaker 1: around offense, and now the offense is not doing so
Speaker 1: high and the defense is performing probably be beyond expectations
Speaker 1: and beyond their talent level. So um, you know, he's
Speaker 1: done a good job. A good job, not a great job,
Speaker 1: because you know four and three they did uh they
Speaker 1: lost to Detroit when they didn't kneel down and tried
Speaker 1: to have girly fall down and I didn't work out
Speaker 1: for them, so you know, he should have known to
Speaker 1: kneel that down. So um, not perfect, but he's certainly
Speaker 1: done a credible drive. We've certainly seen worse. Uh, you know,
Speaker 1: and he's actually getting eleven games out of tryout, So
Speaker 1: that's a good body of word to decide if he's
Speaker 1: he's your guy moving forward or not. Well, you mentioned girlie,
Speaker 1: this will be a bit of a home coming for him.
Speaker 1: I think he probably expected to be playing is the
Speaker 1: is the whole team and so FI stadium. What's his
Speaker 1: excitement level to play in a stadium that he probably
Speaker 1: thought he was gonna be playing in with Rams. Yeah,
Speaker 1: no question, he's really excited about coming back. Then he
Speaker 1: wants to come to the house he built and uh
Speaker 1: se uh you know, he's uh was doing really good
Speaker 1: this year. Then the injury started to slow him down
Speaker 1: a little bit, the chronic left knee, and you can't
Speaker 1: hide from that. You can't really fix that. They just
Speaker 1: tried to manage it. And recently he's been a third
Speaker 1: down back Chris and red zone so they only bring
Speaker 1: him in for pass protection and in the red zone.
Speaker 1: So that was the playing last week against the Saints.
Speaker 1: I doubt if Peo haven't expanded role this week, but yeah,
Speaker 1: he's now down to being kind of a part time player.
Speaker 1: They might have overused him earlier in the season, and
Speaker 1: you know, now that's just where they are here going
Speaker 1: into the fourth quarter of the of the of the season. Well,
Speaker 1: I think the biggest challenge for the Chargers defensively is
Speaker 1: that secondary trying to check Julio Jones in Calvin Ridley.
Speaker 1: Those guys I think have combined for one hundred and
Speaker 1: ten catches over sixteen hundred yards, ten total touchdowns. What
Speaker 1: have you seen from Calvin Ridley. We know what Julio
Speaker 1: Jones can do, He's been doing it for ten years
Speaker 1: in the NFL. But to have the year that Calvin
Speaker 1: Ridley's having, the Falcons essentially have two number one receivers
Speaker 1: right now. Yeah, a lot of people build that way.
Speaker 1: Calvin's and who is it? Route runner? He's gonna, you know,
Speaker 1: get open with his feet and where he's going, He's
Speaker 1: gonna be where Matt Ryan wants him to be. And
Speaker 1: Matt's gonna, you know, generally put the ball on time
Speaker 1: for him and in a good spot. So, um, you
Speaker 1: know that that connection has developed over time. This is
Speaker 1: his uh a third year in the league, and he's
Speaker 1: trying to get to a thousand yards. He's got nine
Speaker 1: o five. But yes, certainly if you double Julio, really's
Speaker 1: gonna be open. And we've seen games when Julio has
Speaker 1: been out, Uh, they can double Calvin and but then
Speaker 1: they have to move him around a little bit and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, make him run some underneath routs and things
Speaker 1: like that. But he's done a great job. He's been
Speaker 1: very productive in his third year, and you know that's
Speaker 1: definitely something that bodes well for the future for the
Speaker 1: new coach and the new general manager. So Justin Herbert,
Speaker 1: the Charger's rookie quarterback. Obviously everyone had a down game
Speaker 1: Agains the Patriots last Sunday, but he's been playing pretty remarkable.
Speaker 1: When this Charge's offense is on, what do you think
Speaker 1: the biggest challenges that Atlanta's defense faces when you have
Speaker 1: guys like Keenan Allen, Mike Williams, Hunter Henry and then
Speaker 1: Austin Ecklerher's returned to the lineup. Yes, no doubt about it.
Speaker 1: The Falcons have done a good job of stopping the run.
Speaker 1: But the past defense has been shaky all seasons, and um,
Speaker 1: you know last week they dared take some hill to
Speaker 1: hit open receivers in the zone and he was able
Speaker 1: to do it. So that's why they lost that game.
Speaker 1: They weren't dare justin hunt Herbert to do that. They'll
Speaker 1: try to play some zones, saying or play some man,
Speaker 1: I'm excusing, and try to get after him with the
Speaker 1: pass rush and the blitz and some fire zones and
Speaker 1: keep the rookie on his toes back there. But they
Speaker 1: respect his arm and his weapons. So you know, Keenan
Speaker 1: Allen's gonna warrant some some help with the rookie, aj
Speaker 1: Terrell and the safety. Uh you know, then you gotta
Speaker 1: worry about Mike Williams, and they don't really dark wis
Speaker 1: dena to get that assignment. And Hunter Henry a guy
Speaker 1: that you know the Falcons were looking at, but they
Speaker 1: Chargers took him early and then the Falcons had to
Speaker 1: go Austin Hooper in the next round. So Hunters, you know,
Speaker 1: I know he's hurt earlier in his career, but you know,
Speaker 1: it looks like he's a forty nine catch just sixs
Speaker 1: away from his career high last year, so he's also
Speaker 1: a threat. So what do you do with him? Probably
Speaker 1: linebacker for yer Oula Khan will get Hunter Henry and
Speaker 1: coverage for sometimes. I think Keyan O'Neill the safety would
Speaker 1: be the answer the other time. So, yeah, they got
Speaker 1: problems all over the field for the Falcons, and the
Speaker 1: past defense has been leaky and the Falcons are probably
Speaker 1: just hoping they can get some freebees off of the
Speaker 1: special teams units. Well, speaking of special teams, Young Way
Speaker 1: Coop you know he was he was with the Chargers,
Speaker 1: um you've seen him really kind of entrenched himself with
Speaker 1: the Falcons NFL's leading score. I believe how is Young
Speaker 1: Way Coop and what is he met actually to this
Speaker 1: this Falcons team? Just the ability to hit those field
Speaker 1: goals and be really a reliable player for them. Yeah,
Speaker 1: no question about it. Right now, he's got to be
Speaker 1: an MVP uh and and part of that's a good
Speaker 1: thing and parts of bad. The bad part is they're
Speaker 1: stalling in the red zone. He's getting a lot twenty
Speaker 1: nine yard field goals, but the good part is he's
Speaker 1: hit his last five from fifty or more, including a
Speaker 1: fifty four yard or so. Matt Ryan said, Hey, we
Speaker 1: just got to get to the thirty eight yard line
Speaker 1: and we know we got points, so we don't want
Speaker 1: to mess it up. Uh, it used to be for
Speaker 1: Matt Bryant, they had to get to the thirty five,
Speaker 1: so they got a little extension. Went young Wayku, he's
Speaker 1: a little younger kicker, got rolled up against the Raiders.
Speaker 1: H took away. They took away his kickoff. Dude, he's
Speaker 1: in there. So now moving forward, we'll m you know,
Speaker 1: see if he can continue to make field goals. He's
Speaker 1: hit his last twenty four going back to week four
Speaker 1: of the season. Final thing for you, obviously, both these
Speaker 1: teams disappointing seasons, not gonna be in the playoffs, but
Speaker 1: still a lot to play for for these guys. May
Speaker 1: you gotta you gotta put good things out on film.
Speaker 1: You're playing for each other, they're playing for the guy
Speaker 1: next to you. What do you think it's gonna decide
Speaker 1: this game based on everything that you've seen from the
Speaker 1: Falcons this season, Well, you know they got a challenge.
Speaker 1: You got the thirtieth pass defense going against the number
Speaker 1: three passed offense, So that's gonna be tough. You know,
Speaker 1: you know I'm seeing points. I'm seeing points. Not gonna
Speaker 1: be a shutdown game. Uh, just worried. I'm pretty sure
Speaker 1: the charge is gonna show up after last week in
Speaker 1: the forty five to nothing embarrassment. So I'm thinking this
Speaker 1: is gonna be a really tough game for the Falcons.
Speaker 1: Coach Glynn. I don't know if he took over special teams,
Speaker 1: but he was talking about it. But you can't. You
Speaker 1: can't give up what they've been giving up, both special
Speaker 1: teams and be competitive in the National Football League. If
Speaker 1: they get that under control, we're gonna have a really
Speaker 1: tough football game on Sunday or two teams probably not
Speaker 1: going anywhere by playing for Pride. D Orlando Ledbetter, I
Speaker 1: wish I was gonna see you as so Fi Stadium
Speaker 1: on Sunday, but hopefully we'll catch up down the line.
Speaker 1: Really appreciate your time and your insight today, Chris. Thanks
Speaker 1: for having me on your podcasts and good Lucky I
Speaker 1: missed you on I missed that. No me la. All right, guys,
Speaker 1: that's gonna do it for us. A big thanks to
Speaker 1: d Orlando Ledbetter and Matt money Smith for joining me
Speaker 1: and of course, thanks to you all for listening. Be
Speaker 1: sure to download and subscribe to the Chargers Podcast Network
Speaker 1: wherever you listen to podcasts, enjoy the game on Sunday,
Speaker 1: have a great weekend, and until next time, I'm Chris
Speaker 1: Harry