Speaker 1: A late fifteen to ten touchdowns.
Speaker 2: Hey, everybody, welcome into a Week one edition of Chargers Weekly.
Speaker 2: Year seven of the podcasts, commencing here as always, joined
Speaker 2: by Matt Muddy Smith Buddy all the speculation, all to
Speaker 2: talk about the draft of Combine training camp, It's over.
Speaker 2: This is where the meat of the podcast really starts.
Speaker 2: Against the Miami Dolphins Week one. I know you're prepping,
Speaker 2: You're getting ready for this huge kickoff. Your initial thoughts,
Speaker 2: my man.
Speaker 1: I don't think we could ask for a better opponent
Speaker 1: in Week one. You know, you think as we record this,
Speaker 1: it's Thursday morning. You got a heck of a Thursday
Speaker 1: night er. Let's go Lions, you know, Lions Chiefs tonight.
Speaker 1: And this was I just think back to last year
Speaker 1: and remember this game was back to back with San
Speaker 1: Francisco and it was coming off they were just the
Speaker 1: Chargers were ravaged, ravaged by injury. And I remember walking
Speaker 1: the halls of Levi's Stadium. You know, there's just it's
Speaker 1: a giant press box at Levi's and everybody to an
Speaker 1: individual was talking about what a bloodbat this was going
Speaker 1: to be. This could end up being one of the
Speaker 1: worst Sunday night football games. The Chargers are absolutely decimated
Speaker 1: by injuries. The forty nine ers have been humming with
Speaker 1: Christian McCaffrey. You know, they look like an absolute buzzsaw
Speaker 1: that's going to make it to the super Bowl. And then,
Speaker 1: of course, you know the way it turned out. They
Speaker 1: got a lead at the half, they can't run the ball.
Speaker 1: Brilliant bit of defensive scheming by Brandon Staley. And unfortunately
Speaker 1: you lose three defensive linemen in that. You're down to
Speaker 1: three defensive linemen in that game, and ultimately attrition took
Speaker 1: its toll. They lose. Well, then that carried over to
Speaker 1: the Miami game. Let's not forget. Then we're walking the
Speaker 1: halls of so FI and everybody's saying the same thing. Oh,
Speaker 1: another primetime game, bloodbath Tyreek Hill and Jalen Waddle and
Speaker 1: it's gonna be humiliating. They don't have anyone, And again,
Speaker 1: brilliant bit of defensive scheming from Brandon Staley. Josh s Heir,
Speaker 1: Taylor comes up big, Herbert has a monster game, Tua
Speaker 1: has the worst game of his career, and the Chargers
Speaker 1: get out with a win. And I just I set
Speaker 1: that as the backdrop because I believe there is scar
Speaker 1: tissue there from these Dolphins, that this is a very
Speaker 1: important game for them, that you know, for Mike McDaniel,
Speaker 1: who's supposed to be and it is, I mean legitimately
Speaker 1: a great play caller, a great offensive coach, that there's
Speaker 1: some scar tissue there and they are going to come out,
Speaker 1: you know, with their hair on fire. And I have
Speaker 1: no doubt that the Chargers defense is like, hey, that
Speaker 1: wasn't a fluke. You know, we were all busted up
Speaker 1: last year and that's what our defense should have looked
Speaker 1: like weekend and we got and we're going to prove
Speaker 1: it and set the tone for the league the rest
Speaker 1: of the season. So I absolutely love that this is
Speaker 1: our opener where you have two teams that are coming
Speaker 1: out swinging haymakers because they want to prove a point
Speaker 1: and set the tone for the season in this first game, if.
Speaker 2: You guys remember, that was the game I think Keenan
Speaker 2: and Mike came back and that was really the catalysts
Speaker 2: forgetting to the postseason. The game plan by Brandon Saley
Speaker 2: and if you remember, I feel like that game could
Speaker 2: have gone another way had a Loohi Gilman not gotten
Speaker 2: his fingertips on a football on the first play from scrimmage.
Speaker 2: It was gonna be a short touchdown. Tyreek kilbambe alow,
Speaker 2: he's kind of set the tone with a big play
Speaker 2: from the beginning. I found it to be a curious
Speaker 2: game plan by the Miami Dolphins. I think they ran
Speaker 2: the ball maybe three times out of their first sixteen
Speaker 2: or seventeen plays. They were gung ho on throwing the
Speaker 2: ball with Tua. It did not work out, and of
Speaker 2: course he saw Keenan and Mike back with Justin. Justin
Speaker 2: threw for three hundred and seventy six yards, one of
Speaker 2: his best games of his career. But Brandon Staley said it,
Speaker 2: I believe on Wednesday Money that this is gonna be
Speaker 2: a completely different ballgame, completely different players. Yeah, you got
Speaker 2: Vic Fangio now running the defense. You have Ronaldo Hill
Speaker 2: who's over with Vic and in Miami, and you know
Speaker 2: we know that Ronaldo knows Brandon Stalley and and vice versa.
Speaker 3: So there's gonna be a chess match. Especially.
Speaker 2: I think at the beginning of this game, Brandon Saley
Speaker 2: made very clear that they're gonna have to adjust in
Speaker 2: game to what Vic does on defense and of course,
Speaker 2: Mike McDaniel company have a blueprint of what Brandon Stanley
Speaker 2: did last year. So it's a fascinating matchup because these
Speaker 2: are two teams that I think have high expectation Super
Speaker 2: Bowl expectations, and what a statement win it could be
Speaker 2: for either team to start one or zero against a
Speaker 2: team that you're probably gonna have to have a tie
Speaker 2: breaker against at some point once.
Speaker 1: We get to January's a great, great point and I
Speaker 1: think you're already talking about it because of how stacked
Speaker 1: the AFC is, how big this game is from a
Speaker 1: tie breaking standpoint. The Dolphins are in a division that
Speaker 1: has been dominated by the Bills the last couple seasons, right,
Speaker 1: and they look to have the best stacked you know, look,
Speaker 1: Miami top to bottom might be better in terms of
Speaker 1: entire roster construction, but when you got Josh Allen, that
Speaker 1: changes the calculus. So they're contending with the Bills for
Speaker 1: the division and might be thinking about that wildcard. Of course,
Speaker 1: the Chargers have got to figure out a way to
Speaker 1: knock off the Chiefs, who have dominated this division for
Speaker 1: five straight years and really what eight of the last
Speaker 1: ten years. So if you're talking about a Wildcard. This
Speaker 1: is a big one, a huge tiebreaker to have, especially,
Speaker 1: you know, because it's a home game for the Chargers.
Speaker 1: You know, it's tough to one on the road no
Speaker 1: matter who your opponent is. It's very hard to go
Speaker 1: on the road and win because, you know, all things
Speaker 1: being equal, teams are pretty good turns out in the NFL,
Speaker 1: no matter what you think their record's going to be.
Speaker 1: Games rarely are blowouts. So this is a big game
Speaker 1: from that standpoint. You brought up the run. That's why
Speaker 1: I think Coach Staley when he was asked about, you
Speaker 1: know what, can you just do what you did last year,
Speaker 1: He's like, look, this is going to look different because
Speaker 1: you said it. They barely ran the ball. This is
Speaker 1: a team. You know what was Mike McDaniels. You know
Speaker 1: what was he? He was the special sauce in the
Speaker 1: run game for Kyle Shanahan. It's why I never want
Speaker 1: to let him go and you know, turn him down
Speaker 1: for all those those OC and made him an OC
Speaker 1: so he wouldn't get snatched from him. So he comes
Speaker 1: out and I think they ran the ball what nineteen
Speaker 1: times in the entire game? You mentioned three times in
Speaker 1: the first three series. Now, look, Brandon Staley did a
Speaker 1: great job and the defense did a great job of
Speaker 1: shutting that run down when they tried to run it.
Speaker 1: They did not have a lot going until the second half.
Speaker 1: But I do believe they're they're going to test this
Speaker 1: Chargers run defense and say, hey, this this is a
Speaker 1: team that has been bad against the run the last
Speaker 1: two seasons. Let's see if they fixed it. Let's see
Speaker 1: if it's really health or are their issues are there
Speaker 1: because the personnel is the same for the most part,
Speaker 1: will there continue to be underlying issues. It didn't make
Speaker 1: sense that and we talked about this, I think it
Speaker 1: was either last week or the week before, right where
Speaker 1: every now and then you get a little bit of
Speaker 1: coaching hubris of oh no, we're gonna we're gonna make
Speaker 1: this about two and Herbert and we're going to see
Speaker 1: who out duels the other and we're going to prove
Speaker 1: a point. And it's like, just go in the game,
Speaker 1: and I think you're probably gonna see a lot of
Speaker 1: a lot of most Wilson's no longer on the team,
Speaker 1: he was the better runner of the two in that
Speaker 1: first game, So it'll be interesting to see if they
Speaker 1: adjust their attack and aren't so hell bent on proving
Speaker 1: that that two is every bit is good. You know,
Speaker 1: in primetime, the two is every bit as good as
Speaker 1: his quarterback ratings suggested and what he was putting together
Speaker 1: up to that point. And I'm thankful that they did
Speaker 1: because you know, coach Staley was ready for him, but
Speaker 1: the Charger defense was ready for him. And it's I
Speaker 1: just I do think it'll look different, and you know
Speaker 1: what that goes for the Chargers as well, Chris, you
Speaker 1: mentioned Keenan who had twelve receptions in the game. It
Speaker 1: was probably Mike's Mike Williams best game, right, It was
Speaker 1: the it was the most yards with a touchdown that
Speaker 1: he had. It was his highest yards per catch. I
Speaker 1: think it was nearly twenty yards per catch in that game.
Speaker 1: So when you had the two of them out there,
Speaker 1: you don't have Jalen Ramsey in this one, so you
Speaker 1: know that obviously is a benefit. And on top of that,
Speaker 1: you got you got Austin Eckler who had a touchdown,
Speaker 1: but I think he only rushed for about three and
Speaker 1: a half per clip, So I think that's going to
Speaker 1: be a different look as well. With Kellen Moore, You're
Speaker 1: going to see a lot more attention to the run.
Speaker 1: Rashaan Slay. I mean, we can go on forever. How
Speaker 1: much different this is going to look?
Speaker 2: So I think it starts with these coordinators. Right, you
Speaker 2: have Kellen Moore and Vic Fangio end of the picture.
Speaker 2: They weren't in the picture in week fourteen. What is
Speaker 2: this Kellen Moore offense going to look like?
Speaker 3: Money?
Speaker 2: I think fans want to believe that they're going to
Speaker 2: score thirty five points on Sunday and win thirty five
Speaker 2: to thirty one.
Speaker 3: Whatever it is. I think that we.
Speaker 2: Need to proceed with caution, especially early in the year.
Speaker 2: I remember last year that loaded Cowboys offense Week one,
Speaker 2: Sunday Night Football.
Speaker 3: I think they scored three points.
Speaker 2: Dak Prescott got hurt, and you know they got the
Speaker 2: train back on the tracks. But I don't know what
Speaker 2: to expect, honestly, Like I think we keep saying bombs away,
Speaker 2: bombs away. I do think you're gonna see a healthy
Speaker 2: dose of the running game. And I think like the
Speaker 2: deep X factors in this game are like those backup
Speaker 2: running backs like Spiller and Kelly and a Chain, these
Speaker 2: two Texas A and M Young running backs, like, how
Speaker 2: are they gonna.
Speaker 3: Play a role in this game? Potentially?
Speaker 2: But I think for all the bombs away in the
Speaker 2: in the offense, like are they gonna score a ton
Speaker 2: of points? I think we need to maybe pump the
Speaker 2: brakes because we have no idea what it's gonna look
Speaker 2: like and how long it's going to take to really gel.
Speaker 3: Because keep in mind, none of these starters play in
Speaker 3: the preseason.
Speaker 2: I mean, I mean, really, the only thing that we
Speaker 2: have to go off of is practice in a pair
Speaker 2: of joint practices against the New Orleans Saints. So how
Speaker 2: is that going to factor into Week one? Like how
Speaker 2: crisp are you really gonna be? How how crisp are
Speaker 2: you even possibly capable of being?
Speaker 1: I think the good news for the Chargers is they've
Speaker 1: been practicing every day against what we think is going
Speaker 1: to be one of the best offenses in the league.
Speaker 1: So even though those starters didn't play in the preseason
Speaker 1: against you know, for the most part, depth players on
Speaker 1: the opposing rosters. You know, we didn't see a lot
Speaker 1: of starters out there in either of the contest and
Speaker 1: any three of the contests, So you know, I saw
Speaker 1: it for one drive with the forty nine ers, So
Speaker 1: maybe you try to get the starters out there to
Speaker 1: get a look at that, but I don't think it
Speaker 1: would have made much of a difference. The key is
Speaker 1: that when you have when your team is balanced, it
Speaker 1: makes such a big difference. When you don't just have
Speaker 1: this explosive offense that's going to outscore teams and you're
Speaker 1: going to have to outscore them thirty five to twenty
Speaker 1: eight because your defense is lacking a little bit. That's
Speaker 1: where you've poured all your resources. Makes tough to practice
Speaker 1: and prepare for a dominant defense when you ultimately face one. Well,
Speaker 1: Chargers have domination on both sides of the ball. I mean,
Speaker 1: we talked about it, just the players they have on
Speaker 1: the defensive line with Eric Kendricks now at linebacker, and
Speaker 1: my goodness, you want to talk about name to captain,
Speaker 1: you listen to the other players, you know. We talked
Speaker 1: to Joey Bosa yesterday on the radio show Petros and Money,
Speaker 1: and like just listening to him talk about Eric Hendricks
Speaker 1: and how big of a difference he believes that's gonna make.
Speaker 1: He's like just the communication, the way he's got to
Speaker 1: set up. He's like the defense is so dependent upon
Speaker 1: each other, especially when you start to get to the
Speaker 1: back end. He's like, he goes, this is gonna be
Speaker 1: a big deal to have him back there, and how
Speaker 1: that feels. So I think to be able to practice
Speaker 1: against that as good in this Miami defense. I mean,
Speaker 1: especially if Jalen was out there instead of Eli Apple,
Speaker 1: you know, this is gonna be one of the best
Speaker 1: defenses they face all season. I truly believe that that
Speaker 1: Jalen Phillips has got a chance to be the defensive
Speaker 1: player of the year. I think he is that good.
Speaker 1: You look at when I was putting the when I
Speaker 1: was putting my boards together, I want to pull it
Speaker 1: up because I don't want to short change him. I went,
Speaker 1: you know, and obviously everybody pays attention to sacks. And
Speaker 1: last year he had seven sacks, which led the Dolphins.
Speaker 1: He had twenty five quarterbacks, which led the Dolphins. Guy
Speaker 1: had eighty four pressures. Eighty four pressures, and remember they
Speaker 1: only had seven or eight games with Bradley Chubb and
Speaker 1: in those eight games, Guy had thirty two pressures. So
Speaker 1: you're talking about those two guys on the edge, and
Speaker 1: on top of that, right in the middle of that line.
Speaker 1: You got Christian Wilkins, who's one of the most sound
Speaker 1: tackling just mess, an absolute nightmare to contend with on
Speaker 1: the defensive line. So that's, you know, that's what we're
Speaker 1: talking about. And to be able to practice against Khalil
Speaker 1: Mack and Joey Bosa, that's going to go a long way.
Speaker 1: When now you've got to contend with Bradley Chubb and
Speaker 1: Jalen Phillips, a few.
Speaker 2: Guys that were not in that game for the Chargers,
Speaker 2: for Sean Slater, you know, did to have a Shawn
Speaker 2: Slater back in the mix. When you have Chubb and
Speaker 2: Phillips coming at you every snap is a welcome site
Speaker 2: for Justin Herbert. Joey Bosa was not in that game.
Speaker 2: I mean, you and I have talked repeatedly about a
Speaker 2: big reason why the run defense was so leaky was
Speaker 2: because number ninety seven wasn't out there. Just his his
Speaker 2: presence in the running game. And I think perhaps maybe
Speaker 2: the biggest X factor and kind of question mark is
Speaker 2: J C. Jackson sounds like he's gonna play in this
Speaker 2: game money and and.
Speaker 3: How is he going up to him? He is right,
Speaker 3: and he's not on the injury report.
Speaker 2: I think if you look at the injury report, toront
Speaker 2: Armstad has like the injury report of someone like myself
Speaker 2: who wakes up has like three different injuries. I think
Speaker 2: he has got like an ankle, a knee, you know,
Speaker 2: but what's his name. Mike McDaniel said that he could
Speaker 2: potentially still play in the game.
Speaker 1: But j C.
Speaker 3: Jackson to me, let's just go.
Speaker 2: Let's go back to him, because we know how last
Speaker 2: year started, didn't have him for a majority of the year.
Speaker 3: I think we were pleasantly.
Speaker 2: Surprised to see him practicing right at the beginning of
Speaker 2: training camp after such a tough knee injury. He says
Speaker 2: he's gonna go, and I think Tyreek Hill and Jalen
Speaker 2: Wattle will probably test him early and we will see
Speaker 2: how it all shakes out.
Speaker 3: No doubt.
Speaker 1: And look, he's with with the way that they played
Speaker 1: this team last year. You know, JC, when healthy is
Speaker 1: one of the best press man corners in the league.
Speaker 1: So that's how Brandon Staley wants to play. He wants
Speaker 1: to disrupt the timing of this offense, and that's how
Speaker 1: they were able to take advantage of it and forced
Speaker 1: two into a ten of twenty eight evening in that contest.
Speaker 1: So if he's if he's full go and if he
Speaker 1: is one hundred percent, that is a huge, I mean,
Speaker 1: just a monster addition for this Chargers defense, because that's
Speaker 1: what this that's what this thing was everybody was so
Speaker 1: afraid of. You know, explosive plays from Tyreek Kill and
Speaker 1: Jalen Waddell, two of the fastest guys in the league.
Speaker 1: Two is an incredibly accurate quarterback. It's hitting them right
Speaker 1: and stride that They just wanted to keep the top
Speaker 1: on that defense and by doing so created all this
Speaker 1: space in the middle for those guys to catch and run.
Speaker 1: And now all of a sudden, you've got to make
Speaker 1: sure you're taking the right angle or they are off
Speaker 1: to the races. And that happened far too often when
Speaker 1: you have the ability and you have the physicality of
Speaker 1: corners like Mikey Davis. You know, I think people forget
Speaker 1: how big you know, Mikey is that you know you don't.
Speaker 1: It's that's the thing about football. It's not like it's
Speaker 1: not like basketball. It's not like baseball where you're naked
Speaker 1: to the world. You know, you've got pads on, you've
Speaker 1: got helmets on. You're you're around very large human beings.
Speaker 1: And you know when when Mikey's standing next to Joey
Speaker 1: Bosa or Austin Johnson and you're like, oh, yeah, he's
Speaker 1: not that bad, No, he's he's a legit, six foot two,
Speaker 1: two hundred pounds. He's big. And so to have him
Speaker 1: on one side and j C on the other and
Speaker 1: even Josser or Assante whoever's going to be out there, Oh,
Speaker 1: the physical guys, you know that can bust you up
Speaker 1: off the line of scrimmage. And now you don't have
Speaker 1: to worry about sacrificing one side of the field versus
Speaker 1: the other. Okay, do we want you know, where do
Speaker 1: we want to put ja Siir? Is he on waddle?
Speaker 1: Is he going to be you know, are we going
Speaker 1: to put Mikey in there or just j You may
Speaker 1: see jac in there, You very well may see that
Speaker 1: may be a little wrinkle that we see. And you
Speaker 1: put j C jack and in the slot on waddle
Speaker 1: or hill and have Asante on the outside with Mikey.
Speaker 1: That that's something that's possible if j C is healthy,
Speaker 1: and that's gonna help with those three by one formations
Speaker 1: that McDaniel likes to use so much. And on that
Speaker 1: inside of that three that three player side is Tyreek
Speaker 1: Hill running that quick slant and they're trying to get
Speaker 1: it popped. And that's where you get that that you know,
Speaker 1: that pressure to knock the timing off on that. So
Speaker 1: it's gonna be if JC can go, it's gonna be
Speaker 1: a lot of fun because I think there's a lot
Speaker 1: of things that Brandon Staley can then do with how
Speaker 1: he wants to move these pieces around, including Derwin. You
Speaker 1: very well may see Derwin right in there opposite Tyreek
Speaker 1: or you know, or Jalen, just to really give them
Speaker 1: a pop with with that size to see if they
Speaker 1: can recover from that and if too, you know, and
Speaker 1: by the time they do is two and now is
Speaker 1: his timing so far off that now there's Bosa, there's
Speaker 1: Morgan Fox, there's two Lee, you know, Khalil mack All
Speaker 1: in the backfield ready to make those sacks because I think,
Speaker 1: do you remember what it was with how many times
Speaker 1: Tua got sacked in that game. I can't quite remember
Speaker 1: it off the top of my head, but I feel
Speaker 1: like he got pressured a lot. I think he got
Speaker 1: sacked a couple times. So sacked twice twice for eighteen yards,
Speaker 1: but he was just under pressure the whole game.
Speaker 2: So what I love about week one is that you know,
Speaker 2: there's a wrinkles that we were not gonna talk about,
Speaker 2: that we're gonna see. I remember Week one against the Raiders,
Speaker 2: seeing Derwin and Mac lined up on the same side
Speaker 2: and just wreaking havoc against Derek Carr. We're gonna see
Speaker 2: things like that. And I think that the fact that
Speaker 2: there's not a lot of turnover on the defense save
Speaker 2: for Kendricks, and then adding a guy like tu Lee
Speaker 2: this defense, this unit is very comfortable with what they
Speaker 2: did last year, and I think they're gonna gel even
Speaker 2: nicer in twenty twenty three. Let's take a quick break,
Speaker 2: and I want to dig into justin a little bit
Speaker 2: as he kind of embarks on a new chapter of
Speaker 2: his career at Kelling Moore. Hey Chargers fans, you want
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Speaker 2: order all of your stadium favorites from your seat with
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Speaker 3: Go Chargers.
Speaker 2: So, Mandy, this offense with Kellen Moore a lot of
Speaker 2: the same personnel. One of the things I'm looking at
Speaker 2: early in the year especially, is Justin Herbert in his
Speaker 2: rushing ability and if they're going to use his legs
Speaker 2: in this offense. And I go back to the first
Speaker 2: two years of his career, he had eight total touchdowns
Speaker 2: on the ground. He averaged four point three yards to
Speaker 2: carry in year one, four point eight in year two.
Speaker 2: Last year, we know why he didn't run right, No
Speaker 2: touchdowns one hundred and forty seven yards of the ground,
Speaker 2: just two point seven yards per clip. That was part
Speaker 2: of the offense that they just couldn't use. And you know,
Speaker 2: we've talked about the Pittsburgh game a couple of years
Speaker 2: ago and how his legs were a big reason why
Speaker 2: they beat the Steelers. Justin as a threat to run,
Speaker 2: I think could be a very nice wrinkle in this offense.
Speaker 2: And I'm just wondering if they're gonna use it, if
Speaker 2: that's gonna be something that they actually intentionally do, and
Speaker 2: Justin is just smart about getting out of bounds and
Speaker 2: getting down when he needs to.
Speaker 1: I would expect him to remember last year in this game,
Speaker 1: it was one of his biggest runs of the season
Speaker 1: on that eight and a half minute game clinching drive
Speaker 1: with the field goal that put him up nine. Right,
Speaker 1: it was a third down and he took off and
Speaker 1: picked up those ten yards because they cleared it out.
Speaker 1: I think that's probably more likely what you'll see as
Speaker 1: opposed to design quarterback runs. Now, Kellen Moore, you know,
Speaker 1: feels like he's catching the defense sleeping and flat footed
Speaker 1: and recognizes something you know I could have met, like
Speaker 1: the way the way that I've interpreted this thing's gonna go.
Speaker 1: I think we brought this up last week. I don't
Speaker 1: mean to repeat myself, but is you're gonna have they
Speaker 1: want to play with tempo, you're gonna have four or
Speaker 1: five plays. You're gonna have a couple check with me
Speaker 1: and they won a roll. And so if if Justin's
Speaker 1: got that in that bundle of plays and it's you know,
Speaker 1: and we've said it, you know how SMARTI is. If
Speaker 1: he sees it, then you'll see that designed run and
Speaker 1: he'll take it. And get down because we saw that
Speaker 1: with Dak right, Dak, there was a lot of you know,
Speaker 1: quarterback run with Dak. And you know, one of the
Speaker 1: reasons why it was top five offense yearning year out,
Speaker 1: because you sleep on that. That's like, that's how you
Speaker 1: make it even, right, it's eleven versus eleven. Now you've
Speaker 1: got to count for the quarterback taken off and that
Speaker 1: makes a big difference in what you ask a defense
Speaker 1: to do to slow you down. You mentioned Josh Palmer.
Speaker 1: I think the thing about the defense, I should say
Speaker 1: the thing. The thing about the offense this year. It's
Speaker 1: not just getting Slater back, it's you know, whenever you
Speaker 1: talk to the offensive line coaches, they tell you it's
Speaker 1: five fingers on a glove, right, and they've all got
Speaker 1: to work together. That's what the offensive line is. If
Speaker 1: one of those fingers is gone, you know, it just
Speaker 1: kind of it eliminates what you're trying to accomplish. I
Speaker 1: you know, and this is me stealing from a little
Speaker 1: bit because he's the one that pointed it out to me.
Speaker 1: But man, I have not been able to take my
Speaker 1: eyes off Zion all preseason. It's going to be a
Speaker 1: big year for him, I mean a big year. And
Speaker 1: to me, that side and I again love Jamari and Trey.
Speaker 1: That's it's this has a chance to be the best
Speaker 1: offensive line in the league. I really believe that with
Speaker 1: that left with from Corey to Zion to Slater, I
Speaker 1: think that left side of the line is going to
Speaker 1: be able to do some incredible work and just serious damage.
Speaker 1: You're talking about protecting Justin's blind side while he's dropping
Speaker 1: back to wait for those downfield routes to develop, And
Speaker 1: that was something and I give him credit in the
Speaker 1: in the press or on Wednesday. He's not and he's
Speaker 1: not a jerk like I am. He's not taking shots
Speaker 1: at anybody on their way out the door. But he's say,
Speaker 1: you know, you got to remember, I those shot plays
Speaker 1: were there, but just circumstances and and how the offense
Speaker 1: was running and what we were doing. It's you know,
Speaker 1: that's that's the only reason why those perhaps didn't come together,
Speaker 1: but they were there. And so I think now now
Speaker 1: they're there, and you got the protection, and you've got
Speaker 1: a healthy receiving corps and you know, and and Austin
Speaker 1: Eckler is coming off of thirty eight touchdowns the last
Speaker 1: two seasons, so the defense is no doubt going to
Speaker 1: be spying him the whole time. And like it's it's
Speaker 1: all in week one. It's all there for the taken.
Speaker 1: Everybody's healthy, it is all there for the taking. And
Speaker 1: I mean we didn't even mention, you know, Q and
Speaker 1: what we might see from just those quick slants that
Speaker 1: he was so effective at at TCU getting the ball
Speaker 1: in his hands, you know, five yards, just a quick
Speaker 1: end and he's gone like that. That's that's another element
Speaker 1: that we have that we just don't have, or we
Speaker 1: didn't have on this offense in previous seasons. That guy
Speaker 1: that's you know, the Tyreek kill, the Jalen waddle, just
Speaker 1: quick cut and go, and that's I'm anxious to see
Speaker 1: how that gets worked into this whole thing.
Speaker 3: How about Gerald Effertt.
Speaker 2: I mean, aye, right, he's totally forgotten about because you know,
Speaker 2: the first four wide receivers that we mentioned is keen
Speaker 2: of Mike Palmer and Quintin. And how are they going
Speaker 2: to deploy Austin. You know, Austin had all these dump
Speaker 2: offfs last year because they had nobody that could get
Speaker 2: the ball down the field. How is Austin gonna look
Speaker 2: because we haven't seen him in a preseason game with
Speaker 2: Kellen Moore?
Speaker 3: Is he going to be more efficient with his touches?
Speaker 2: Are they gonna use Kelly Moore as a runner and
Speaker 2: Austin as kind of a joker all around the field.
Speaker 2: I mean, there's so many questions that we're gonna get
Speaker 2: some answers to on Sunday, and the test being this
Speaker 2: Dolphins defense that you mentioned. How do you think this
Speaker 2: Vic Fangio brand and Staley familiarity with each other is
Speaker 2: going to play out throughout the course of the game.
Speaker 2: I think it's all about adjustments. They know each other
Speaker 2: like the back of their hand. And you know, obviously
Speaker 2: Vic has different personnel, say for Bradley Chubb than he
Speaker 2: had in Denver, but a lot of really good players.
Speaker 2: You talk about Jalen Phllips maybe being the best.
Speaker 1: I think let's just go back to twenty twenty one, right,
Speaker 1: and do you have when you look at those Bronco games,
Speaker 1: you know that now the second one they smoked him right,
Speaker 1: thirty four thirteen, but they lost twenty eight thirteen. You
Speaker 1: go back to twenty twenty and you know, and you
Speaker 1: lose thirty one, Well, they score thirty in that one,
Speaker 1: but then they win nineteen to sixteen. The point I'm getting, like,
Speaker 1: to me, Vic Fangio does a really good job against
Speaker 1: against the Chargers, against just and you know who's again
Speaker 1: he got him a couple times. But and that's nothing
Speaker 1: against It's not Ding and Herbert at all. It's just
Speaker 1: vic is. Vic Fangio is a really good defensive coordinator.
Speaker 1: There's gonna be a it's a serious chess match. And
Speaker 1: I'm certainly happy that the guy taking snaps for the
Speaker 1: Chargers is one of the smartest quarterbacks in the league
Speaker 1: that just so happens to be the most physically gifted
Speaker 1: as well. Like that's that's the sort of thing you
Speaker 1: need to be able to overcome. Not only you know
Speaker 1: Vic Fangio coordinating it. But I don't want to make
Speaker 1: it a name salad. But as I said, Bradley Chubb,
Speaker 1: Jalen Phillips, Christian Wilkins, you know, Raekwon Davis is your
Speaker 1: nose tackle big three hundred and fifty pounds. Even Zach
Speaker 1: Seeler has been really good on the interior that line,
Speaker 1: getting push. Xavian Howard we know has led the league
Speaker 1: in interceptions before you know, Javon Holland, former teammate of Herbert's,
Speaker 1: one of the best young safeties in the league. This
Speaker 1: thing is, this is a really good roster defensively that
Speaker 1: Vic gets to work with. And we saw what he
Speaker 1: was able to do in Denver, just didn't have a
Speaker 1: quarterback to balance it out, and ultimately, you know, the
Speaker 1: defense would get worn out from being on the field
Speaker 1: too long. So now he's got an offense that can hum,
Speaker 1: he's got a defense that's super talented. It's gonna be
Speaker 1: a challenge, this is It's gonna be a really tough
Speaker 1: game to win. It's gonna be a really good competitive game.
Speaker 1: These are two of the most talented rosters in the league.
Speaker 1: And I would not suspect to see anything but a brawl,
Speaker 1: a freaking street fight between these two teams.
Speaker 2: I hate to be like prisoner of the moment here,
Speaker 2: but we have the ability to look ahead. These guys
Speaker 2: are focused on Miami, but you know, you look at
Speaker 2: the importance of this game. Next the next week, you
Speaker 2: got to go to Tennessee against Mike Vrabel, a Mike
Speaker 2: vrabel coach team on the road. The week after you
Speaker 2: got to go to Minnesota. It's never easy to beat
Speaker 2: the Minnesota Vikings in Minnesota, and last year then you
Speaker 2: come back for the Raiders, So you know, this is
Speaker 2: a This is a huge game. I'm not saying it's
Speaker 2: must win because it's Week one and you know anybody
Speaker 2: can say that, but the fact that it's against an
Speaker 2: opponent that you expect to be competing with for a
Speaker 2: playoff spot, uh, that's a big deal. It's at home,
Speaker 2: that's a big deal. You got to go on the
Speaker 2: road against Tennessee Titans. So I think everybody's kind of
Speaker 2: writing off because of what happened last year. They were
Speaker 2: decimated by injuries, like Malik Willis was in the game,
Speaker 2: uh for the Titans when they when the Chargers beat
Speaker 2: them at SOFI Stadium last year and they barely beat them.
Speaker 2: It took a Mike Williams Barracle catch to get them
Speaker 2: in field goal range to win it. So I just
Speaker 2: I don't want to be like, hey man, you have
Speaker 2: to win this game, but this is this is a
Speaker 2: big deal to start the year. Want to know there's
Speaker 2: gonna be you know, all in is I think drops today.
Speaker 2: We're taking this on a Thursday. They're going to have
Speaker 2: everything that happened at the end of last year at
Speaker 2: that Jacksonville game, and you can see on the faces
Speaker 2: of the players and coaches what that night meant to
Speaker 2: them and what this season means to them because of
Speaker 2: the experiences that they went.
Speaker 3: Through last year.
Speaker 2: So this is a this is definitely a bounce back
Speaker 2: opportunity right at the beginning of the year to show that, hey,
Speaker 2: you know, we're past what.
Speaker 3: Happened in Jacksonville.
Speaker 2: We're focused on twenty twenty three, and we're gonna beat
Speaker 2: a good opponent at home to show you.
Speaker 1: It's a great point because we know that it dogs them.
Speaker 1: They don't like hearing about it. It was, you know,
Speaker 1: almost it was eight months ago. They're sick of talking
Speaker 1: about twenty seven nothing. But it happened, and it's going
Speaker 1: to be talked about as it's being talked about on
Speaker 1: every single twenty twenty three preview show, no matter what
Speaker 1: channel you're watching it on. When the Chargers come up,
Speaker 1: the first thing that is discussed is they blew a
Speaker 1: twenty seven to nothing lead in the playoffs, and that's
Speaker 1: how their season ended. You know, that's the year before
Speaker 1: they lost to the Raiders in a week eighteen winner punches,
Speaker 1: they're taken into the playoffs and the Chargers there is
Speaker 1: no better way to stop that conversation than by, you know,
Speaker 1: beating a team that a lot of people are picking
Speaker 1: to make the playoffs. Many people are picking them to
Speaker 1: win the division. Some people are picking them to go
Speaker 1: to the super Bowl. They think it's that talented of
Speaker 1: a team. So you set the tone in Week one
Speaker 1: with a victory. I don't care if it's by one
Speaker 1: point or if it's by one hundred. You set the
Speaker 1: tone with a win, and that way, now people are
Speaker 1: talking about, well, this was a showdown between two teams
Speaker 1: that we could totally see contending for their division or
Speaker 1: winning the wildcard, and now the Chargers have the win
Speaker 1: and the tiebreaker against Miami that gives them a huge
Speaker 1: leg up the AFC. That's that's the quickest way to
Speaker 1: end the conversation. It's been. You know, we've been around
Speaker 1: Derwin long enough to know he's one of the best,
Speaker 1: one of the best interviews on the team. There's an energy,
Speaker 1: he loves talking. I don't know if you've noticed he's
Speaker 1: been different this preseason. He's been very short with his answers.
Speaker 1: Everything is very stock. We just got to get out
Speaker 1: there and play. We know what we got to do.
Speaker 1: It's been a completely different Derwin James. You can see
Speaker 1: just that pinpoint focus that he has got on this
Speaker 1: game because he doesn't I can tell like it's I'm
Speaker 1: not trying to play amateur psychologist here, but it's almost
Speaker 1: like he's uncomfortable puffing his chest out because of how
Speaker 1: it ended last year and how last season went. Like
Speaker 1: he is not his typical big swagger, you know. I'm like,
Speaker 1: he's different. It's just if you go and look at
Speaker 1: I wish I could pull it up or if we
Speaker 1: if we had the sound, I would I would share
Speaker 1: it with you. But like when you when you here,
Speaker 1: we go, I'll just kind of give you an idea.
Speaker 1: Here's the transcript. So here is uh Derwin I'm looking
Speaker 1: he has one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen,
Speaker 1: forty fifteen. Sixteen questions were asked of him in this presser.
Speaker 1: One two of them are more than one sentence. Answers
Speaker 1: answers two out of sixteen questions, two of them, how
Speaker 1: do you feel healthy and ready to go preparing for
Speaker 1: Tyreek Killing Jalen Waddle hard to simulate the speed. Guys
Speaker 1: on our team be giving us great looks beginning of
Speaker 1: a new season, just looking to start it fresh. That
Speaker 1: was last season. I like, it's just on beating Miami
Speaker 1: last season. That was last season. They're ready to play
Speaker 1: this game. Like there, you can tell you can when
Speaker 1: you have someone that has that type of talent and
Speaker 1: you just see that, You're like, oh man, this dude.
Speaker 1: Not that he doesn't always come out ready to play,
Speaker 1: you know, one hundred percent, But I don't mean to
Speaker 1: keep repeating myself with the same point. I'm not used
Speaker 1: to seeing that from him. I'm used to seeing him
Speaker 1: smiling and having a great time with the media, and
Speaker 1: that has not been Drwin this preseason.
Speaker 2: I smiled because he sets the tone I think for
Speaker 2: the entire team. You know, you go around the league
Speaker 2: money and everyone has like eight nine ten captains. The
Speaker 2: captain's are on this team really, in my opinion, is
Speaker 2: Justin Herbert and Derwin James. Derwin James, I think kind
Speaker 2: of sets the tone for the entire fifty three. I
Speaker 2: think even with Brandon Staley, I think that he's been
Speaker 2: a little bit more matter of fact this year in
Speaker 2: some of his answers, because these guys are sick of
Speaker 2: talking about it, and I think, you know, a lot
Speaker 2: of it was media driven last.
Speaker 3: Year, you know, super Bowl or bust.
Speaker 2: Look at all these new additions Khalil Mack all all
Speaker 2: these different guys that they got that Brandon Staley had
Speaker 2: coached in the past that are going to help J. C.
Speaker 2: Jackson this year. It's more just all right, you know what,
Speaker 2: just show me, show me on the field. I don't
Speaker 2: want to talk about going to the playoffs. I don't
Speaker 2: want to talk about winning the division. I don't want
Speaker 2: to talk about going to the super Bowl. We have
Speaker 2: all the talent in the world. We have maybe the
Speaker 2: most talented roster in football, you know, if you're just
Speaker 2: looking at the starters, right, I mean, there's a handful
Speaker 2: of teams that I think can say that they have
Speaker 2: arguably one of the most talented rosters of football. The
Speaker 2: Chargers are one of them. They don't want to talk
Speaker 2: about it anymore, and I don't think fans want them
Speaker 2: to talk about it anymore. They want to see it.
Speaker 2: They want to see it starting week one, and I
Speaker 2: love the fact that Derwyn James is setting the tone
Speaker 2: in this way, you know, because frankly, I don't need
Speaker 2: to hear we don't need to hear any cliche answers,
Speaker 2: or we don't need to hear anything beyond let's just
Speaker 2: go win a football game. And I agree with you money,
Speaker 2: I've noticed that difference in Derwin.
Speaker 3: I think it's a good thing.
Speaker 2: And I think if Derwin is acting like that, you
Speaker 2: best believe that that's permeating through the locker room because
Speaker 2: he sets the tone for the entire organization.
Speaker 1: In my opinion, I no doubt there's You know, the
Speaker 1: Chargers have had it both ways right in the media,
Speaker 1: particularly in social media, which is what players tend to
Speaker 1: see because they're all on it. You know, they don't
Speaker 1: have to turn on they don't have to turn on ESPN,
Speaker 1: they have to turn on Fox Sports one. They have
Speaker 1: turned on you know, Channel two to watch you and
Speaker 1: Jim talking about it like that. That's a destination. It's
Speaker 1: already in front of them on social media because they're
Speaker 1: on it. It's a way for them to expand their
Speaker 1: their personalities and make money and expand their brand and
Speaker 1: do all of that. So they see it. And the
Speaker 1: Chargers have been both a social media darling and a
Speaker 1: social media punching bag. It's been both things, you know,
Speaker 1: and and I to me that, you know, one of
Speaker 1: the things about being anointed that team, and I felt
Speaker 1: like they were last season. Last season in the preseason,
Speaker 1: after they made the signings. You know what, Brandon Staley's
Speaker 1: got his pieces. Now here's j C. Jackson, they got Sebastian,
Speaker 1: Joseph Dan and Austin there's the middle of that line
Speaker 1: that they needed that wasn't there last year. And a
Speaker 1: lot of people picked them to win the Super Bowl
Speaker 1: and or to dethrone the Chiefs for the first time,
Speaker 1: and when it didn't happen, they get upset. People take
Speaker 1: that personally as though like somehow the Chargers did them
Speaker 1: wrong some way and now they have to pay it.
Speaker 1: So now of course they become the punching bag. And
Speaker 1: you know, the twenty seven nothing collapse in the postseason,
Speaker 1: those players have seen it. They can't get away from it.
Speaker 1: I would imagine anytime they post something, if they dare
Speaker 1: get in their mentions, there's hundreds of twenty seven nothing
Speaker 1: choker Charger like, that's what they have to see. So
Speaker 1: because you know, God knows, I see it you know.
Speaker 1: And I I'm a nobody, you know, but if I
Speaker 1: get into my mentions, that's all I get. If I
Speaker 1: post anything about the Chargers, I gotta wear that. And
Speaker 1: I'm I'm on a field. I'm just got the calls
Speaker 1: of games, you know, so I can only imagine what
Speaker 1: it's like for them. And I think that's why you're
Speaker 1: seeing this very like think about the stuff Joey's talking about,
Speaker 1: like he's again one of the and we, like I said,
Speaker 1: we talked to him yesterday and he was still his great,
Speaker 1: quick witted, lighthearted self, but it was a matter of
Speaker 1: factness to him. And you listen to the way he talks,
Speaker 1: I don't want, you know. And he brought this up
Speaker 1: with us yesterday and we've heard it throughout the preseason.
Speaker 1: It's my eighth year. You're young, and you think it's
Speaker 1: gonna be easy and you're gonna make five super Bowl.
Speaker 1: He goes, this is my eighth year. I gotta get to.
Speaker 1: I got to get to and win a Super Bowl.
Speaker 1: I got these guys around me that I believe, you
Speaker 1: know that we all believe in each other. We owe
Speaker 1: it to each other, you know, talked about bulking up
Speaker 1: how he needs to be better against the run, how
Speaker 1: he needs to set that edge. He's talking about playing
Speaker 1: the wide nine and just not quite being comfortable when
Speaker 1: it first started, and how he's adjusted, and how he
Speaker 1: needs to get you know, that hand in the dirt
Speaker 1: a little bit more as opposed to you know, being
Speaker 1: in a two point stance all the time. Like he's again,
Speaker 1: these these superstars, they just they sound different, They sound different.
Speaker 1: It feels different going into this season.
Speaker 2: The thing, too, money is that it's not just like
Speaker 2: one guy who can change this narrative, has to be everybody.
Speaker 2: And I think that's what Irwin is I think preaching
Speaker 2: is that, you know, if we're going to change the narrative,
Speaker 2: if we're going to erase what happened last year, we
Speaker 2: all have to do it together.
Speaker 3: It can't just be me. It can't just be justin.
Speaker 3: It can't just be Khalil.
Speaker 2: You know, you don't think Joey's a little upset how
Speaker 2: his season ended in Jacksonville last year, you know, everything that.
Speaker 3: Happened in the game, but also not being around.
Speaker 2: He's talked repeatedly about how he felt like, you know,
Speaker 2: he didn't want to let Khalil Mack down, and you
Speaker 2: know how important it is to him to pair up
Speaker 2: with Khalil and live up to the potential and the
Speaker 2: expectations that were set when Khalil was traded here. So
Speaker 2: there's a there's a chip on everybody's shoulder, and I
Speaker 2: think there's a collective one with how things ended. And
Speaker 2: I think you look at the personal and individual guys
Speaker 2: in their career. Joey talking about, Hey, you know what,
Speaker 2: it's time for me to win. Now, It's time for
Speaker 2: me to get to a super Bowl and win it.
Speaker 3: Derwin.
Speaker 2: He's been an All Pro, he's been a Pro Bowler,
Speaker 2: He's the best safety in football.
Speaker 3: We know that he needs more now.
Speaker 2: Brandon Staley, you win nine games your first year, ten
Speaker 2: your second.
Speaker 3: What now?
Speaker 2: Right time to go? Time to win a division, Time
Speaker 2: to get to a super Bowl. Justin Herbert, you just
Speaker 2: got a ton of money. You regard as a top
Speaker 2: five quarterback in the league. Time to win. Everybody has something.
Speaker 2: Austin Eckler, you didn't get the money you wanted. You
Speaker 2: deserved it. Go prove that you deserve it. For twenty
Speaker 2: twenty four, everybody's got a story. Keenan Allen, Mike Williams,
Speaker 2: I can go on and on guys who were injured,
Speaker 2: Rashaun Slater. You don't think Rashawn has something to prove
Speaker 2: this year. People forgot about him, like he wasn't the
Speaker 2: best left tackle in football because.
Speaker 3: He missed most of the last year.
Speaker 2: So everybody has their own personal thing that they are
Speaker 2: trying to achieve this year. But I think the collective
Speaker 2: and really the fan base money. I think the biggest
Speaker 2: thing that I get from the fans is they're second
Speaker 2: heard about it. They just want to see this team
Speaker 2: win and compete. And the fans are excited because they
Speaker 2: have a new offensive coordinator, They got a ton of
Speaker 2: personnel on offense that has the potential to be very explosive,
Speaker 2: and football is back. So I'm just I'm excited because
Speaker 2: the season's back. But also you see all the personal
Speaker 2: reasons while these guys are ticked off and ready to
Speaker 2: go in twenty twenty three.
Speaker 1: So yeah, and look, I think to get beyond the
Speaker 1: you know, attitude and the approach and get into the
Speaker 1: okay that's yeah, Yeah, everybody wants to win, right, All
Speaker 1: these teams want to win, and that you know, they're
Speaker 1: all going to come in feeling that way I think
Speaker 1: in terms of just the game and how they win.
Speaker 1: You know, one of the interesting things I want to
Speaker 1: make sure I give credit to the right. I feel
Speaker 1: like it was Popper that did the article on the
Speaker 1: Athletic about the defense the last couple of days, and
Speaker 1: if it wasn't, I apologize to whoever it might have been.
Speaker 1: But they talked to Sebastian Joseph Day and kind of
Speaker 1: about being in this this defense again, and he made
Speaker 1: a point that that I've been making and I sound
Speaker 1: like an apologist, and it's not. It's not me being
Speaker 1: an apologist. It's me pointing out the reason why this
Speaker 1: defense has not lived up to expectations is because of explosives.
Speaker 1: It's not that they get gashed playing and play out
Speaker 1: for six yards and eight yards and six yards and
Speaker 1: five yards against the run. That's not what it is.
Speaker 1: It's and I think it was Sebastian Joseph Day that
Speaker 1: mentioned it. It's those sixty yard run against Houston. It's
Speaker 1: those plays that would lead that led to this run
Speaker 1: defense being ranked where it was, And look, you can't
Speaker 1: have those plays. That's how you lose games. I mean,
Speaker 1: you're giving up touchdowns on sixty yard runs. I'm not
Speaker 1: saying that the run defense is better than advertised because
Speaker 1: you know, playing and play out, they're stopping the run
Speaker 1: and they are putting teams into some third and launch. Well,
Speaker 1: that wasn't happening last towards. You know, that wasn't happening
Speaker 1: as much last year because of the injuries, specifically to Joey,
Speaker 1: when teams just started running at Kyle van Ney relentlessly
Speaker 1: and he was being asked to play a position that
Speaker 1: he wasn't comfortable playing and it took him five, six,
Speaker 1: eight weeks to figure it out before he was able
Speaker 1: to set that edge to become a pass rusher. And
Speaker 1: we remember kind of that switch with Kyle and how
Speaker 1: much better he became when they went on that four
Speaker 1: game win streak toward the end of the season. So
Speaker 1: I think it's important to put everything in context, and
Speaker 1: I feel like that's that's what I'm most excited to watch,
Speaker 1: is we're going to look at a defensive line that
Speaker 1: is Mac Johnson, Joseph Dave Bosa. We're going to look
Speaker 1: at a linebacking duo that's Kendricks and Kenneth Murray, and
Speaker 1: we are going to look at hopefully j C. Jackson,
Speaker 1: Asante Samuel and Mikey Davis as your corners, and a
Speaker 1: Lowhi and Derwin is your safeties. That's what's going to
Speaker 1: be out there. That's what's supposed to be out there.
Speaker 1: Those are guys that have been this defense now long
Speaker 1: enough to be comfortable with, save Eric Kendricks, who, by
Speaker 1: all accounts listening as I said earlier in the pod
Speaker 1: to the defensive players, everybody's very excited about being the leader,
Speaker 1: you know, communication wise and getting it set up of
Speaker 1: this defense to make sure everybody is in their right spots.
Speaker 1: And I'm not going to say any names, but there
Speaker 1: were misd assignments last year. There were just there were
Speaker 1: misd assignments, and that's how you end up with explosives,
Speaker 1: bad angles forgetting Oh that's right, he's handing off to me.
Speaker 1: This is my job. There's a lot of that on
Speaker 1: the back end of this defense, and it just it
Speaker 1: would get away from him last year, or when Joey
Speaker 1: went down attacking that edge that wasn't Khalil Mack. And
Speaker 1: you know how much we hear how much better Kenneth
Speaker 1: Murray is this year, and how much more comfortable he
Speaker 1: is with Eric Kendricks next to him getting him set up.
Speaker 1: There was a lot of that in that run game,
Speaker 1: where you're you're not quite where you're supposed to be,
Speaker 1: and that's how these things get away. It's what you know.
Speaker 1: It's one of the things that Joseph they talked about
Speaker 1: in that article. It's like this everybody's he goes, here's
Speaker 1: the thing about this defense. It's everybody's got to be
Speaker 1: on the same page. And when they are, it's music.
Speaker 1: It's beautiful, but it's it's harder to do. But if
Speaker 1: you can do it, that's how you end up as
Speaker 1: the number one defense in the league, like they were
Speaker 1: with Brandon Staley coordinating the Rams, and that's what they're
Speaker 1: looking forward to proving they can do this year.
Speaker 3: Danny Markino sent this to me.
Speaker 2: Brandon Staley's three and zero in week one games as
Speaker 2: a head coach and a coordinator, so that bodes well.
Speaker 2: And uh right, there's a lot of a lot of
Speaker 2: great games. I think this is one of the mor
Speaker 2: key games. Money, Let's let's end it here. What do
Speaker 2: you think will decide this game? Not knowing anything?
Speaker 1: To me, it's defense. It's it's exactly what I just
Speaker 1: mentioned it's preventing explosive plays, which against this particular team
Speaker 1: with Jalen Waddle and Tyreek Hill is not easy to do.
Speaker 3: But I atoll did nothing in the game last year too.
Speaker 1: By the way, right two catches I think, right? Yeah,
Speaker 1: And Tyreek Hill of course had the fumble return. He
Speaker 1: then had a touchd on in the second half as well,
Speaker 1: but and he should have had one on the first
Speaker 1: play that to have missed or that to a mist him.
Speaker 1: But also, like you said, a lowie got his fingertips
Speaker 1: on it. I do think that that this will be
Speaker 1: a if the defense plays how we believe it can play,
Speaker 1: go in the game, I have full faith that the
Speaker 1: offense is going to be able to get something. That is,
Speaker 1: I think the offense is gonna hum. I really do
Speaker 1: believe that. To me, it's more of a and well,
Speaker 1: I see now I say that, and I forget about
Speaker 1: Vic Fangio and just how good he is. But yeah,
Speaker 1: I think I still think I give you know, I
Speaker 1: still I still have that faith in Justin to Justin
Speaker 1: Herbert and that offense to overcome. Even as good as
Speaker 1: Vic Fangio is and as talented as the players are
Speaker 1: that he's putting out there. I think the offense is
Speaker 1: going to score points. To me, it's it's defense. That's
Speaker 1: what it'll probably come down to.
Speaker 2: And I think it's going to be a you know,
Speaker 2: we talked about the myth of halftime adjustments, but just
Speaker 2: adjustments throughout the course of the game, especially in Week one,
Speaker 2: because you know, these both both teams have months to
Speaker 2: prepare for this, so you don't know how somebody's.
Speaker 3: Going to come out. I think adjustments.
Speaker 2: And then also, you know, we talked about this months ago,
Speaker 2: but some of the things that plagued the Chargers getting
Speaker 2: off to a fast start, the slow starts in the
Speaker 2: third quarter. I want to see how those things change
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty three with Chris, you know, because that
Speaker 2: was something that just really this team was behind the
Speaker 2: eight ball so many times in the first quarter and
Speaker 2: then so slow to start a second half. So you know,
Speaker 2: if you score, let's say you score seventeen points in
Speaker 2: the in the second quarter, can you sustain that in
Speaker 2: the second half and keep your foot on the gas.
Speaker 2: That was the thing that I think really plagued this
Speaker 2: team last year is just the inopportune slow starts in
Speaker 2: the second half, are allowing your opponent to get up
Speaker 2: ten to nothing.
Speaker 3: I remember Atlanta.
Speaker 2: You know they end up winning that game, but going
Speaker 2: down ten nothing, not really having the ball in the
Speaker 2: first quarter, kind of setting the tone and putting the
Speaker 2: game on your terms.
Speaker 1: It's a great point, and it's it's funny you chose
Speaker 1: that path right the Atlanta because I think I'm thinking
Speaker 1: the opposite. Like you're blowing out Houston and you let
Speaker 1: them get back into the game. You're up ten to
Speaker 1: nothing on Kansas City and you let them get back
Speaker 1: into the game. You are absolutely throttling the Dolphins, and
Speaker 1: yet you let them get back into the game. You
Speaker 1: got to make sure you're recovering on side kick and
Speaker 1: win the game by six, like they gotta They gotta
Speaker 1: have that killer instinct, foot on the throat. We're up
Speaker 1: twenty seven nothing on Jacksonville, and guess what at the
Speaker 1: end of this game, it's gonna be fifty to nothing.
Speaker 1: You know, it's not hang on, hang on, it's you know,
Speaker 1: continuing to just get after it and continuing to stay aggressive,
Speaker 1: not play the clock, play the opponent, and just keep
Speaker 1: doing what got you that lead in the first place,
Speaker 1: and have that that's a great one. That's win the
Speaker 1: third quarter. Win the third quarter, because we you know,
Speaker 1: that's just win. Win the third quarter because they've had
Speaker 1: way too many leads at the half that end up
Speaker 1: leading to losses. So go out there, win the third quarter.
Speaker 1: It's great, it's a great one.
Speaker 3: I think we've exhausted this thing.
Speaker 1: Man.
Speaker 2: I'm excited. I'm excited for this season. I'm always excited
Speaker 2: to doing this podcast with you. We'll have you covered
Speaker 2: next week recapping this game and looking forward to Tennessee.
Speaker 2: But in the meantime, I got a quick plug Chris
Speaker 2: before you before you lock it out, I forgot.
Speaker 1: So we're posting this on Thursday. Lorenzo O'Neil and I
Speaker 1: the great charger fullback that blew open all those holes
Speaker 1: for Ladanian Tomlinson. We will be on Bally's West. I
Speaker 1: believe moving forward, it's on tonight at Thursday night. That
Speaker 1: the time they move because a lot of it will
Speaker 1: depend on Angels baseball and live events and things like
Speaker 1: that that might be on Ballely, but I believe it's
Speaker 1: right around ten pm. We're going to do a half
Speaker 1: hour every week and it'll replay through the course of
Speaker 1: the weekend going into the game, but half hours believe
Speaker 1: Chargers with Lorenzo O'Neil This week, Brandon Staley gonna join us,
Speaker 1: so you get the head coach talking a little bit
Speaker 1: of ball on Valley's West there, so if you have time,
Speaker 1: be sure to check that out.
Speaker 3: Beautiful.
Speaker 2: Hopefully we get lo o' neil on this podcast throughout
Speaker 2: the course of the season.
Speaker 1: Hey, he mentioned he wanted to, so for sure be
Speaker 1: great to have him moving forward.
Speaker 3: Yeah, no doubt. All right, guys, for money, I'm Chris.
Speaker 3: This has been Chargers Weekly. Enjoyed the game on Sunday