Speaker 1: It's a late fifteen to ten touched up.
Speaker 2: What's up, guys, We are back with a week fifteen
Speaker 2: episode of Chargers Weekly, presented by Microsoft Surface as always,
Speaker 2: joined by Matt Muney Smith. Buddy again my setup, you know,
Speaker 2: show your surface time.
Speaker 3: Sure, it's here, it's here. I used it yesterday we
Speaker 3: were on remote at for Petros and Money, and so
Speaker 3: I think it might be in the front room because
Speaker 3: I had to use it on remote.
Speaker 1: There you go. So yeah, I love it, though I talked.
Speaker 3: I talked about it in the broadcast as a matter
Speaker 3: of fact, when we were asking why it was taking
Speaker 3: so long for the review on Mikey Davis's interception, and
Speaker 3: I said, you know what, maybe they just want to
Speaker 3: promote the Microsoft service a little bit more. I love
Speaker 3: mine so much because clearly this is a very easy
Speaker 3: call to make. I don't know it's taking Cleete Blakeman,
Speaker 3: Philip Rivers favorite referee so long to come to this decision.
Speaker 3: Maybe he's just try to stick it to Phillip because
Speaker 3: he knew he was in the building. But yeah, that
Speaker 3: was my answer. A little bit of extra advertising for
Speaker 3: Microsoft Surface since I appreciate mine so much.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Unfortunately, one of the few highlights in that game
Speaker 2: that Michael Davis interception at the beginning. Chargers lose twenty
Speaker 2: four to seven, five and eight. Not the podcast that
Speaker 2: I think we want to be doing money on a Tuesday,
Speaker 2: doing this only because of Thursday Night football. And we
Speaker 2: just got the news that Justin Herbert will be placed
Speaker 2: on injured reserve getting surgery on that finger. So a
Speaker 2: tough season makes it just a little bit tougher today.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it goes from bad to worse, and I can
Speaker 3: only imagine the tone from al Michaels, who is never
Speaker 3: shy about sharing his disappointment in the matchups that he's
Speaker 3: been scheduled to call. I'm always thankful to call an
Speaker 3: NFL game, But I guess when you have the resume
Speaker 3: that al Michaels has and you've had the career that
Speaker 3: he has, he's I guess it's okay for him to
Speaker 3: be a little less judicious when and how he feels
Speaker 3: about the two teams that are playing on the field.
Speaker 3: But instead of Justin Herbert versus Jimmy Garoppolo and a
Speaker 3: classic Raiders Chargers showdown, You're gonna get easton Stake versus
Speaker 3: Aidan O'Connell and I'm excited. I'm excited for the opportunity.
Speaker 3: I've shared it on here before. I'm sure if I haven't,
Speaker 3: shame on me. Easton's one of my favorite guys on
Speaker 3: the team, has been since he was drafted. He's as
Speaker 3: good a person as you'll be around, and I'm very
Speaker 3: excited for this opportunity for him. I hope Chargers fans
Speaker 3: are as well, just knowing what he's meant to the
Speaker 3: development of Justin Herbert, how selfless he's been. He could
Speaker 3: have left, He absolutely could have left for a better
Speaker 3: potential opportunity this offseason, but really enjoys being in that
Speaker 3: quarterback room with Justin and recognizes his role and talking
Speaker 3: about a guy that's a four time national champion at FCS,
Speaker 3: Notak State, the Bison, and someone that you know passed
Speaker 3: for new nearly ten thousand yards and over eighty touchdowns
Speaker 3: and rushed for nearly five thousand yards and forty one
Speaker 3: more and is still out there trying to make Justin
Speaker 3: Herbert the best player he can be. So I'm excited
Speaker 3: for these four games for Easton and I'm very hopeful
Speaker 3: he can make himself a lot of money here and
Speaker 3: do some great things with the Chargers.
Speaker 2: You know, Money, I was just thinking about a week
Speaker 2: before what could have happened on Sunday would have made
Speaker 2: this game really interesting, right it had the Chargers beating
Speaker 2: the Broncos and the Raiders. I'll put up a goose
Speaker 2: egg at home against the Vikings and both win. You're
Speaker 2: six and seven and everybody's real jumbled up, and it's
Speaker 2: a rivalry game, like you said, justin Herbert versus probably
Speaker 2: Aidan O'Connell at that point, and just what a difference
Speaker 2: one game can make in the NFL. The Chargers really
Speaker 2: essentially eliminated from playoff contention Sunday, you know, going to
Speaker 2: five and eight, not having your franchise quarterback this last
Speaker 2: quarter of the season, the mind shift kind of changes, right,
Speaker 2: and you know we're kind of looking forward to who
Speaker 2: do you want to see? Who do you want to
Speaker 2: see develop on this roster going into twenty twenty four,
Speaker 2: And I think Thursday you mentioned Eastan Stick is going
Speaker 2: to have a four game sample size of regular season football,
Speaker 2: and it kind of starts with him. You know, what
Speaker 2: can he do with that? Whether he is back here
Speaker 2: next year or elsewhere.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it does, and again I would be So I'll
Speaker 3: start with the schedule. I think the good thing is
Speaker 3: you have a chance to attack your division. You have
Speaker 3: a chance to sweep the Raiders. You want to beat
Speaker 3: the Raiders every time you see them. Let's sweep them,
Speaker 3: you know, get that sweep this season. Humiliate them, damage them,
Speaker 3: you know, make sure Antonio Pierce has nothing but a
Speaker 3: miserable experience the remainder of his interim head coaching tenure,
Speaker 3: make them question whether or not Aidan O'Connell is the guy,
Speaker 3: and that maybe they have to dip back into the
Speaker 3: draft for another quarterback. I do all of that on Thursday,
Speaker 3: and then the following week, ruin the Buffalo bill Go
Speaker 3: out there and knock off the Bills in primetime on
Speaker 3: a standalone game on Saturday night on Paramount Plus the
Speaker 3: streaming service, and get that victory and knock them out
Speaker 3: of the playoffs. And then after that, make sure the
Speaker 3: Broncos get knocked out of the playoffs because they're the
Speaker 3: Broncos and they ended your season, you know, not mathematically,
Speaker 3: but certainly dealt you a darn near death blow. So
Speaker 3: go ahead and ruin Theirs in that game. And then
Speaker 3: what better way to finish off the season than making
Speaker 3: sure the Chiefs don't have the number one seed. Hopefully
Speaker 3: there'll be another controversial call from a referee so Patrick
Speaker 3: Mahomes can act like a petulant child in front of
Speaker 3: the nation again. I mean, what a absolutely ridiculous display
Speaker 3: of bad sportsmanship that was.
Speaker 1: Let's do that again.
Speaker 2: Why don't we start with Candarius Tony right instead of
Speaker 2: the referee?
Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly. And it's just obviously we all love him.
Speaker 3: He's an incredible player, and he's so fun to watch
Speaker 3: and we've been on the wrong side of that so
Speaker 3: many times. So it's gonna sound like sour grapes coming
Speaker 3: in space. But it's just I wish someone would have
Speaker 3: been able to grab him and say, you've got to stop.
Speaker 3: This is a bad look man like that. There's it's
Speaker 3: not to mention your your left tackle, your right tackle
Speaker 3: is lined up.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 3: It should have been an illegal formation. He's so far back,
Speaker 3: you know, And and so I think it's just someone
Speaker 3: needed to grab him and say you've got to chill out.
Speaker 3: This is not okay. The guy was offside. So what
Speaker 3: if you don't like the call, if you never see
Speaker 3: the call he's a anyway.
Speaker 2: So money, I guess we can go back to the
Speaker 2: Broncos game quickly one for eighteen third and fourth down,
Speaker 2: you lose time of possession, you lose your your franchise
Speaker 2: quarterback in the first half, and I think this has
Speaker 2: kind of been the theme of the season, right, just
Speaker 2: not connected in all three phases, and the result you
Speaker 2: get is losing another game, dropping a five and eight,
Speaker 2: and you know, again, playoffs probably out of the conversation
Speaker 2: at this point.
Speaker 3: So yeah, you know, I think the unfortunate part of
Speaker 3: it is that we've talked about complimentary football, and ultimately
Speaker 3: that's what happened. Is you had a defense that played
Speaker 3: really well for the majority of the game, put you
Speaker 3: in a position to win with twenty one points maybe,
Speaker 3: and the offense just couldn't couldn't pick up a blitz,
Speaker 3: you know, they could not figure out how to stop
Speaker 3: an extra rusher, whether it was a nickel, a corner,
Speaker 3: a linebacker, a delayed blitz. They just I've never seen
Speaker 3: anything like it, you know, whether it was Josh Kelly
Speaker 3: missing a block, Trey Pipkins and Jamari Sawyer double you know,
Speaker 3: doubling an interior lineman while a linebacker comes free off
Speaker 3: the edge, you know, Zion blocking with Slater on a
Speaker 3: defensive lineman on the outside and allowing Browning to come
Speaker 3: running free up the middle. Like it was just one
Speaker 3: after another. It was, you know, and then just quarterbacks
Speaker 3: that you know, for whatever reason just a didn't have
Speaker 3: a shot or b weren't aware that, Hey, they're going
Speaker 3: to keep doing this.
Speaker 1: This is working.
Speaker 3: This is a team that has twenty eight sacks on
Speaker 3: the season and they've got six in this game. So
Speaker 3: I think it's and they probably could have had more,
Speaker 3: you know. I mean, so many of those were just
Speaker 3: getting rid of the ball real quick right when you
Speaker 3: got hit. I mean, it was a disaster of a
Speaker 3: protection game. Offensively, the drops continue to be a major issue.
Speaker 3: You know, Keenan dropped that ball, and the Broncos thirty
Speaker 3: on the first possession, instead of being in field goal range,
Speaker 3: are now punting after five plays. And then I liked
Speaker 3: the idea of kicking a field goal there, considering how
Speaker 3: well your defense had played the last two weeks and
Speaker 3: knowing that a lot of the Broncos offense is running
Speaker 3: the ball, checking it down, and maybe the occasional deep shot,
Speaker 3: you know, like just kick the field goal. But I'd
Speaker 3: have been proven wrong because Gerald ever dropped the ball.
Speaker 3: It was perfectly designed players perfectly thrown pass and couldn't
Speaker 3: survive the grounds. Now you got two drops that have
Speaker 3: taken at least ten points maybe fourteen off the board
Speaker 3: to start the game with Zeros instead of again at
Speaker 3: least ten. And I don't know how to fix that
Speaker 3: because now it's been four weeks in a row. These
Speaker 3: pass catchers can't catch the ball, and that's a major issue.
Speaker 2: Those are things that you can control too. I mean
Speaker 2: the fact that Keenan is out there kind of without
Speaker 2: Mike Williams and Joshua Palmer and the running game has
Speaker 2: been you know, let's go to the running game real quick,
Speaker 2: because I see Isaiah Spiller getting the touches. It's just
Speaker 2: tough when you got three different guys trying to get
Speaker 2: into a rhythm. They're really going to have to figure out.
Speaker 2: I think the last quarter of the season with kind
Speaker 2: of a lens towards twenty twenty four, is like who's
Speaker 2: going to be on this team? Who do we need
Speaker 2: to see and who can we develop in this backfield?
Speaker 2: And right now again I thought Spiller did okay with
Speaker 2: his opportunities, but if you want to see who he
Speaker 2: is as an NFL player, I think these last four
Speaker 2: games could be a nice amble size him though.
Speaker 1: I think there's any question, Chris, you're going to see
Speaker 1: a lot more of him. And I thought he ran well.
Speaker 3: I thought he ran hard, he dragged defenders, he was
Speaker 3: able to hit the hole. You know, he found the openings,
Speaker 3: and you know, I think I would be I would
Speaker 3: be very the only thing I could see preventing that
Speaker 3: from happening. And I don't know, you know, forgive my ignorance.
Speaker 3: I don't know exactly what Austin Eckler's incentives are, but
Speaker 3: if he has an opportunity to make a little bit
Speaker 3: more money, you know, the guys are always trying to
Speaker 3: help players do that. So if that's the case, then
Speaker 3: you'd like to see Austin be able to pick up
Speaker 3: some cash for all he's done with this team, you know,
Speaker 3: over the past, over his career. But yeah, look, Josh
Speaker 3: Kelly's in the last year of his deal, Austin Eckler's
Speaker 3: in the last year of his deal, Isaiah Spiller's in
Speaker 3: the second year of his NFL career. I think it's obvious,
Speaker 3: you know, when you're talking about developing and looking forward,
Speaker 3: you certainly want to know, you absolutely want to know
Speaker 3: going into next year, do we need what do we
Speaker 3: need at this position? Do we feel like we have
Speaker 3: a guy in Joshua Kelly that we want to re
Speaker 3: sign or Isaiah Spiller that will be going into year
Speaker 3: three of a four year contract. So it certainly starts there.
Speaker 3: And I think it's unfortunate that it's a short week,
Speaker 3: But and I was really surprised the way that they
Speaker 3: called plays in that second half with Eastern Stick. I
Speaker 3: would have thought, for sure, because we've seen enough RPOs,
Speaker 3: we know they're in the playbook, like to just have
Speaker 3: him repeatedly drop back and be a drop back passer.
Speaker 3: The line couldn't block and you're getting a ton of pressure.
Speaker 3: I was very surprised that we did not see more
Speaker 3: of Eastern Stick as the runner, considering, you know what,
Speaker 3: his college career and a four time champion was built
Speaker 3: upon me forty one rushing touchdowns and that goes to
Speaker 3: those two plays the third and less than one in
Speaker 3: the fourth and inches. It's like, I get it. I
Speaker 3: know that Justin has struggled a little bit with the sneak.
Speaker 3: But this is Easton's bread and butter. I mean, the
Speaker 3: guy's got forty one rushing touchdowns. How many of those
Speaker 3: you think were quarterback sneaks on the goal line? I'd
Speaker 3: say probably fifteen, if not more of those forty one
Speaker 3: and countless others in the run game. This is someone
Speaker 3: who's comfortable with that contact, is probably a lot better
Speaker 3: at getting low and getting a few inches when you're
Speaker 3: trailing seventeen to seven and trying to get something going.
Speaker 2: Maybe that changes this Thursday we see some more RPOs.
Speaker 1: But you know what you.
Speaker 2: Did see kind of shades of August the East and
Speaker 2: Stick to Quintin Johnson combination his two best plays of
Speaker 2: the season, money go back to back, that big fifty
Speaker 2: plus yard gain and then got him on the slant.
Speaker 1: The next play.
Speaker 2: And again we talked about spiller Quentin Johnson, and I
Speaker 2: don't want him to leave the field for these next
Speaker 2: four games, right, get some confidence, get some more reps
Speaker 2: under your belt, and you know, maybe that early connection
Speaker 2: with east and Stick can make him a little bit
Speaker 2: more comfortable.
Speaker 1: A way, no doubt.
Speaker 3: Look, I think so much of its confidence, you know,
Speaker 3: and belief and trust, and you're right. You saw that
Speaker 3: with Easton and Quinton in training camp, and I think
Speaker 3: it goes a long way when you're going to run
Speaker 3: that route and you know that guy's gonna be looking
Speaker 3: for you. You know, maybe you're just mentally a little
Speaker 3: more Ready's so much of its concentration and mental and
Speaker 3: to see him haul it in was a real highlight
Speaker 3: in what was a very upsetting day, I think for
Speaker 3: Charger fans.
Speaker 1: But to put it in.
Speaker 3: Perspective, the guy's most productive game was against New England
Speaker 3: with fifty two yards. That was a fifty seven yard catch.
Speaker 3: That's you know how big of a play that was.
Speaker 3: And then you said it the very next play was
Speaker 3: his best catch of the season. You know, to break
Speaker 3: his guy off on that incut and leave him in
Speaker 3: the dust and then actually get his hands in front
Speaker 3: of him, snatch the ball in stride, didn't slow down,
Speaker 3: didn't gather in stride, snatch it and go and now
Speaker 3: you got a first in goal. And then he flashed open.
Speaker 3: He busted his guy up on the route on the
Speaker 3: very next place and just didn't see him. He was
Speaker 3: wide open in the right corner of the end zone.
Speaker 3: Could ended up having the touchdown that they cashed in
Speaker 3: with Austin Eckler a play later. But that's important, and
Speaker 3: I'll just say it here. You know, we're in the
Speaker 3: middle of talking about the Bronco game instead of waiting.
Speaker 1: But like, that's what I think is.
Speaker 3: So important for Charger fans to understand. If you finish
Speaker 3: five and twelve, yeah, you got a shot at brock Bauers,
Speaker 3: you got a shot at kool Aid McKinstry.
Speaker 1: I get it.
Speaker 3: But this team knew how to lose this year. They
Speaker 3: had a monopoly on figuring out how to lose games.
Speaker 3: Let's see if they can figure out how to win.
Speaker 3: I know the odds are stacked against them, you know,
Speaker 3: without Mike Williams, without Corey Linsley, without obviously Justin Herbert,
Speaker 3: without Joey Bosa.
Speaker 1: I get it.
Speaker 3: But let's see if they can figure out how to win,
Speaker 3: how to win and sweep the Raiders, how to win
Speaker 3: and ruin the season for the Bills and the Broncos
Speaker 3: and the Chiefs, and feel like this is their playman.
Speaker 3: Who knows at nine and eight, maybe the tie breakers
Speaker 3: break your way with that being the remainder of your schedule,
Speaker 3: those final three teams that are in the playoff hunt
Speaker 3: figure out. It's so much more important to do that.
Speaker 3: And and just look at the way the draft you know,
Speaker 3: laid out this past year. You know, a chan Nikua
Speaker 3: tu Lee in the second round, Darius Davis in the
Speaker 3: fourth young for the Rams, and the third round is
Speaker 3: the leading sack artists, you know as the leading sacret
Speaker 3: from the edge, you know, like, don't get caught up
Speaker 3: and having the sixth pick instead of the sixteenth, the
Speaker 3: winning games for young players, if it's Isaiah Spiller and
Speaker 3: Quinton Johnston and Dayon Henley and j T. Woods, if
Speaker 3: it's those guys that are you know, if it's a
Speaker 3: Quinton Johnston touchdown with fifteen seconds left to win a game,
Speaker 3: it's an Isaiah Spiller one hundred yard game and a
Speaker 3: four minute drill to close it out. If it's a
Speaker 3: day On Henley forced fumble when a team's try you know,
Speaker 3: when Josh Allen's trying to drive the Bills to win,
Speaker 3: that's going to go so much further than picking sixth
Speaker 3: instead of twentieth.
Speaker 1: And that's what.
Speaker 2: They've got to look at moving forward a million percent,
Speaker 2: And I think we get caught up in Oh, we
Speaker 2: want the highest draft pick possible. Doesn't matter, doesn't matter
Speaker 2: if you're picking in between, especially this year, if you're
Speaker 2: picking in between seven and fifteen, it doesn't matter. There's
Speaker 2: gonna be like five quarterbacks taken potentially in the first
Speaker 2: twelve picks. We don't know, but that's a position the
Speaker 2: Charges certainly don't need. And to get caught up in
Speaker 2: whether you have the fifth pick or the twelfth pick.
Speaker 2: Guess what Michael Parsons win right well for Sean Slider?
Speaker 2: Slider went thirteen, Okay.
Speaker 3: Derwin James seventeenth. Like, yeah, it doesn't matter, you got
Speaker 3: You gotta learn how to.
Speaker 2: Win games, you do, especially with a lot of these
Speaker 2: young players who haven't figured out how.
Speaker 1: To win games.
Speaker 2: You know, a lot of these guys who were knew
Speaker 2: that they weren't on the team last year, or even
Speaker 2: guys who were on the team last year. You have
Speaker 2: to you have to go through the process of winning.
Speaker 2: And it doesn't matter what twenty twenty four looks like
Speaker 2: in terms of all all the potential changes in really anywhere.
Speaker 2: But you have to win. You have to figure out
Speaker 2: how to win. And I think it's important, like you said,
Speaker 2: to not only get ws against divisional opponents, but also
Speaker 2: develop these guys. You know, we talked about Quintin, we
Speaker 2: talked about Spiller, you mentioned Henley. I mean, Mack. Give
Speaker 2: me all the heavily snaps here in the last four
Speaker 2: four weeks of the year. You know, if Toutley has
Speaker 2: hit that, you know, kind of you get to that
Speaker 2: week twelve, Week thirteen where you're not used to play
Speaker 2: pro football, Get over the hull. Let's see Toutley finished
Speaker 2: the year strong.
Speaker 3: Scott Matlock, Scott Medlock. Yeah, and I think so much
Speaker 3: of it, Chris is contracts. Just look at the contracts.
Speaker 3: You know, you turn down the fifty year option for
Speaker 3: Kenneth Murray. You know, Eric Kendricks is on a two
Speaker 3: year deal and he's thirty. You know, so let's let's
Speaker 3: get Dan out there. You know, just it's you know,
Speaker 3: and with Austin Johnson and Sebastian Josepha's guy's on the
Speaker 3: last years of their deal. You know, let's get Scott
Speaker 3: Matlock out there.
Speaker 1: It's you know j T.
Speaker 3: Woods, he's going into year three. You've got to figure
Speaker 3: out whether or not this guy's going to be on
Speaker 3: your team. Do you need to draft the safety, like,
Speaker 3: let's get him out there. I know that's a little
Speaker 3: different because of the injury, but that's what we're talking about.
Speaker 1: Now. There's a there's a balance there. You know.
Speaker 3: You owe it to the veterans. You owe it to
Speaker 3: Khalil Mack, you owe it to Rashaan Slater. You owe
Speaker 3: it to these guys that that are that have played
Speaker 3: through all of their their nicks and bruises, you know,
Speaker 3: and in this game that is so physically demanding to
Speaker 3: feel the team that can win, that can support them
Speaker 3: and they're not just helping young guys along. But I
Speaker 3: think those guys can win. You know, I wouldn't put
Speaker 3: them out there. I'd mess with the old line. I
Speaker 3: think Trey has really been challenged this year. I'd try
Speaker 3: kicking Jamari back out the tackle, see if he can
Speaker 3: man that position, and put McFadden in there at guard
Speaker 3: and and see if that's a better combination. Trey has
Speaker 3: been incredibly leaky, and he had a rough game against
Speaker 3: the Broncos. You know, start playing with that. Now, that's
Speaker 3: not fair to Easton if you think Trey gives you
Speaker 3: the best chance at right tackle. But I'm saying in practice,
Speaker 3: start figuring out if that is the right combo is
Speaker 3: is is that the right way to do this moving forward?
Speaker 3: So it's a tough balance all of those things I
Speaker 3: think will be in play now. They are not mathematically eliminated,
Speaker 3: so it's probably a week early to start talking. It's
Speaker 3: probably a loss early, I should say, to start talking
Speaker 3: about that, because they they can still finish with a
Speaker 3: winning record at nine and eight, and they can still
Speaker 3: finish with probably some good tiebreaker sort of momentum by
Speaker 3: you know, if the Bills should have pulled up the
Speaker 3: darn standings before we started this thing. But if let
Speaker 3: me just get into the playoffs, see where they're at.
Speaker 2: Bills have the Cowboys this Sunday, so they got to
Speaker 2: take care.
Speaker 1: Of that first, right, So you know, they're three and five.
Speaker 3: The Bills have five losses in conference, The Bengals have
Speaker 3: six losses in conference, The Broncos have five losses, the
Speaker 3: Texans for the Colts, for the Steelers for So you
Speaker 3: can still win out and win that conference. You know,
Speaker 3: you can still end up with an eight and five
Speaker 3: record in conference, or a seven and five recording conference
Speaker 3: is what you could finish with. So that may end
Speaker 3: up when in a tiebreaker in that maybe changes the
Speaker 3: calculus a little bit of how far you're going to
Speaker 3: dip into playing young guys and giving them all the reps.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the East and Stick gonna have to go forward. Oh,
Speaker 2: lot would have to happen.
Speaker 1: Yes, it's an incredible long shot to kind of put
Speaker 1: a pin in this.
Speaker 2: Justin Herbert's season. You know, a lot of people say, hey, man,
Speaker 2: it's a wasted season. You have first year of his
Speaker 2: big deal. And I just think for quarterbacks, you look
Speaker 2: at just the history of the position and some guys
Speaker 2: will have instant success in the playoffs. Other guys it
Speaker 2: takes a long time. You know, it took Peyton Manning
Speaker 2: a long time. I think some of these adverse situations
Speaker 2: for quarterback only builds you moving forward, you know. And again,
Speaker 2: there's not much to take positive from it, but if
Speaker 2: you can take a positive justin Herbert has been through
Speaker 2: a lot of close games, Muddy. You mentioned before this
Speaker 2: season how many close games he won in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 2: Didn't come out on the right side of.
Speaker 1: A lot of them this year.
Speaker 2: But you learn a lot. You learn a lot about yourself,
Speaker 2: you learn a lot about the league. You know what
Speaker 2: you have to do in certain situations, and I have
Speaker 2: to imagine in such a disappointing season for Justin and
Speaker 2: the team, he can pull something out of this for
Speaker 2: next year that will make him better because we've seen it.
Speaker 2: You know, there's a reason why he gets top money
Speaker 2: in the NFL. His talent and what he has done
Speaker 2: to this point on the field hasn't always translated to wins.
Speaker 2: But you know, the history of the league bent you
Speaker 2: look at a lot of really good Hall of Fame
Speaker 2: quarterbacks where it took a little bit of time, and
Speaker 2: maybe this year is you know, we look back, you know,
Speaker 2: maybe in a couple of years it's like, you know what,
Speaker 2: I learned a lot that year and it got me
Speaker 2: to this point for her.
Speaker 3: You know, it's been interesting just because you look at
Speaker 3: all the early success that Patrick Mahomes has had. Lamar
Speaker 3: Jackson was MVP his second year in the season, the
Speaker 3: second year of his career. You know, Trevor Lawrence won
Speaker 3: the playoff game over Justin Herbert last year in his
Speaker 3: second year. We obviously know about Joe Burrow and making
Speaker 3: two AFC Championship games in a super Bowl, so certainly
Speaker 3: he's being compared to his peers to you know, the
Speaker 3: players that are of his era of quarterbacks, and he's
Speaker 3: come up short in terms of win production. But he's
Speaker 3: I have no I have absolutely zero concerns about him.
Speaker 3: The way he played this year, the toughness that he exhibits,
Speaker 3: the challenges that he routinely faces, whether it's losing your
Speaker 3: left tackle last year, losing your best downfield threat this year,
Speaker 3: not having a running game whatsoever to work with all
Speaker 3: season long. So for me, you know, I just I
Speaker 3: just look at him as the constant, right he is
Speaker 3: the foundation, He's the rock and everything. He's the sun
Speaker 3: and everything orbits around him. And I am not concerned
Speaker 3: that he's going to burn out anytime soon. The planet's
Speaker 3: going to keep whirling around him for the next ten
Speaker 3: years or seven years at least. I think when you
Speaker 3: assess the roster, and I think there's a lot of great,
Speaker 3: great players on this roster, and they were certainly good
Speaker 3: enough to win this year. I firmly believe that. But
Speaker 3: I think if you're being real about it, you like,
Speaker 3: what are our anchors, and they've got good anchors. You know,
Speaker 3: you've got a left tackle that's one of the best
Speaker 3: in the league in Rashawn Slater, you are set right there.
Speaker 3: You now have I firmly believe a potentially elite edge
Speaker 3: rusher in Tuley who's twenty one years old. Moving forward,
Speaker 3: I mean, those are the three most important positions in football.
Speaker 3: Defensive end, left tackle, quarterback. That is, those are the
Speaker 3: three spots where you begin to build a team. They're
Speaker 3: set there, They're set, so you're already ahead of the curve.
Speaker 3: So that's that's sort of what I look at moving forward.
Speaker 3: And now you've got to figure out how to surround
Speaker 3: them with young talent with veteran talent and figure out
Speaker 3: what that balance is. But it's important these last four
Speaker 3: games to hopefully find Quintin Johnson is a number one
Speaker 3: receiver had can you get those? Can you get a
Speaker 3: couple hundred yard games? And it won't be easy, but
Speaker 3: it's doable. And and is Isaiah Spiller a legitimate running back?
Speaker 3: Can he be r RB one next year? Like those
Speaker 3: are the things they've got to to figure out. The
Speaker 3: fact that they have the foundational pieces in place is
Speaker 3: a big help.
Speaker 2: All Right, say quick break and we'll talk about this
Speaker 2: game on Thursday night. All right, guys, A big thank
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Speaker 2: location So money, Primetime in Vegas, ancon versus Eastern stick
Speaker 2: it up. Yeah, exactly again again. A week ago this
Speaker 2: could have meant something for the playoffs.
Speaker 1: A little bit.
Speaker 2: Different now for Alan Kirkherb Street and you and DJ
Speaker 2: calling the game. What do you want to see?
Speaker 1: We want to win.
Speaker 2: We talked about you know, yeahs about draft pick. Beat
Speaker 2: the Raiders, right.
Speaker 3: Beat the Raiders. I want to see Easton featured to
Speaker 3: do Eastern things. I want to see, Like I said,
Speaker 3: I was very surprised at the play calling when he
Speaker 3: was in. And again it's mid game, so it's really
Speaker 3: hard to adjust dramatically, so I get that. But I
Speaker 3: want to see him running. I want to see some options.
Speaker 3: I want to see RPOs and I want to see
Speaker 3: a lot of Isaiah Spiller. I want to see Quintin
Speaker 3: Johnston featured. See if we can continue that relationship between
Speaker 3: these two. Defensively, I think Khalil max said it just
Speaker 3: decho what he said. You know, you got to bring it.
Speaker 3: You think you bring it in practice, fine, but it's
Speaker 3: a different deal when it's Sunday or in this case, Thursday,
Speaker 3: and these young guys got to know what it takes
Speaker 3: to win a football game. And so I appreciated him
Speaker 3: saying that and trying to set that tone. And I'd
Speaker 3: love to see him in Tuley and Khalil get another
Speaker 3: six sacks, you know, get to one hundred house sweet
Speaker 3: with that BEA's at ninety nine and a half. I
Speaker 3: want to see Khalil get to one hundred sacks against
Speaker 3: the team that thought it was a good idea to
Speaker 3: trade him for a first round pick instead of being
Speaker 3: the face of the Raiders for his entire career. So
Speaker 3: I'd like to see him get that sack. I want
Speaker 3: to see Tuley perform like he did, you know, in
Speaker 3: the last pretty much all season, but especially in the
Speaker 3: New England game when he was a true force. I
Speaker 3: want to see that again. I think there's a lot
Speaker 3: that we can be excited about in this game. And
Speaker 3: if they win, he improved the six and eight And
Speaker 3: what if the Bills lose this game and they're seven
Speaker 3: and seven, Well, now you beat the Bills and you're
Speaker 3: seven and eight, and you got a tiebreaker, and you know,
Speaker 3: now you've jumped them in the postseason race, and then
Speaker 3: who the heck knows what happens. Defense certainly played well
Speaker 3: enough to win, you know, to win that Bronco game,
Speaker 3: and maybe bos is ready to come back by the
Speaker 3: time we get to New Year's Eve. So there's a
Speaker 3: lot that there's still a lot left out there. I
Speaker 3: know it sounds crazy, it's Pollyanna, it's pie in the sky,
Speaker 3: I get it.
Speaker 1: But maybe it's just maybe it's just.
Speaker 3: My how Donny it is, but it's my affection and
Speaker 3: my appreciation for Easton Stick that I really want to
Speaker 3: see this go well for him. The Chargers have their quarterback.
Speaker 3: This is not about the Chargers moving forward. This is
Speaker 3: about one of those into There's so many of these.
Speaker 3: It's what Look, there's a reason why the NFL is
Speaker 3: the most popular form of entertainment in America because it's
Speaker 3: the soap opera. It's it's a book. These are individual
Speaker 3: stories inside of team stories. And I think if we can,
Speaker 3: if we can, if Easton can write this story and
Speaker 3: it can turn out the way I think it can
Speaker 3: that I believe it can. I think it'll be really
Speaker 3: special because I think these players will rally behind him.
Speaker 3: I really do. I believe he has that much respect
Speaker 3: in that locker room. And we've seen it, you know,
Speaker 3: we've seen it with Carson Wentz out of North Dakota
Speaker 3: and he followed Carson and got those four titles. And
Speaker 3: we saw it with Trey Lance and why he was
Speaker 3: drafted number three. Overall, I know his career has not
Speaker 3: gone how he would like, but you see it with
Speaker 3: the head coaches from that program who have moved on
Speaker 3: to Kansas State and Wyoming and now USC exactly to
Speaker 3: USC for linebackers and assistant head coach, like that's a
Speaker 3: program that knows how to win football games. And so
Speaker 3: maybe it's just me being hopeful for his story, for
Speaker 3: his future, for his career, that this thing could that
Speaker 3: they could find something, that there's something here that guys
Speaker 3: could start getting healthy, and that they can start tinkering
Speaker 3: with some things that they were maybe afraid to earlier
Speaker 3: in the season because it doesn't you know what if
Speaker 3: you tinker and it goes wrong and you're still alive
Speaker 3: for the playoffs. Well, now just at throat, get rid
Speaker 3: of all of that. Everything's not wide open. So I
Speaker 3: think that's I believe Dan Henley can be a special
Speaker 3: player in this league. I want to see him out
Speaker 3: there on the defense. I believe Isaiah Spiller can run
Speaker 3: the ball. I want to see him out there with
Speaker 3: twenty carries.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 3: I believe Quinton can can get over this, can get
Speaker 3: over his confidence issues and his concentration issues and do
Speaker 3: what we've seen him do, and that's get open and
Speaker 3: beat guys and catch the ball and build confidence going
Speaker 3: into next year with instead of two hundred and seventy yards.
Speaker 3: He finishes the season with six hundred yards and four touchdowns,
Speaker 3: or six hundred and fifty yards and five touchdowns. That's
Speaker 3: what I want to see, and I believe it. There's
Speaker 3: still an opportunity for them to do that.
Speaker 1: Weddy.
Speaker 2: I would argue that this is also just as important
Speaker 2: for the Chargers if Easton does well, because we may
Speaker 2: have talked about this in the offseason. I just think
Speaker 2: that the backup quarterback in the NFL is something you
Speaker 2: absolutely have to get right and if you got to
Speaker 2: throw money at it, throw as much money as you
Speaker 2: can at it. Because we've seen the injuries, especially in
Speaker 2: the AFC this year. Can he pick it down? Aaron
Speaker 2: Rodgers down, Joe Burrow down. Jake Browning has come in
Speaker 2: and done a heck of a job. Trevor Lawrence went down,
Speaker 2: came back, but you know he's not hard said that
Speaker 2: the Browns have had four different starting quarterbacks this year,
Speaker 2: Anthony Richardson down, Gardner Minshew and what Shane Stikeen is
Speaker 2: doing there is remarkable. Aide O'Connell in for Jimmy Garoppolo.
Speaker 3: It's just Drew Locke for Gino Smith Tyson Baigeen for
Speaker 3: Justin Fields. I mean, the list goes on and on
Speaker 3: and on.
Speaker 2: Kirk Cousins, sdops. You know, if it's Derek Carr, it's
Speaker 2: it's crazy. And if you don't have a backup quarterback,
Speaker 2: it's very difficult just to stay a success in the league.
Speaker 1: And and.
Speaker 3: I'll just say this real quick, Chris, I understand, like
Speaker 3: best case for me is Easton comes back as the
Speaker 3: backup because he has been essential to Justin Herbert, but
Speaker 3: he gets paid. Yeah, I want to see him get
Speaker 3: some money and put some money in that pocket. You
Speaker 3: earned it, and and that's that's what I'm that's what
Speaker 3: I'm speaking to.
Speaker 1: No, no, absolutely, I'm with you.
Speaker 2: I I think that this is a great opportunity to show,
Speaker 2: like no doubt, let Pike Locke that east and Stick
Speaker 2: can be a legit backup quarterback to Justin Herbert and
Speaker 2: you don't miss a beat. And let's say that the
Speaker 2: tables were turned right down money and they were eight
Speaker 2: and five instead of five and eight. That Easton can
Speaker 2: win you a game on Thursday. I get you to
Speaker 2: nine and five and hold the fourth down for when
Speaker 2: Justin comes back. I think that's more of a more
Speaker 2: palable scenario for me is that, Okay, we have a
Speaker 2: backup quarterback that we know can can win us games
Speaker 2: if our guy comes down, goes down and he can
Speaker 2: come back, you know, So that that four to six
Speaker 2: week stretch, if you don't have your guy, can your
Speaker 2: backup perform? It gets you to five.
Speaker 3: Hundred, let's say, right, yeah, and that's that's Look, it's
Speaker 3: in front of him. It's gonna be up to Kellen
Speaker 3: Moore to to likely change things up to play to
Speaker 3: his strengths.
Speaker 1: Again.
Speaker 3: I go back to the Bronco game and a couple
Speaker 3: of plays that I just found interesting and was a
Speaker 3: bit curious as to why. When he comes off the
Speaker 3: bench and he's throwing three straight passes and almost had
Speaker 3: that strip sack, you know, it's like, man, just let's
Speaker 3: run the ball.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 3: They got in the layup, which was nice, got that
Speaker 3: quick three yard completion, but then after that, I was
Speaker 3: very surprised that they opted to run what they ran.
Speaker 3: But it's a justin Herbert game plan.
Speaker 1: I get it.
Speaker 3: It's hard to change that in the middle of the game.
Speaker 3: Going into this Thursday game, I think we're going to
Speaker 3: see a much different looking offense. I really do, and
Speaker 3: and hopefully it's an opportunity for Easton to get after it.
Speaker 3: I would like to see play calling, you know, just
Speaker 3: or I should say decision making.
Speaker 1: You know, I said it. The defense has played really well.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 3: Field goals are okay. You know, you're not playing the
Speaker 3: Miami Dolphins. You're not playing the Detroit Lions. You're not
Speaker 3: playing you know. And you can't even say the Chiefs
Speaker 3: this year. They've been so bad on offense this season.
Speaker 3: But like I understand, when you need touchdowns not field goals.
Speaker 3: Against the Broncos, that was not the case. You could
Speaker 3: kick that field goal and may take the points. You
Speaker 3: take the points and kick the field goal on third
Speaker 3: down and Justin Herbert doesn't run a fourth down play
Speaker 3: where he interests his finger. You know, it's like and
Speaker 3: that makes the game seven to three. The only seven
Speaker 3: points they got came from the three yard line, an
Speaker 3: interception that gave him a first and goal from the three.
Speaker 3: Those were their only points. Like that was it was
Speaker 3: very curious to me that that was the that that
Speaker 3: was the approach. And again I say it while acknowledging
Speaker 3: I was wrong. It's right to go forward on fourth
Speaker 3: down based on what the outcome was. Jerrel Evert's got
Speaker 3: to catch the ball and now you're up seven nothing.
Speaker 3: But you know, I think I'm comfortable taking the threes.
Speaker 3: You won a game six nothing the week before.
Speaker 2: No, I don't think you were wrong. I think you
Speaker 2: were right. I think you know, Camera Dicker is one
Speaker 2: of the best kickers in the NFL, so you know
Speaker 2: you have that in your back pocket.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: The points are automatic, you know. And that's frankly why
Speaker 2: the Broncos have been so good as of late is
Speaker 2: because they take the points. It's not pretty, yeah, and they.
Speaker 1: They're playing great defense and take the points.
Speaker 2: You're right, and they control the clock. They the I thought,
Speaker 2: just the biggest bill stration in the game to be
Speaker 2: on kind of how the Bruckers are playing right now.
Speaker 1: Why they're winning.
Speaker 2: Was that last drog where they were just converting third downs,
Speaker 2: running the clock, keeping the Chargers offense off the field,
Speaker 2: and icing the game. You know, they controlled the clock
Speaker 2: for thirty three minutes a tye possession.
Speaker 3: I have never seen a display of mistackling so egregious.
Speaker 1: It's not good.
Speaker 3: And Derwin acknowledged it. He said, look, it starts with me.
Speaker 3: I mean it was a brutal blown tackle. He's got
Speaker 3: troutman dead to rights for no gain on a third
Speaker 3: and eight, wins the tackle and it becomes a nine
Speaker 3: yard gain and then it was just open the floodgates
Speaker 3: from there. Kenneth Murray Sante Samuel kept leaving his feet
Speaker 3: to try to tackle Javonte Williams, and it's like, you've
Speaker 3: got to know your opponent. Guy weighs two hundred and
Speaker 3: thirty pounds, you know, just wrap them up and hold
Speaker 3: them and wait for backup. That's the way you've got
Speaker 3: to tackle. You know, when you're a safety and you're
Speaker 3: taking on a tight end who weighs two hundred and
Speaker 3: sixty five pounds, don't dive to his feet. Just grab them,
Speaker 3: hold them and wait and wait for reinforcements. It's like,
Speaker 3: be steady, not spectacular, be steady, you know, steady Eddy,
Speaker 3: And they were not on that drive and it cost
Speaker 3: them eight minutes and ended the game.
Speaker 2: That's the thing, man, it's the you gotta play sixteen
Speaker 2: minutes of football. Like you said, the defense has played
Speaker 2: really good in large stretches, but it's those little stretches
Speaker 2: where you lose the game.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well you got to take the two field goals
Speaker 3: and it's a seventeen thirteen game at that point. Yeah,
Speaker 3: it's like that's that's that's where I think it's so maddening.
Speaker 3: And that's just still what Khalil Mack talked about. That's
Speaker 3: just too much would have, could have, should have. But
Speaker 3: I think it's important to acknowledge it moving forward, see
Speaker 3: if we can see if we can stack some wins
Speaker 3: to close the season and feel really good about these
Speaker 3: young players and maybe again catch a break and the
Speaker 3: tie breakers they're all gonna play. I mean, if I
Speaker 3: go through the schedule, you start, you know, if I
Speaker 3: just look at the Colts at seven and six, right,
Speaker 3: they've got the Steelers.
Speaker 1: Who are eight and five.
Speaker 3: So now whoever loses that game obviously has an additional loss.
Speaker 3: They close with the Texans, they get the Falcons who
Speaker 3: are trying to win the NFC South and there as well,
Speaker 3: and the Raiders. So that's the Colts, the Steelers we mentioned,
Speaker 3: they got to play the Colts this week. After that,
Speaker 3: they get the Bengals, the Seahawks, and the Ravens. Okay,
Speaker 3: so can they go if they go two and two. There,
Speaker 3: now you have an opportunity to jump them in the
Speaker 3: conference record, like it's still there. I get it, it's
Speaker 3: a huge, incredible long shot. But what I'm getting at is,
Speaker 3: at least you're not playing out the stream yet. You
Speaker 3: can go into this Raider game and say, look at
Speaker 3: the Texans. They've got the Colts, the Titans twice, who
Speaker 3: just went into Miami and knocked off the Dolphins, and
Speaker 3: the Browns. Those are three divisional games and a Cleveland
Speaker 3: team that's at eight and five right now, and in
Speaker 3: the wild card. The Browns have the Bears this week,
Speaker 3: who just destroyed the Lions and have won three or four,
Speaker 3: the Texans, the Jets, and the Bengals, Like you can
Speaker 3: sell it. All you got to do is win this week.
Speaker 3: The Bills lose to the Cowboys, and that is a
Speaker 3: playoff game. You beat the Bills, you jump them in
Speaker 3: the standings, and you now own that tie Blaker. Like,
Speaker 3: I get the odds and that they will not be
Speaker 3: favored in any of these games.
Speaker 1: But what I'm saying is.
Speaker 3: If you're the coach and you're the players, this is
Speaker 3: the conversation you can have. Look, beat the Raiders and
Speaker 3: you're in position to jump three or four spots in
Speaker 3: this playoff race by knocking off the Bills next Saturday.
Speaker 3: That's how tight this thing is. So it is still
Speaker 3: there for us to go get Let's go get it.
Speaker 3: I think that goes a long way as opposed to
Speaker 3: we're asking you to put your body out there and
Speaker 3: sacrifice your physical wellbeing to finish the season six and
Speaker 3: thirteen or six and whatever eleven.
Speaker 2: Yeah, last thing for me, I'll just say this, independent
Speaker 2: of the playoffs, is the Raiders. Man, Like you see
Speaker 2: the alumni that were there on Sunday, they hated the Raiders,
Speaker 2: Philip Rivers, Gates, hard Wick, Lt. All those guys. Man,
Speaker 2: you got up for Raider Week, Marty shot Iver, got
Speaker 2: you ready for Raider Week, and that should mean something too.
Speaker 2: I realized the rivalries change and they're in Vegas now
Speaker 2: and charge your Los Angeles. It's still the Raiders, and
Speaker 2: you should want to beat the Raiders, especially color off
Speaker 2: the loss to the Broncos. You get a short week
Speaker 2: turn around, take care of business in Vegas, come back
Speaker 2: for your extended buy, right, simple.
Speaker 1: As that, simple as that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you get the extended buy for the Bills game too. Yeah,
Speaker 3: even more time. Now, you've really got time for Kellen
Speaker 3: Moore to draw this thing up and play, to play
Speaker 3: to Easton's strengths and see if you can get out
Speaker 3: there and get another victory.
Speaker 2: The Mighty Save Travels, anything else beat the Raiders, right,
Speaker 2: that's it, right Raiders for Maddy. I'm Chris. We appreciate
Speaker 2: you guys listening and watching. Apologies for my audio and
Speaker 2: video issues today.
Speaker 3: Hopefully it's not too noticeable, but we're going to get
Speaker 3: you a technology for Dummies book for Christmas.
Speaker 1: Chris. We're gonna get this thing right.
Speaker 2: It's just it's it's the it's the last quarter of
Speaker 2: the season. For myself, things are not going well.
Speaker 1: Here at the exactly it's all falling apart. Man, What
Speaker 1: are you gonna do? All right? For buddy, I'm Chris.
Speaker 1: It charges we
Speaker 3: M