Speaker 1: As a league fifteen to ten touched up.
Speaker 2: Er.
Speaker 3: What's up, guys, We are back with a week seventeen
Speaker 3: edition of Charge with Weekly as always powered by Microsoft Surface.
Speaker 3: It is always joined by Matt Muddy Smith as the
Speaker 3: Chargers head to Denver, closing the season with a pair
Speaker 3: of divisual opponents. After a really great performance, I thought,
Speaker 3: in terms of effort against the Buffalo Bills twenty four
Speaker 3: to twenty two and Bunny, it felt like a different team.
Speaker 3: I was really rooting for Gift to get his first win,
Speaker 3: and they darniar almost did it.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Almost a lot to kind of get into from
Speaker 2: what we saw, and I think we'll start at the
Speaker 2: very end, you know, when you talk about almost, I
Speaker 2: thought Kellen Moore drew up a heck of a play,
Speaker 2: and you know, considering how recent the passing was of
Speaker 2: Frank Whitchak, it would have been a heck of a
Speaker 2: tribute to him to get the Music City miracle rehashed
Speaker 2: against the Bills and have the Chargers do it, you know,
Speaker 2: Unfortunately for Kellen as well designed and as perfectly executed
Speaker 2: as the first part of that play was from Eckler
Speaker 2: back to Easton and then the lateral to Ericson just
Speaker 2: couldn't quite get that first block to seal that line,
Speaker 2: even though they had all the bodies over there, and
Speaker 2: Zion just kind of climbed a little bit too far,
Speaker 2: too fast, and Brendan kind of whiffed on the block
Speaker 2: and Ericson had to immediately peel off what looked to
Speaker 2: be a perfectly designed play. But I think I'll just
Speaker 2: start there, Chris. I really enjoyed the game plan that
Speaker 2: Kellen put together for this offense, and I really enjoyed
Speaker 2: seeing Cameron Dicker kick five field goals for the first
Speaker 2: time by a Charger kicker in at least ten years.
Speaker 2: So it was that type of game. The defense played great.
Speaker 2: You knew it was going to be tight. DJ kept saying,
Speaker 2: it just take him to the deep end and let's
Speaker 2: see if you can pull him under at the end
Speaker 2: and get out of here with a win. And I
Speaker 2: thought it was. You know, unfortunately, the fourth time they've
Speaker 2: not lost, you know, when having a lead in the
Speaker 2: fourth quarter, I think sixth time this year now they've
Speaker 2: lost by three or fewer points. Those are tough to swallow.
Speaker 2: But I really enjoyed the game. I did. I thought
Speaker 2: they played inspired football.
Speaker 3: And you just look at everything that they're working with. Though,
Speaker 3: justin Herbert no keenan Allen, I thought that Gift said
Speaker 3: it perfectly. He said he was expecting a heavyweight fight.
Speaker 3: He wanted to take the points at every chance he
Speaker 3: could get. And it's very smart when you have a
Speaker 3: kicker that's as good as camera dicker Man.
Speaker 1: I don't think.
Speaker 3: We've seen a kicker come into the chargers as confident
Speaker 3: and as automatic as he has been money And you know,
Speaker 3: I think you talked about it the week before, just
Speaker 3: how good he's been in even in spots where you
Speaker 3: know it's fourth and three or fourth and five and
Speaker 3: you want to go for it, sometimes taking the points
Speaker 3: is the better option. And Gift kind of used that
Speaker 3: and said, hey, we're gonna take the place. We're gonna
Speaker 3: get something out of these long drives. I don't care
Speaker 3: if it's seven to three, we're gonna get points on
Speaker 3: the board.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, you know, let's just go back to
Speaker 2: what we talked about three weeks ago or two two weeks,
Speaker 2: three weeks ago, and I go through the play by
Speaker 2: play and you're talking about zero's you lose on downs.
Speaker 2: You're now down seven zero after the interception that Justin
Speaker 2: threw inside his own three yard line, and you're still
Speaker 2: down seven zero. You lose a ball on downs and
Speaker 2: you're down ten to nothing and you lose a ball
Speaker 2: on downs, and it's like, that's nine points. That's nine
Speaker 2: points in a ten to nine game with two minutes
Speaker 2: left in the third quarter. Is And it just it
Speaker 2: felt like it was that kind of game against the Broncos,
Speaker 2: and you couldn't quite figure out, Okay, this isn't the Chiefs,
Speaker 2: it's not the Dolphins, it's not the Lions. Why are
Speaker 2: we chasing points? And I think you saw a gift
Speaker 2: recognize the type of game that this was gonna be.
Speaker 2: That the Bills have had a pensiant for turning the
Speaker 2: ball over quite a bit this year and losing games
Speaker 2: that a lot of people think they should not lose,
Speaker 2: but they do it because they're they're careless with the football.
Speaker 2: And I think he played you know, get that that
Speaker 2: was the script that he wrote for this game, and
Speaker 2: I thought they followed it perfectly and they darn near
Speaker 2: had it. And you know, I was doing the ballet
Speaker 2: show with lorenzo'neil and he made a perfect point. He's
Speaker 2: you know, we talked about the zero blitz that DA called.
Speaker 2: That was it was a perfect call. You know, you've
Speaker 2: got Josh Allen on the run. He's falling backwards and
Speaker 2: he heaves that ball to the right sideline, and if
Speaker 2: there's better communication between Hawkins and and Asante, they're going
Speaker 2: to switch instead of try to work through each other
Speaker 2: and bonk off each other, and one of them is
Speaker 2: going to get a pick six. But he made the point.
Speaker 2: He's like, Josh Allen's probably the only quarterback in the
Speaker 2: league that makes that throw that gets it all the
Speaker 2: way to Shakir. You know, that's just you just got
Speaker 2: Josh Allen. I mean, that's really all that happened there.
Speaker 2: It was a perfect call. They played it great, and
Speaker 2: Josh Allen just kind of got the better of him
Speaker 2: and they end up getting out with a loss instead
Speaker 2: of a win.
Speaker 3: Charge fans were hopeing she cures scored, right, you get
Speaker 3: the ball runner, and I think that that Preston really
Speaker 3: kind of ended the game in a way because the
Speaker 3: Bills had that that ample time to milk clock and kick.
Speaker 1: Their field goal and go ahead, and uh, that was
Speaker 1: I think.
Speaker 3: The difference because even gifts that four times an that's
Speaker 3: a pick six that's going the other way. But that
Speaker 3: kind of did it right, Like, had they scored Easter,
Speaker 3: the stick would have had much more time.
Speaker 2: It happened with a crack to win right right. So
Speaker 2: and this is just you know, sidebar. This is one
Speaker 2: of my problems with instant replay. You ought you can't
Speaker 2: do it that like and look, the Chargers lost didn't
Speaker 2: have that opportunity because this was a nationally televised game
Speaker 2: on NBC or Peacock and they had the ten cameras.
Speaker 2: So you get the extra cameras, you get the NBC it,
Speaker 2: you get the super slow mo. Like, to me, there
Speaker 2: should be a cap on how tight you can get
Speaker 2: how slow you know, the frames per second that you
Speaker 2: can get in there, because that's one where if it's
Speaker 2: just a regular one o'clock kick on Fox or CBS,
Speaker 2: you probably got six cameras instead of ten, and that
Speaker 2: thing stays a touchdown. And I'm not saying it like
Speaker 2: my point is, I just feel like when you're looking
Speaker 2: at this thing for five minutes and you've got to
Speaker 2: get to the ninth or tenth camera and you've got
Speaker 2: to slow it down to you know, milliseconds in order
Speaker 2: to figure out, oh yeah, look there's a couple of
Speaker 2: blades of turf touching his knee. It just kind of
Speaker 2: takes a little bit of the romance out of the game.
Speaker 2: So that's you know, it's unfortunate had had Shakir not
Speaker 2: you know, had that probably one to one hundredth of
Speaker 2: one second where his knee was in contact with the turf.
Speaker 2: We get to see Easton, who had a heck of
Speaker 2: a game, and this offense try to get back after
Speaker 2: it and score. But you know, I think the one thing,
Speaker 2: you know, when we do it half class, you know,
Speaker 2: glass half full. Now, let's go glass half empty. You know,
Speaker 2: this is something that we've seen repeatedly this season where
Speaker 2: the offense gives you a lead, all you got to
Speaker 2: do is get off the field. Get off the field,
Speaker 2: you know, get off on a third down, force a
Speaker 2: fourth down and maybe a long field goal attempt. And
Speaker 2: unfortunately it just happened again. You know where you got
Speaker 2: a busted coverage, you got someone that breaks a tackle,
Speaker 2: and you know, they end up getting the win and
Speaker 2: the Chargers find a way to lose.
Speaker 3: Chargers fans mines are everywhere at this point, right, They're
Speaker 3: they're focused on who the nex coach the general manager
Speaker 3: are going to be. And you know, you got the
Speaker 3: Broncos and Chiefs up. Are you gonna lose out and
Speaker 3: get a higher draft pick or.
Speaker 1: Do you actually want to just.
Speaker 3: Just bury the Broncos this Sunday and maybe make it
Speaker 3: miserable for the Chiefs in Week eighteen. So a lot
Speaker 3: to kind of digest just sticking with this game for
Speaker 3: a little bit.
Speaker 1: We'll start offensively.
Speaker 3: You mentioned Easton's stick in the game that he had.
Speaker 3: They only scored one touchdown in the game, but I
Speaker 3: thought Austin Eckler, they got back to just getting him
Speaker 3: the ball. Eighteen touches. He needs to have the touches for.
Speaker 1: This offense to go.
Speaker 3: Well, we talked about all the guys that he don't have,
Speaker 3: but I thought that after the second half in Vegas
Speaker 3: in just the night mirror that east and Stick had
Speaker 3: in terms of two touchdowns going the other way, he
Speaker 3: really rebounded and this is a great evaluation process for
Speaker 3: him over the next two weeks to see if east
Speaker 3: of six is.
Speaker 1: Going to be the backup quarterback here.
Speaker 2: Well, I think Gifts said it best after the game.
Speaker 2: Easton's an NFL quarterback. There's no doubt, you know, he's
Speaker 2: in good for him. You know, you never know until
Speaker 2: you get the call, and teams want to see, can
Speaker 2: we count on this guy to win us a game?
Speaker 2: Can we count on him to win us a quarter
Speaker 2: Can we maybe count on him to win us three games?
Speaker 2: And I think Easton's certainly proven that he can do that,
Speaker 2: and he's going to spend a lot of time in
Speaker 2: the NFL now what his future looks like and whether
Speaker 2: or not one of these teams that drafts a quarterback
Speaker 2: in the first round and isn't quite sure that they
Speaker 2: want to throw him out there right away, let's bring
Speaker 2: in a bridge or somebody to compete and try to
Speaker 2: take that, you know, I think I think that was
Speaker 2: a possibility for Easton this year. As a matter of fact,
Speaker 2: I know it was. I know for a fact that
Speaker 2: somebody had kind of proposed that, and he opted to
Speaker 2: stay with the Chargers for one more year, and so
Speaker 2: I'm very excited for him. I don't think there's any
Speaker 2: question that the Chruggers would love to have him back.
Speaker 2: I think it's hard to spend money in a quarterback
Speaker 2: room when you've already got a quarter of a billion
Speaker 2: dollars tied up to that position. You try to find
Speaker 2: a rookie contract to put in there, someone you can trust,
Speaker 2: you know, like we had trust in Easton. But for him,
Speaker 2: I'm just I'd like to see him get a win.
Speaker 2: I want to see him get a win on that
Speaker 2: resume when you see, you know, the GS game started
Speaker 2: zero two and zero, I'd love to see it read
Speaker 2: two and two for him. Moving forward, knock off the Broncos,
Speaker 2: knock off the Chiefs, get those wins in the division,
Speaker 2: officially eliminate the Broncos from playoff contention, you know, put
Speaker 2: an ex to their their name and the standings, and
Speaker 2: see if you can ruin the Chiefs and push them
Speaker 2: all the way down to the four spot the following week.
Speaker 2: I understand the draft pick, and I do I do sympathize,
Speaker 2: right well, I do understand. I don't want to say
Speaker 2: I empathize or sympathize with people that didn't want that,
Speaker 2: but I think this is a team that desperately needs
Speaker 2: more young ten, that needs draft picks. And if you
Speaker 2: can find yourself in the top five and you start
Speaker 2: talking about quarterbacks, you know, like Jaden Daniels and Boenix
Speaker 2: and Michael Panix obviously behind Drake May and Caleb Williams,
Speaker 2: then maybe you're talking about getting a pretty big haul,
Speaker 2: you know, with with Marvin Harrison junior up there. And
Speaker 2: so I understand that that aspect of it as well,
Speaker 2: and I don't and I and to me, that's what
Speaker 2: I would do, I think, you know, with the pick,
Speaker 2: I feel like I would I would really like to
Speaker 2: add a lot of selections because I just feel like
Speaker 2: this team needs, you know, more seconds, more thirds, more
Speaker 2: fourth rounders that are out there making an impact with
Speaker 2: the with the big cont just they need more youth.
Speaker 2: This team needs to get younger. I really believe that,
Speaker 2: and I think Chris it, you know, it may start
Speaker 2: as soon as this week where we want to see
Speaker 2: a little bit more youth out there, you know.
Speaker 3: Performing It's a big chip, right A top ten pick
Speaker 3: in this j just specifically is a big chip when
Speaker 3: you even take Drake May and Caleb Williams out of it,
Speaker 3: much of those other quarterbacks, somebody's.
Speaker 1: Gonna fall in love with one of these quarterbacks.
Speaker 3: Sure, Jay Daniels is probably gonna be a top ten pick.
Speaker 3: Now you mentioned Bo Nicks in the amount of starts
Speaker 3: that he has under his belt at Oregon, that's going
Speaker 3: to be attractive to a team. So for a team
Speaker 3: like the Charger, who had no really no thought of
Speaker 3: being in the top ten this year, to be able
Speaker 3: to trade out of that and stack up on both
Speaker 3: sides of the football, especially the defensive offensive lines for
Speaker 3: Justin Herbert, I think that's great. But you know, considering too, Bunny,
Speaker 3: just the cap numbers of some of these players.
Speaker 1: You know, a lot of.
Speaker 3: These guys that I could be here next year is
Speaker 3: playing a simple financial decision. Will get into the one
Speaker 3: that they made a Denver too. But quickly defensively, seeing
Speaker 3: Derwin James out there for seventy one percent of the steps,
Speaker 3: mostly in slot, what were your thoughts?
Speaker 2: Well, you know, I read the article that Popper had
Speaker 2: and it definitely had a negative tone to it, which
Speaker 2: which I understand. It's the fewest percentage of snaps that
Speaker 2: Derwin's played since he was drafted, saved, ejected, or injury.
Speaker 2: I think it was seventy four point six percent or
Speaker 2: something like that, and he's been at ninety five or
Speaker 2: one hundred for nearly every game. But We've talked about
Speaker 2: this this season. Just because he can do it doesn't
Speaker 2: mean he should do it. Yes he can play high,
Speaker 2: Yes he can play on the slot. Yes he can
Speaker 2: play outside corner. He can obviously he plays box safety.
Speaker 2: But I felt like Gift did exactly what we've been
Speaker 2: talking about, which is tired to see him derwin thirty
Speaker 2: yards off the line of scrimmage. That is not where
Speaker 2: he sells. I know they primarily listed him as a
Speaker 2: slot defender, you know, which he was, but I just
Speaker 2: felt like it was more a line of scrimmage defender.
Speaker 2: It was a box safety. He was playing around the ball,
Speaker 2: almost got to Josh Allen on that one blitz. He
Speaker 2: forced the incompletion because he got the pressure there, but man,
Speaker 2: he was just maybe half a hand away from swatting
Speaker 2: that ball away. And that's what I want to see
Speaker 2: more of. And that's why I said, you know, a
Speaker 2: couple of weeks ago, like I know, there are labels
Speaker 2: that you don't like necessarily attaching because the linebacker position
Speaker 2: has been so devalued, But to me, like that's where
Speaker 2: I want them. He's got the strength, he's got the
Speaker 2: pop to play linebacker. He's got the speed where he
Speaker 2: makes the middle of the field, and it continued to
Speaker 2: be an issue in that game against the Bills, where
Speaker 2: you know, our current pair of linebackers struggling coverage, you know,
Speaker 2: and I'd love to see Derwin get some snaps there.
Speaker 2: So maybe that's where they're going. So what I'm getting at,
Speaker 2: Chris is I don't see that as a negative. I
Speaker 2: see that as hey, let's get seventy four percent of
Speaker 2: snaps at one hundred percent of Derwin. Let's not get
Speaker 2: one hundred percent of snaps at seventy five percent of Drwin.
Speaker 2: Because when you're lining them up as the nickel opposite
Speaker 2: Trey Tucker and he burns you for a sixty yard touchdown,
Speaker 2: that just sucks. It sucks for Derwin. He's got no
Speaker 2: business being in that position in the first place. So
Speaker 2: I thought they deployed him in a much more efficient
Speaker 2: and effective way.
Speaker 1: Agreed.
Speaker 3: It's been a difficult season for Drwin, even dating back
Speaker 3: to last year. You know what, I go back to
Speaker 3: that really a year ago, that Indianapolis game, that that
Speaker 3: fifteen yard penalty that he got. Uh, you know, he's
Speaker 3: playing football, and it's sometimes it's it's got to be
Speaker 3: very frustrating for him because some of those fifteen yard
Speaker 3: penalties carried over into this year. And I think it,
Speaker 3: you know, I've never played safety in the NFL, right,
Speaker 3: but naturally you have to feel like, man, I have
Speaker 3: to be kind of aware of where I'm gonna hit somebody,
Speaker 3: and maybe you're thinking a little bit too much. And
Speaker 3: then you throw in the fact that he's playing a
Speaker 3: million different positions on defense. I think that this was
Speaker 3: the perfect opportunity for GIF to just say, hey, man,
Speaker 3: you're gonna do one thing.
Speaker 1: You sell donegan to take.
Speaker 3: A breath, And you know, I don't really view it
Speaker 3: as a negative either, because they are also in evaluation
Speaker 3: mode with some of these.
Speaker 1: Other younger safeties on on the field.
Speaker 3: So I think it in December, it's you don't want
Speaker 3: to read too much into it, but I know that
Speaker 3: Derwin's gonna want to be out there during the money downs,
Speaker 3: and you know, I could tell Bibe he was a
Speaker 3: little bit frustrated by it. But it is what it
Speaker 3: is at this point, and I think it's been a
Speaker 3: difficult year for Durwin, but he's still an All Pro player,
Speaker 3: and uh, wherever or whoever the defense coordinator is next
Speaker 3: year is going to have a really nice ship and
Speaker 3: it's just a matter of trying to find the perfect
Speaker 3: place for Darwin.
Speaker 2: As you said, I don't think Derwin would push back
Speaker 2: on any of that. I think he'd be varia as
Speaker 2: it has been a really rough year for him. You know,
Speaker 2: there have been some busted coverages, there have been some
Speaker 2: bad angles, there have been some mistackles, been some bad penalties.
Speaker 2: You know, it's just been a rough go. It's been
Speaker 2: a rough season. But we certainly know the talent because
Speaker 2: you see it, you see it in bursts and so
Speaker 2: you know, and look, he was tasked with so much.
Speaker 2: I think Brandon Staley had this vision for him that
Speaker 2: he could essentially be this sort of omnipresent force, you know,
Speaker 2: out on the field.
Speaker 1: You know he bought into that money, he did. He
Speaker 1: bought it instead to his credit, yeah, one hundred percent.
Speaker 2: He never pushed back. But I think it goes to
Speaker 2: some of the things that we saw, you know under
Speaker 2: coach Staley, where Joey Bosa is trying to cover a
Speaker 2: tight end, leaking out of the backfield and just getting
Speaker 2: burned on the sideline and saying what are we doing?
Speaker 2: You know, and Khalil Mack five yards too wide, chipping
Speaker 2: a slot receiver before he tries to pass rush, knowing
Speaker 2: he's never going to get home. Like just some of
Speaker 2: those things were eliminated, you know, and these guys were
Speaker 2: able to just get after it last week. And if
Speaker 2: there's one thing i'd you know, I think I'd like
Speaker 2: to see different is it goes you know, it's what
Speaker 2: we keep saying. I'd just like to see some different
Speaker 2: names out there, you know. And we did, and we
Speaker 2: saw it in the defensive line, and we saw Scott
Speaker 2: Matlock out there for snaps. We saw Nick Johnson, and
Speaker 2: we saw Tito Aboni and I thought the rotation on
Speaker 2: the front was really good and they stayed fresh and
Speaker 2: they kept putting pressure on Josh. He's a tough guy
Speaker 2: to bring down. So you're not going to get the sacks,
Speaker 2: but you're going to force the dcompletions. You're going to
Speaker 2: force the short runs to check downs, and they did
Speaker 2: a lot of that. So I would just like to
Speaker 2: see it at some other positions, you know, andarticularly it
Speaker 2: goes back to I can't quite can't quite figure out
Speaker 2: why Dan Henley's not getting snaps. I just don't. I
Speaker 2: don't think that makes It doesn't make sense to me,
Speaker 2: unless again, it's something in practice, it's something that we're
Speaker 2: not privy to, which very well could be the case.
Speaker 2: You know that Kenneth Murray and Eric Kendricks just bust
Speaker 2: their tail in practice. They're really good leaders, and you
Speaker 2: want to reward them with playing time. But for me,
Speaker 2: I'd be a little bit selfish and say, I need
Speaker 2: to do this for the organization, you know, moving forward.
Speaker 2: We've got to evaluate, you know, this young talent to
Speaker 2: see if he can be our linebacker, you know, moving forward,
Speaker 2: and save us a heck of a lot of money
Speaker 2: because he's a third round pick.
Speaker 3: It'll be interesting to see what happens these next two weeks,
Speaker 3: because I believe everything Gifts said in the organization said
Speaker 3: they're trying to go out and win these games like
Speaker 3: they wanted to beat Buffalo, and I don't think they're
Speaker 3: gonna pull some of these I was interested money to
Speaker 3: see what the running backs share was going to look like.
Speaker 3: Is Spiller gonna just take the lie's share? And they said,
Speaker 3: you know what, we're gonna win the game. We're gonna
Speaker 3: try to win the game, and we're gonna put the
Speaker 3: ball in Austin's hands and enough with just the three
Speaker 3: different running backs carry You know.
Speaker 2: What, though, Chris, you know what I think that is too.
Speaker 2: That's that's a veteran coach respecting a veteran player. We
Speaker 2: talked about it. So now all Austin needs is eighty
Speaker 2: yards in each of the next two games to get
Speaker 2: his million dollars. And I think that's that's a gift.
Speaker 2: That's that's how you win a locker room. Yeah, that's
Speaker 2: how you get players to respect you, to say, look,
Speaker 2: you're twenty eight going on twenty nine years old. Million
Speaker 2: dollars is a lot of money, you know, for you
Speaker 2: moving forward, kind of knowing what the landscape is for
Speaker 2: for running back contracts, let's put that. Let's put that
Speaker 2: million bucks in your pocket. You're you're probably not going
Speaker 2: to get you know, he could get four touchdowns on
Speaker 2: the next two games. I think it'd be pretty tough
Speaker 2: to get the extra six hundred grand. But I think
Speaker 2: they feel like we can get you that million dollars.
Speaker 2: We you know, we can get you to eleven twenty
Speaker 2: five and get you, you know, an extra bit of
Speaker 2: cash in your pocket. And so I think that played
Speaker 2: a big role in why Austin got all those touches,
Speaker 2: and I love it, and I think he deserves it,
Speaker 2: and I think it's great for the locker room, and
Speaker 2: it's great for camaraderie for guys who want to fight
Speaker 2: to get him those yards. You know. It's a I
Speaker 2: think I think players respect that, you know, and are
Speaker 2: going to get behind gift and get out there and
Speaker 2: try to try to help Austin get to that number.
Speaker 2: No doubt.
Speaker 3: We'll put a pin in Buffalo quick break, and then
Speaker 3: we'll talk Denver and then everything else going on in
Speaker 3: the NFL that.
Speaker 1: May relate to the Chargers in this coaching search.
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Speaker 3: lifetime awaits only with on location. So Monny, Big News
Speaker 3: out of Denver yesterday, taping this on a Thursday. Sean
Speaker 3: Payton putting Russell Wilson on the bench for the last
Speaker 3: two games the season. Broncos are seven and eight after
Speaker 3: listening to the Patriots pretty much put their playoff hopes
Speaker 3: on life support, and it feels like Russell's the scapegoat.
Speaker 3: Quite frankly, I know that this is a financial decision,
Speaker 3: but based on some of Sean Payton's comments, it was
Speaker 3: kind of funny to me that they put all this
Speaker 3: on Russ when there's seven and eight and I could
Speaker 3: go back through the season and see thirty five points
Speaker 3: the Commander scored on thirty one points at the Jets
Speaker 3: score autumn, seventy points at the Dolphins scored on them
Speaker 3: forty two points at the Lions scored on them and Russell.
Speaker 3: If you put russell numbers up next to Justin's, they're
Speaker 3: about to say, actually, Russell hast six more touchdowns. And
Speaker 3: I know there are different players and everything, but I
Speaker 3: just think that it's a little bit of a scapegoat situation.
Speaker 3: And I don't think Sean Bayden wanted because Russell Wilson
Speaker 3: to begin with.
Speaker 2: No. To me, it's it's identical to what happened with
Speaker 2: Derek Carr last year. I think it's exactly. You know,
Speaker 2: We're gonna try to make it work. He's not my guy.
Speaker 2: If it were up to me, he would not be here,
Speaker 2: but he is, and he's making a lot of money.
Speaker 2: So let's see if we can, you know, and he's
Speaker 2: got a pretty good resume. Let's see if we can
Speaker 2: make it work. And ultimately, when you get to the
Speaker 2: point when you're eliminated from the playoffs and you can't
Speaker 2: take the risk of that player getting hurt because then
Speaker 2: their contract's going to vest the following season, you just
Speaker 2: move on. And so you know, I look, I would
Speaker 2: love to really put them, you know, my foot on
Speaker 2: the pedal and say, asked, this is Sean Payton trying
Speaker 2: to absolve himself of any responsibility from the mess that
Speaker 2: this year happened to be. And there is part of that.
Speaker 2: I think we've seen enough from Peyton to recognize that,
Speaker 2: and then that's sort of his mo a little bit.
Speaker 2: But to me, it was a Okay, we'll try to
Speaker 2: make it work. I'm not crazy about it. That's why
Speaker 2: I want you to sign this guy for six million
Speaker 2: bucks as a backup to a quarterback that's making thirty
Speaker 2: seven million dollars. So we saw this riding on the
Speaker 2: wall that that Peyton was not sold on him. It'll
Speaker 2: be interesting. Jared had a couple of good, good starts
Speaker 2: last year for the Raiders when he did it's funny, right,
Speaker 2: So it's like the same thing for Stidham. Like you
Speaker 2: did this with Carr last year, and now you're going
Speaker 2: to do it to Wilson this year. And the guy
Speaker 2: threw for over three hundred yards per game. He can
Speaker 2: sling it around. But I'll tell you as far as
Speaker 2: what I'd like to see, yeah, I'm fine for the
Speaker 2: Chargers seeing Stidham instead of Russ. Russ extends plays very
Speaker 2: similar to what you know, the headaches that that those
Speaker 2: mobile quarterbacks give you they played pretty well against him.
Speaker 2: You know, they had that great pick, Mikey had that
Speaker 2: great pick in the first you know, on the first
Speaker 2: attempt of the game that they weren't able to cash
Speaker 2: in for any points. But it's it's still a very
Speaker 2: good defense. They've moved on from from Kareem Jackson, obviously,
Speaker 2: but you still got Justin Simmons out there. You still
Speaker 2: have Zach Allen, who's a nightmare. And this will be
Speaker 2: interesting because when we talked about what a mess it
Speaker 2: was after that game, the Chargers offensive line just couldn't
Speaker 2: pick up a blitz like they have no idea and
Speaker 2: they were standard blitzes. We were talking to Tony Biselli
Speaker 2: about it, because he came for the next game. He's like,
Speaker 2: it's the damnedest thing I've ever seen. It's just a
Speaker 2: standard slot corner blitz, nickel blitz, safety blitz, delayed blitz
Speaker 2: like there was nothing exotic about what they were doing.
Speaker 2: And this front had no idea where to go, where
Speaker 2: to shift protections. And I think he saw a little
Speaker 2: bit of it last week. And so so going back
Speaker 2: two weeks, right against the Raiders, what do we talk
Speaker 2: about with Easton great second half, some great things in there,
Speaker 2: but you can have a pick six and cough the
Speaker 2: ball up twice. And he eliminated all the turnovers, but
Speaker 2: he still took the sacks. So you want to see
Speaker 2: him now eliminate the sacks. Let's okay, you've cleaned up
Speaker 2: the turnovers. Now let's clean up the sacks. And I
Speaker 2: think on top of that, Easton will go back and
Speaker 2: watch that film against Buffalo and realize all those RPOs
Speaker 2: that Easton that Kellen was given him. Man, he needed
Speaker 2: to keep two or three of them, and those things
Speaker 2: were going for big games if he doesn't hand that
Speaker 2: ball off and he keeps it and takes it instead.
Speaker 2: So I to me, that's that's the next step for
Speaker 2: Easton in this game. Now in his third start. Okay,
Speaker 2: I've cleaned that up. I know I have to take
Speaker 2: care of the ball. Step two, let's eliminate the sacks
Speaker 2: and let's use my legs a little bit more. Let's
Speaker 2: let's get out there because it's gonna work. And Kellen's
Speaker 2: dialing up some really good calls on these RPOs and
Speaker 2: he's just got to make better decisions on a handful
Speaker 2: of those. So I know we started that by talking
Speaker 2: about Russell will and Jared Stidham, but whatever, just kind
Speaker 2: of no, it's what it is.
Speaker 3: And it's been a it hasn't been a kind place
Speaker 3: to the Chargers Denver in terms of going in there
Speaker 3: and trying to get wins. Real quick on Russ before
Speaker 3: you move on. Do you think that had they been
Speaker 3: the Patriots and gone eight and seven, did rust would
Speaker 3: be the story today?
Speaker 2: Right? I do, because there's still there was still realistically
Speaker 2: alive for the playoffs. You know, you've got a Chargers
Speaker 2: team down half their roster and now you're nine and
Speaker 2: seven and ten and seven very well could get you in.
Speaker 2: So to me, yes, I think he's still the starter.
Speaker 2: It's a seasons lost. He's not going to be back
Speaker 2: here next year. We cannot afford to get him injured,
Speaker 2: and I can give him that extra money the bunny.
Speaker 3: The only reason I keep bringing this up is I
Speaker 3: find this is very interesting as far as it relates
Speaker 3: to the Chargers moving forward and whoever the head coach
Speaker 3: is going to be. Because the broadcast have said that
Speaker 3: Russell Wilson isn't going to be at a Center next
Speaker 3: year for US. He's not going to play quarterback for us, right,
Speaker 3: is that is that's pretty much what we got from that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, So.
Speaker 2: I feel like I feel like it was a He's
Speaker 2: not He's not a Sean Payton type of quarterback. Sean
Speaker 2: Payton is Drew Brees, Joe Lombardi, we know it. I
Speaker 2: think Joe to some degree wreck justin Herbert those couple
Speaker 2: of years and try to make him into Drew Brees.
Speaker 2: He's not, Like, that's it's not what we got here.
Speaker 2: We've got the most talented, physically talented quarterback in the league.
Speaker 2: Use it, you know, And that's just that's what those
Speaker 2: guys believe in. Snap the ball, take the ball, get
Speaker 2: rid of the ball, and let everybody else do the work.
Speaker 2: And that's what they want to do. And that's just
Speaker 2: not Russell Wilson's forte. That's not what he's best at.
Speaker 3: So this is what the division is though, right, it's
Speaker 3: it's Andy Rita Sean Payton. Right, so we know, like
Speaker 3: Hall of Fame pay coaches or Andy Reid surefire Hall
Speaker 3: of Fame hit coach Patrick Mahomes without receivers, it look
Speaker 3: a little bit different this year. Uh, the Raiders ain't
Speaker 3: O'Connell not sure, he's the answer. Didn't even attempt to
Speaker 3: pass after the first quarter of the game against the Chiefs.
Speaker 3: And then now Denver, is it Sibtle, Is it a rookie?
Speaker 3: Is it somebody you bring in via free agency? All
Speaker 3: I know is that Herbert and Mahomes still as far
Speaker 3: as the quarterback position is concerned, the class of the division,
Speaker 3: and when you bring in a let's say, you bring
Speaker 3: in an established head coach to coach this Chargers team,
Speaker 3: I just I feel like that there's more questions about
Speaker 3: the Broncos. When we thought that they were kind of
Speaker 3: turning the corner with Russ and they were gonna go
Speaker 3: on a little run, maybe make the playoffs, it looks
Speaker 3: a little bit different now, especially with the capital of
Speaker 3: implications than Russ has going befoward.
Speaker 2: Well, the one thing that the Broncos have that perhaps
Speaker 2: the Chargers doonus. They've got pretty good depth, right, so
Speaker 2: they've specifically on defense, they've got a really good secondary.
Speaker 2: Love their linebackers, you know, Browning Singleton like, they've got
Speaker 2: good they you know, their offensive line is kind of
Speaker 2: finely sort of figured it out, you know, which was
Speaker 2: a big struggle for a while. They've managed to put
Speaker 2: that together a little bit now. So I feel like
Speaker 2: they just with the coaching. Look Champaigne. As much as
Speaker 2: maybe people don't like him, he's a good coach. He's
Speaker 2: a really good coach, and I figure they'll they just
Speaker 2: need to find their guy. Like, as crazy as it sounds,
Speaker 2: you know, we've seen a bit of a decline from
Speaker 2: from Russell. You know, he doesn't quite have the explosiveness,
Speaker 2: doesn't have the quicks that he used to do. So
Speaker 2: those those runs, those extending the plays, they're not quite
Speaker 2: what they used to be. So I think they'll which
Speaker 2: what direction do they go? I don't know, you know,
Speaker 2: I'm not sure. It doesn't doesn't seem like a rookie,
Speaker 2: you know, is is going to be in range from
Speaker 2: where they're they're picking. But tough to say. You know,
Speaker 2: maybe they signed Easton Stick who knows it's you know
Speaker 2: what I mean, Like, I don't quite know, but clearly
Speaker 2: it's not Russ And they think enough of Jared's Didham
Speaker 2: to give him that amount of money. I think it
Speaker 2: was six million bucks if I remember right, I think money.
Speaker 3: I think he had like ten million for two years.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so that's a lot to back up a guy
Speaker 2: that's making forty million bucks. So maybe it is gonna
Speaker 2: be Stidham and they're just doing this two game audition. Now, look,
Speaker 2: the Raiders tried to do that and ultimately decided, no,
Speaker 2: we're gonna We're gonna move on to Garoppolo. I don't
Speaker 2: know what their cap situation is, but there are gonna
Speaker 2: be some interesting quarterbacks out there this upcoming season. Kirk
Speaker 2: Cousins is gonna be a free agent, great decision maker,
Speaker 2: very good at getting the ball out. That's a real possibility.
Speaker 2: But again, when you're gonna be carrying thirty eight million,
Speaker 2: I think it's thirty eight million next year of a
Speaker 2: cap number for for US, it's probably more likely than not.
Speaker 2: Jared Stidham and a rookie is what I would guess. Yeah,
Speaker 2: you're not gonna trade. You're not trading that contract.
Speaker 3: No, there's no chance. Kirk Couzins would be perfect. And
Speaker 3: then for Battle think they can afford it, and uh,
Speaker 3: I don't know. I'm so like the rookies, like bo
Speaker 3: Nix is the only like experienced like rookie. I think
Speaker 3: this will work with Pedix to Yeah, pedis a little
Speaker 3: ajury prone.
Speaker 1: But he's been awesome this year. Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 3: I just find the division fascinating now with all the
Speaker 3: decisions that never has to make, and what are the
Speaker 3: Raikers going to do? Like they crushed the Chargers, They
Speaker 3: went into Arrowhead and beat the Chiefs and their defense
Speaker 3: was just bawling out like you have to make pierce
Speaker 3: to the head coach now, No.
Speaker 2: Please, yeah, please, that's my answer to that. Please do
Speaker 2: it please. That's Look, they're playing great, they're playing inspired football.
Speaker 2: Clearly they like playing for him. I don't think there's
Speaker 2: any I'm not taking anything away from him, but he
Speaker 2: puts sixty three up on, you know, on the Chargers,
Speaker 2: their rival on National TV knocks off the Chiefs at Arrowhead.
Speaker 2: Those are impressive. That is impressive to put on your resume.
Speaker 2: I'm not taking anything away from that, so I wouldn't.
Speaker 2: And look, if you're Mark Davis, you gave John Gruden
Speaker 2: one hundred million dollars. Ultimately, I don't know what they
Speaker 2: had to give him to get it right, so he
Speaker 2: didn't sue him after being fired the way he was,
Speaker 2: but I'm sure it was a pretty big number to settle.
Speaker 2: They got thirty million bucks going to Josh McDaniels because
Speaker 2: they signed him to a five year I think it
Speaker 2: was five years fifty if I remember right May it
Speaker 2: was four years forty. Whatever it was, it was a
Speaker 2: lot of money, a lot of money. So maybe you
Speaker 2: give Antonio three years, you know, at four per something
Speaker 2: like that, and that way you're you're saving a little
Speaker 2: bit of money. You're only paying fourteen million bucks for
Speaker 2: your head coach instead of twenty five because you're chasing
Speaker 2: you know, Jim harbaught fifteen mil, or you know Bill
Speaker 2: Belichick at twenty mil. Like that's I don't know what
Speaker 2: their financial situation is, but I would assume sooner or
Speaker 2: later that's a pretty big tab. I mean, heck, you
Speaker 2: got the rumor out there that Ben Johnson wants fifteen
Speaker 2: million bucks to be a first time head coach. There's
Speaker 2: no way. I mean, I appreciate the agent trying to
Speaker 2: plant that seed, but come on, man, let's let's be
Speaker 2: real here. So I wouldn't be surprised.
Speaker 3: It's actually going to be a calculated risk by the
Speaker 3: Raiders to just like you said, like four years per.
Speaker 3: If the wheels come off next year, you could part
Speaker 3: ways pretty easily, and they go after another big fish, right.
Speaker 2: I'm all for it.
Speaker 3: As far as this, as far as this head coaching
Speaker 3: position is concerned. I think our buddy Joe Ready tried
Speaker 3: to ask Jim Harball about the Chargers open. I didn't
Speaker 3: yes you that he was a disney World in our
Speaker 3: Disneyland and they asked. I think Joe just went in
Speaker 3: there and you know, shouted out the fact that the
Speaker 3: Chargers are looking for a coach and his reaction and
Speaker 3: Jim hit him with the one track mind, one day
Speaker 3: at a time, Attack today, Attack today. Somebody asked him
Speaker 3: about the other head coach. We're going to one track
Speaker 3: mind attack today. So we got to give Joe Ready
Speaker 3: a shout out for any swing in the back.
Speaker 2: You know. Yeah, love you Joe and your cats. Way
Speaker 2: to go love. Yeah. Look, we've said it now three
Speaker 2: ever since Brandon was let go to me. I just
Speaker 2: I feel like that's what the people want and I have,
Speaker 2: and I'm with him. He'd there are plenty of good coaches.
Speaker 2: We've we've talked about all the names that I think
Speaker 2: makes sense. You know, Dan Quinn has been a head
Speaker 2: coach before, is a great guy, has worked with Kellen
Speaker 2: and I think It's an opportunity for Kellen to show
Speaker 2: off a little bit here these next couple of weeks
Speaker 2: with Easton and these play you know, no Keenan, no
Speaker 2: Mike Williams, you know, no Justin Herbert. Can you put
Speaker 2: up some points and get a couple of wins and
Speaker 2: then you can kind of keep that synergy going moving forward.
Speaker 2: So I think there's there's some some great positives there.
Speaker 2: I just keep going back to the idea that the
Speaker 2: moment Jim Harball walks in that door, he walks in
Speaker 2: with an offensive background with I was a quarterback in
Speaker 2: the League one playoff games. I'm in the Ring of
Speaker 2: Honor in Indianapolis, you know, And I'm a winner. I'm
Speaker 2: I'm not just a winner at Stanford. I'm not just
Speaker 2: a winner at San Diego. I'm not just a winner
Speaker 2: at Michigan. I was a winner with the forty nine ers.
Speaker 2: We were two minutes away from winning a Super Bowl.
Speaker 2: Turned around a team that was in it was the dregs.
Speaker 2: I mean, it was a disaster of a team when
Speaker 2: he took it over. And I can't forty four and
Speaker 2: fourteen or something like that was his record, Like it's read.
Speaker 1: He was incredible.
Speaker 2: So I just feel like there's something to that presence
Speaker 2: to we're gonna change things. You guys lost more one
Speaker 2: score games than any team over the last five years.
Speaker 2: Y'all lost more games by three or fewer points. They
Speaker 2: got a shot at doing that the most in history.
Speaker 2: It's the ninety three Oilers that were zero and seven
Speaker 2: in games they lost by three points or less. Right
Speaker 2: now the Chargers. I got six of them. So we're changing.
Speaker 2: I'm a winner. You guys may not be winners, but
Speaker 2: I am. And you're going to join me in being
Speaker 2: winners moving forward. So I just think there's something there's
Speaker 2: something to that. If it's anybody else, if it's Ben
Speaker 2: Johnson or Mike McDonald, great, you know. I mean, I'm
Speaker 2: sure they come in with great press. That's the thing.
Speaker 2: It's like, people, we don't know. We don't know what
Speaker 2: these meetings are like, or how they go, or what
Speaker 2: the presentation is, what the vision is. But I just
Speaker 2: for me, I feel like I know what Jim Harboy is.
Speaker 2: Freaking guy's a psycho. He is a psycho who's super
Speaker 2: competitive and all he wants to do is win football games.
Speaker 2: That is why he believes he was put on earth
Speaker 2: to go win football games. And there's something about guys
Speaker 2: like that that I just appreciate.
Speaker 1: And he gets interview him every week.
Speaker 2: I mean, I don't know, I don't know if he'd
Speaker 2: be okay with Maybe that'll change. I mean. The funny
Speaker 2: thing is like when he first got the job at
Speaker 2: San Diego, we used to put him on We would
Speaker 2: put him on the Petro some money show, and then
Speaker 2: that carried over when he got the Stanford job. He
Speaker 2: came out all the time because he would use us
Speaker 2: to recruit southern California. I would assume that was his idea, Well,
Speaker 2: hey here's the number one show.
Speaker 1: And so other that fuck you every week.
Speaker 2: Sometimes he'd be great. Other times he'd be like not
Speaker 2: enjoying this. I don't like you guys very much. But
Speaker 2: you know, And also I got to call a ton
Speaker 2: of Stanford games with with Curtis Conway, who was his teammate,
Speaker 2: you know, and and we would go down on the
Speaker 2: field and some games he'd be in a great mood
Speaker 2: and other games he wouldn't be. And it just kind
Speaker 2: of dependent what Jim Harball you got. But there's no
Speaker 2: denying it's it's not about not about how how comfortable
Speaker 2: we're going to be. It's about winning games and given
Speaker 2: Justin Herbert and this team the best voice moving forward.
Speaker 2: And I think anybody you talked to that's in his
Speaker 2: inner circle, they all say the same thing that not
Speaker 2: winning that Super Bowl tore him apart, and and he
Speaker 2: is fueled. He is determined to get back to the
Speaker 2: NFL at some point, get back to the Super Bowl
Speaker 2: and win it. So let's let's have it be with
Speaker 2: the Powder Blues.
Speaker 3: I think the best case scenario for those who want
Speaker 3: Jim Harball in the NFL, specifically in Los Angeles, is
Speaker 3: they go out and they beat Alabama and the Rose
Speaker 3: Bowl and they win a national championship, and he can
Speaker 3: leave Michigan knowing that he accomplished the mission, and really
Speaker 3: he kind of has already right going to back, he
Speaker 3: totally has, but just to have the complete icing on
Speaker 3: the cake and cherry on top winning a national championships,
Speaker 3: then I feel like he would be like, you know what,
Speaker 3: I did what I said I was gonna do. Now
Speaker 3: I got to go back to the NFL and win
Speaker 3: a Super Bowl, and who knows it could be with
Speaker 3: the Charters.
Speaker 1: We talked about all the big fish, Money, Belichick, Harrball, Tomlin,
Speaker 1: who I think would be It'd be ridiculous. I he
Speaker 1: went anywhere. I think he's gonna stay in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 3: Yeah, the first time coordinators or the coordinators who used
Speaker 3: to be head coaches. That list I think is rather short.
Speaker 3: You know, you mentioned Dan Quinn, a guy who has
Speaker 3: been to a Super Bowl and has done a heck
Speaker 3: of a job in Dallas. Ben Johnson who I mean,
Speaker 3: he lights up the score board every week. But I
Speaker 3: think I even said last week, you know, we're not
Speaker 3: in the interview.
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 3: I mean, I know he's learned from Dan Cable, and
Speaker 3: Dan Cable's learned from San Payton, and I'm sure that
Speaker 3: he has a CEO type mentality in there somewhere, But
Speaker 3: I don't know. Mike McDonald, the defensive coordator, would you
Speaker 3: bring in another defensive mind?
Speaker 2: I think that's very Brandon Staley esque, right, guy that
Speaker 2: coordinates the number one defense, first year doing it? What
Speaker 2: do we make of that? What's the takeaway that you know?
Speaker 2: What I mean? I think that to me is a
Speaker 2: lot of times the pendulum's got a swing, and that's
Speaker 2: too similar when you go through it. You've got Frank Reich,
Speaker 2: who has let go by the Panthers and reportedly they
Speaker 2: were interested in bringing him in as the OC No
Speaker 2: One in Arizona, Washington. Eric the enemy, but there's a
Speaker 2: reason why he's interviewed for seemingly every head coaching job
Speaker 2: and keeps, you know, not getting them.
Speaker 3: What do you think about enemy? It's you know, how
Speaker 3: is played really good ball? Then he just hit a
Speaker 3: complete wall and the team's a mess. But Kansas City
Speaker 3: is also a mess offensive lead. Yeah right, I don't know.
Speaker 3: I you mentioned he's interviewed a tother times. I guess
Speaker 3: it hasn't.
Speaker 2: Goldwell, No, and I'm going Bears. They may get rid
Speaker 2: of Everflus. I don't know if you can bring him
Speaker 2: in considering his record Saints, no Packers, no Falcons. If
Speaker 2: they let go of Arthur Smith, you'd probably bring him
Speaker 2: in for an interview. I know they were interested in
Speaker 2: him when they hired Brandon Staley, No Vikings, Seahawks Rams
Speaker 2: Raheem Morris be interesting. You know, was so young when
Speaker 2: he got that opportunity he was with and that those players,
Speaker 2: My gosh, you look at the defensive talent on that team.
Speaker 2: It is all kids and they're playing their tail off,
Speaker 2: So that's interesting. You mentioned dan Quinn Tampa and no.
Speaker 2: Ben Johnson's the hot name out of Detroit, Philly, Nobody,
Speaker 2: San Francisco. You know, they've been kind of just picked clean. Patriots.
Speaker 2: We already talked about Belichick Tennessee. You've talked about if
Speaker 2: they move on from Vrabel, but I just don't quite
Speaker 2: see that happening. Bengles, Steelers, Tomlin. We talked about Colts, Bills, Browns.
Speaker 2: Jim Schwartz. That's an interesting one you think about. You've
Speaker 2: got no quarterback on that team. The quarterback position has
Speaker 2: been an absolute disaster, and you got ten wins and
Speaker 2: you're kicking ass on defense. So that's that's an interesting one.
Speaker 3: Interesting you mentioned that name, because all I can think
Speaker 3: about is the Jim Harball Jim Schwartz handshake.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, one of the games.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, exactly when he took the Lies to the playoffs.
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, the year after they were over.
Speaker 1: Genius too. I think he went to Georgetown.
Speaker 2: And he's a very bright guy.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, very He would be an interesting name.
Speaker 1: He's had success as a coordinator everywhere he's going.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's that's an interesting one. Chiefs, Nobody, Dolphins. I
Speaker 2: mean there's that Frank Smith thing, but I can't see that,
Speaker 2: you know, not not somebody that was on Brandon's staff there,
Speaker 2: so that would be weird. So yeah, I think that's
Speaker 2: you know, there's a lot and there's I'm sure some
Speaker 2: names that we're not thinking of. I mean, selfishly, the
Speaker 2: only one that I would everybody talks about Ryan Day
Speaker 2: that he definitely has an NFL presence to him, more
Speaker 2: of a CEO, you know, stickler to details, details, details,
Speaker 2: details kind of guy. So that would be one. And
Speaker 2: rumor is he's interested in making the jump. I think
Speaker 2: that's more important than just like one of the scheme guys. Selfishly,
Speaker 2: for me, one of my absolute favorite people in the
Speaker 2: profession is Chris Peterson. I think that guy would be
Speaker 2: successful anywhere he goes. He is such an inspiring figure.
Speaker 2: The way he speaks to people, the motivational just there's
Speaker 2: something about him. He just anytime you're in his presence,
Speaker 2: you just feel there's like a lift. He just won't
Speaker 2: do it. I think he's so content and his post
Speaker 2: coaching life. But you're talking about a guy that won
Speaker 2: at Davis, that made Boise State and national power and
Speaker 2: knocked off Oklahoma in a BCS game, took Washington to
Speaker 2: the playoff. Like that. That guy's a coach. He can
Speaker 2: freaking coach. So and there's the connection with Kellen obviously.
Speaker 2: You know, the two made incredible magic at Boise together,
Speaker 2: so that would be it. I don't think there's anyone
Speaker 2: else from the coaching ranks. You know, there's the Brian Kelly,
Speaker 2: but no, thank you, I'll take a pass on that.
Speaker 1: Oh I can think about Brian Kelly's my family.
Speaker 2: Oh here we go. Now, you know he'll show up
Speaker 2: here at our press conference and be like, what's up?
Speaker 2: Super stoked b here guys. Yeah, no, no, thank you.
Speaker 2: I'll take a pass on Brian Kelly. I mean, look what,
Speaker 2: You've already got it out there. The guy's just never
Speaker 2: I don't know. It's like I don't remember who put
Speaker 2: it out there. If it was felt, I think he
Speaker 2: might have been Bruce that put it out there that
Speaker 2: if Jim were to leave Michigan, did Brian Kelly be interested.
Speaker 1: It's like, dude already just jumping jobs.
Speaker 2: So I think that I wish I could think of
Speaker 2: I mean, I guess if I go to n Cuba
Speaker 2: and go do rankings. Let's see if there's anybody that
Speaker 2: we're forgetting skin. I mean, look old Dabbo Rooms.
Speaker 1: I don't think that that he's an NFL guy.
Speaker 2: No Sark, No Saban, not gonna do it. Norvel is
Speaker 2: you know, Kirby. I think those guys are you know,
Speaker 2: they're they're great coaches, but I think recruiting is such
Speaker 2: a big part of their success. Dan Lanning is interesting.
Speaker 2: I mean, he's certainly got those guys fired up, you know,
Speaker 2: and is pretty incredible what he's been able to do
Speaker 2: at Oregon. But those are all just such big risks,
Speaker 2: you know that that's and then like when you talk
Speaker 2: about the Lincoln Riley's you know sort of thing. Those
Speaker 2: are just sort of scheme guys, and I think you
Speaker 2: fall into a little bit of a danger zone with
Speaker 2: guys like that as opposed to leaders more of the
Speaker 2: oh yeah, that guy's a head coach. And that's sort
Speaker 2: of the sense you get with Jim Harbaugh, with Kalin
Speaker 2: de boor with Nick Saban, with Mike Norvel, Like these
Speaker 2: guys are head coaches, they're Ryan Day. You know, they're
Speaker 2: not play card. You know what's the next great play
Speaker 2: I can call. They're they're leaders. So there's a lot
Speaker 2: of interesting names.
Speaker 3: Midway through the USC, I think Lincoln who there? You
Speaker 3: thought there were some rulers, but I don't want to go
Speaker 3: to the NFL. Those quickly went.
Speaker 2: Away, you know, So yeah, no doubt. I mean, and
Speaker 2: he's making a ton of cash. And yeah, I mean
Speaker 2: he's making a ridiculous amount of money. Now look he's
Speaker 2: losing Caleb Williams. It was fun to watch Miller Moss
Speaker 2: last night, you know, put together a heck of a
Speaker 2: game insteat a USC record. I love seeing those stories.
Speaker 2: It's wonderful even if he never plays, you know, another
Speaker 2: game for see because they bring someone in through the
Speaker 2: transfer portal. But you know, it's it goes to show
Speaker 2: you Lincoln can coach offense. Man, he can freaking coach offense.
Speaker 2: So there's I get it, you know, I totally get it.
Speaker 2: But you know, to me, I think for the Chargers,
Speaker 2: I do think there's something to having that winning mentality
Speaker 2: walk through the door. Yeah, set a tone change. I'm
Speaker 2: not necessarily saying change of culture, but just I think
Speaker 2: set a tone is the best way to put it.
Speaker 3: I think establish a culture of wedding, you know, with
Speaker 3: with with somebody who's done it before. And yeah, money
Speaker 3: last thing, because I think that there's been some chatter
Speaker 3: among fans too, like, well, shoot, next year, look at
Speaker 3: the cap, it's for forty million over. We're gonna take
Speaker 3: a step back anyway. You know what what could next
Speaker 3: year look like? I think A, with with A plus coaching,
Speaker 3: they're gonna be all right.
Speaker 1: And and B.
Speaker 3: Like what do you think they need to do to
Speaker 3: make sure that they.
Speaker 1: Can make the playoffs next year?
Speaker 3: Like you mentioned the top ten draft pick, that's a
Speaker 3: chip that can be turned into a lot of different positions,
Speaker 3: and they need some positions. Do you bring Mike or Keenan,
Speaker 3: Joey or Khalil? Like there's a lot of big decisions
Speaker 3: that need to be made. And again these last two
Speaker 3: weeks we talked about the development of some of these guys.
Speaker 1: We haven't seen a heavily out there.
Speaker 3: There's some of the guys that we need to see
Speaker 3: across the defensive light especially, but I.
Speaker 1: Don't think that they're too far away. I think that
Speaker 1: the you know, the cap, some people say the cap
Speaker 1: is a myth and you can you can get around it.
Speaker 1: And you can.
Speaker 3: You can, you know, manipulate it, and to some degree
Speaker 3: you can. I know, justin ververper is gonna make a
Speaker 3: ton of money here over the next several years.
Speaker 1: But you can still field. I think a contending team.
Speaker 2: Well, they have one of two paths they can take,
Speaker 2: and the one path is the Saints. And you kick
Speaker 2: the can down the road another year and you move
Speaker 2: some money around and you keep all the old guys
Speaker 2: and you just you're like, well, because you're gonna have
Speaker 2: to take your medicine, sooner or later, it's gonna happen.
Speaker 2: You can't. Yes, the cap keeps going up and think,
Speaker 2: but it's just eventually you're gonna have to reset and
Speaker 2: you're going to have to move or cut and your
Speaker 2: take your poison pills, you know, in terms of cap
Speaker 2: hits with dead cap money. You know, the Rams had
Speaker 2: to do it and they were able to compete. You know,
Speaker 2: the Rams did it this year, and they they in
Speaker 2: two years ago and they had to restock their roster
Speaker 2: with all that young talent, and last year they played
Speaker 2: like crap and this year they're back, you know, and
Speaker 2: next year they're going to be even better. And so
Speaker 2: I I think Justin's twenty five. Like to me, it
Speaker 2: almost makes a little bit more sense just to take
Speaker 2: your medicine now take it right away, rip the band
Speaker 2: aid off and so. And by that what I mean
Speaker 2: is I think you shop. You figure out which of
Speaker 2: these big numbers can get a trade? Can I can
Speaker 2: I get a mid round pick? Can I get a
Speaker 2: three for one of these blue chips? Because that then
Speaker 2: lessens your financial impact, right, it takes it down a
Speaker 2: little bit, so you don't have as big of a
Speaker 2: hit against the cap as just letting the guy go
Speaker 2: and eating all the dead money. If you can make
Speaker 2: a trade, get some of that money back. They're already
Speaker 2: doing it with J. C. Jackson. You know, they took
Speaker 2: a took a huge hit on that because they had
Speaker 2: to pay the majority of the salary just to get
Speaker 2: him off the roster. But if you can find some
Speaker 2: teams that are willing to trade for and restructure because
Speaker 2: they feel like they're really close and maybe they're one
Speaker 2: wide receiver away or one defensive lineman away, then to me,
Speaker 2: that would be a yes. I think they say yes
Speaker 2: in those situations. Can we get an asset, can we
Speaker 2: get a mid round pick? Can we get a day
Speaker 2: two pick you know, a two, three or four for
Speaker 2: one of these guys, and just restock the roster and
Speaker 2: get young and kind of reset our financial situation moving forward,
Speaker 2: because it's clear they have to. I mean, you know,
Speaker 2: that's just it's either that or all right, we're forty
Speaker 2: million over, let's restructure, convert this to signing bonus, add
Speaker 2: some voidable years, and we're coming back with the same guys,
Speaker 2: A plus coaching.
Speaker 3: We'll mask that too if you rip the band aid off. Yes,
Speaker 3: you know, Sean McVay is the perfect example of that, Like,
Speaker 3: like what what they're doing money is remarkable with all
Speaker 3: these young guys and in a in a an elite
Speaker 3: quarterback also messed that, like Stafford was hurt during that
Speaker 3: five and twelve year and it just the wheels came
Speaker 3: off a little bit. But had Stafford say healthy, they
Speaker 3: probably would have won eight or nine games last year.
Speaker 2: They had to reset their old line, you know, and
Speaker 2: I think but they did, and I think that's it's
Speaker 2: kind of what we're getting at, right. You know, you
Speaker 2: just got to reset. You're gonna have to reset some
Speaker 2: position groups that either got old or underperformed with some
Speaker 2: young talent. And hope you can coach them up and
Speaker 2: develop them. And that's what the Rams did, no doubt.
Speaker 3: Uh Denver on Sunday, anything else about that matchup? Did
Speaker 3: you want to dive into.
Speaker 2: Or let's get Eckler's eighty yards, Maybe try to get
Speaker 2: him one hundred so you know, all he needs is
Speaker 2: sixty against the Chiefs. Get him his money. Let's get
Speaker 2: east in a win, you know, let's continue to win.
Speaker 2: Let's get different with win miked up in the locker
Speaker 2: room postgame on I'm with you. I would love to
Speaker 2: see him get this one. I think it's attainable. They
Speaker 2: split with the Broncos every year, so let's get they
Speaker 2: beat them. You know, the Broncos beat the Chargers here.
Speaker 2: Let's let's get the split by knocking them off there,
Speaker 2: you know, get your sixth win, and see if you
Speaker 2: can close it out by ruining the Chiefs and pushing
Speaker 2: them down to the four seat. That's what I'd love
Speaker 2: to see.
Speaker 3: Could you imagine if the Raiders win next week and
Speaker 3: the Chiefs lives to the Bagels and the Rangers have
Speaker 3: the ability to keep the Chiefs out of the playoffs,
Speaker 3: that would be great. Putting the Raiders in, But the
Speaker 3: fact that you can knock the chiefs out makes it weader.
Speaker 2: Maybe get Antonio Pierce a ten year contract, a lifetime contract, exactly,
Speaker 2: all right, guys, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Buddy, safe
Speaker 2: travels to Denver. Appreciate.
Speaker 3: This has been Chargers Weekly, presented by Microsoft, Sir