Chargers Vs Miami Week 2 Game Day Thread

[Fleet]

This will end up being the gameday thread. Im also most likely going to switch to the dark blue theme on gameday just to see if there is some good luck involved by summoning the one player who always felt we would win. Seau. lol

Anyways use this thread to discuss this upcoming game vs Miami and then we will roll it into the game thread. Probably just do this every week. News and reports about the game etc. Miami injuries etc.

Stopping Ajayi will be a tough job. Hopefully we can figure out a way to stiffen up the middle of the DL. And figure out a way to counter the blitz's. Denver clearly showed how to stop our pass and run by simply raping the asses of our pathetic OL. So maybe we can have some little dump offs and screens devised to take advantage of that?

When you cant use your TEs because they are trying to help against the rush and its still failing its going to be a long season. Telesco has had plenty of time to get the OL right. He has tried.....but he has failed with the wrong players. If this season is yet another failure on the OL he has to be done. He will have shown he dosnt know how to put together arguably the most important piece to this team. We are loaded with weapons and cant use them because of incompetence on the OL.

The other thing is Cutler is somewhat mobile. He will absolutely try to gash up the middle like Semien did. Our LB play in the middle has to get better.

If we can set the tone early i like our chances. Cant wait until the 4th quarter to show up.

BOLT UP!!!!!!!

[richpjr]

In TT's defense, we did draft arguably the best linemen in the draft in Lamp, draft another highly rated linemen in Freeney, and signed Okung. He did address the biggest weakness on the team. We know Lamp got hurt and we'll see how the other two turn out.

[WindsorUK]

How did Denver's rookie Tackle play? Bolles?
I didn't watch the game but I'm thinking he probably had a better season opener than our No.1, or No.2 for that matter.
TT does try but he keeps missing. Other than signing Dunlop, and having Slauson fall into his lap, it's been bad.

[Fleet]

In TT's defense, we did draft arguably the best linemen in the draft in Lamp, draft another highly rated linemen in Freeney, and signed Okung. He did address the biggest weakness on the team. We know Lamp got hurt and we'll see how the other two turn out.

I basically said he has tried. Dosnt mean the players work out. Okung looked brutal last night. Feeney needs a lot of work. I honestly saw a much better player in college but some guys just get rocked when they make the step up. Speed of the game is hard to grasp for rookie OL. He needs time.

But Barksdale being viewed as a starter? That alone makes me think Telesco has no clue what hes doing on the OL. After 4 years we should not be looking like the worst OL in the league every year.

Everyone knows i cant stand Barksdale. Im just shocked that this team thinks so highly of him. The interior of the OL got mangled last night. Are Wiggins and Pulley

[Concudan]

I basically said he has tried. Dosnt mean the players work out. Okung looked brutal last night. Feeney needs a lot of work. I honestly saw a much better player in college but some guys just get rocked when they make the step up. Speed of the game is hard to grasp for rookie OL. He needs time.

But Barksdale being viewed as a starter? That alone makes me think Telesco has no clue what hes doing on the OL. After 4 years we should not be looking like the worst OL in the league every year.

I think most offensive teams, OLs especially are going to look bad with that crowd noise. At that point they have to completely watch the ball, and the DL, and the rest of the d.

Lets give them a couple of games before we kick them into the pit of doom screaming THIS IS LA!

I would humbly suggest.

I would further suggest that all in all there was a lot to buid on from last night. Losing a game in Denver, opening night where they have an impressive w/l record is not a complete measurement of the teams lack of fortitude IMHO.

[Fleet]

I think most offensive teams, OLs especially are going to look bad with that crowd noise. At that point they have to completely watch the ball, and the DL, and the rest of the d.

Lets give them a couple of games before we kick them into the pit of doom screaming THIS IS LA!

I would humbly suggest.

I would further suggest that all in all there was a lot to buid on from last night. Losing a game in Denver, opening night where they have an impressive w/l record is not a complete measurement of the teams lack of fortitude IMHO.

Im fully on board with giving them time. I said it myself that the environment with the crowd noise was brutal.

[Millionaire Wussy]

I am still wondering where the 4th quarter Chargers were hiding during the first three quarters. Is that rust? Nerves? What?

[Guest]

I basically said he has tried. Dosnt mean the players work out. Okung looked brutal last night. Feeney needs a lot of work. I honestly saw a much better player in college but some guys just get rocked when they make the step up. Speed of the game is hard to grasp for rookie OL. He needs time.

But Barksdale being viewed as a starter? That alone makes me think Telesco has no clue what hes doing on the OL. After 4 years we should not be looking like the worst OL in the league every year.

Another factor in a rookie's development and transition, or any new player's for that matter, is what situation they are coming into.

Take the Dallas Cowboys as a prime example:
2013 they spend a first round pick on Travis Frederick. A bit of a reach at the time according to some but he went straight into an O-Line that featured pro bowl and all pro left tackle Tyron Smith, Ronald Leary, Mackenzy Bernadeau, and Doug Free. So while there was obviously a lot of pressure on his shoulders as a first round pick, he made his transition to the pros on a solid O-Line.

2014 they spend a mid first round pick on Zack Martin. He joins an O-Line that features pro bowl and all pro left tackle Tyron Smith, Ronald Leary, pro bowl center Travis Frederick, and Doug Free. Again lots of pressure on a first round guard, but he entered a great situation that helped him.

2015 they pick up La'el Collins as an undrafted free agent - had he not been tied to a criminal investigation he would have likely been a first round pick. However, when he joined the Cowboys he was a backup in 2015, but in 2016 he ended up starting in place of Leary joining an O-Line that featured three pro bowl and all pro O-Linemen (Smith, Frederick, Martin).

Fast forward to this season and Doug Free retires and Ronald Leary leaves in free agency. For a lot of teams losing two pieces would be an issue, however they shift Collins to RT and bring in third year o-linemen Chaz Green in to play LG. Granted it's only been one game but their O-line looked a strength against the Giants.

So essentially what I am saying here is that the Cowboys have spent first round picks on two O-Linemen in the past few seasons and they've gone straight into their line up and excelled. Now part of that is because they are very talented football players, but the other part of that is they have joined a very talented O-Line with no real weakness when they slot into their position. So when Zack Martin joins he's got an all pro center to his left and one of the better less talked about right tackles in football in Doug Free, and when La'el Collins gained the starters position at LG he was flanked by two all pros - both examples are perfect situations for new players to find themselves in because they are joining an elite group where there is significantly less pressure on them.

Compare that to our two draft picks this season and the pressure is totally different because our O-Line has been in flux for a few seasons. So the expectations from people is that Feeney and Lamp would come in and improve our O-Line play from day one because of how highly regarded those two players were coming out of college. I said to other Chargers fans this off season that drafting Feeney and Lamp to slot into the interior of this O-Line was a good move, but I felt that their transition might not be smooth because our O-Line has struggled with health and performance in recent seasons. But I'll be honest and say that I didn't like the signing of Russell Okung because we paid big money to a player that allowed 4 sacks, 4 QB hits, and 49 QB hurries last season for the Broncos. He was terrible and the Broncos let him go. The other issue is that on the other side of the line Joe Barksdale has not lived up to his contract either, and arguably before that he was an average to above average right tackle. Our bookend tackles probably rank in the bottom third of the league and that is a huge issue when you have a quarterback like Philip Rivers, if your bookend tackles struggle, the quarterback is going to either get nailed or be under pressure. The further issue is that our other talent in starting positions are no better than average players - Slauson, Pulley and Wiggins - and that's been a consistent problem over past seasons that our O-line has not been built properly from the ground up. If you look at the best O-Lines around the league they build a strong culture from the ground up and we haven't really done that under Telesco. He's used band-aids to fix the line and until that approach changes our O-Line struggles will continue.

With that said, I still believe that Feeney and Lamp were good draft picks and that they can be starters on this line long term. Hopefully Feeney builds on MNF, learns from his mistakes, and becomes a better player for it. But it's a tough situation for both of these talents to find themselves in because they have arguably been drafted by a team that has one of the worst O-Lines in football and improving that was always going to be a challenge when they are flanked by average players. It is a shame that Lamp got hurt and will miss the season. I think he was the more likely of the two to make an impact this season, however both players were faced with an uphill task and will likely take time to find their feet in the NFL due to the state of our O-Line.

[Fleet]

Another factor in a rookie's development and transition, or any new player's for that matter, is what situation they are coming into.

Take the Dallas Cowboys as a prime example:
2013 they spend a first round pick on Travis Frederick. A bit of a reach at the time according to some but he went straight into an O-Line that featured pro bowl and all pro left tackle Tyron Smith, Ronald Leary, Mackenzy Bernadeau, and Doug Free. So while there was obviously a lot of pressure on his shoulders as a first round pick, he made his transition to the pros on a solid O-Line.

2014 they spend a mid first round pick on Zack Martin. He joins an O-Line that features pro bowl and all pro left tackle Tyron Smith, Ronald Leary, pro bowl center Travis Frederick, and Doug Free. Again lots of pressure on a first round guard, but he entered a great situation that helped him.

2015 they pick up La'el Collins as an undrafted free agent - had he not been tied to a criminal investigation he would have likely been a first round pick. However, when he joined the Cowboys he was a backup in 2015, but in 2016 he ended up starting in place of Leary joining an O-Line that featured three pro bowl and all pro O-Linemen (Smith, Frederick, Martin).

Fast forward to this season and Doug Free retires and Ronald Leary leaves in free agency. For a lot of teams losing two pieces would be an issue, however they shift Collins to RT and bring in third year o-linemen Chaz Green in to play LG. Granted it's only been one game but their O-line looked a strength against the Giants.

So essentially what I am saying here is that the Cowboys have spent first round picks on two O-Linemen in the past few seasons and they've gone straight into their line up and excelled. Now part of that is because they are very talented football players, but the other part of that is they have joined a very talented O-Line with no real weakness when they slot into their position. So when Zack Martin joins he's got an all pro center to his left and one of the better less talked about right tackles in football in Doug Free, and when La'el Collins gained the starters position at LG he was flanked by two all pros - both examples are perfect situations for new players to find themselves in because they are joining an elite group where there is significantly less pressure on them.

Compare that to our two draft picks this season and the pressure is totally different because our O-Line has been in flux for a few seasons. So the expectations from people is that Feeney and Lamp would come in and improve our O-Line play from day one because of how highly regarded those two players were coming out of college. I said to other Chargers fans this off season that drafting Feeney and Lamp to slot into the interior of this O-Line was a good move, but I felt that their transition might not be smooth because our O-Line has struggled with health and performance in recent seasons. But I'll be honest and say that I didn't like the signing of Russell Okung because we paid big money to a player that allowed 4 sacks, 4 QB hits, and 49 QB hurries last season for the Broncos. He was terrible and the Broncos let him go. The other issue is that on the other side of the line Joe Barksdale has not lived up to his contract either, and arguably before that he was an average to above average right tackle. Our bookend tackles probably rank in the bottom third of the league and that is a huge issue when you have a quarterback like Philip Rivers, if your bookend tackles struggle, the quarterback is going to either get nailed or be under pressure. The further issue is that our other talent in starting positions are no better than average players - Slauson, Pulley and Wiggins - and that's been a consistent problem over past seasons that our O-line has not been built properly from the ground up. If you look at the best O-Lines around the league they build a strong culture from the ground up and we haven't really done that under Telesco. He's used band-aids to fix the line and until that approach changes our O-Line struggles will continue.

With that said, I still believe that Feeney and Lamp were good draft picks and that they can be starters on this line long term. Hopefully Feeney builds on MNF, learns from his mistakes, and becomes a better player for it. But it's a tough situation for both of these talents to find themselves in because they have arguably been drafted by a team that has one of the worst O-Lines in football and improving that was always going to be a challenge when they are flanked by average players. It is a shame that Lamp got hurt and will miss the season. I think he was the more likely of the two to make an impact this season, however both players were faced with an uphill task and will likely take time to find their feet in the NFL due to the state of our O-Line.

I appreciate your breakdown.

Dallas really struggled to grasp Callahan's zone scheme for a while and then they started drafting guys that fit that scheme. But it all sort of started to click with a dominant center. Frederick and Martin really got that line to gel. We havnt had that type of player since we lost Hardwick. And consequently that seemed to be the last time we were good was with a dominant center. I like Slausson but other than him im not sure our players are cut out for how technical our zone blocking scheme is. I did like to see the gap running plays and misdirection Lynn seems to have implemented. Im wondering if Slausson should move back to center because the pressure straight up the middle last night was concerning. It looked like regression from the season prior. I think the crowd noise played a role in that also. Ill wait and see how things play out over the first half of the season but im not too encouraged by the OL play. I hate that its such an issue every year. And we just spent so much money on a LT that wasnt very good lat year. He didnt look good last night either.

I agree about Lamp and Feeney. I think they could be good players for us. The issue ive had over the last few years is our inability to develop offensive lineman.

[Rugger05]

Good news for the Chargers is they only blitzed once all game but got pressure on the QB pretty easily.

I think it will take a couple game for the players to grasp Bradley's scheme, but I do think they can consistently pressure the QB this year

[Bearded14YourPleasure]

I hope we see less Trevor Williams and more Desmond King next week. I was also very surprised at the lack of screens called to slow down the blitz. There were only a couple draws called and those mostly seemed to be audibled into by Rivers. The play calling didn't really help out the OL in my opinion. Not that they looked good anyways, but there are ways to make them look less horrendous. Also noticed there were quite a few plays where there was no TE in but we would have Tyrell or KA line up off tackle and chip a pass rusher. I was extremely confused as to why they were doing that instead of putting Henry in to do it, who has the bigger body and is just as much of a receiving option. The play calling really felt overthought to me and the offense started to do a lot better when we went to the no huddle and Rivers had more time to dissect the D and audible out of plays. Hopefully lesson learned.

[Millionaire Wussy]

I hope we see less Trevor Williams and more Desmond King next week. I was also very surprised at the lack of screens called to slow down the blitz. There were only a couple draws called and those mostly seemed to be audibled into by Rivers. The play calling didn't really help out the OL in my opinion. Not that they looked good anyways, but there are ways to make them look less horrendous. Also noticed there were quite a few plays where there was no TE in but we would have Tyrell or KA line up off tackle and chip a pass rusher. I was extremely confused as to why they were doing that instead of putting Henry in to do it, who has the bigger body and is just as much of a receiving option. The play calling really felt overthought to me and the offense started to do a lot better when we went to the no huddle and Rivers had more time to dissect the D and audible out of plays. Hopefully lesson learned.

The no-huddle...hmm. Didn't McCoy do that a lot in his first year with us? And Rivers performance improved a ton from the previous two seasons. At least his turnovers were way down. It seems common sense that you'd want to do no-huddle as much as you can since it keeps the defense off-balance, tired, and unable to sub. Why would we ever go away from it?

[richpjr]

Point spread creeps up to Chargers by 4.5 pts.