January 10, 2025 • 42 mins
On this episode of Chargers Weekly, Matt “Money” Smith & Chris Hayre preview the LA Chargers’ AFC Wild Card matchup vs quarterback C.J. Stroud & the Houston Texans. They discuss quarterback Justin Herbert’s chemistry with wide receivers Ladd McConkey & Quentin Johnston, the Bolts signing veteran running back Ezekiel Elliot, big matchups for Saturday’s game like outside linebackers Khalil Mack & Joey Bosa vs offensive tackle Laremy Tunsil, and break down all the keys for Jim Harbaugh’s squad to advance to the next round of the 2024 NFL playoffs. In this episode: 00:00 - Intro 00:20 - Support for Los Angeles community 06:00 - Raiders recap 12:30 - Texans preview 27:15 - Key matchups 38:43 - Final thoughts
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Late fifteen to ten touched up.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What's some guys welcome into a playoff edition of Chargers
Weekly as always, joined by the voice of the Chargers,
Matt money Smith. Obviously Money very excited for this game,
but can't help but just think about what's going on
in our city the last forty eight hours.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Yeah. Look, the city's rallied around each other. We're trying
to lift up the people that are dealing with things
that could have never possibly fathomed was going to be
in their life. I think because where the Bolt is
where it is, the Chargers are where they are. I
assume there's a lot of people at the facility today
where we're sitting that are like me. I've got two
to three friends that have lost homes. I've got four
(00:47):
to five co workers that have lost their homes. The
Palisades is a huge community of entertainment people, and having
come from the music business and working in radio, a
lot of people live there, and a lot of people
and the kids who are in schools there because they're
great schools, are now without a home, and certainly our
thoughts are with them and what they're going through. And
(01:09):
I think, like anybody, if you're you know, you may
think that they've gotten god knows how many you know offers,
but still offer it. Hey, our house is open whatever
you need, and it's appreciated because that's essentially what we've done,
and even though no one's taken us up on it,
they tell you how genuinely appreciative they are. That. So
if you do have friends that or family or co
(01:29):
workers that are dealing with it, please let them know
they got a place to put their head, they got
a place to eat, they got a place to put
their kids, because that's what we do. You know, we're
used to it in Los Angeles. Sadly, you know, I
lived through the Malibu fires in ninety three when I
was evacuated and our entire neighborhood burned down, and it
truly was a damn shame that our house stood, considering
we were for idiot college kids that live there, and
(01:50):
all the houses behind us were families with kids, and
we watch them go through the rubble of nothing but
foundations and fireplaces and you know, holding each other and crying.
It's just terrible, but it's an opportunity to you know,
show the best of us and to be the best
person you can be to those that are dealing with it.
And and obviously you know we're wearing our l A
(02:12):
f D hats. Yeah, it's a it's a tiny little
show of support to what they're doing out there. But man,
just true heroes you know that are that are helping
everyone out.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Yeah, you see the players and coaches rock these today
is we get set to to fly to Houston and
just driving in, Man, I come from the two ten
and just the cloud of smoke in Altadena, a city
that is destroyed, mal destroyed Pacific Palisades. So uh, hopefully
we provide a little bit of an escape as we
(02:42):
get you ready.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
For for charges football on Saturday.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
But just our hearts with everybody that's affected by by
this and this, you know, the firefighters here, man, just
the heroes. Man just going into this thing, attacking this
and hopefully getting this out.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Yeah, just saying it's it's all anecdotal, but it's just
you know, it's what I'm living through right now. Seal
Beach is a huge fireman community. For whatever reason, we
just got a ton of firemen in our city and
was talking with someone who knows the chief of one
of the units and said it's the first time, and
I think he was saying maybe since the Malibu fire,
(03:18):
he's like that. It's say an all hands on deck
where they are digging as deep as they can San
Diego things like that to get everyone they can, get
everybody they can up there and all rallying around each other.
And yeah, that's what they do. You know, instead of
running from danger, they run into it. And we certainly
appreciate it. And I know they get I know they
(03:39):
feel it because they feel it every day in our community,
you know, because they're around us all the time, and
everybody tells them how much we appreciate what they do.
But I think it's you know, when you see the
images and you see the flames and you see where
they're standing and where they're you know, they're drawing their
line of defense, putting themselves in harm's way. We certainly
appreciate it. But like you said, Chris, we're here. You
(03:59):
know that there are we're in LA there's plenty of
outlets for people to get great coverage of this, much
better than we can do, and we're here to provide
that distraction because you know it can when you keep
looking at the bottom of that screen and you see
zero percent contained, it can be a real punch in
the gut. So we'll try to take you away from
that for a little while.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Yeah, our crew at kykew New has done a remarkable job.
And you said firefighters, Man, just they're a different breed.
You know, my dad's a firefighter, he was for thirty
years on the East Coast. My brothers a firefighter, and
just can't say enough about what those guys do on
a daily basis. But I do want to mention, depending
on when you're listening or watching this, the Chargers are
(04:39):
doing just a ton of great things as we get
you ready for the playoffs. January ninth, which is today Thursday,
Ranch A Cuckamonga, there's going to be a supply drive
for the La wildfire evacuees. Same on the eleventh at
the watch party, the moros appear.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
So Chargers are.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Doing a lot to try to bring attention to this.
And you know, if you're going to be in Rancho,
if you're in the Ie, or if you're gonna be
at the Hermosa Peer for the Wildcard watch party, there's
a supply drive for all the wildfire evacuee So.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
Something to keep in mind obviously, you know, the Spanos
family always very generous when it comes to taking care
of the community. So you know they scratched out a
big check to help the cause as well. And don't
be afraid to do that because man, they're gonna need it.
Like you said, it's not just the Palisades, but you
know the Eating fire, the Woodley fire, the Hollywood Hills
fire that you know up by Running Canyon that broke out.
(05:33):
So the whole community can need help. And it's great
to rally together, especially if you can rally together around
a Charge of football game. Yeah, you know, for the
wild Card week and all the watch parties that we have,
and not just show up with your community with the
Bolt fam, but also show up with a little something
in your hand if you can afford to whatever you
might be able to provide to help.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
We're taping this on a Thursday. We're getting sit to
go to Houston here in a couple of hours Monday.
Let's just rewind to Sunday and just it was important
to win to get the fifth seed, but it's important
to be playing your best football and the Chargers of
doing that right now.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Yeah, I think it was even more the latter, Chris,
what you said, just keep it going, man. You had
it in that second half against the Broncos, and then
you did it for four quarters against the Patriots. So
do it for another four quarters against the Raiders. And
I think you saw it and you continue to see
the identity of this team and what they want to do.
And DJ brought it up in the post, and I'll
(06:28):
credit him because it's a perfect point. He's like, nothing.
You know, coaches always want buying, right, how do I
get the buy and how do we get the buying
with action? And the fact that they had on their
open I want to say it was the opening drive
if I remember right now, it was the opening drive.
And they've got a fourth in inches, not a fourth
and one fourth and maybe less than a football. And
(06:49):
a different coach might have been like, you know what,
time to get aggressive, time to just get Herbert under center,
and let's just let's go get it man, and nope,
punt it, because that's what they do. They're like, we're fine, man,
We're good. This is the game we play. We play
field position, we lean on the number one scoring defense
in the league. We run the football, We churn the
(07:10):
clock and we don't have to freak out, we don't
have to break character. Ever, that's not what we do.
When that just sets the tone. And you know, I
think you can see coaches maybe get away from it
when the stakes change and maybe they change and you
just you don't get that sense from this staff at all.
It's what we've said for eighteen weeks. Now, you know,
(07:32):
it's tread water, get to the deep end, pull you
under and win a game. And that that that's something
you can pack and you can take into the playoffs
because there's just there's eighteen games of you know, of proof.
That's that's what this team does.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Quentin Johnson thirteen catches, one hundred and eighty six yards.
You and Julia spoke to him before that game. I
mean coincidentally, how about that for timing good luck coming
on charges weekly.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Yeah, exactly, good for him, man. And look, that's what
is that a product of. You watch that game and
Lad's getting bracketed. You know, they are focused on Lad McConkey,
and they are trying to take him away. And Herbert said,
all right, well I got number one over here, so
let's just go down that road and it's no different
than what he did with Keenan in Minnesota when they
(08:19):
were running zero blitzes and he's like, well, I know
Keenan's going to be able to beat his guy immediately
off press, so let's just do that all game. And
they never adjusted and the Raiders never adjusted. And look,
those were not easy catches. You know, Quinnin took some
freaking shots. He made that one handed grab on the
left sideline while surviving the ground as well.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
He was into zone.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
He was, man, he absolutely was, and good for him
to do it going into the playoffs and to put
that goes it's like, you know, two weeks ago, what
did we say. We said, hey, man, I love that
you got Darius Davis on film. Now for people to
think about, oh, I love that you got Stones Smart
on film. Now, this defensive coordinator's got to figure this out,
and you know, look out for Tucker Fisk leaking out
of the backfield because he's gonna burn you for ten
(09:00):
yards on one of these catches as well. And now
you've got well, we can we can double lad, we
can bracket laud. Okay, go ahead, because here's here's thirteen
catches on fourteen targets and really the fourteenth target was
a little behind them, so you could almost say a
perfect thirteen to thirteen for one eighty six. Go ahead
and cut that film up.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Yeah, it's been great to see Quintin really pick things up.
And you mentioned mclonkey five for ninety five. Let's just
look at Justin's nubbers twenty to thirty six, three hundred
and forty six yards pair of touchdowns.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
But also just to see JK. Dobbins get rolled in
the last two weeks.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Knowing that you're gonna need him starting on Saturday, it's
been good to see the running game kind of compliment
with Justin's been able to do it.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
I mean that's a key word, Chris complimentary football. Right,
the Chargers offense is at its peak performance level when
you have a run game because it's play action. I mean,
Justin is operating, you know, with play action more than
he ever has in his career and more than almost
any other quarterback in the league. So when you have
the threat of Dobbins, who's one of the best explosive
(09:58):
run rate runners in the league, so you have to
be careful because if he busts through that first line
and your second line isn't ready, that thing's gonna get
ripped off for twenty thirty yards. And he's got enough
of those on tape this year that now teams can't
be on their toes and it changes everything because now
play action's working. When they see the play action, they're
biting and that's when you start getting these looks downfield.
(10:19):
And then on top of that, you got a career
long rush forty one yards. You know, besting is thirty
seven yarder, and now that's on tape. So like it's
all I feel great for coach Roman because Giro's taking
a ton of incoming this year and it just look,
I get this is Chargers weekly. We're sitting in the bolt,
so of course we're going to stick up for our guy.
(10:41):
But he's got Justin Herbert who's in a boot for
three weeks of training camp, then high ankle spring in
week two. Then he's got Gus Edwards who's not ready
at the start of the season. Then when he gets
ready and the two of them are kind of starting
to go, JK goes down and it's like you got
to have some patience for these, you know, play callers
(11:01):
to recognize that they don't have everything, that they're trying
to make things work with one arm tied behind their
back to some degree. And now that it's all coming together, Look,
I think you saw what the Lions did to Justin Jefferson, right,
They were like, Hey, we're gonna blitz the hell out
of you, and we're gonna play man, and we're gonna
commit two resources to Justin Jefferson and if you can
(11:22):
beat us outside of that, then great. It's almost kind
of look what I like to have Justin Jefferson in
the charge. Sure, but you don't know where it's coming from.
With Herbert Will, he will give you a dose of
Disley for sixty five yards and a touchdown. You know,
he's a Greg Roman has been using those tight end
screens so effectively, and now you got to account for that.
(11:44):
And when you double Lad, he's got c And then
look at against the Raiders. You got DJ Shark with
his first touchdown, a beautiful grab and a ridiculous throw
you know, below a defender, a little side arm action,
and then finally Lad gets the score with the two
point convert on just one of the most incredible throw
route receiver quarterback in sync moments that we've seen this year.
(12:07):
Like if I were a defensive coordinator, you know, I say, okay,
where do I want to start? Like where you know,
obviously want to start with slowing down the run. But
if you're going to commit those resources and lads playing
one on one and you're not playing too high or
you're putting an extra man in the box and you're
Darren lad to beat you, man, He's going to beat you. Yeah,
(12:28):
So that's where that thing's going to start.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
So well, that's that's what's interesting.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
We'll get into like Derek Stingley for instance, like is
he going to travel? Is he going to stay on
one side of the field? And I guess to your point,
if you don't have a Justin Jefferson, you don't know
where Justin Hurbert's.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
Going to go with the football.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
So yet you can have a certain or a Stingley
have one side of the ball, but on the other side,
Quinton Lad, we don't know what Justin's going to do
on a week the week basis, And I think that's
what makes this offense so dangerous. I was actually doing
Houston Radio this morning. They were talking about how, you know,
maybe the numbers weren't there for Justin. What do you
see out of the offense? Exactly what you said, Like,
it's it's a brand new offense. There's no Keenan, there's
(13:05):
no Mike, there's no Austin Eckler. So the beginning of
the year, Justin has that ankle injury. You're not gonna
look like you look now. And I think it's taken
an entire season for Justin to build that chemistry. Keep
in mind he missed it was a training camp too, right, right,
So you gain the chemistry with Quinton, with lad with Palmer,
with Chark, with Disley, and now we're seeing kind of
(13:26):
the fruits of this offense kind of come to like
that second half of the Denver game to now money
the offense hasn't played better, Like this is the exact
type of football you want to be playing going into
the wildcard round.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
Yeah, and you know you mentioned Stingley. Look, it's a
it's a good defense man. It's a really all three levels, yes,
all three levels. Up front, it might be the best
pair of edge rushers in the league. I think you
can make a pretty compelling case it is with Daniel
Hunter and will Anderson guess what though, The Chargers' strength
is their tackles. So now Tim Siittle's also got a
lot of push. I was watching a lot of his pressures,
(13:59):
and man, he can just lift the dude up and
put them on skates. So that's something you got to
be aware of as well. But you mentioned Stingley, man,
they got a young secondary that is playing their tails off. Yeah,
it'll be interesting to see how because they lost Petres,
you know, he's down. They've lost basically two nickels, so
they move last there, which would be kind of fun
because he and mccauckie of course Georgia together if that's
(14:21):
what they're gonna do. But then they moved him back
outside because that just wasn't working. I can't remember who
that I know they were talking about putting Brian in there.
But point being, look, Lad, I wish I had my
notes actually real quick. It's just like dig into it
because we've already talked about the slot stats on Lad,
and you're gonna have to commit a valuable resource to
(14:43):
the slot. It's just the reality. Uh second most yards
and receptions over expected of all slot receivers. We've talked
about it. It's he and CD Lamb eight hundred and
one receiving yards from the slot plus four point eight
yards or should say plus four point eight receptions over
act it in his seven ten point seven yards per
target and the slot is fourth best of any wide
(15:04):
receiver in the league. So what I'm what I you know,
I don't know if those numbers make sense to people
listening or watch it. But are you gonna put a
Coupda outside because he's been getting He's really struggled this year.
So if you're going to Coupda outside with Stingley on
the other side, because you have to put Lassiter in there, well,
now you've got that outside opportunity. You put a team
in crisis because it's attrition. Their secondary has been hurt
(15:27):
a little bit. It's been one of the strengths this season.
You know, Lassiter stingly each or No, I think it's
actually I don't think it's uh. I think Lassiter has
three picks if if I'm right, I think Kaitaln Bullock
has the five picks as well. He's a great. Yeah,
So Bullock and Stingley have the UH have the interceptions.
But Lassiter has been great, so just fantastic. So It's
(15:47):
really kind of a where you're gonna commit the resource
because we know what you want to do. You want
to play man. You want to get up there, and
if you do, you're gonna have to be able to
check every box. And I think that's that's going to
be fun to see how they decide, because you know,
we talked about going into New England, right, are they
going to have Christian Gonzales travel with ladd and they
really didn't. What happened, Lad's got two touchdowns and he
(16:09):
eats the Patriots defense up, So you know, that's that's
what you want to do. You want to put a
team's unit in conflict and cause them to think to
try to figure out how can we solve this problem.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
It was fun to hear Demiko O.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Ryan talk about this Chargers offense and Lad McConkie specifically
saying like, how can I get a guy like that?
So he obviously ladd Is has done enough to get
the attention of Demiko Ryan and he mentioned Justin Herbert
in saying that he's not like Josh Allen or Lamar
Jackson or mahomes in that he wants to be in
(16:41):
the pocket. He wants to kind of figure out what
you're throwing at him, and that leads me to believe
that they're going to try to trick Justin. But there's
not many defensive coordinators in defense the defenses rather that
can trick a Justin Herbert who has three interceptions on
the year.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
Money.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
I think that that's really the key to the game, is,
like you, everything that they've done throughout the year, you
want to show up in the postseason.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
Right.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
The hallmark of this team has been just great red
zone defense, great on third down, no turnovers, and that's
what you're hoping carries over into basically a one game
elimination winner, go home.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Yeah. Coach Harbag I thought it was such a great
way to describe it when he said, you know, you're
facing football death. It's like that we want to stay alive,
we want to keep breathing. You know, the playoffs are
football death. That's what's you know, staring you in the face.
If you can't get this thing right, Look that the
key is probably going to be running the ball, just
(17:39):
from the Chargers offense versus the Texans defense. If they
can run the ball and they can get that play
action working, they've been susceptible to explosives, and I don't
think there's a better downfield passer than Justin Herbert. And
I'm not talking about sixty five yard bombs over the shoulder.
I'm talking about fifteen plus right, your guys, fifteen yards
(18:00):
twenty yards of air downfield, hitting them in rhythm and
in a fifteen yard completion becomes a thirty eight yard gain. Like,
no one is better than Justin at that. And the
way the Texans play, I've got it right here. Second
highest pressure rate, the only team with two edge defenders
and top ten pressure rates. So what does that mean.
It means that they're comfortable playing man, because we're gonna
(18:23):
get home before you guys have a chance to get
off this coverage. Our guys will hold coverage and now
we can get after you. And they blitz on forty
percent of third downs that is third fifth highest in
the NFL. And they're good at it, man, they are
really really good at it. So if you can get
that run game working and they can't come downhill and
(18:43):
they can and they've got to commit more resources and
man's not working outside, then you can really start to
get this thing going. Because I'm assuming they're gonna commit
resources to the box and they're gonna play man, and
they'll play a single high and they'll run man across
the board, and they're gonna say, go ahead, and let's
see if you can beat us with your run game,
and then we'll adjust. And if you can't, it's gonna
(19:05):
make for a bit of a tough day. And if
you can, then you can really kind of get this
thing humming.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
One of the keys of the game, JK Dobbins against
those linebackers Christian Harris and Aziz al Shah here, who's
back in the lineup after that big hit that he
delivered on Trevor Lawrence. What do you see from those
linebackers against this running game. You know, we mentioned JK
coming back at the right time. We didn't even mention
Ezekiel Elliott. It's on the Chargers, by the way. We
(19:32):
don't know his status, but it's just it's kind of
hard to believe him wearing number twenty four out there.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
Yeah, that's wild. It's because it's Zeke. You know, he
was at a time, you know, when the conversation is
the best running back in the league. And it's also
weird that he's just twenty nine. I know, it just
feels like he's been around for fifteen years or well.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
In twenty sixteen he was drafted four overall.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
Joey Bosa was three overall.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
So we got teammates, Yeah, teammates exactly in twenty sixteen
NFL drafts.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
Yeah, And look if I hope Gus was able to go.
You know, he's put in the work, He's busted his
tail to try to get out there, he's played hurt.
You'd love for him to have the reward of a
playoff game and to be able to contribute and help
this team win. You can argue his forty three yard
run against the Broncos was kind of that spark that
really got this thing going. So I think for all
(20:19):
the people that are just excited by the name and
they should be, Zeek's great. You know, Zeke can run.
You know that they can. They can. Greg Roman is
so good at dialing up and drawing up run concepts
and designed runs that he knows what Zeke does. He
knows that if he wants to run power, or he
runs to run, or he wants to run duo and
let Zeke read that linebacker and get after it. It's
(20:41):
gonna work. He can. Zeke can sleepwalk through that stuff.
And if you can block it up, you know, And
that's what this is. It's hey, you know, just to
the Zeke thing to get off on that that tangent,
like it just shows you we're in a playoff week
and Jewel Ortiz is still churning still like can I
get can I get in incrementally better? If Gus can't go.
(21:02):
As much as I love having a san and as
good as he is in pass prosic is exceptional in
pass pro, as is JK. And so that's that's priority
number one. If you're gonna take if you're gonna be
in the backfield with us, you better be able to block,
and you better be able to read it. You better
be able to see it, you better be able to
react to it. And it's not easy, man. You've got
to do all that, and then you've got to take
on a guy that might be twenty thirty pounds heavier
than you running downhill while you're holding your ground like
(21:23):
it is not easy pass pro. So I don't want
to make light of it, but to me, that's sort
of the Okay, where where are we at? And if
we're here, can we get to hear? And if if
we can get to hear, then I'm gonna do it
and let's let's get after And it just it's been
such a theme this season where these guys have been
signed and three days later, Eddie Jackson's getting forty snaps
(21:44):
so Derwin can stay at the big nickel against the
Patriots and he's blowing up two fourth.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Downs, you know, And that's the defensive player of the
month exactly, James exactly.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
And that's and like, that's that's a practice squad award
because you're Elijah Molden goes down. Okay, well we don't
have I have to put Drwin there, drop Eddy Jackson there.
We just sign him four days ago. He'll mark before
exactly right. And yeah, and so I think that's the
Zeke thing is a continuation of of that. It's it's
not about finding the next undrafted free agent pro bowler,
(22:17):
it's can we get from one to one point two?
And if I can get to one point two, then
let's get to one point two. It's better than one.
So and that's kind of what we're talking about.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
And even if it's not this week, if they're lucky
enough to get to the to the next round.
Speaker 3 (22:30):
Maybe that's when Zeke makes his debut in Powder Blue.
And you know that's That's another thing I want.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
To talk about because it's the noise around Los Angeles
isn't uh oh, the Chargers are going to run away
with this one. But it seems like, you know, Rex
Ryan called it a bye week for the Chargers and
not true. And it's it's I think a product of
thirty one to two on Christmas Day with the whole
world watching and not the whole body of work.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
With the worst uniforms in the history of the NFL.
Speaker 3 (22:56):
By the way, are they wearing those on Saturday?
Speaker 1 (22:58):
Better or not? I have called game. I called the
game in just ridiculously dense fog on the farm at
Stanford and it was Stanford versus Oregon. Stanford was in
their cardinal and white pant and Oregon was in white top,
neon silver pants. Oh no, I wish it was neon,
(23:18):
white top, silver pants, silver numbers. Couldn't see it, just
could you couldn't see numbers. I'm basically called Massoli back
to throw completes it to somebody. Yeah, and it's for
eight yards lay by play guys worse than Nightmare and
those Texans uniforms all black with maroon numbers and dark
blue lining. It's like, what are you doing? Why are
(23:39):
you what? And our booth at the taxi listened to me.
It's all about me. And I'm all the way up,
you know, seven stories high, and now I've got to
figure out sod will is that fifty one or is
that fifty five? I think it's fifty. No, it's fifty one.
Oh no, it's not, it's sixty eight? Like, hey, can
I shidebar? Can I can? I all right?
Speaker 2 (23:58):
Speaking to sidebars? I think I've hit the statute of limitations.
I used to work for the Redskins in two thousand
and five. They came up to me. I was like
a marketing assistant and they said, hey, hey, Chris, can
you stand up for a second. They're like, yeah, you'll do.
He goes be a FedEx field tomorrow. I said, okay.
They had me model black uniforms that they were like
(24:20):
trying to get approved through by the league, right, And
it was the coolest day I've ever experienced.
Speaker 3 (24:25):
I was wearing pads.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
I'm in pads. I'm in pads. I'm doing outs. I'm
going in three point stances. And what they did was
they put NFL Films music to it and they sent
it to Paul Techicli for approval. It's it's like a
DVD rom. I can't it's hope it's in storage because
it's it's one of the more hilarious things that you've
ever seen.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
Absolutely on that.
Speaker 3 (24:48):
But they wanted to see.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
What the numbers would look like, you know, for for
people like yourself called the game. It was one of
the more embarrassing things in hindsight. But if we're if
we're on the tangent of numbers, Hello.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
Yeah, yeah, Josh got it. Josh's you're not going on
the trip. Go to the storage unit and find the DVD.
Have it ready for next week. That's the most important
development here.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
It is I hope I have it.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
I hope I have you better have it? Yeah. I
can tell you what would happen if they walked into
the room and I was sitting there. They would look
at me and go, Nope, next one, what's gonna buy
that? That guy is a football player. I don't know where
we're were we were talking Texans and I derailed it.
It was the Christmas Day game that everybody's.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
Everyone's thinking about thirty one to two Texans and not
the ten win Texans.
Speaker 3 (25:36):
You know, and listen.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
C J.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
Stroud has struggled a little bit this year. He's been
hit a lot. I think he only Caleb Williams.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
Has been sacked more fifty two sacksots. And it's weird
because Larabie Tunsel is one of the best tackles in
the league. I mean, he still is. He's fantastic.
Speaker 3 (25:53):
It sounds like his penalties.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
And the rest of the line has been bad. So
that's kind of what they're what they're running into is
offensive line is basically, you can't have a you can't
have a I don't I'm just trying to think of
the best way to put it, because they're all good players,
they're in the NFL. But let's just say, if it's
a one through a five, you can't have any ones. Man,
(26:18):
you can get by with you can get by with
five threes. You know, you can get by with two fives,
or you can get by with a five, a four
and three twos. You cannot get by with four fives
and a one, Like, you just can't it doesn't. They
will attack it relentlessly and you can do that. So
I think that's essentially what's happened is they have too
(26:41):
many ones or twos that are still trying to get
it figured out. And I think they've gone through ten
or eleven different combinations as well, and that's not good.
Like the Chargers, they're starting five has played together sixty
five percent of the snaps. It's top five in the NFL,
and it shows. And that's why while it was a
little leaky at the start of the season, here we
(27:02):
are late and it's the lowest pressure rate in the
league these last two and a half weeks, going back
to even the Bronco game. So I know you could
say Raiders and Patriots and all that, but it includes
the second half of that that Bronco game as well.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
Yeah, the strength or strength to of Slater and all
versus Anderson and Hunter, I think it's a big and
hopefully you can just neutralize those guys, but I do
think that this is gonna be a Bosa Mac game,
Like if those guys can get home on CJ. Stroud
and you know, even derwin at the line of scrimmage,
making life hard on those guys on Stroud and the
(27:37):
fact that you don't have Diggs, you don't have Tank Dell.
It's really kind of like a Joe Mixon Nico Collins
are like the two guys you can't let beat you
on Saturday.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
I'll tell you it's funny. I'm gonna go sort of
not opposite that, but complimentary to that. This to me,
could be a Tier Tart game. This gonna be a
Tier Tart Morgan Fox game because I assume they're gonna
commit resources. They'll let Larremie, you know, sit on the
island and see if he can operate on the island,
and then they'll commit resources over to the right side
to Fisher And that's kind of what they'll do, and
(28:07):
that's going to leave the middle vulnerable. And the middle
has not been good. It's been soft. So Tierre's been
so good. And we don't talk about him enough because
he's more of a rotation player. He's not out there
as many snaps where he can pile up some gaudy stats.
But this guy that can blow up plays man. He
can get back there in a hurry, he can get
his hand on the ball, he can pop it up
in the air, for an interception, he can track down
(28:28):
you know, CJ, because he's right in his lap immediately
and he looks up and there's you know, Khalil or
Joey coming there and then he gets stuck in a
sandwich and you can strip that ball out like I
could see it being that Morgan Fox Tier Tart defensive
tackle upfield kind of deal, because it's just the way
that that line has been operating this season where they've
been real leaky inside.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
I like that, And you know that's a guy who,
again not necessarily a household name. But what have we
seen every single week, whether it's on offense defense, somebody's
stepping up and you don't know if it's your And that,
I think is what the playoffs is all about, is
finding the guys who may not contribute on a week
to week basis.
Speaker 3 (29:07):
In terms of like a Pro Bowl impact, but like.
Speaker 2 (29:10):
We've seen it offensively, money like every single week Justin
has been able to identify somebody who helps win a
football game. And I think offensively, you know, you talk
about the tight ends, you know, like Disley Stone's smart,
like there's gonna be someone in this game who maybe
we're not talking about that could end up being the
reason why they win.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
Yeah, it's you know, it's kind of something that Justin
has done his whole career, right, He's made Charger fans
familiar with the likes of t Billy and Jalen Geigan
and Tucker Fisk and Stone Smart this. You know, this
season it's been Will Disley, who's never really been a
pass catching tight end. I can pull that. I mean, like,
the numbers on Disley are hilarious. He coming into this season,
(29:53):
where is it?
Speaker 3 (29:54):
So It's like, I'm gonna make you a pass catching tight.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
End exactly here. It is so previous highs Disley thirty
four receptions this year, fifty previous high end yardage three
forty nine, four hundred and eighty one. And he missed
a few games, and he missed a couple of games.
And on top of that, the guy's got three hundred
and three yards of yak sixty three percent. He's a
giant tight end. Normally, what do they do. They run
(30:18):
down the scene, they catch the ball and they fall
on the ground, you know, And here's a guy who's
like doing jump cuts and jukeing guys on their shoes,
and he's got all this yak like it's hilarious how
it's all worked out, and I mean and by hilarious,
I mean it's just it's incredible. What what it means
and football we say it all the time. Football is circumstance.
(30:39):
The circumstance of Will Disley playing with a quarterback like
Justin Herbert is is this? It produces this? And I
love that Tucker Fisk was standing in the end zone like,
ooh is this Oh it could be? It went and
it went behind him at Disley and then for a
secondary thought.
Speaker 3 (30:54):
I'm wide open.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
This could be my target. Now he's taking every he is.
Appreciate Tucker, He's blocked his tap off. He's done a
great job this year. He had those catches in seven
consecutive games at least one. But that's this least t
Let's get him. Let's get him number two. And by
the way, the other thing on that, let's get this
one in there, because I do love this. They have played,
they have run. This is my favorite stat of the week.
(31:18):
This is like, what do you get when you hire
Jim Harbaugh and what do you get when you bring
Greg Roman into be your offensive coordinator? The Chargers have
run one hundred and forty three plays this season on
offense with at least seven two hundred and eighty five
pound plus players on the field. Seven. So to put
(31:39):
that in perspective, the team that's second, I'm sure everyone
can guess what team is second, right, the Ravens of course? Yeah,
how many plays do you think they've run with seven
two hundred and eighty five pound plus guys less than
one hundred twenty eight Chargers one hundred and forty three
and the Ravens twenty eight for second place? So what
(32:00):
does that tell me? Get up in the playoffs and
guess what's coming downhill? Here comes Scott Mattlock three hundred
plus pounds, Here comes Sam Mustafer and jumbo package. Here
comes Tucker Fist like you are going to wear it
if you if you fall behind, God help you defense,
because here comes one hundred and forty three plays of
(32:21):
seven guys that are two hundred and eighty five pounds
or more.
Speaker 3 (32:24):
That's what Demiko Ryan said.
Speaker 2 (32:25):
It's like, Hey, the Charge will play you close in
the first half, and if they get you in the second,
it's over. Like if they get a lead on you
and they pull away, it's over because oh, exactly, that's
stat that's what would you get.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
That statu I think that was NFL. I want to
say that came from the NFL, folks. I don't get
paid by them. As a matter of fact, I was
fired by them. Yet I will still plug their product
because it's that good. That is from the NFL Pro
subscription where they have all the Amazon next Gen stats
and all that stuff in there.
Speaker 2 (32:54):
And that just illustrates Buddy Jim Harball's not doing what
anybody in the league is doing.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
Hundred, there's three.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
There's no copycat anything like nobody's doing what this offense
is doing. Yeah, and we've seen it from the beginning
with just the emergency of Scott Matt Locke and what
he's meant to this offense. And I do think the
running game, it's you're gonna have to pack it. You're
gonna have to pack a JK. Dobbins cut him coming back,
and I think him getting those two games against the
Patriots and Raiders, I think is huge for this offense.
(33:23):
Get him round him into playoff shape and ready to go.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
Yeah. I think the you know, the key to that
stat really is Tucker Fisk is that that Tucker is
exactly two hundred and eighty five pounds, so that's where
it comes. And the fact that you've got a three
hundred pound full back that's really rounded into form and
isn't just some big, lumbering body. But man, matt Lock's
in motion non stop. They typically run right behind him.
Wherever he ends up is where it's going, and for
(33:47):
good reason, because he's he's paving the way. But that's
really what that stat is. It's the five offensive lineman
Fisk who's on whichever side they decide to put him on,
and then matt Lock in the backfield. And it's like,
all right, here's us even of R eleven, good luck
with that. I just noticed your your defensive ends, while
they are incredibly talented, are Let's see what Will Anderson.
(34:09):
Daniel Hunter is two sixty and Will Anderson is two
forty three, so that's that's what you're looking. And look
they're in speed, Like that's what's interesting, right, It's styles
make the fight, right, it's power versus speed. That Texans
defense is built on speed. Everybody is lightning quick for
their position. So it'll be interesting to see you know
(34:32):
how that how how it works you know, are those
guys quick enough to get around Slater and Alt because
that's how they're gonna do it. They're gonna do it.
They're certainly not gonna do with power, not with those
two guys. They get their hands on you, it's over
when you're two forty and two sixty. But they can
get around you, and they've done it all season long,
so that's what it'll come down to. But it's nice
to have that extra two hundred and eighty five pound
(34:54):
body out there as well.
Speaker 3 (34:55):
Some of the intangils, just you know, the home crowd.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
I think it's so important for the Chargers to not
get this crowd into it early and give them a shot.
I think when you're on the road, especially, you got
to score first.
Speaker 3 (35:08):
You got to get to that fast start to make
sure that there's no momentum.
Speaker 2 (35:12):
Because a playoff game, it's different, the energy is different.
It's more intense. The crowds in it, and the crowd
can can really will a team to victory. And I
think the Chargers have the guys, and I think being
on the road the last two weeks has been helpful.
Speaker 1 (35:27):
It has and look, they've set an NFL record. It's
the first team in NFL history now granted because the
seventeen game season is relatively new, but it's the first
team that's allowed twenty or fewer points in every single
road game in nine games. I should say there have
been teams that have done it in a sixteen game season,
but now they're the first to do it. You know,
in a seventeen game season with nine road games, they're undefeated.
(35:47):
When they allow seventeen points or less, they don't lose,
So you kind of know what those numbers are. I
think the one thing about about the get up early
and port on, I just I know that the numbers
will will certainly, you know, show that I'm in the
wrong here. But I always going to the playoff games
and feel like it's gonna be tight. These are good teams,
(36:09):
they're all playoff teams. Man, it's gonna be tight. And
I want a team that's built to win a tight game.
And that's it's. I know for a lot of Charger
fans watching or listening, they're like, huh what us us? Yeah,
this team, this team, this definition of the Chargers is
built to win tight games. They are comfortable, they don't
flinch when it's twenty one seventeen in the fourth quarter,
(36:31):
and the other teams got the ball with seven minutes, Like,
they don't flinch. They're like, yeah, whatever, we'll force the
punt and then our team's gonna run the four minute offense
and we're gonna win the game. Like it's just to me,
that's that's the benefit of having a team like this
in a matchup like this. You know, this is not
the Ravens that average thirty one points per game. It's
not the Bills that average thirty one points per game.
(36:51):
This is a Texans team that averages twenty one per game.
It's a Chiefs team if they advance, that averages twenty
two and change per game. These are teams that play
similar styles off you know, in terms of scoring offensively
to the Chargers. And if if the heat is real
that we've seen these last ten quarters, then feel pretty
darn good about you know, the way this team is
(37:12):
operating head into the postseason.
Speaker 2 (37:14):
The way you could descill it down, it's and it's
so easy. It's like the the head coach in the quarterback. Yeah,
like the quarterback is playing elite football. The head coach
won a national championship in this building exactly a year ago.
To have the edge, I think, and that's no shot
is c J. Strouded Tobiko Ryan, who I think are
both excellent in their respective position, but to have a
(37:36):
horriball Herbert combination on the road, And to your point,
just how good they've been in close games this year
and how they haven't flinched. Like the Raiders game started
slow and you're like, Okay, well, what kind of game
is this going to be? And then slowly, slowly built
it day on with that huge interception before halftime to
(37:57):
kind of flip things on its head, and that's when
you kind of knew it was a yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:00):
And that's that's what they're comfortable doing, like we know
you're going to make a mistake, and when you do,
we'll capitalize on it, and that's what will turn the game.
It's a one score game till it's not, and it's
not when you create that turnover or when you know
it's I don't think they're the highest three and out
team anymore. They were for a pretty good chunk of
the season, but I don't think they're there right now.
(38:23):
Fifth in the league right now three and outs, and
that's what they'll do. It's a turnover. Three outs kind
of like a turnover, right, especially if there's one, maybe
two passes in there. It takes less than two minutes
off the clock. Maybe pop one with Darius Davis gets
some good feel position and it feels like a turnover.
So it's kind of what this team has done and
they don't. It goes back to my opening point. I
guess it's full circle here. Maybe this is where we'll
(38:44):
you know, kind of call it. But like it's a
team that doesn't flinch, and that's so important in the
postseason because things are gonna get weird and things are
going to go wrong because everybody's good and their defense
is good, and it's opportunistic and it's got a ton
of freaking sacks and a ton of interceptions and maybe
(39:04):
they create them, but they don't flinch. You know, when
we were talking to Quinton, it was brought up about,
you know, the drop in the Baltimore game, and he
brought up Herbert and he's like, yeah, you know, or no,
that's not what it was. Someone brought it up to
Justin in the presser and said, you know, where's q
at now compared to where it was in that Baltimore game,
(39:24):
and of course Justin's never gonna ding the guy for
dropping the ball, and the Baltimore goes, he goes, Look,
I just try to convey to everybody else the way
I operate, and that's onto the next play, if I
thorow pick, onto the next play, if you drop a ball,
onto the next play. And it's something we've talked about
with Q quite a bit, like he gets too he's
too hard on himself when he drops a ball, and
it just kind of sticks with him. And I think
this year he started to get better about just cutting bait.
(39:47):
Whatever dude dropped it, I'm gonna make an incredible catch
in the next play and we'll win the game. And
it's fine, Like you can't stick on a play. And
so I think that's something this team is really really
good at. Is just Derwin James halftime against the Broncos.
Hey man, that sucked, but that was that. Now we're
going to point this way and we're gonna go get
it because that's what we do. And I think that's
(40:09):
it's something this team is great at. And that again,
to repeat myself, that you can pack and travel and
you can take that on the road.
Speaker 2 (40:16):
I'll end it on the guy you just mentioned, and
I think that this is probably the reason why this
team could make a deep playoff for US, Irwin James.
Irwin James has been here since twenty eighteen. He was
an All pros rookie season they were twelve and four.
He is seeing the highs early in his career and
he's seeing some tough lows with this team. To come
(40:37):
off AFC Defensive Player of the Month playing his best football,
somebody you can rely on, somebody who just has this
infectious energy all three phases feet off the guy I
look for him to be at his absolute best on Saturday.
Speaker 1 (40:51):
Yeah, you hit it on the head that there's you know,
give me one player you want to circle. I think
more often than not you'll circle the quarterback. And that's
very to do here. I could have done that. It's
fifty zero point one percent versus forty nine point nine percent.
But there's just something about Derwin Man. There's been something
about him this year and the focus, the swagger, the belief,
(41:15):
the lead, there's just I'm with you. It feels like
I don't feel like they can lose with him out there. Man,
Like he just walks out of that locker room and
he's like, Yeah, that's that's right. We're gonna win, and
you're all gonna follow me and I'm gonna lead you
to where we want to go. And that's just it's
kind of how we felt all year and I can't
wait to see it in the playoffs.
Speaker 3 (41:35):
Yeah, we'll end it there. I can't wait.
Speaker 2 (41:37):
Appreciate you guys checking in with us, and again, stay
safe Los Angeles. We're headed to Houston now, big wild
Card game, and we'll see you next week for money, Chris.
This has been charged quickly
Late fifteen to ten touched up.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What's some guys welcome into a playoff edition of Chargers
Weekly as always, joined by the voice of the Chargers,
Matt money Smith. Obviously Money very excited for this game,
but can't help but just think about what's going on
in our city the last forty eight hours.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Yeah. Look, the city's rallied around each other. We're trying
to lift up the people that are dealing with things
that could have never possibly fathomed was going to be
in their life. I think because where the Bolt is
where it is, the Chargers are where they are. I
assume there's a lot of people at the facility today
where we're sitting that are like me. I've got two
to three friends that have lost homes. I've got four
(00:47):
to five co workers that have lost their homes. The
Palisades is a huge community of entertainment people, and having
come from the music business and working in radio, a
lot of people live there, and a lot of people
and the kids who are in schools there because they're
great schools, are now without a home, and certainly our
thoughts are with them and what they're going through. And
(01:09):
I think, like anybody, if you're you know, you may
think that they've gotten god knows how many you know offers,
but still offer it. Hey, our house is open whatever
you need, and it's appreciated because that's essentially what we've done,
and even though no one's taken us up on it,
they tell you how genuinely appreciative they are. That. So
if you do have friends that or family or co
(01:29):
workers that are dealing with it, please let them know
they got a place to put their head, they got
a place to eat, they got a place to put
their kids, because that's what we do. You know, we're
used to it in Los Angeles. Sadly, you know, I
lived through the Malibu fires in ninety three when I
was evacuated and our entire neighborhood burned down, and it
truly was a damn shame that our house stood, considering
we were for idiot college kids that live there, and
(01:50):
all the houses behind us were families with kids, and
we watch them go through the rubble of nothing but
foundations and fireplaces and you know, holding each other and crying.
It's just terrible, but it's an opportunity to you know,
show the best of us and to be the best
person you can be to those that are dealing with it.
And and obviously you know we're wearing our l A
(02:12):
f D hats. Yeah, it's a it's a tiny little
show of support to what they're doing out there. But man,
just true heroes you know that are that are helping
everyone out.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Yeah, you see the players and coaches rock these today
is we get set to to fly to Houston and
just driving in, Man, I come from the two ten
and just the cloud of smoke in Altadena, a city
that is destroyed, mal destroyed Pacific Palisades. So uh, hopefully
we provide a little bit of an escape as we
(02:42):
get you ready.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
For for charges football on Saturday.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
But just our hearts with everybody that's affected by by
this and this, you know, the firefighters here, man, just
the heroes. Man just going into this thing, attacking this
and hopefully getting this out.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Yeah, just saying it's it's all anecdotal, but it's just
you know, it's what I'm living through right now. Seal
Beach is a huge fireman community. For whatever reason, we
just got a ton of firemen in our city and
was talking with someone who knows the chief of one
of the units and said it's the first time, and
I think he was saying maybe since the Malibu fire,
(03:18):
he's like that. It's say an all hands on deck
where they are digging as deep as they can San
Diego things like that to get everyone they can, get
everybody they can up there and all rallying around each other.
And yeah, that's what they do. You know, instead of
running from danger, they run into it. And we certainly
appreciate it. And I know they get I know they
(03:39):
feel it because they feel it every day in our community,
you know, because they're around us all the time, and
everybody tells them how much we appreciate what they do.
But I think it's you know, when you see the
images and you see the flames and you see where
they're standing and where they're you know, they're drawing their
line of defense, putting themselves in harm's way. We certainly
appreciate it. But like you said, Chris, we're here. You
(03:59):
know that there are we're in LA there's plenty of
outlets for people to get great coverage of this, much
better than we can do, and we're here to provide
that distraction because you know it can when you keep
looking at the bottom of that screen and you see
zero percent contained, it can be a real punch in
the gut. So we'll try to take you away from
that for a little while.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Yeah, our crew at kykew New has done a remarkable job.
And you said firefighters, Man, just they're a different breed.
You know, my dad's a firefighter, he was for thirty
years on the East Coast. My brothers a firefighter, and
just can't say enough about what those guys do on
a daily basis. But I do want to mention, depending
on when you're listening or watching this, the Chargers are
(04:39):
doing just a ton of great things as we get
you ready for the playoffs. January ninth, which is today Thursday,
Ranch A Cuckamonga, there's going to be a supply drive
for the La wildfire evacuees. Same on the eleventh at
the watch party, the moros appear.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
So Chargers are.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Doing a lot to try to bring attention to this.
And you know, if you're going to be in Rancho,
if you're in the Ie, or if you're gonna be
at the Hermosa Peer for the Wildcard watch party, there's
a supply drive for all the wildfire evacuee So.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
Something to keep in mind obviously, you know, the Spanos
family always very generous when it comes to taking care
of the community. So you know they scratched out a
big check to help the cause as well. And don't
be afraid to do that because man, they're gonna need it.
Like you said, it's not just the Palisades, but you
know the Eating fire, the Woodley fire, the Hollywood Hills
fire that you know up by Running Canyon that broke out.
(05:33):
So the whole community can need help. And it's great
to rally together, especially if you can rally together around
a Charge of football game. Yeah, you know, for the
wild Card week and all the watch parties that we have,
and not just show up with your community with the
Bolt fam, but also show up with a little something
in your hand if you can afford to whatever you
might be able to provide to help.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
We're taping this on a Thursday. We're getting sit to
go to Houston here in a couple of hours Monday.
Let's just rewind to Sunday and just it was important
to win to get the fifth seed, but it's important
to be playing your best football and the Chargers of
doing that right now.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Yeah, I think it was even more the latter, Chris,
what you said, just keep it going, man. You had
it in that second half against the Broncos, and then
you did it for four quarters against the Patriots. So
do it for another four quarters against the Raiders. And
I think you saw it and you continue to see
the identity of this team and what they want to do.
And DJ brought it up in the post, and I'll
(06:28):
credit him because it's a perfect point. He's like, nothing.
You know, coaches always want buying, right, how do I
get the buy and how do we get the buying
with action? And the fact that they had on their
open I want to say it was the opening drive
if I remember right now, it was the opening drive.
And they've got a fourth in inches, not a fourth
and one fourth and maybe less than a football. And
(06:49):
a different coach might have been like, you know what,
time to get aggressive, time to just get Herbert under center,
and let's just let's go get it man, and nope,
punt it, because that's what they do. They're like, we're fine, man,
We're good. This is the game we play. We play
field position, we lean on the number one scoring defense
in the league. We run the football, We churn the
(07:10):
clock and we don't have to freak out, we don't
have to break character. Ever, that's not what we do.
When that just sets the tone. And you know, I
think you can see coaches maybe get away from it
when the stakes change and maybe they change and you
just you don't get that sense from this staff at all.
It's what we've said for eighteen weeks. Now, you know,
(07:32):
it's tread water, get to the deep end, pull you
under and win a game. And that that that's something
you can pack and you can take into the playoffs
because there's just there's eighteen games of you know, of proof.
That's that's what this team does.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Quentin Johnson thirteen catches, one hundred and eighty six yards.
You and Julia spoke to him before that game. I
mean coincidentally, how about that for timing good luck coming
on charges weekly.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Yeah, exactly, good for him, man. And look, that's what
is that a product of. You watch that game and
Lad's getting bracketed. You know, they are focused on Lad McConkey,
and they are trying to take him away. And Herbert said,
all right, well I got number one over here, so
let's just go down that road and it's no different
than what he did with Keenan in Minnesota when they
(08:19):
were running zero blitzes and he's like, well, I know
Keenan's going to be able to beat his guy immediately
off press, so let's just do that all game. And
they never adjusted and the Raiders never adjusted. And look,
those were not easy catches. You know, Quinnin took some
freaking shots. He made that one handed grab on the
left sideline while surviving the ground as well.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
He was into zone.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
He was, man, he absolutely was, and good for him
to do it going into the playoffs and to put
that goes it's like, you know, two weeks ago, what
did we say. We said, hey, man, I love that
you got Darius Davis on film. Now for people to
think about, oh, I love that you got Stones Smart
on film. Now, this defensive coordinator's got to figure this out,
and you know, look out for Tucker Fisk leaking out
of the backfield because he's gonna burn you for ten
(09:00):
yards on one of these catches as well. And now
you've got well, we can we can double lad, we
can bracket laud. Okay, go ahead, because here's here's thirteen
catches on fourteen targets and really the fourteenth target was
a little behind them, so you could almost say a
perfect thirteen to thirteen for one eighty six. Go ahead
and cut that film up.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Yeah, it's been great to see Quintin really pick things up.
And you mentioned mclonkey five for ninety five. Let's just
look at Justin's nubbers twenty to thirty six, three hundred
and forty six yards pair of touchdowns.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
But also just to see JK. Dobbins get rolled in
the last two weeks.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Knowing that you're gonna need him starting on Saturday, it's
been good to see the running game kind of compliment
with Justin's been able to do it.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
I mean that's a key word, Chris complimentary football. Right,
the Chargers offense is at its peak performance level when
you have a run game because it's play action. I mean,
Justin is operating, you know, with play action more than
he ever has in his career and more than almost
any other quarterback in the league. So when you have
the threat of Dobbins, who's one of the best explosive
(09:58):
run rate runners in the league, so you have to
be careful because if he busts through that first line
and your second line isn't ready, that thing's gonna get
ripped off for twenty thirty yards. And he's got enough
of those on tape this year that now teams can't
be on their toes and it changes everything because now
play action's working. When they see the play action, they're
biting and that's when you start getting these looks downfield.
(10:19):
And then on top of that, you got a career
long rush forty one yards. You know, besting is thirty
seven yarder, and now that's on tape. So like it's
all I feel great for coach Roman because Giro's taking
a ton of incoming this year and it just look,
I get this is Chargers weekly. We're sitting in the bolt,
so of course we're going to stick up for our guy.
(10:41):
But he's got Justin Herbert who's in a boot for
three weeks of training camp, then high ankle spring in
week two. Then he's got Gus Edwards who's not ready
at the start of the season. Then when he gets
ready and the two of them are kind of starting
to go, JK goes down and it's like you got
to have some patience for these, you know, play callers
(11:01):
to recognize that they don't have everything, that they're trying
to make things work with one arm tied behind their
back to some degree. And now that it's all coming together, Look,
I think you saw what the Lions did to Justin Jefferson, right,
They were like, Hey, we're gonna blitz the hell out
of you, and we're gonna play man, and we're gonna
commit two resources to Justin Jefferson and if you can
(11:22):
beat us outside of that, then great. It's almost kind
of look what I like to have Justin Jefferson in
the charge. Sure, but you don't know where it's coming from.
With Herbert Will, he will give you a dose of
Disley for sixty five yards and a touchdown. You know,
he's a Greg Roman has been using those tight end
screens so effectively, and now you got to account for that.
(11:44):
And when you double Lad, he's got c And then
look at against the Raiders. You got DJ Shark with
his first touchdown, a beautiful grab and a ridiculous throw
you know, below a defender, a little side arm action,
and then finally Lad gets the score with the two
point convert on just one of the most incredible throw
route receiver quarterback in sync moments that we've seen this year.
(12:07):
Like if I were a defensive coordinator, you know, I say, okay,
where do I want to start? Like where you know,
obviously want to start with slowing down the run. But
if you're going to commit those resources and lads playing
one on one and you're not playing too high or
you're putting an extra man in the box and you're
Darren lad to beat you, man, He's going to beat you. Yeah,
(12:28):
So that's where that thing's going to start.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
So well, that's that's what's interesting.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
We'll get into like Derek Stingley for instance, like is
he going to travel? Is he going to stay on
one side of the field? And I guess to your point,
if you don't have a Justin Jefferson, you don't know
where Justin Hurbert's.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
Going to go with the football.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
So yet you can have a certain or a Stingley
have one side of the ball, but on the other side,
Quinton Lad, we don't know what Justin's going to do
on a week the week basis, And I think that's
what makes this offense so dangerous. I was actually doing
Houston Radio this morning. They were talking about how, you know,
maybe the numbers weren't there for Justin. What do you
see out of the offense? Exactly what you said, Like,
it's it's a brand new offense. There's no Keenan, there's
(13:05):
no Mike, there's no Austin Eckler. So the beginning of
the year, Justin has that ankle injury. You're not gonna
look like you look now. And I think it's taken
an entire season for Justin to build that chemistry. Keep
in mind he missed it was a training camp too, right, right,
So you gain the chemistry with Quinton, with lad with Palmer,
with Chark, with Disley, and now we're seeing kind of
(13:26):
the fruits of this offense kind of come to like
that second half of the Denver game to now money
the offense hasn't played better, Like this is the exact
type of football you want to be playing going into
the wildcard round.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
Yeah, and you know you mentioned Stingley. Look, it's a
it's a good defense man. It's a really all three levels, yes,
all three levels. Up front, it might be the best
pair of edge rushers in the league. I think you
can make a pretty compelling case it is with Daniel
Hunter and will Anderson guess what though, The Chargers' strength
is their tackles. So now Tim Siittle's also got a
lot of push. I was watching a lot of his pressures,
(13:59):
and man, he can just lift the dude up and
put them on skates. So that's something you got to
be aware of as well. But you mentioned Stingley, man,
they got a young secondary that is playing their tails off. Yeah,
it'll be interesting to see how because they lost Petres,
you know, he's down. They've lost basically two nickels, so
they move last there, which would be kind of fun
because he and mccauckie of course Georgia together if that's
(14:21):
what they're gonna do. But then they moved him back
outside because that just wasn't working. I can't remember who
that I know they were talking about putting Brian in there.
But point being, look, Lad, I wish I had my
notes actually real quick. It's just like dig into it
because we've already talked about the slot stats on Lad,
and you're gonna have to commit a valuable resource to
(14:43):
the slot. It's just the reality. Uh second most yards
and receptions over expected of all slot receivers. We've talked
about it. It's he and CD Lamb eight hundred and
one receiving yards from the slot plus four point eight
yards or should say plus four point eight receptions over
act it in his seven ten point seven yards per
target and the slot is fourth best of any wide
(15:04):
receiver in the league. So what I'm what I you know,
I don't know if those numbers make sense to people
listening or watch it. But are you gonna put a
Coupda outside because he's been getting He's really struggled this year.
So if you're going to Coupda outside with Stingley on
the other side, because you have to put Lassiter in there, well,
now you've got that outside opportunity. You put a team
in crisis because it's attrition. Their secondary has been hurt
(15:27):
a little bit. It's been one of the strengths this season.
You know, Lassiter stingly each or No, I think it's
actually I don't think it's uh. I think Lassiter has
three picks if if I'm right, I think Kaitaln Bullock
has the five picks as well. He's a great. Yeah,
So Bullock and Stingley have the UH have the interceptions.
But Lassiter has been great, so just fantastic. So It's
(15:47):
really kind of a where you're gonna commit the resource
because we know what you want to do. You want
to play man. You want to get up there, and
if you do, you're gonna have to be able to
check every box. And I think that's that's going to
be fun to see how they decide, because you know,
we talked about going into New England, right, are they
going to have Christian Gonzales travel with ladd and they
really didn't. What happened, Lad's got two touchdowns and he
(16:09):
eats the Patriots defense up, So you know, that's that's
what you want to do. You want to put a
team's unit in conflict and cause them to think to
try to figure out how can we solve this problem.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
It was fun to hear Demiko O.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Ryan talk about this Chargers offense and Lad McConkie specifically
saying like, how can I get a guy like that?
So he obviously ladd Is has done enough to get
the attention of Demiko Ryan and he mentioned Justin Herbert
in saying that he's not like Josh Allen or Lamar
Jackson or mahomes in that he wants to be in
(16:41):
the pocket. He wants to kind of figure out what
you're throwing at him, and that leads me to believe
that they're going to try to trick Justin. But there's
not many defensive coordinators in defense the defenses rather that
can trick a Justin Herbert who has three interceptions on
the year.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
Money.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
I think that that's really the key to the game, is,
like you, everything that they've done throughout the year, you
want to show up in the postseason.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
Right.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
The hallmark of this team has been just great red
zone defense, great on third down, no turnovers, and that's
what you're hoping carries over into basically a one game
elimination winner, go home.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Yeah. Coach Harbag I thought it was such a great
way to describe it when he said, you know, you're
facing football death. It's like that we want to stay alive,
we want to keep breathing. You know, the playoffs are
football death. That's what's you know, staring you in the face.
If you can't get this thing right, Look that the
key is probably going to be running the ball, just
(17:39):
from the Chargers offense versus the Texans defense. If they
can run the ball and they can get that play
action working, they've been susceptible to explosives, and I don't
think there's a better downfield passer than Justin Herbert. And
I'm not talking about sixty five yard bombs over the shoulder.
I'm talking about fifteen plus right, your guys, fifteen yards
(18:00):
twenty yards of air downfield, hitting them in rhythm and
in a fifteen yard completion becomes a thirty eight yard gain. Like,
no one is better than Justin at that. And the
way the Texans play, I've got it right here. Second
highest pressure rate, the only team with two edge defenders
and top ten pressure rates. So what does that mean.
It means that they're comfortable playing man, because we're gonna
(18:23):
get home before you guys have a chance to get
off this coverage. Our guys will hold coverage and now
we can get after you. And they blitz on forty
percent of third downs that is third fifth highest in
the NFL. And they're good at it, man, they are
really really good at it. So if you can get
that run game working and they can't come downhill and
(18:43):
they can and they've got to commit more resources and
man's not working outside, then you can really start to
get this thing going. Because I'm assuming they're gonna commit
resources to the box and they're gonna play man, and
they'll play a single high and they'll run man across
the board, and they're gonna say, go ahead, and let's
see if you can beat us with your run game,
and then we'll adjust. And if you can't, it's gonna
(19:05):
make for a bit of a tough day. And if
you can, then you can really kind of get this
thing humming.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
One of the keys of the game, JK Dobbins against
those linebackers Christian Harris and Aziz al Shah here, who's
back in the lineup after that big hit that he
delivered on Trevor Lawrence. What do you see from those
linebackers against this running game. You know, we mentioned JK
coming back at the right time. We didn't even mention
Ezekiel Elliott. It's on the Chargers, by the way. We
(19:32):
don't know his status, but it's just it's kind of
hard to believe him wearing number twenty four out there.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
Yeah, that's wild. It's because it's Zeke. You know, he
was at a time, you know, when the conversation is
the best running back in the league. And it's also
weird that he's just twenty nine. I know, it just
feels like he's been around for fifteen years or well.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
In twenty sixteen he was drafted four overall.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
Joey Bosa was three overall.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
So we got teammates, Yeah, teammates exactly in twenty sixteen
NFL drafts.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
Yeah, And look if I hope Gus was able to go.
You know, he's put in the work, He's busted his
tail to try to get out there, he's played hurt.
You'd love for him to have the reward of a
playoff game and to be able to contribute and help
this team win. You can argue his forty three yard
run against the Broncos was kind of that spark that
really got this thing going. So I think for all
(20:19):
the people that are just excited by the name and
they should be, Zeek's great. You know, Zeke can run.
You know that they can. They can. Greg Roman is
so good at dialing up and drawing up run concepts
and designed runs that he knows what Zeke does. He
knows that if he wants to run power, or he
runs to run, or he wants to run duo and
let Zeke read that linebacker and get after it. It's
(20:41):
gonna work. He can. Zeke can sleepwalk through that stuff.
And if you can block it up, you know, And
that's what this is. It's hey, you know, just to
the Zeke thing to get off on that that tangent,
like it just shows you we're in a playoff week
and Jewel Ortiz is still churning still like can I
get can I get in incrementally better? If Gus can't go.
(21:02):
As much as I love having a san and as
good as he is in pass prosic is exceptional in
pass pro, as is JK. And so that's that's priority
number one. If you're gonna take if you're gonna be
in the backfield with us, you better be able to block,
and you better be able to read it. You better
be able to see it, you better be able to
react to it. And it's not easy, man. You've got
to do all that, and then you've got to take
on a guy that might be twenty thirty pounds heavier
than you running downhill while you're holding your ground like
(21:23):
it is not easy pass pro. So I don't want
to make light of it, but to me, that's sort
of the Okay, where where are we at? And if
we're here, can we get to hear? And if if
we can get to hear, then I'm gonna do it
and let's let's get after And it just it's been
such a theme this season where these guys have been
signed and three days later, Eddie Jackson's getting forty snaps
(21:44):
so Derwin can stay at the big nickel against the
Patriots and he's blowing up two fourth.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Downs, you know, And that's the defensive player of the
month exactly, James exactly.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
And that's and like, that's that's a practice squad award
because you're Elijah Molden goes down. Okay, well we don't
have I have to put Drwin there, drop Eddy Jackson there.
We just sign him four days ago. He'll mark before
exactly right. And yeah, and so I think that's the
Zeke thing is a continuation of of that. It's it's
not about finding the next undrafted free agent pro bowler,
(22:17):
it's can we get from one to one point two?
And if I can get to one point two, then
let's get to one point two. It's better than one.
So and that's kind of what we're talking about.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
And even if it's not this week, if they're lucky
enough to get to the to the next round.
Speaker 3 (22:30):
Maybe that's when Zeke makes his debut in Powder Blue.
And you know that's That's another thing I want.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
To talk about because it's the noise around Los Angeles
isn't uh oh, the Chargers are going to run away
with this one. But it seems like, you know, Rex
Ryan called it a bye week for the Chargers and
not true. And it's it's I think a product of
thirty one to two on Christmas Day with the whole
world watching and not the whole body of work.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
With the worst uniforms in the history of the NFL.
Speaker 3 (22:56):
By the way, are they wearing those on Saturday?
Speaker 1 (22:58):
Better or not? I have called game. I called the
game in just ridiculously dense fog on the farm at
Stanford and it was Stanford versus Oregon. Stanford was in
their cardinal and white pant and Oregon was in white top,
neon silver pants. Oh no, I wish it was neon,
(23:18):
white top, silver pants, silver numbers. Couldn't see it, just
could you couldn't see numbers. I'm basically called Massoli back
to throw completes it to somebody. Yeah, and it's for
eight yards lay by play guys worse than Nightmare and
those Texans uniforms all black with maroon numbers and dark
blue lining. It's like, what are you doing? Why are
(23:39):
you what? And our booth at the taxi listened to me.
It's all about me. And I'm all the way up,
you know, seven stories high, and now I've got to
figure out sod will is that fifty one or is
that fifty five? I think it's fifty. No, it's fifty one.
Oh no, it's not, it's sixty eight? Like, hey, can
I shidebar? Can I can? I all right?
Speaker 2 (23:58):
Speaking to sidebars? I think I've hit the statute of limitations.
I used to work for the Redskins in two thousand
and five. They came up to me. I was like
a marketing assistant and they said, hey, hey, Chris, can
you stand up for a second. They're like, yeah, you'll do.
He goes be a FedEx field tomorrow. I said, okay.
They had me model black uniforms that they were like
(24:20):
trying to get approved through by the league, right, And
it was the coolest day I've ever experienced.
Speaker 3 (24:25):
I was wearing pads.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
I'm in pads. I'm in pads. I'm doing outs. I'm
going in three point stances. And what they did was
they put NFL Films music to it and they sent
it to Paul Techicli for approval. It's it's like a
DVD rom. I can't it's hope it's in storage because
it's it's one of the more hilarious things that you've
ever seen.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
Absolutely on that.
Speaker 3 (24:48):
But they wanted to see.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
What the numbers would look like, you know, for for
people like yourself called the game. It was one of
the more embarrassing things in hindsight. But if we're if
we're on the tangent of numbers, Hello.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
Yeah, yeah, Josh got it. Josh's you're not going on
the trip. Go to the storage unit and find the DVD.
Have it ready for next week. That's the most important
development here.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
It is I hope I have it.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
I hope I have you better have it? Yeah. I
can tell you what would happen if they walked into
the room and I was sitting there. They would look
at me and go, Nope, next one, what's gonna buy
that? That guy is a football player. I don't know where
we're were we were talking Texans and I derailed it.
It was the Christmas Day game that everybody's.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
Everyone's thinking about thirty one to two Texans and not
the ten win Texans.
Speaker 3 (25:36):
You know, and listen.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
C J.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
Stroud has struggled a little bit this year. He's been
hit a lot. I think he only Caleb Williams.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
Has been sacked more fifty two sacksots. And it's weird
because Larabie Tunsel is one of the best tackles in
the league. I mean, he still is. He's fantastic.
Speaker 3 (25:53):
It sounds like his penalties.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
And the rest of the line has been bad. So
that's kind of what they're what they're running into is
offensive line is basically, you can't have a you can't
have a I don't I'm just trying to think of
the best way to put it, because they're all good players,
they're in the NFL. But let's just say, if it's
a one through a five, you can't have any ones. Man,
(26:18):
you can get by with you can get by with
five threes. You know, you can get by with two fives,
or you can get by with a five, a four
and three twos. You cannot get by with four fives
and a one, Like, you just can't it doesn't. They
will attack it relentlessly and you can do that. So
I think that's essentially what's happened is they have too
(26:41):
many ones or twos that are still trying to get
it figured out. And I think they've gone through ten
or eleven different combinations as well, and that's not good.
Like the Chargers, they're starting five has played together sixty
five percent of the snaps. It's top five in the NFL,
and it shows. And that's why while it was a
little leaky at the start of the season, here we
(27:02):
are late and it's the lowest pressure rate in the
league these last two and a half weeks, going back
to even the Bronco game. So I know you could
say Raiders and Patriots and all that, but it includes
the second half of that that Bronco game as well.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
Yeah, the strength or strength to of Slater and all
versus Anderson and Hunter, I think it's a big and
hopefully you can just neutralize those guys, but I do
think that this is gonna be a Bosa Mac game,
Like if those guys can get home on CJ. Stroud
and you know, even derwin at the line of scrimmage,
making life hard on those guys on Stroud and the
(27:37):
fact that you don't have Diggs, you don't have Tank Dell.
It's really kind of like a Joe Mixon Nico Collins
are like the two guys you can't let beat you
on Saturday.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
I'll tell you it's funny. I'm gonna go sort of
not opposite that, but complimentary to that. This to me,
could be a Tier Tart game. This gonna be a
Tier Tart Morgan Fox game because I assume they're gonna
commit resources. They'll let Larremie, you know, sit on the
island and see if he can operate on the island,
and then they'll commit resources over to the right side
to Fisher And that's kind of what they'll do, and
(28:07):
that's going to leave the middle vulnerable. And the middle
has not been good. It's been soft. So Tierre's been
so good. And we don't talk about him enough because
he's more of a rotation player. He's not out there
as many snaps where he can pile up some gaudy stats.
But this guy that can blow up plays man. He
can get back there in a hurry, he can get
his hand on the ball, he can pop it up
in the air, for an interception, he can track down
(28:28):
you know, CJ, because he's right in his lap immediately
and he looks up and there's you know, Khalil or
Joey coming there and then he gets stuck in a
sandwich and you can strip that ball out like I
could see it being that Morgan Fox Tier Tart defensive
tackle upfield kind of deal, because it's just the way
that that line has been operating this season where they've
been real leaky inside.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
I like that, And you know that's a guy who,
again not necessarily a household name. But what have we
seen every single week, whether it's on offense defense, somebody's
stepping up and you don't know if it's your And that,
I think is what the playoffs is all about, is
finding the guys who may not contribute on a week
to week basis.
Speaker 3 (29:07):
In terms of like a Pro Bowl impact, but like.
Speaker 2 (29:10):
We've seen it offensively, money like every single week Justin
has been able to identify somebody who helps win a
football game. And I think offensively, you know, you talk
about the tight ends, you know, like Disley Stone's smart,
like there's gonna be someone in this game who maybe
we're not talking about that could end up being the
reason why they win.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
Yeah, it's you know, it's kind of something that Justin
has done his whole career, right, He's made Charger fans
familiar with the likes of t Billy and Jalen Geigan
and Tucker Fisk and Stone Smart this. You know, this
season it's been Will Disley, who's never really been a
pass catching tight end. I can pull that. I mean, like,
the numbers on Disley are hilarious. He coming into this season,
(29:53):
where is it?
Speaker 3 (29:54):
So It's like, I'm gonna make you a pass catching tight.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
End exactly here. It is so previous highs Disley thirty
four receptions this year, fifty previous high end yardage three
forty nine, four hundred and eighty one. And he missed
a few games, and he missed a couple of games.
And on top of that, the guy's got three hundred
and three yards of yak sixty three percent. He's a
giant tight end. Normally, what do they do. They run
(30:18):
down the scene, they catch the ball and they fall
on the ground, you know, And here's a guy who's
like doing jump cuts and jukeing guys on their shoes,
and he's got all this yak like it's hilarious how
it's all worked out, and I mean and by hilarious,
I mean it's just it's incredible. What what it means
and football we say it all the time. Football is circumstance.
(30:39):
The circumstance of Will Disley playing with a quarterback like
Justin Herbert is is this? It produces this? And I
love that Tucker Fisk was standing in the end zone like,
ooh is this Oh it could be? It went and
it went behind him at Disley and then for a
secondary thought.
Speaker 3 (30:54):
I'm wide open.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
This could be my target. Now he's taking every he is.
Appreciate Tucker, He's blocked his tap off. He's done a
great job this year. He had those catches in seven
consecutive games at least one. But that's this least t
Let's get him. Let's get him number two. And by
the way, the other thing on that, let's get this
one in there, because I do love this. They have played,
they have run. This is my favorite stat of the week.
(31:18):
This is like, what do you get when you hire
Jim Harbaugh and what do you get when you bring
Greg Roman into be your offensive coordinator? The Chargers have
run one hundred and forty three plays this season on
offense with at least seven two hundred and eighty five
pound plus players on the field. Seven. So to put
(31:39):
that in perspective, the team that's second, I'm sure everyone
can guess what team is second, right, the Ravens of course? Yeah,
how many plays do you think they've run with seven
two hundred and eighty five pound plus guys less than
one hundred twenty eight Chargers one hundred and forty three
and the Ravens twenty eight for second place? So what
(32:00):
does that tell me? Get up in the playoffs and
guess what's coming downhill? Here comes Scott Mattlock three hundred
plus pounds, Here comes Sam Mustafer and jumbo package. Here
comes Tucker Fist like you are going to wear it
if you if you fall behind, God help you defense,
because here comes one hundred and forty three plays of
(32:21):
seven guys that are two hundred and eighty five pounds
or more.
Speaker 3 (32:24):
That's what Demiko Ryan said.
Speaker 2 (32:25):
It's like, Hey, the Charge will play you close in
the first half, and if they get you in the second,
it's over. Like if they get a lead on you
and they pull away, it's over because oh, exactly, that's
stat that's what would you get.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
That statu I think that was NFL. I want to
say that came from the NFL, folks. I don't get
paid by them. As a matter of fact, I was
fired by them. Yet I will still plug their product
because it's that good. That is from the NFL Pro
subscription where they have all the Amazon next Gen stats
and all that stuff in there.
Speaker 2 (32:54):
And that just illustrates Buddy Jim Harball's not doing what
anybody in the league is doing.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
Hundred, there's three.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
There's no copycat anything like nobody's doing what this offense
is doing. Yeah, and we've seen it from the beginning
with just the emergency of Scott Matt Locke and what
he's meant to this offense. And I do think the
running game, it's you're gonna have to pack it. You're
gonna have to pack a JK. Dobbins cut him coming back,
and I think him getting those two games against the
Patriots and Raiders, I think is huge for this offense.
(33:23):
Get him round him into playoff shape and ready to go.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
Yeah. I think the you know, the key to that
stat really is Tucker Fisk is that that Tucker is
exactly two hundred and eighty five pounds, so that's where
it comes. And the fact that you've got a three
hundred pound full back that's really rounded into form and
isn't just some big, lumbering body. But man, matt Lock's
in motion non stop. They typically run right behind him.
Wherever he ends up is where it's going, and for
(33:47):
good reason, because he's he's paving the way. But that's
really what that stat is. It's the five offensive lineman
Fisk who's on whichever side they decide to put him on,
and then matt Lock in the backfield. And it's like,
all right, here's us even of R eleven, good luck
with that. I just noticed your your defensive ends, while
they are incredibly talented, are Let's see what Will Anderson.
(34:09):
Daniel Hunter is two sixty and Will Anderson is two
forty three, so that's that's what you're looking. And look
they're in speed, Like that's what's interesting, right, It's styles
make the fight, right, it's power versus speed. That Texans
defense is built on speed. Everybody is lightning quick for
their position. So it'll be interesting to see you know
(34:32):
how that how how it works you know, are those
guys quick enough to get around Slater and Alt because
that's how they're gonna do it. They're gonna do it.
They're certainly not gonna do with power, not with those
two guys. They get their hands on you, it's over
when you're two forty and two sixty. But they can
get around you, and they've done it all season long,
so that's what it'll come down to. But it's nice
to have that extra two hundred and eighty five pound
(34:54):
body out there as well.
Speaker 3 (34:55):
Some of the intangils, just you know, the home crowd.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
I think it's so important for the Chargers to not
get this crowd into it early and give them a shot.
I think when you're on the road, especially, you got
to score first.
Speaker 3 (35:08):
You got to get to that fast start to make
sure that there's no momentum.
Speaker 2 (35:12):
Because a playoff game, it's different, the energy is different.
It's more intense. The crowds in it, and the crowd
can can really will a team to victory. And I
think the Chargers have the guys, and I think being
on the road the last two weeks has been helpful.
Speaker 1 (35:27):
It has and look, they've set an NFL record. It's
the first team in NFL history now granted because the
seventeen game season is relatively new, but it's the first
team that's allowed twenty or fewer points in every single
road game in nine games. I should say there have
been teams that have done it in a sixteen game season,
but now they're the first to do it. You know,
in a seventeen game season with nine road games, they're undefeated.
(35:47):
When they allow seventeen points or less, they don't lose,
So you kind of know what those numbers are. I
think the one thing about about the get up early
and port on, I just I know that the numbers
will will certainly, you know, show that I'm in the
wrong here. But I always going to the playoff games
and feel like it's gonna be tight. These are good teams,
(36:09):
they're all playoff teams. Man, it's gonna be tight. And
I want a team that's built to win a tight game.
And that's it's. I know for a lot of Charger
fans watching or listening, they're like, huh what us us? Yeah,
this team, this team, this definition of the Chargers is
built to win tight games. They are comfortable, they don't
flinch when it's twenty one seventeen in the fourth quarter,
(36:31):
and the other teams got the ball with seven minutes, Like,
they don't flinch. They're like, yeah, whatever, we'll force the
punt and then our team's gonna run the four minute offense
and we're gonna win the game. Like it's just to me,
that's that's the benefit of having a team like this
in a matchup like this. You know, this is not
the Ravens that average thirty one points per game. It's
not the Bills that average thirty one points per game.
(36:51):
This is a Texans team that averages twenty one per game.
It's a Chiefs team if they advance, that averages twenty
two and change per game. These are teams that play
similar styles off you know, in terms of scoring offensively
to the Chargers. And if if the heat is real
that we've seen these last ten quarters, then feel pretty
darn good about you know, the way this team is
(37:12):
operating head into the postseason.
Speaker 2 (37:14):
The way you could descill it down, it's and it's
so easy. It's like the the head coach in the quarterback. Yeah,
like the quarterback is playing elite football. The head coach
won a national championship in this building exactly a year ago.
To have the edge, I think, and that's no shot
is c J. Strouded Tobiko Ryan, who I think are
both excellent in their respective position, but to have a
(37:36):
horriball Herbert combination on the road, And to your point,
just how good they've been in close games this year
and how they haven't flinched. Like the Raiders game started
slow and you're like, Okay, well, what kind of game
is this going to be? And then slowly, slowly built
it day on with that huge interception before halftime to
(37:57):
kind of flip things on its head, and that's when
you kind of knew it was a yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:00):
And that's that's what they're comfortable doing, like we know
you're going to make a mistake, and when you do,
we'll capitalize on it, and that's what will turn the game.
It's a one score game till it's not, and it's
not when you create that turnover or when you know
it's I don't think they're the highest three and out
team anymore. They were for a pretty good chunk of
the season, but I don't think they're there right now.
(38:23):
Fifth in the league right now three and outs, and
that's what they'll do. It's a turnover. Three outs kind
of like a turnover, right, especially if there's one, maybe
two passes in there. It takes less than two minutes
off the clock. Maybe pop one with Darius Davis gets
some good feel position and it feels like a turnover.
So it's kind of what this team has done and
they don't. It goes back to my opening point. I
guess it's full circle here. Maybe this is where we'll
(38:44):
you know, kind of call it. But like it's a
team that doesn't flinch, and that's so important in the
postseason because things are gonna get weird and things are
going to go wrong because everybody's good and their defense
is good, and it's opportunistic and it's got a ton
of freaking sacks and a ton of interceptions and maybe
(39:04):
they create them, but they don't flinch. You know, when
we were talking to Quinton, it was brought up about,
you know, the drop in the Baltimore game, and he
brought up Herbert and he's like, yeah, you know, or no,
that's not what it was. Someone brought it up to
Justin in the presser and said, you know, where's q
at now compared to where it was in that Baltimore game,
(39:24):
and of course Justin's never gonna ding the guy for
dropping the ball, and the Baltimore goes, he goes, Look,
I just try to convey to everybody else the way
I operate, and that's onto the next play, if I
thorow pick, onto the next play, if you drop a ball,
onto the next play. And it's something we've talked about
with Q quite a bit, like he gets too he's
too hard on himself when he drops a ball, and
it just kind of sticks with him. And I think
this year he started to get better about just cutting bait.
(39:47):
Whatever dude dropped it, I'm gonna make an incredible catch
in the next play and we'll win the game. And
it's fine, Like you can't stick on a play. And
so I think that's something this team is really really
good at. Is just Derwin James halftime against the Broncos.
Hey man, that sucked, but that was that. Now we're
going to point this way and we're gonna go get
it because that's what we do. And I think that's
(40:09):
it's something this team is great at. And that again,
to repeat myself, that you can pack and travel and
you can take that on the road.
Speaker 2 (40:16):
I'll end it on the guy you just mentioned, and
I think that this is probably the reason why this
team could make a deep playoff for US, Irwin James.
Irwin James has been here since twenty eighteen. He was
an All pros rookie season they were twelve and four.
He is seeing the highs early in his career and
he's seeing some tough lows with this team. To come
(40:37):
off AFC Defensive Player of the Month playing his best football,
somebody you can rely on, somebody who just has this
infectious energy all three phases feet off the guy I
look for him to be at his absolute best on Saturday.
Speaker 1 (40:51):
Yeah, you hit it on the head that there's you know,
give me one player you want to circle. I think
more often than not you'll circle the quarterback. And that's
very to do here. I could have done that. It's
fifty zero point one percent versus forty nine point nine percent.
But there's just something about Derwin Man. There's been something
about him this year and the focus, the swagger, the belief,
(41:15):
the lead, there's just I'm with you. It feels like
I don't feel like they can lose with him out there. Man,
Like he just walks out of that locker room and
he's like, Yeah, that's that's right. We're gonna win, and
you're all gonna follow me and I'm gonna lead you
to where we want to go. And that's just it's
kind of how we felt all year and I can't
wait to see it in the playoffs.
Speaker 3 (41:35):
Yeah, we'll end it there. I can't wait.
Speaker 2 (41:37):
Appreciate you guys checking in with us, and again, stay
safe Los Angeles. We're headed to Houston now, big wild
Card game, and we'll see you next week for money, Chris.
This has been charged quickly
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