Chargers Weekly: How Will Harbaugh’s Bolts Attack Raiders?

On this episode of Chargers Weekly, the voice of the team Matt “Money” Smith and KCAL News’ Chris Hayre are joined by former NFL safety Jahleel Addae in recapping the latest news involving LA and the entire NFL. The hosts preview the Chargers’ Week 1 game vs the Las Vegas Raiders, including how the defense can slow down Davante Adams (6:55), how Justin Herbert and the new-look Bolts’ offense can attack the Raiders’ defense (13:40), and why linebackers Daiyan Henley, Denzel Perryman, and Junior Colson might be the key to victory in Jim Harbaugh’s first game as Head Coach (29:30).

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Laid fifteen to ten touched up.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
What's up?

Speaker 3 (00:11):
Guys, Welcome into a week one edition of Chargers Weekly,
as always, joined by the voice of the Chargers, Matt
money Smith. And how about this our newest teammate, Jalilade.
And the thing about Jalil San Diego Charger, La Charger,
He's coached these guys, He's picked off Gardner Minshew who
we're gonna talk about. So you played against a lot
of these guys.

Speaker 4 (00:32):
It's great to have you here, Bro hey Man, appreciate
the opportunity always working with you, Chris my guy, Matt
money Smith, It's honored to be here.

Speaker 2 (00:39):
Man, I'm excited.

Speaker 1 (00:39):
I'm gonna I'm just gonna get this out of the way,
straight out the game. Let's go as the play by
play guy, I do have a bit of an issue.
You and Trey Boston made life hard on me. Both played,
you know, on the back end of the defense. You
both had hair that covered your numbers, and we both
and you both like to wear the same color socks. Yes,
so it's like if one of you were yellow and
the other one wore Potter. I'd be good if one

(01:01):
of you wore gloves and the other one didn't. I'd
be good. But instead I'm looking out and a lot
of you are, both of your making plays and almost
the same part of the field a lot of the times,
and I'm just I gotta wait, I gotta wait. Can
I get Is it thirty thirty seven?

Speaker 2 (01:13):
Right?

Speaker 3 (01:13):
Right?

Speaker 1 (01:13):
It's like, is it thirty seven? What was he? I think?
So it truly was. Yeah, it truly was a labor.

Speaker 2 (01:21):
You're not the only one.

Speaker 1 (01:22):
You made me earn it. You made you and Trey
made me earn it.

Speaker 2 (01:25):
The coach Bilo gets you all mixed up to on film.
On film, he did, definitely. He'd always called Trey's name
and it'd be like, Coach, that's me.

Speaker 4 (01:32):
I'm down in the box, coach, you know, try to
sixty forty safety playing deep. He's like, yeah, I know,
but your hair is it's your hair. But he did
get us confused. Man, it was awesome playing with Trade.

Speaker 2 (01:40):
That was my guy.

Speaker 4 (01:41):
That's my guy, high energy guy. Oh yeah, yeah, brought
brought it every single day. One of the reasons why
the jack Boys went the way it went.

Speaker 1 (01:49):
That's right. I do want to add this to about
Trey because it is one of my favorite moments and
I don't know if I'm supposed to do this, but whatever.
So Chargers Christmas party were out at where were we
we were? No, it was a Pelican Hill Pelican Hills.
So they got it set a beautiful spread. Spanos family
spared no expense, food amazing. The result open like it was.

(02:09):
I had expected such great things that the wife and
I uber. I was like, hey, I'm not driving all right,
it's going to be a good going. I'm diving in.
I'm cannonballing into this pool. But they had these golf
mats set up. Do you remember that, Like at the
edge of the pool you could hit balls and and
Tray's out there and I'm out there and we're just
kind of chipping balls and stuff. And you could tell
Trade doesn't play a lot of golf and stuff. So
but we're having a great time and talking and sipping drinks.

(02:30):
And this this guy that works I don't know what
department he worked in, but he comes over and he
starts like coaching up trays, like, hey, you know what
you want to do is you want to lock your
your front arm and your your weights a little bit
on the back. And that's where lessons lessons at Pelican
Hill and Tray at ten pm, ten drinks into the night,
and instead of like getting angry, Trade just looked at
him and goes, we're really doing this right now. We're

(02:52):
really doing this right now. And the guy just went,
my bad. He just walked away, just like there we go.
That's how you handle it.

Speaker 2 (02:59):
You used to see that right now he's actually a
legit golfer.

Speaker 1 (03:01):
Yeah, that may have been what got him.

Speaker 3 (03:03):
That may have been the trey has no idea that
the first five minutes of Charges Weekly what it's gonna
be about him.

Speaker 4 (03:08):
Exactly seven years, seven years later.

Speaker 3 (03:13):
Guys, let's go back December fourteenth, twenty twenty three, Charges
Louse sixty three, twenty one in Vegas. Everything changes, right, yeah,
uh gm out hey, coach out. A few months later,
a new era Charges football begins. We've been talking about
it for months. It's finally here in money. How appropriate
that it's the Raiders. Yeah, look, we've had the Raiders
start the season before. It's Julili, you'll speak to it.

(03:35):
It's it's a great rivalry. The fans love it, and
there's gonna be a ton of it. Not that there
wouldn't be a lot of energy in the stadium for
opening week, at the excitement around justin Herbert and Jim
Harbaugh and everybody on this team. But I think it's great.
I think it's a great way to start it. That way,
you don't have to answer questions. You don't have to
think about sixty three, you know, sixty three to twenty
one for the rest of the year. Get it out

(03:55):
of the way, get this victory, you know. Send the
Raider folks that decide to come and and support their
team home disappointed and thinking about how much money they
spent on those tickets and what a waste of money
it was on to Carolina.

Speaker 4 (04:08):
Hey, look money when you look at this game, this
is this game is going to be a playoff atmosphere
week one. Herbert's back charges Raiders. We know the history
of this game, obviously, I've played in it. Right, fans
hate you. They're throwing stuff at you on the as
you're coming in on the bus, right you're on the field.
They know your aunt's name, your mom's name, your brother's name,
and they're.

Speaker 2 (04:27):
Using those to try to get into your head.

Speaker 4 (04:29):
Right, as a player, it's one of the best environments
you can be around Charges Raiders Week one in so
far in La Man, A lot of stars is gonna
be out there watching it.

Speaker 2 (04:39):
It's gonna be a good event. What's Week one like
for a player?

Speaker 1 (04:42):
Right?

Speaker 3 (04:42):
Obviously all the anticipation to get the season going, but
there's a new coach here, You're playing against your chief rival,
and you know that you want to put on a
good show, especially against the Raiders, knowing what happened last year.

Speaker 2 (04:53):
You hit it on the head.

Speaker 4 (04:54):
You want to put on a good show. But that
at all. On the other end of that, you don't
want to do too much. Right one, you haven't played
many preseason games, if you're a starter, if you're a vet,
and then you get out there and you're like, I'm
trying to push, I want to make a play, I
want to make a splash. It's the Raiders, right, national
televised game CBS. So you got to go out there
and just basically do your one eleventh do your job right.

(05:16):
You've had training camp, you have a great coach staff
here at the boat who's putting together great game plan.

Speaker 2 (05:21):
You get out there, do your job and let the
players come to you.

Speaker 1 (05:24):
You know, it's it works for both sides here, right,
because you have a whole new coaching staff, a lot
of new players on this Charger team. I think it's
the most unknowns that we've had going into a season
since I started doing this in twenty seventeen. On this side.
But as you prepare for the Raiders on the other side,
is this team's preparing as the defense? What are you watching?
Are you watching Luke Getzi with the Bears? Are you

(05:45):
watching Gardner Minshew with the Colts to see what his
tendencies are? Are you? Obviously you're watching Raiders film from
last year because a lot of those players are still there.
But how much this goes into preparing for a team
that has this much change? You know, offensive coordinator, new quarterback,
handful of new players, running backs, all that sort of stuff.
How do you spread your time on what you're watching
to prepare for this?

Speaker 4 (06:03):
So obviously you're looking at Getsie and what he did
last year, right, because it's his offense. Whatever he did
last year, he's gonna bring it over different personnel, obviously,
But then you look at personnel and you say, Gardner Minchew,
we go back and look at his film, what does
his three step drops look like his five step drops
look like right for middle post safety linebacker when you're
dropping off him in his own coverages.

Speaker 2 (06:20):
Right.

Speaker 4 (06:21):
So I think the biggest thing it's almost like you
treat it like a training camp game.

Speaker 2 (06:25):
Right.

Speaker 4 (06:25):
You go out there, you have your base defense. You
don't really know what they're gonna give you. You know, you
don't really know what angle they're gonna come try to
attack you in until the second half where you'll be
able to make adjustments. So I think you'll see in
the first two quarters jesse min are on the defensive side,
probably just playing his shell, base defense, trying to see
how they're gonna attack him. It's a game of chests
out here at the end of the day, their offensive
coordinator versus Jesse right, and Jesse is known to be

(06:47):
a great, great defensive coordinator.

Speaker 2 (06:49):
So it'll be an exciting matchup. Guys.

Speaker 3 (06:51):
I don't want to oversimplify things, but over the last
two years, the Chargers have had a Devonte Adams problem.

Speaker 2 (06:56):
Yeah, and they've had a Max Crosby problem.

Speaker 3 (06:57):
And you know, Joe Altz got the biggest test of
all tests, right tackle against Max Crosby. Obvious, you're gonna
have help with Disley and whoever they try to deploy
to help him. But on the other side, Davante Adams
in four games against the Chargers thirty four catches, four
hundred ninety four yards, four touchdowns. What do you do
in terms of slowing Davante knowing that you have derwin,

(07:19):
but you as have rock ballers, Like, what's the game
plan for Devonte Adams?

Speaker 4 (07:22):
So Davante is what we would call a game wreckord. Right,
in a matter of instance, he can wreck the game.
So as a defensive coordinator, as a defense you go
into this week saying, hey, look there's one player who's not.

Speaker 2 (07:34):
Going to beat us today and it is Devanta Adams.
How do we do that?

Speaker 4 (07:37):
Different kind of looks? Right, we cloud him for people
at home to know what cloud is. A hard cover
two corner in front of him, get hands on with
the safety over top, you play two man right, the
corners playing two man low hip, ready to break on
any underbreaking routes. With the safety on top, you're shifting
the coverage to Devonte Adams. Brock's gonna have to beat you.

(07:57):
The other weapons are gonna have to beat You're gonna
have to rely on their game, running game. But when
the Chargers leave this game on Sunday, they cannot look
at the film and say, you know what, we lost
this game because DeVante Adams erected.

Speaker 1 (08:06):
Yeah. I watched week four, the first game, and I
think he might have got pressed twice. They were giving
him so much understandable, right, give him a ton of respect,
a lot of cushion, and it just looked easy for him.

Speaker 2 (08:19):
It was easy.

Speaker 1 (08:20):
He was the first three hot read typically, but he's
working in breakers, he's working out brea and it just
how do you you just said it right? The cloud coverage,
it just seems like it makes more sense, especially with
these pass rushers, to have all four of them available
in this first week, to be a little more aggressive
against him that that likely is a little more effective
and given him that kind of cushion.

Speaker 4 (08:40):
I agree with your money when you look at it,
the Russian cover works together. Obviously, the pass rush is
going to help the secondary so they don't have to
cover as long. But like you said, even on third downs,
double seventeen middle high safety, the other safety double seventeen
with the corner, we're erasing him off the board and MINSU,
you're gonna have to look the other way, and you
don't have a lot of time because you have Tully, Bosa,
Mac and Bud the pre humming off the edge. And

(09:02):
you can add Durwin James if you want to bring
a five man pressure. So whatever you do, it's two
verse one. I don't care if we line up like
it's a punt coverage and we're vising him.

Speaker 2 (09:10):
He cannot wreck the game.

Speaker 3 (09:12):
Just speak speaking of Darwin and Mundy, I think a
few months ago you were kind of joking but not
really welcome to the NFL. Brock Bowers, Derwin James, this
is your guy. Would you put Derwin on brock Bowers
and just say erase him from the game, or would
you use Darwin in a lot of different ways.

Speaker 4 (09:30):
You see what he does with Kelsey, and Kelsey's one
of the best Titans who's ever played the game in
Durwin weekend and week out, twice a year erases Kelsey
off the board. He does the time this Kelsey shakes away,
it might be a little rub rout, or it might
be a pick to create some space or line him
up off the field so Durwin can get his hands on.
He's Hall of Fame and he's Hall of Fame, right,
He's probably the best tight end to play the game

(09:50):
when it's all said and done. Right, So when you
have a rookie, obviously you have to respect him. But
he's a rookie.

Speaker 2 (09:54):
At the end of the day.

Speaker 4 (09:55):
We say, Durwin Brock Bowers is a dog, right, He's
drafted in the first round for a reason, and you're
assignment is to race him off the board.

Speaker 2 (10:01):
Now, if you get him too the second.

Speaker 4 (10:02):
Half and Durwan's doing the job that we want him
to do and Brock is not affecting the game, then
you can say, Okay, you know what, Let's try to
blitz Durwin. Let's try to show man on Brock and
then bring him off the edge, right, so you switch
up the looks.

Speaker 1 (10:15):
You know, just without leading you to an answer, because
I that's what my interpretation was from coach Minter in
the preseason when he talked about Derwin and he said, oh, yeah,
we're gonna do a lot of different things. But you
know last year with coach Staley, when Durhan was asked
to do a lot of different things in game, you know,
six snaps high safety, eight snap slot corner, twelve snaps
on the line of scrant That's hard.

Speaker 2 (10:36):
It's a lot.

Speaker 1 (10:37):
I felt like what I took away from Coach Minter's
comments was we're going to identify the way to deploy
him game by game. It'll be different, but inside the game,
he's gonna be doing the same thing. We're not gonna
spread him out like that. As you look at the Raiders,
and I know you've obviously already prepped for this this game,
what do you think, Like, what do you think they
are going to do. Is it putting him on Bowers

(10:57):
or Mayor? Is it more Linus scrimmage? Is it a
slot corner?

Speaker 2 (11:01):
Like?

Speaker 1 (11:01):
What do you think this team needs from Durwin in
this game?

Speaker 4 (11:05):
You got to take away the tight ends Bow and Mayor,
Like you said, two first round tight ends, right, And
that's what the safety does.

Speaker 2 (11:09):
Strong safety. What Duran does.

Speaker 4 (11:11):
He plays his best ball in the box. Get him
in the box, line them up cover three, allow him
to see the zone reads, allow him to fall back
in the A gap B gaps, and play downhill while
he's in the box. It looks like cover three, but
he's Manda man on the tight ends while he's in
the box. It looks like Mandon Man in Cover three,
but now he's blitzing at the snap of the ball
off the edge and creating pressure. Right, So there's so
much you could do with him. I would love to

(11:31):
see Duran in the box a lot more of this game.
Obviously too high. You want to have too high to
keep them honest, protect Devonte Adams going over the top.
When you get your chances, you have to rotate three
down and let them get busy.

Speaker 1 (11:42):
So when you say too high with that, then means
is we're talking about that third safety? So, right, is
that Aj Finley? They bring in Elijah Molden. It feels
like that's sort of that little bit of a you know,
incremental upgrade over Tony Jefferson, Like what does that mean
to have those two guys up there and how that
affects what you're able to do with Durwin.

Speaker 4 (11:59):
Well, I think think the third safety will be Aj
Being in training camp, I've seen what a j Dunn.
He's grown as a young guy. He's obviously young, but
he's he's earned it. He's earned it to step by
there on Sunday as the third safety with him in
a lowe givemen playing back, which allowed him to use
Durwin down close to the line of scrimmage and be
more of the wild card, almost like they use Kyle
Hamilton in Baltimore.

Speaker 2 (12:17):
Right.

Speaker 4 (12:18):
I think they're gonna use during the exact same way
that you see them use Kyle Hamilton, and you see
the success that he's had in Baltimore.

Speaker 3 (12:25):
Chargers edge rushers are gonna have to outplay the Raiders
pass rush with Max Frosby and Christian Wilkins too. Frankly,
who's new to this organization, and you know the Chargers
Saul Wilkins in Week one last year when the Dolphins.

Speaker 2 (12:37):
Came to town.

Speaker 3 (12:38):
As far as Crosby and Wilkins are concerned, because these
are guys who don't come off the field right and
Crosby's perhaps money one of the best run defenders has
a motor.

Speaker 2 (12:49):
Yeah, do you do you run at Max?

Speaker 3 (12:51):
Like, how do you attack these guys on the ground,
because you know the charge is gonna leave with the run.

Speaker 2 (12:56):
You just said it, You run at him.

Speaker 4 (12:57):
That's the best way to slow a pass rushing down
is running him because a lot of times with pass
rushers do they want to get up the field get
up the field. And when you get up the field
on a run, you're creating lanes, you're creating scenes, and
that's what you want his offense, So the best way
to slow Max down isn't blocking him, isn't chipping him.
It's running at him. Right, So he's thinking every player
is a run as a pass. I can't just run
off the ball and get up the field to try

(13:19):
to do a fancy spin move. I have to sit down.
I have to anchor and create a and create an
edge on the defense. So I think that's the way
to you attack him. And then obviously in passing downs
you slide the protection and then you chip him and
then you look to get the ball over your hands.

Speaker 1 (13:32):
Quickly like the way you said fancy spin move, because look.

Speaker 2 (13:34):
I mean that's what he does.

Speaker 1 (13:35):
He has a baggage for power. He is incredible. I'm
so happy that the Darius Davis play happened in Dallas
and that it was successful and that you can plant
that seed because I'm assuming that that coach Harbaugh and
Roman are gonna do a lot of that. You're gonna
see a lot and we saw that when they work
together at Stanford, you would see so much pre snap

(13:56):
motion going into runs and into the run game that
and that's something Sean McVay has had great success with
where just give them the eye candy and make them pause. So,
you know, I think about Max and I think about
that sweep with four to three speed and what Quinton
might be able to do. I expect to see him
involved in a lot of that and what that's able
to do along with just running at him. But what

(14:17):
all that pre snap motion and actually giving it and
making them think, who does that affect the most? Is
it the end? Because the end's got to honor it.
Is it the box safety? How does you know what
we saw in Dallas and what we think Darius is
capable of? And maybe q how you can help slow
a defense down and that pass rush down by running

(14:38):
that sort of pre snap action.

Speaker 2 (14:40):
So it all depends.

Speaker 4 (14:41):
It depends what defense they're in, right, So if you're
in cover three, the down safety, who comes in the box,
who's the extra.

Speaker 2 (14:46):
Eighth man in the box is responsible for anything.

Speaker 4 (14:49):
Fast to the flat number two to the flat witch
was Darius right now? If they're not and there in
a two shell with Durwan and low he he back
then it will become the edge. So basically it's a
chess match, right, So g row was gonna have have
to see what they're playing, see when they're doing it,
their tennessees to know when to call that play right,
because you're trying to get a certain matchup, a certain look.

Speaker 2 (15:09):
Right.

Speaker 4 (15:09):
So I think obviously making them think you made a
great point. When you make them think, you just don't
line up and play ball. Now we have motion, and
a lot of times with motion, teams are checking check
into a new defense.

Speaker 2 (15:18):
Now they're thinking, now it's loud.

Speaker 4 (15:20):
Now you have to communicate that and when they all
have to be on the same page, right. So I
think creating confusion, a lot of motion, a lot of
jet sweeps, doing a little bit of trickery to keep
them off the heels of the Chargers early on. I
think that's a smart, smart way to go about it.

Speaker 2 (15:33):
It's also about the personnel too.

Speaker 3 (15:35):
Like last year, I go back to Week one to
remember the Dolphins invited the Chargers to run. Yeah, right,
they let the Chargers right, The Chargers want to run
this year, Yes, they want to run. That's why you
bring in a Will Disley. You didn't have a third
tight end that could block. Last year, you didn't have
a Hayden Hurst or a Distey. You didn't have a
Scott Matt Locke.

Speaker 2 (15:51):
Yeah, at full fall back.

Speaker 3 (15:53):
So like I just I wonder how the Chargers are
gonna come out knowing you're gonna leave with the run.

Speaker 2 (15:58):
But you also have the personnel to do it.

Speaker 3 (16:00):
Like you can have Disley help with Max Crosby, you
can have Scott Matt Locke coming out of the backfield.
How do you think that they're going to use those
guys in in ever to maybe slowly on Crosby or
Wilkins or whoever's across the line.

Speaker 4 (16:11):
And the crazy thing about it, Disney can go out
and make catches. He can run routes, he can run
the route tree. Obviously, Hurts is more of your pass
catching tight end.

Speaker 2 (16:19):
Right.

Speaker 4 (16:19):
Then you have Matt Locke that comes in six four,
three hundred pounds full back, but he caught three passes
in college on the goal line, right, He's an athletic guy.
So these are guys that they bring into the game
and defense. I'm just saying, these are guys.

Speaker 1 (16:33):
And get a two point conversion.

Speaker 2 (16:34):
Last year there you have.

Speaker 4 (16:35):
Right the Scott department is doing their job. They're literally
bringing in athletes all over the board. So you have
guys that have come in and defense are thinking it's
big personnel, It's time to run.

Speaker 2 (16:43):
It's time to run.

Speaker 4 (16:44):
They're getting nosy at the ball play action boop over
the top so they can get real, real fancy with it.

Speaker 3 (16:49):
I can't wait for fantasy owners to get really mad
at Scott Matt Locke faltering, faltering like one d perceptions around.

Speaker 1 (16:56):
I mean, this is and I hate to keep going
back to Stanford because I know we saw it in
San Francisco as well, But to me, like that's that's
just what they did at Stanford. Change the culture of
that organization. It changed the perception of what you expected
when you went into a game. And we heard what
Hayden Hurst said when he first you know, when he
did his first press or, He's like, what are we
going to do. We're gonna make people upset when they

(17:17):
see the schedule and they see us on Sunday, and
they're going to feel it the next week. Like that's
what they did. Intellectual brutality, right, And you get the
feeling that that's what they're bringing here and that's where
the whole matlock thing comes into play, and it makes
so much sense, and I think it's signals that's what
they're going to do, Like, Hey, why why do we
want two hundred and thirty five pound Tucker Fiske at fullback? Yeah,
when we can get three hundred and five pounds Scott

(17:39):
matt Locke? Why plant a Why carry a fourth tight end?
And Donald Parham, who were trying to get more acclimated
to blocking when I can plant sixth offensive lineman Foster
Currell out there. That's I think what we're going to
see a lot of this year. And the other flip
side of his again, you know, I keep making the
comparison to fifteen years ago, but the Pac twel wasn't

(18:00):
ready for it. They were lighting the ass, you know,
and so that's what they saw, and I think that's
what the NFL has become. When you look at the
linebacker level, you know, kind of the way teams are
always in nickel, they're in dime a lot. It just
feels like you don't believe it because Justin Herbert's your quarterback.
But that's what they're gonna do, Like, this is what
they're going to do right.

Speaker 4 (18:19):
Yeah, And when you look at it, the league, especially
this division, has become seven on seven passing, Patrick Mahomes,
you got all the.

Speaker 2 (18:27):
Flashy riff raft this that deep boss.

Speaker 4 (18:30):
Listen, Jim is coming in here saying, listen, we're gonna
be a bully.

Speaker 2 (18:34):
He wants to build a bully.

Speaker 4 (18:35):
We're gonna punch you in them out first, second, third,
and the fourth quarter. And I'm telling you right now
previous experience, you do not want to tackle a back
like Gus Edwards in the fourth quarter twenty five carries pounding.
It was Scott coming down on Iso leading on the
middle linebacker. You don't want to do it. I don't
care who it is. I don't care if it's Ray Lewis.
They don't want to do it for fourth quarters. And

(18:56):
I think that's the message that the charges are sending.

Speaker 1 (18:58):
I told this story before I called the sc Stanford
game at the Coliseum, the fifty five point game, and
one of the stories that came out of it was that,
you know, Toby didn't say it explicitly, but it was conveyed.
I think through him that the linebacker said, why are
you still in the game? Why do we still have
to tackle two hundred and twenty pounds. Toby Gerhart coming downhill,

(19:19):
run in power when you're up forty eight to three,
and he's like, yeah, dude, they just quit. They were
just like we we're not doing it anymore. We're tired
of it. We just want to end.

Speaker 2 (19:27):
I've been there.

Speaker 4 (19:28):
I didn't quit, but I've been there. I'm like, man again,
right again. Yeah, this is what you signed up for.
And that's what the charges they're coming into so far
right to take another man's will. And that's the culture.
That's the organization that Jim is building here and I
love it.

Speaker 3 (19:42):
And the Ben Herbert effect comes into play early, right
the first game.

Speaker 2 (19:45):
Yes, you'll know how much gas you got.

Speaker 3 (19:47):
For the fourth quarter, right, he's fourth quarter finishers and
for all of the going through something, working through something.
There's two guys on the injury report right now, Djhark
and Tarheeb still. Everybouce no, Joey Yeah, no, Rashawn Slater no,
Justin Herbert. Everybody's ready to So I do think the
first game of the year and you could speak to
this more than anybody, but conditioning is gonna be something

(20:07):
that you'll know about in the fourth quarter, who's more
condition who's ready for for a seventeen game season.

Speaker 2 (20:12):
And that's very key because, like I said earlier in
the preseason.

Speaker 4 (20:15):
You do not play your starters right right. And you
can practice all you want and get all the reps
you want, but there's nothing like playing in the game
and getting those live, actual reps.

Speaker 2 (20:24):
You know, thinking while you're tired, reacting while you're tired.

Speaker 4 (20:27):
And like you said, Herb is going to be a big,
big part of the success of the Chargers in twenty
twenty four.

Speaker 2 (20:32):
The fourth quarter finishes, he.

Speaker 4 (20:33):
Does after practice of eighty ninety plays, training camp practices
plays right, and then these guys are going pulling slaves,
they're walking with med balls, they're doing sit ups and
doing push ups. I'll tell you right now, everybody in
the league's not doing that right.

Speaker 2 (20:45):
He's gonna pay off.

Speaker 3 (20:46):
I was gonna ask you, because you were out on
the field with these guys for training camp, right in
terms of the conditioning aspect, how different was this camp
compared to other camps you coach had and be a
part of.

Speaker 4 (20:57):
I've never seen anything like it, That's the thing, like,
I haven't seen it. And what's crazy is it's all
thought out right. He's just not saying, hey guys, we're
gonna go here and pull this. We're gonna do He's
thought about it all week, each Eve and every day,
what time, how much time they're gonna do it, And
he has a plan. He's been doing it at Wisconsin,
he's doing it at Michigan.

Speaker 2 (21:14):
This is what he does. He builds a beast, and
they're doing it early.

Speaker 1 (21:17):
I'll tell you. You mentioned starters not playing in the preseason.
One starter who did, and it's understandable because he's a rookie.
Is Joe All? And you go back and watch the
Joe All film and I think there's a reason to
get excited the way. And I don't know exactly how
they're gonna get them, if they're gonna pull him as much,
or if they were just kind of planting seeds for
week one and what you got to think about. But
when you see six ' eight, three hundred and whatever,

(21:39):
twenty five, three hundred and thirty moving the way he
moves and how they can utilize that, I think people
and I shouldn't say people like when the draft was here,
it's oh, can't pass on elite neighbors. You can't pass
on Roman dun Sing. I don't think people quite understood
what it means to not just have a guy who
can play tackle, but someone that big, that strong, that athletic,

(22:04):
and what it opens the offense up to do because
of how he moves and how they can use him
as a poler. When you're on the other side of
the line of scrimmage and you see that coming, how
effective is that and how hard is it? If you
know knowing how creative Greg Roman is, what are the
challenges is a defense to try to slow that down
when that's coming at you.

Speaker 4 (22:24):
Well, first of all, when you see somebody six eight
and the size of him as a DV you want
to chop him. You can't do that, nor more can
do it right. You gotta take him on helmet to
helmet rightes and is another event, right, so when you
see that, you're like, Okay, these guys can.

Speaker 2 (22:35):
Get really creative.

Speaker 4 (22:36):
And then with the elite neighbors thing, right, you have
to know your coaching staff. This is a coaching staff
that wants to run the ball first, and they're building
the foundation around the franchise right justin Herbert, they building
the foundation around the franchise Justin Herbert, and they said,
you know what, rule number one, We're gonna protect our quarterback.

Speaker 2 (22:53):
And Joe is a generational.

Speaker 4 (22:55):
Talent, size, athletic ability, the way he goes about his business,
and he's a true pro around him as a young guy,
he's a.

Speaker 2 (23:01):
True pro already coming in. So I'm really excited to
see how they utilize him.

Speaker 1 (23:04):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (23:05):
Yeah, you know, we're twenty five thirty minutes in probably
to this podcast. I don't know exactly, but mayn't talk
about Justin Herbert.

Speaker 1 (23:10):
No, he's healthy, because that's like the one known Like
there's so many on Like we know Justin Herbert is
going to be great, but that's that we know.

Speaker 2 (23:17):
That's my point.

Speaker 3 (23:18):
It's the quarterback matchup in this game, right, Like you
know Justin's gonna be okay, Right, We're worried about all
the kind of outside factors. Gardner Minshew Chargers played twice.
I think he's owa to against the Chargers, but he's
he's been around, right, you picked them off. As I
mentioned at the beginning of the show, give me the differences.

Speaker 2 (23:36):
Not differ.

Speaker 3 (23:37):
We know the difference between Herbert and Gardner Minshew but
but Gardner is a player, Like, what are the Charges
need to be prepared for in terms of defending him.

Speaker 4 (23:47):
I think what Gardner does best is when I played him,
was he extends plays with his feet. People don't give
him a lot of credit, like he's almost has a
little bit of RuSHA Wilson this to him, right, He's
not going to just drop back and pick you apart.
Where he makes his hey is you know, you blitz
off the and you lose contain and he spins out. Okay,
Now he's looking downfield and it's a scramble drill and
guys are holding down field, and he chucks a deep
ball and it's a PI down in the thirty yard line,

(24:09):
and now they're down in the red zone right now, right,
I think what the Charges need to do with him,
obviously is just be gap sound when you're rushing, keep
him in the pocket, make him beat you with his arm,
don't let him get outside the pocket, start running around
doing all this trickery, happity run around stuff. Guys are
just running open. Now you're chasing Devonte Adams across the field.
Keep him in the pocket, and when you do, pressure
him type man coverage on the back end with help

(24:31):
over number seventeen.

Speaker 2 (24:32):
And I think that would be the formula.

Speaker 1 (24:34):
What can you share because I've watched this much film
slash video people trying to explain it about the way
Jesse Minner plays defense, and man, it's a lot to
try to figure out and see. One thing we hear
from the players is it's simple, like he's made it simple,
but it's not. And it's simulated. Pressure is what you

(24:57):
hear a lot of. It's for the most part, you know,
you kind of have an idea of what the coverages are.
He's not trying to hide that. You know. It's some quarters,
it's quarter half, there's like you say, there's cover three.
It's all of what every other team is doing. But man,
when that ball is snapped, it's like, where did that
guy come from? And now it's like just when you
think you know what it's going to be, it's something different.

(25:18):
So can you help explain to the people watching and
listening how he's been so effective cause he's part of
this group. There's been I think six You know, Mike
McDonald's a head coach, he's coming as a DC. Two
Ravens assistants got plucked and were made dcs. What is
it about this defense that's causing so much trouble in
the NFL right now?

Speaker 2 (25:36):
Well, it's basically what he does.

Speaker 4 (25:37):
First is when he comes in day one and he implements,
he says, we're going to be a physical defense. We've
all seen the Ravens defense and how the brand of
football that they play. But the thing about it I
like the most about him is it's a lot of vision.
Right he has the pass r us up front, and
a lot of times when teams blitz five, send five
a fire zone, whatever that is. You're matching routes, you're
matching over routes, you're matching corner routes. What the secondary

(25:59):
is doing a vision, their body presence on the route.
They're not taking it over, but their eyes are on
the ball and that's why you see they're getting a
lot of takeaways. And then when it comes to the
pass for us, he's getting, he's getting. He's simple, but
not simple. At the same time, you have four studs
that you can run a lot of te games with
the front. You got linebackers in safeties that can blitz,
so week in week out, you're gonna see different pressures
that he draws up and you're gonna be like, this

(26:20):
is the reason why we brought this guy in.

Speaker 3 (26:23):
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Speaker 1 (27:18):
Yeah, and Jelia, I think back to Michigan and Mikey
Sandrastill and what he was able to do from the
nickel and then watching the preseason and Tarhee's still getting
his hands on ball, it seems like that's that's a
pivot point, like that particular position looks like he's he
is happy to send it from there, and it's a
spot that that quarterback is going to have to be
looking at all game long.

Speaker 2 (27:38):
Yeah, the nickel is important.

Speaker 4 (27:39):
It's basically the sam linebacker in the nickel package, right,
he blitzes, he plays man, he zone drops right, and
he's a lot of times to tell of what the
coverage is.

Speaker 2 (27:49):
Right.

Speaker 4 (27:49):
So the nickel in this defense is very important pre
snap showing like you're blitzing, right, showing like you're blitzing,
but the safety needs to be tiding with you to
show over the top of the number two receiver like
you're blitzing at the snap pop out and you're giving
a different look. So they can do a lot of
different things with the nickel. And I know that Jesse
Minner loves him.

Speaker 3 (28:06):
You know John Taylor, he hit that nickel spot kind
of locked from the beginning. Like what have you seen
from him over the last couple of years and how
quickly he picked up this mental scheme because he's gonna
be a big, big piece of this defense.

Speaker 4 (28:16):
Yeah, Jaw is And I'm proud of yall because Joah
came in and he made his name as a special
teamer and now he's developed himself into being a viable,
a viable asset right to this defense. And when I
seen John and training camp, the word I can say
about him is that Jaw's a pro. Right, doesn't say much, right, listens,
takes coaching, and he's fast, he can cover right, He's quick,

(28:38):
and surprisingly he's a really really, really really good tackle.

Speaker 2 (28:41):
He's a really really good tackler. Excuse me.

Speaker 4 (28:43):
Right, So when you see what Jaw has done and
how he's grown, is very reassured for this Chargers defense.

Speaker 1 (28:48):
And it was too late round corners by the way,
Josh Starry Nickel, Dean Lonard Man, he's gonna team too. Now.

Speaker 2 (28:54):
I think he can fill in and he can fill
in with needs and get job.

Speaker 1 (28:58):
You know, you watch him the preseason the second second second,
he was the best player on the field.

Speaker 2 (29:02):
He was awesome.

Speaker 4 (29:03):
And he told me that he's the fastest guy on
the team. If anybody wanted to race him, let him know.

Speaker 1 (29:07):
He did. Darius Davis on the team.

Speaker 2 (29:09):
Yeah, he does.

Speaker 1 (29:10):
He's aware.

Speaker 2 (29:11):
He's aware. I said d Davis too. He said, listen,
I'm the fastest on the team. D Leonard. Let him
know when it's time we can set up that race.

Speaker 3 (29:18):
Man.

Speaker 1 (29:19):
I'll say this, if if you're forced to wear pads
and maybe there's an opponent on the field, and like
you got a race to a particular spot, I might
take dayon Henley I have. He's like, I think of all, like,
of all the things I'm excited about, I'm being so
excited for him, man, I feel like, and look, I
know we only got a couple snaps from Junior Colson,

(29:39):
but when those two were out there.

Speaker 2 (29:40):
At the same time, it was different.

Speaker 1 (29:42):
It right, It looked like to that to me, is
gonna be I feel like that's it's the most exciting.
I think it's got the highest ceiling, Like what those
two guys. And look, Denzel the fat he sees it all.
He knows it all. You know, everything's going to be
locked down when he's out there. But there's the combo
of speed, smart athleticism, the way those two pieces fit together,

(30:03):
Junior Colson and Dyan Hanley. I think it's gonna be
like that to me is where this defense can really
really shine.

Speaker 4 (30:09):
And when you mentioned junior, you mentioned smarts. This kid
has grown up, was raised in his defense, right yeah,
with Jesse Manner who was raising his defense. Knows it
like the back of his hand. Obviously he missed some
time in training camp, but he was a guy that
they said, you know what, let him get healthy because
he knows the defense. He gets outing and he's barking
it like a five to six year, seven year vet.
And then you look at day On. He's so athletic.

(30:30):
Former wide receiver right turned linebacker. He was a special
team's guru in college, so he has the mentality of
a special teamer. He has the athletic ability of a
wide receiver. But then you see how he runs to
the ball and hits. He's a special kid.

Speaker 3 (30:42):
It's hard to put into words, but you can feel
his presence on the field. You can feel Dalone's presence.

Speaker 2 (30:47):
On the field.

Speaker 3 (30:48):
And I think it's the perfect mix of a room
with a guy you've played with in Denzel, someone who's
a rookie but knows the system probably better than anybody
in junior. And then Henley, who you know has so
much potential to missiles.

Speaker 2 (31:00):
He's a missile. He's just scratching the surface. You know,
he is.

Speaker 4 (31:03):
Man, it's exciting to see that's one of the guys
we're gonna look at on Sunday and be like.

Speaker 2 (31:06):
If he plays well, right, the Charges have a good
chance to win.

Speaker 4 (31:09):
Yeah, you know, like memons on Iran and you see
what he did in the preseason and he had probably
one of the best camps as well. So that linebacker
room being led by four time All Pro Navar Bowman, like,
the sky's the limit for that room.

Speaker 1 (31:23):
Yeah, I think when you mentioned you know that that's
the X factor. If that level plays well, good chance
to win the game of all the like, there's a
lot of question marks obviously with the health of JK.
Feel like, if he's healthy, he could be one of
the five best backs in the league. Just the way,
how are they going to parcel out the rotation of
the running backs? Is it hotthand do they have a

(31:43):
set number of snaps? Is it three backs? Are all
four active on? You know, there's so much But to me,
I think the biggest question mark I have is is
the defensive line. It's not the edges. I'm talking about
the D line and I don't know how much, I
don't know how many snaps tier Tart's gonna get. It
felt different when he was on the field, like that's
a guy that's in the backfield snap and he's back there.
You know, we know Morgan Fox is capable of doing that.

(32:06):
When you look at this D line room and Tito
and Poona, Morgan Fox, Matt Locke coach Arboss said yesterday
that he's gonna, you know, get still gonna get his
reps there? What do you see from that group? And
what question? Why? Why?

Speaker 2 (32:18):
Why?

Speaker 1 (32:19):
Is that the one that that I feel like I'm
looking at the most what has to be answered there?

Speaker 2 (32:22):
Because when you look at this defense, you see it
in every position.

Speaker 4 (32:25):
There's stars, right, guys who have proven themselves right for
the Bolts in this organization. And then you have guys
at the interior D line who are younger, right, first year,
second year, third year guys. Then you got four that
just came over. We're not too really familiar with his game,
but I'll tell you what, he's gonna be a big,
big anchor for this defense in the inside. Had a
really good camp, so that's why, you know, Yeah, poona

(32:46):
really small short but stout right, he's a big anchor
down and can play that nose position for the defense.
And rightfully so, there's question marks at that position because
it hasn't been done yet by these guys. Right, they're young,
but they're promising, So that would be a position that we're.

Speaker 1 (33:01):
Going to be keeping our eye on right on tier
like am I No, for sure, he's that's just him
taking advantage of backups when he's out there.

Speaker 4 (33:08):
Hey, listen, it doesn't matter who you're playing, right right,
at the end of the day, you have a job
to do.

Speaker 2 (33:11):
And he went out there and he did dominated was
setting a.

Speaker 4 (33:14):
New line of scrimmage. Each and every play was in
their backfield, right, So.

Speaker 3 (33:18):
In credit to Horties Man, that's just one of I mean, Tito,
listen over the over the last week, it's been nuts
to turn over the back half of the roster. And
you think the fifty three is safe, No, not so fast, right, Yeah, Taylor,
Heineke comes in, it's probably gonna be the number two now,
good pick up, you know, And we don't need to
talk about Heinikee really now anymore. Hopefully hopefully never, but
just real quickly. I mean, this is a guy who

(33:39):
can keep you afloat. You know, he was twelve eleven
and one in Washington, he started a playoff game, and
he's somebody who can kind of galvanize the team for
a short period of time if you need it.

Speaker 2 (33:50):
Yes, but again, don't have to worry about that. But
just go back to Hortiz.

Speaker 3 (33:53):
And just what he's been able to do this offseason,
not being satisfied with being staggered, you know, bringing in
a guy like tire Tart who actually will make a
difference this year, kind of continue to turn the back
half of this roster in an effort to have the
requisite depth you need for a seventeen game season.

Speaker 2 (34:11):
We haven't seen that around here in a long time.

Speaker 4 (34:13):
Yeah, depth and depth is key, right because we all
know injuries happen one hundred percent injury rate this game.
Obviously violent game. But then when you look at Ortis,
you say, well, he's had a Super Bowl. He's won
a Super Bowl. Right, obviously wasn't a HEAGM, but he
was part of the staff. Yeah, so he knows what
it looks like to win. He knows what it takes
to win, right, he knows what it's supposed to be, like,
what's the what's the culture, what's the atmosphere, What's how

(34:35):
important depth is on a roster. So he's done a
really good job and I'm pretty sure he's not done.

Speaker 1 (34:40):
And when I you know, just kind of going back
to what we were talking about with the interior of
the line. When I when I think about how the
Raiders are going to do this and how, you know,
I think we forget what kind of coach Antonio Pierce is.
He's you know, they're they're similar he and Jim Harbaugh.
He wants to beat you up, he wants to pound it.
He wants to be the bully as well. So I

(35:00):
think they're gonna run it. I think everyone's thinking about
DeVante Adams and Brock Bauers and like, to me, my
guess is they're gonna test those corners. They're gonna they're
gonna run it. That we know what the issue was
with this team against the run the last few years.
Like I think we're I think many people are focused
on seventeen and they should be. You know, I don't
I don't kind of disagree with that, But to me,

(35:20):
I think it's gonna be it's not just this team
hasn't been able to run the ball. This team hasn't
be able to stop the run, you know, the last
couple of years. And I think we're gonna see a
lot of Semir White. We're gonna see Alex Madison. We're
gonna like see see And that's a big offensive line,
Like we know what that offensive line is. To me,
that's that's the battle. It's it's this to me, it's
a line of scrimmage game. Yeah, it really is. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (35:43):
And when you look at that, I agree with you,
Matt Money right when you say that, because they're gonna
try to come out and they're going to try to
establish the line of scrimmage, take control of the game.
Why because they want to keep the ball out of
Ten's hands, right, They don't want Herbert to have the ball.
So they're gonna try to eat up a lot of clock. Right,
keep our defense honest. And now, if the defense does
what they're supposed to do with the front four of
the seven in the box or eight, depending on if

(36:04):
we need to bring Durwan in, then that's where they're
gonna go to DeVante Adams and start to air it out.

Speaker 2 (36:08):
But they're gonna try.

Speaker 4 (36:08):
To keep us on this, try to keep us on
this play action, play it run excuse me, run run,
play action, draw us up because of the success of
the run and now that those boys are opening them
for Davante, right, So I think that would be the
game plan and I totally agree with you.

Speaker 2 (36:22):
Yeah, well, no more josh Jacobs, right.

Speaker 3 (36:24):
So Sameer White's never really been in this spot where
he's like the full time guy. So we'll see what
happens on Sunday. You know, as far as the Chargers
running games concerned, we think it's gonna be JK and Guss.
We don't know what this split's gonna look like. Maybe
Videll gets in the mix too. I love week one
because you can watch as much training a lot of
unknown Like what do you think they're gonna do offensively?

(36:46):
Like I also I talk about the wide receivers too,
because like.

Speaker 1 (36:49):
We haven't mentioned yet, we haven't mentioned any and Justin
Herbert's quarterback, the.

Speaker 3 (36:54):
Quarterbacks that you got Lad mcconkey's justin you got Joshua Palmer,
you know, on the injury report, and now I'll see
if he plays on Sunday. But like there's there's so
much unknown in that room, but we do know that
the equalizer is justin Herberty.

Speaker 2 (37:08):
It elevates everybody. And you see what it looked like
when he came back to practice different. It looked different.
Probably one of his best practices we've seen since.

Speaker 1 (37:17):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (37:17):
Right, So, I mean everyone's level picks up when Ten's
underneath the center. And as far as what it's gonna
look like, it's gonna be a heavy dose Ugust and JK. Right,
I'm not sure exactly who's coming in after him. We
don't know that, but it's gonna be a heavy dose
August and JK. Thunder and lightening pounds you, pounds you,
pounds you. And when the opportunities present himself, we're gonna
let Ten showcase his arm and do his thing.

Speaker 1 (37:36):
I wonder I keep you know, I used to do
all the fantasy stuff over at NFL Network, so I
can still get a ton of questions about who's the
number one receiver and who should I draft and what
and with the receivers, I don't know. I mean, it's
if Josh Palmer stays healthy, it's obviously Josh. He can
do it all. He can play outside can play in
the slot. He's got great hands, he's got plenty of speed.

Speaker 2 (37:55):
But I don't know.

Speaker 1 (37:56):
There was something about that connection between and Herbert and
Mconkee in ot As. You just could kind of see it.

Speaker 2 (38:04):
If it's a PPR situation, it could be Lad. Yeah,
it's crazy. It's crazy. You say that. Money don't mean
to cut you off, but you're fine.

Speaker 4 (38:11):
It's it's fitting that we're playing the Raiders, right, And
what I seen Ladd doing is a lot of hunter
run around for exactly a lot of motion, a lot
of stacks, a lot of choice routes right allow him
to create separation without having to release.

Speaker 2 (38:23):
And that's how you do it. You create stacks, You
give him.

Speaker 4 (38:25):
Choice routes, a lot of zig zag routes, a lot
of combo routes, right digs, digging goals, a lot of
double moves because he's so quick in short area of spacing.

Speaker 2 (38:34):
I think Sunday you see him feature.

Speaker 3 (38:36):
These Georgia Bulldogs could be the equal you know you got.
You got two rookies drafted in the first and early
second round in Maconukee and Bowers. You got Severe White
in the backfield. These Georgia's skill position players could decide
from Georgia boy.

Speaker 1 (38:48):
And we haven't mentioned Q like what I think you
know last year just really wasn't fair to him. That's
not his skill set was replacing Mike. That's not what
he did at TCU. It's not what he does best.
I'm I don't quite know how Greg Roman's going to
use him that we talked about it with some of
those sweeps, some of those quick hitters. Feels like, and
I think Justin said it in his presser yesterday, like
just get the ball in his hands. Just get the

(39:09):
ball in his hands. Yeah, And that's and by the way,
his hands catching the ball has been kind of the issue.
So it's trying to figure out the layups. And I
don't know what those layups are. Are they quick slants?
Is it just kind of that little shovel pass on
the suite? But it feels like with him early get that,
just get the ball with completion.

Speaker 2 (39:28):
Right. It's confidence too, Deli.

Speaker 4 (39:30):
It's all confidence because when he was here last year,
his rookie year, in training camp, he probably had the
best training camp out of all the receivers, right. And
then obviously we went to the season, things happen and
then go his way right. But I'm not writing off Q.
I think, like you said, get the ball in his hands.
Quick screens right now, drag rounds right now, let him
catch and run right flips to him and jet sweeps, reverses,

(39:51):
let him get comfortable, let him get his confidence back.

Speaker 2 (39:53):
And I think once you see that, you'll see him
grow as a receiver.

Speaker 1 (39:56):
Yeah, it's where you know, everybody wants to stack the receivers,
like who's the one, the two who's said it's not
necessarily one, two or three, it's who's out there. And
I'll be honest, like I won't be surprised if Simmy
Foco's out there. Yeah, just because he's fast, he's big,
he's comfortable and contest to catch situations I will not expect.

(40:16):
I'm you know, speaking to DJ being on the you know,
has not practiced as of when we're recording this, So
if he's not in the game, I could totally see
him being that third guy once playing the outside that's
playing the X and and is out there.

Speaker 4 (40:29):
And if Rice is out there, I'll tell you this
about that kid. He wants to block and that's what
harballing the love about him. Obviously he's a good thing,
good young receiver. But they don't want Primadonna's that wide
receiver in this offense. They want you to go down
there and dig out that safety on run blocks. Go
down there and dig out that linebacker on run play.
Excuse me, I'm run play. So you have to be
willing to block. You're not just gonna line up in

(40:50):
so far for the Los Angeles Chargers and catch passes
and not be expected.

Speaker 1 (40:53):
You know, it's you know, it's funny about that though.
If you go back and you watch every one of
Simmy's preseason reps, watch watch run play.

Speaker 2 (40:59):
He's another one.

Speaker 1 (41:00):
He is a dog yeld. It's been tackled for two
seconds and he's dust in a safety end of the
ground acts after the whistle and every time, every single I.

Speaker 2 (41:10):
Love that you mentioned that.

Speaker 3 (41:11):
You loil because, like Buddy, for good reason, everyone talks
about fantasy and know who's gonna catch the most ball.

Speaker 2 (41:15):
It's it's so much more than that.

Speaker 3 (41:16):
Is it's so much more than that, and that's why
you're gonna You may see guys out there that had
that one to to block.

Speaker 2 (41:21):
And think about block.

Speaker 1 (41:22):
Yeah, and you're talking about guy that like the block.

Speaker 2 (41:24):
Yeah, and he was paid a lot.

Speaker 1 (41:26):
Right to catch the ball exactly, and he's still love
and he still loved blocking.

Speaker 2 (41:30):
It was good at both yea.

Speaker 1 (41:32):
Raider week man.

Speaker 3 (41:33):
It's it's fun for for us to see the fans
and kind of look back to December and what happened
and how like this is like a chance and maybe
a little revenge against them, but get back, get back,
but also just to start fast. You know, I think
it's important when you look at this this you know
we we can look ahead after the Raids got Carolina

(41:53):
on the road at Pittsburgh, then the Chiefs that first
quarter of your season before you're by like like, this
is a very important vision game. Want to know in
the division and try to get on a roll. And
it's important because it's the division game. We all know
how important division games are, right. Another reason why it's
important is because it's just keep it real.

Speaker 4 (42:10):
The Raiders will have a lot of fans in the
stadium on Sunday, Yeah, right, it is what it is.

Speaker 2 (42:14):
It's how they travel and the last.

Speaker 4 (42:16):
Thing you want them to do is feel any kind
of home field advantage, any kind of momentum I'm no
playing for the Chargers, playing against the Raiders, and that
black hole gets to rock and you feel the momentum
swing right, And that's the last thing you want them
to have. You don't want them to come in here
and say that they have any life to live. You
want to get jump on them early, jump on them fast,

(42:36):
beat them down.

Speaker 2 (42:36):
From the first quarter all the way to the fourth.

Speaker 4 (42:38):
Easier said than done, absolutely, but that has to be
the game plane.

Speaker 1 (42:42):
I hit the exits early. And I've said this like
you said, you're dead. We're not saying anything that people
don't know. It's certainly changed dramatically. I've been this, you know,
been here since day one, since this team arrived, and
I have watched things go from here in twenty seventeen
to here, and you see all these number ten jerseys
and all these number three jerseys, and it's changing. With
Jim Harball, he is a true superstar. I see that

(43:03):
push this another level. The one thing that I always say, though,
and I take it back, and I know people, you know,
recency biased. They may not believe it because of how
good Houston was last year and what Timiko Ryans has done.
You played there. I have never. It was the worst
atmosphere I have been in both of those games that
the Chargers played, brutal, just dead inside, no vibe. And

(43:26):
I said, I will take a fifty to fifty split
packed energy any day of though. Any football player and
you can speak to Julia will take that any day
that we can get fifty switch.

Speaker 4 (43:37):
And I kind of like it, like bring it on,
like I like it, Like you think you're gonna take
over our home, Like I kind of like it. It's
almost like being a villain, right, Like when you go
on away games. I like going to away games and
eighty thousand people booing you. Then when you make at up.
I remember twenty eighteen, it up, You didn't. You didn't
lose a game on the road outside of Los Angeles.
You lost to the to the Rams at the coliseum.

(43:58):
But that twenty eighteen.

Speaker 3 (43:59):
Year undefeated on the road when you got on an
airplane up until New England, never lost on the road.

Speaker 4 (44:04):
Yeah, And even dating back to my college days, I
don't know. I just like playing away. I like people
rooting against me and all my brothers, and we come
in with one common purpose, one common goal, and then
we leave there and we see all the sad faces, right,
So that's what I like. So, like you said, fifty
to fifty, who cares. But what you can't let them
do is gain the momentum and let it feel like
one hundred to nothing right as far as fan base,

(44:26):
as far as crowd, as far as momentum.

Speaker 1 (44:28):
Yeah, I mean, I'll I'll just finish with this. Like
to me, it's I've already said it. I'll say it again.
It's a line of scrimmage game. It's Khalil Joey Tully.
But that that quartet gets I don't know, let's go
ten pressures, three sacks, and I think it's a JK
and Gus. Remind you that this is Baltimore West and

(44:48):
it's you know, it's a one hundred and fifty, one
hundred and seventy yard Russian game. Is how this thing
is won. It's not justin Herbert three hundred yards, you
know out of the opener. Like, to me, that's what
the thing looks. What's gonna decide for you?

Speaker 4 (45:02):
I got to pickyback off of money, right, leaning on
the run game, a lot of stingy defense, you know,
Jesse getting creative on third downs with that pass rush
first and second down, creating a new line of scrimmage,
forcing them into third and lungs to force them to Okay,
we know what they like in this window, and third
down with de Vonte would brock with Myers.

Speaker 2 (45:19):
So what players do we call to combat that? Right?

Speaker 4 (45:22):
So I think tough, tough defense. Early on pressure Gardner Minshew,
keep him in the pocket. And on offense, you got
to pound the ball, pound the ball, and when opportunities
present himself, let ten to his think.

Speaker 2 (45:33):
Yeah, okay, let ten do his think.

Speaker 3 (45:35):
The only I have like this much telling me that
Herbert may aired out a little bit, Like Greg rob said,
he's never he's never He's never had a quarterback like
Justin right, just as smart as is all get out.
And if they want to continue to honor the run
and Justin finds one on one opportunities on the other side,
he finds his guys. So like I agree with you,
I think that that that's the game plan. They can

(45:57):
run the ball, but I wouldn't be surprised if we
saw a few deep sh just because they can.

Speaker 1 (46:01):
You'll see a few. Yeah. I just think like the
identity of the game, Like to me, that is people saying, well,
you gotta take my league neighbors. It's like, right, do
you not know who's here? Like to see the coach
and like, but what he's done everywhere, like what he likes,
Like there's that's what they're gonna do. Like this, it's
what they're gonna do. And I'll say I'll add this
just as a as a little ps as an addendum,

(46:21):
not an addendum, but just as an added value sixty
three to twenty one last year. I'm anxious to see,
you know, if if it can go a certain way,
what that postgame handshake is gonna look like between Antonio
and Jim. But you know, like I'm wondering if they're
gonna be a little bow up like.

Speaker 4 (46:38):
You know, I mean, they're they're they're both they're both
respected men in their position. Obviously Jim doing both playing
and coaching, right, Peers doing both playing and coaching. But
at the end of the day, it's gonna come down
to those guys on the field with those helmets on,
and I know Jim will have them prepared.

Speaker 2 (46:56):
I know they'll be up for it.

Speaker 4 (46:58):
I mean, no one needs to get you up for Raiders, Chargers,
No one needs to get you up for the first
week of the game.

Speaker 2 (47:02):
First week of the season.

Speaker 4 (47:03):
Excuse me, right, So another point you said, Herbert taking
his shots obviously.

Speaker 2 (47:08):
Creating the run.

Speaker 4 (47:09):
Eight man box, single high safety corners pressed on the outside.

Speaker 2 (47:13):
Then he has the ability to check right.

Speaker 1 (47:16):
Hey, the out of the Raider game end last year
here week four, remember yeah, deep shot Josh Palmer fifty
yards on a third and whatever it was, third and
eight or something like that. He takes the play action,
takes the shot downfield one game.

Speaker 4 (47:28):
He has the keys to the vehicle, all right, so
if he sees a certain look, obviously he will check
out of it. But like you said, money established a
run first, and when those opportunities come and they stacked
the box, that's when you let it fly.

Speaker 3 (47:38):
This was fun, guys, that sir, appreciate you man, my
guy always ye mone of you the best guys. We
will see it so far on Sunday, Week one against
the Las Vegas Raiders. It's finally here and we can't
wait to be a part of it. For money and jalil,
I'm Chris.

Speaker 2 (47:53):
This has been charged with