Chargers Weekly: Naquan Jones Breaks Down Bolts D-Line

On this episode of Chargers Weekly, Bolts radio play-by-play announcer Matt “Money” Smith and host Chris Hayre recap the latest news involving LA and the entire NFL. The hosts are joined by defensive lineman Naquan Jones, who breaks down the depth of the Bolts D-line including teammates Teair Tart and Tuli Tuipulotu & explains how his versatility and athleticism will benefit the defense in the upcoming Week 5 matchup vs Jayden Daniels and the Washington Commanders this Sunday. Presented by Splitero.

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Episode Transcript

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

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

Speaker 3 (00:11):
Guys.

Speaker 1 (00:11):
Welcome into a week five edition of Chargers Weekly, as always,
joined by the voice of the Chargers, Matt Muddy Smith
Bolts will host the Commanders this Sunday bounce back spot
for the Chargers Money after losing to the Giants twenty
one eighteen, Daikwon Jones gonna join us in a few
minutes to talk about the game, and I look ahead
to Washington, but Money has just rewind a little bit.

(00:34):
After that first drive by Jackson Dart, I thought the
defense was great. When you have fourteen penalties and two interceptions,
it's probably gonna do yin.

Speaker 2 (00:42):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (00:43):
Look, I'll go back to the pregame because I had
a chance to meet our friend Mike from Splittero, so
a shout out to him. To Mike, it was great conversation.
I'm gonna drink from my Splitterio mug again. He commented
on how much he liked all the swag. He's like, yeah,
you guys got the coffee cups and I was like, ah,
it's wonderful. So tip of the cap to him for

(01:03):
helping us aline the content studio. But it was a
beautiful day, it was warm, there were great vibes, and
then the game started and the opening drive. You know,
you have a drop on third down that I think
really could have changed the complexion of that game if
you can drive down the field, score a touchdown and
put some pressure on the Giants, you know who defensively

(01:24):
coming in. The metrics were not kind to them. You know,
they they had not obviously you saw what Dallas was
able to do to them. You know, the Chiefs number
was a lot lower, but teams have been able to
gash him on the ground, and I just you know,
I think unfortunately that drop. Now you have a three
and out and we obviously know what happened on that
that opening drive, and I think it it just when

(01:45):
you've got a young quarterback and a young team, that's
that's kind of got some energy in the stands because
they changed some things and people always get excited. We
know it well with Herbert and what he did in
twenty twenty. I think you just kind of you could
have pushed him on the mat and you kind of
let him up, and I think it got away from
a little bit there at the start, and it really
could of kind of changed the complexion of that.

Speaker 1 (02:03):
Game, especially you have a rookie quarterback. It's scripted like
they knew what they were going to do going down
the field, and obviously an eighty nine yard touchdown drive.
You take that out.

Speaker 3 (02:11):
Though.

Speaker 1 (02:11):
The defense I thought was really really good, But the
biggest blow came on that third series Joe All goes
down when you know, I put him in the list
of Justin Herbert, Derwin James guys, you really can't afford
to lose, and you can't afford to lose Joe alt
in the middle of the first quarter and then have
to kind of kind of rebound around him. And we
saw it last week or two weeks ago, rather against

(02:35):
the Broncos, Justin Herbert getting hit got hit a bunch
again twenty six times in the last two weeks, and
that was just I think part of the reason why
he was maybe a little bit off. There's two interceptions
probably contributed to that as well.

Speaker 4 (02:46):
Yeah, look, I think you know last year when you
go through the schedule, the Chargers were exceptional in ten
AM games, ten AM Pacific games. You know, the only
one they lost was the one against the Steelers, and
that's the one that Herbert tried to play through a
high ankle spring. But outside of that, Charlotte Denver, I
should say Charlotte, New England forty to seven. That was

(03:06):
a ten am game. I mean, you had Cleveland with
all the interceptions on Jameis Winston. Like the Atlanta, they
got the victory. It's not an issue. Felt like an issue.
It felt like this team just it didn't look like
anything I'd seen from them last year. The penalties they
came in with fifteen for one hundred and seven yards.
In this one game they had fourteen for one hundred
and seven yards, and it was all over the place.

(03:27):
It was six on offense, it was six on defense.
It was some critical it's just some some procedural penalties
that lead you to think that things just aren't quite
as tight as they should be. Two on special teams,
like it was just kind of off things.

Speaker 1 (03:42):
Right, I want to ask you this, do you think
again this is it's coming from me, so it's not
excuse making. But like we talked so much about these
first three games, right, it was a very physical game
against the Broncos. You get to three to zero in
the division, it's almost like you can kind of breathe
a collective cyber detail and then you come back. And
then again it's when you lose Joe Alt in the

(04:04):
middle of first quarter, that's not a good sign. Because
you mentioned the Giants defense. They've been bad across the
board except for getting after the quarterback, and that's the
one thing that really kind of did it.

Speaker 2 (04:12):
In the Chargers yea.

Speaker 4 (04:13):
And I think that's the sort of one thing that
when you lose Alt in the middle of a game,
you know where maybe you're not thinking about that adjustment
because you have Alt and you feel pretty good about
giving help to the other side, and we're just gonna
let justin continue to carve these teams up. And you
think about what the second half looked like against Denver
and how they're like, you know what, we got to
lean into Herbert here and he delivered, you know, And

(04:34):
so I think, if if all stays healthy, maybe that
plan works. But when you look at the box and
you're like, man, that's really weird. They only ran at
twelve times. You know, Herbert's getting pressured fifty percent of
the time. Again, he's taking another twelve quarterback hits Amaran
seemed like he was running the ball pretty darn well.
And it's twelve carries and you know, one of them's

(04:55):
a fifty four yard touchdown. So I think what you'll see,
you know, this week against the Commanders is is getting
that number up. Because the one thing that I noticed
in this game that didn't happen in any of the others,
and it became a national talking point is Chargers are
running play action as much as any team in the league.
It's working, and yet they're not running the ball. And
so I think, you know, Brian Dable and his staff

(05:17):
looked at it and they were like, uh, yeah, we're
not We're not taking the cheese on the on the
play action because they didn't. They just pinned their ears
back and they got after it and they and all
play action did really for Herbert was just you know,
even kind of make it less time for him to
get rid of the ball before he took a shot,
and he took some shots again, as you as you
talked about. So I think that's I think in order

(05:40):
for play action to work, they're gonna have to run
the ball. And I feel pretty good about them running
the ball. Based on what we saw on the limited
carries from Mamara.

Speaker 1 (05:47):
It just has to be more balanced. It just that's
the simple thing, you know. Justin Herbert ran the ball
one time he had that that twenty four yard and
that was a rushed down the sidelines. That was it,
which is amazing when you consider the amount of times
he was pressured. He didn't just take off or run
with it. Yeah, you know, Q eight for ninety eight.
This is becoming something very consistent with Quintin Johnson. It's
been awesome to see Keenan five for thirty seven, Ladd

(06:08):
one for eleven on six targets. We've seen drops, We've
seen the full body of work from Ladd. I'm in
no way concerned about laddi mcconukey, But after a game
like that and the way that Keenan and Quinton have
gotten going, I think the first four weeks, I feel
like a lad mccaukee game is going to come sooner
than later. And I'm sure he's probably a little I

(06:30):
don't know. I'm not saying he's pressing, but you know
he's probably not used to not getting the ball and
performing in spots that he did last year.

Speaker 4 (06:37):
Yeah, look, I thought that was the game. I thought
the Giants game was going to be the Ladd mccaukee game,
just kind of based on watching what they do and
what they don't do, and what their sort of limitations
had been in those first three games. It was lining
up to be a big Ladd game, and for whatever reason,
it was just weird.

Speaker 2 (06:54):
Again.

Speaker 4 (06:54):
It was like, it's just a weird game. You know,
five targets, two drops, one catch for eleven yards. It
was a very strange game on that front. But I
think what you'll see and what you know, it helps
that lads a man beater, you know, and Keenan's a
man beater.

Speaker 2 (07:11):
So like if they there should be a quick.

Speaker 4 (07:13):
Game available to Greg Roman and Justin Herbert with this
offensive line, you know, with it's snot beat out of
it right now. You know, hopefully Mikyle will be able
to go. That'll be a huge boost. And then it'll
be interesting to see how they want to play that
left tackle position because you know, Austin Deculus was forced
into there with the injury to Alt and you know

(07:34):
it was a rough go and so I think it's
trying to figure out what the answer is there. So
Herbert has at least a little bit of time, you know.
The nice thing is they have a full week to
draw it up, figure out what the game plan is.
Hopefully we'll Disley's back. You know, that's going to go
a long way. Same thing from a Giants game. It
was just odd to see the Tucker Fisk snaps. It's like, man,
you would have thought, especially with Joe going down, let's

(07:56):
get a little more Tucker out there. He's such a
good blocker. And I think you'll see that because it is.
It's it's hard when it happens in game. You know,
you're just kind of everything's coming at you and you
have a game plan and now you've got to adjust
and you're trying to figure it out and get everybody
on the same page.

Speaker 2 (08:12):
And so I think with the full week it'll help.

Speaker 4 (08:13):
And I would suspect if Will's healthy, we'll see a
lot of Disley and Tucker Fisk out there.

Speaker 1 (08:17):
I was gonna say, the two biggest names on the
injury report to monitor Mackay Beckton.

Speaker 2 (08:21):
Yeah, Will, no doubt.

Speaker 1 (08:23):
If you have a week to prepare for kind of
a rushing attack and how you're going to protect Justin Herbert,
I think that that's one thing versus in the middle
of a game trying to figure it out on the road.
So the defensive line of the Giants, you know, Abdul Carter,
Cyon Burns. I mean, those guys were getting after justin

(08:44):
in a way that we haven't seen in quite a bit.
I mean, obviously we knew Denver going into oh yeah,
but this is the one unit of the Giants that
I think took full advantage of the Chargers deficients.

Speaker 4 (08:53):
Well, and it's it's just odd, right the way it
worked out, because going into the game, I was watching back,
you know, every snap, you know, and I was like,
of Abdul Carter, and I'm like, this is weird. Why
are they playing abdu car you know, Carter off the
ball and at lineback. They weren't lining them up at edge.
And then all of a sudden they unleashed him in
that Charger game and he was on the line of
Strubge and he was moving up and down that line

(09:15):
and he's a real issue. And it's very reminiscent, you know.
And yeah, they're both Penn State linebackers that are taken
top five and or you know, Micah was taking whatever eleventh.
But it was very reminiscent of what the Cowboys did
with Micah. They're like, oh, this guy can do so much.
He's a Swiss army knife. Let's play him a let's
stand him up and let's play him off ball, and
let's put him at the end. And it's like, no, man,
just tell him to rush the passer. And Mike of

(09:37):
course turned to the best pass rusher or at least
one of the two with Miles Garrett in the game.
And I think that's what the Giants figured out with
Carter is Yeah, we've got an embarrassment of riches with
Burns and Thibodeau and Lawrence on that line, but that's
just where we're gonna put him. And man, he he
was a he was a wrecking ball.

Speaker 1 (09:55):
Marion Hampton. Yeah, listen, the fifty four yard touchdown was
one thing. That eighteen yards scene and best run up.

Speaker 2 (10:03):
See.

Speaker 1 (10:03):
I don't I don't know the last time a land
liked that, to see a rookie come alive like that.
And again this was only on twelve carries. He's done
it and back to bad games. Now as you come
goes out, you know a Marion needs to step up.
And again, this is a this is a player who
I think will have a big say and whether or
not they win or lose on Sunday.

Speaker 4 (10:20):
Yeah, and look, I think if if Son Haskins and
Kamani Vaidel are going to be active, they got to
carry the ball like they've they've got to because I
think part of the the situation is they don't want
to put too much on a marian and have him
carry because he had to carry the heck out of
that ball in the Denver game when Naju went down
because they didn't have anyone else. But I think when
you go into a game with three backs that are active,

(10:42):
you know they got to pick up some slack there
and carry some loads. So a marian's more effective with
the carries he gets.

Speaker 1 (10:48):
These are big boy carries too.

Speaker 2 (10:49):
Yes, that's the thing.

Speaker 1 (10:50):
It's like it's like three carries in one Yeah.

Speaker 4 (10:52):
So like that's that's kind of the again, going into
the Commanders game, something that that I think you need
to see and we saw Hassan and granted more of
it was in the short yardage game and in the
passing game last year when you had that big reception
against Denver and took it. But I think that's something
that just has to come together, you know, otherwise they're
gonna have to look somewhere else for some answers, because

(11:12):
you can't go through the season with that low number
of carries in a game with one person carrying the
ball at the running back position and nobody else getting carries.
So I think you're going to see some either Hassan
Haskins or Kamani vay Dell. And then also I think
you know you saw in the Denver game, and you
saw it again in the Giant game, like just use
that pass as an extension of the run game and

(11:33):
you get a little bit more of that action in
the flat because we see Lamarin can make guys miss.
He's a load to bring down. You mentioned a third
and one play, and so I think that's that again.
It's it's also why it's like, man, that's just kind
of odd that they didn't because even after that, I
feel like after that fifty four yard carry, if I
remember right, I don't have the play chart in front
of me, but I feel like they had a three

(11:54):
and out after that where they didn't even run the
ball once, where it was three passes on one of
those on one of those, and that was after the
fifty four yard touchdown run.

Speaker 3 (12:04):
Yeah, it was.

Speaker 1 (12:04):
It was a quick three and out, so it was
incomplete short left, incomplete, incomplete.

Speaker 4 (12:09):
Yeah, and that was after the run. That was the
beginning of the fourth quarter. It's very strange that they're
not leaning into it. And I think with Makai back,
if he's back out there, that's going to help a lot,
because man, he can really it's fun to watch the
film with him in the run game and he can
toss some dudes.

Speaker 1 (12:23):
After the touchdown, it felt like, because they were playing
from behind the entire game, it felt like that was
the play that was going to actually get the Charge
back into the game and they were going to end
it in the fourth quarter. You mentioned that three and
out at the beginning of the fourth that, you know,
just I don't know why you don't continue with Amarian
in the fourth quarter the way that they did kind

(12:44):
of at the end of the third.

Speaker 4 (12:45):
Yeah, and I think defensively, just you know the one
thing that yeah, they shut him down and they had Look,
they started two drives inside the Chargers five yard line.
You know, that's where eleven of the twenty one points
came from. Outside of that, they only allowed ten but
I think by design, the way the Giants were playing,
how they believed in their defense and that their defense

(13:06):
was going to be able to limit points on the Chargers.
They played it very conservatively, conservatively, and the one thing
they did was they picked up first downs, man, and
they picked them up on the ground. Like when you
look at the box score and you see eleven rushing
first downs, I think that kind of it's the twenty
one points eleven from inside the five yard line. I

(13:26):
think that's how a lot of people will explain it away.
But then there's a flip side to that, and that's
by design that this is a team that converted nearly
fifty percent of their third downs. They did it on
the ground. They did it in a physical manner, and
I mean, like you don't see eleven rushing first downs
often in a game, and that was something they were
able to put together. And I would assume the Commanders,

(13:49):
you know, with Jaden's knee and with no Terry McLaurin,
that they're gonna want to, you know, probably do some
running the ball with Crosskey Merrit with some short you know,
they haven't really been throwing short at all. It's been
very deep it's been very deep action for them, and
so I think you're going to probably start to see
a little bit of that Samuel Debo, you know that

(14:11):
the Deebo sort of shorter yard after catch type of stuff.
And look, that's what the Charger's majoring. It's like, that's fine, man,
keep it underneath. We're happy to to give you that stuff.
You're not going to get the explosives. So I think
that's a match and hopefully they can kind of get
back to it.

Speaker 1 (14:25):
The Commanders currently don't have the personnel to go deep.
They have this rookie Lane from Virginia Tech who's a speedster,
but in terms of tracking the ball and it's that's
just not his specialty.

Speaker 4 (14:35):
Which is weird because you see their a dot and
it's it's it's wild. It's like some of the deepest
in the league. And that's even with the backup quarterback
in Mariota.

Speaker 1 (14:42):
I know, hey, real quick, before we get to na Kwon,
it just we should talk about Tooley's performance. Oh yeah,
I mean it was unbelievable before sacks, and I just
I remember him coming as a rookie and learn it
from Khalil and Joey and just you know, flesh forward
a few years. He's that guy now and h you know,
nak One's going to talk about just what it meant
to him to see it, but it was it was

(15:04):
pretty special to watch Tuley do what he did on Sunday.

Speaker 4 (15:07):
Yeah, I think, you know, and remember he had that
Remember he had the November to remember, you know, and
when he had that dominant month.

Speaker 2 (15:13):
But we felt like it was coming, you know.

Speaker 4 (15:15):
I think we even talked about it here maybe like hey,
he's got seventeen pressures and no sacks, Like that's that's
a lot of pressure. He's not got twenty four to
least top five and pressures in the league now. And
it's not like it was. Ah, it wasn't a one.
It wasn't just from last week. Let me just get
his total last week on his pressures because of the
twenty four last week seven, so prior to that, you know,

(15:36):
he's got seventeen. He's averaging over four pressures per game,
which is a big that's Micah Parsons, Miles Garrett territory.
So we were feeling kind of this was coming from
Tuley and and look, they need it. I mean they
with no Khalil. They they needed an edge to get
after it. That the interior of the line's been good
all season long. They've been getting some pressures, some sacks,

(15:59):
you know, when you look at the tier Tart pressures,
the Caldwell pressures, He's got a sack, you know, things
Toshan Han like that should lead to edge production. And
I think you finally kind of saw the fruit of
what's been building here through these first three weeks. And hopefully,
you know, he can continue. I think Cosmi might be
coming back for this one for the Commanders, but you know,

(16:22):
they got some issues on that line, and I think
you can, you know, outside of Laramie Tunsel, who's been
great because he's always great, kind of those other four
positions you can you can eat and so I think,
you know, there should be some opportunities out there for him.

Speaker 1 (16:34):
Yeah, it sounds like Cosmi maybe another week away. I
think they opened up his window. But again, this is
the guy who hasn't played since that he got hurt
in the Detroit game. Yeah, so yeah, probably that that
offensive line for Washington, you can you can do some
things on them. Speaking of let's just keep the defense
theme going, nakwon Jones joined us. Chargers Weekly is presented

(16:56):
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(17:19):
as promised. Naikwon Jones joins us here on Chargers Weekly
and Nicko we were just talking offline, just you know,
tough loss on Sunday. You gotta flush it, you gotta
move on.

Speaker 5 (17:29):
Yeah absolutely, I mean, uh, just a long season, camerly
dwell on the losses. You know, nobody's gonna feel sorry
for you. So every week you got a team coming
in wanting to beat you, you know, so you can't
dwell on the loss. You gotta just move forward.

Speaker 4 (17:41):
Yeah, kind of got you know, different teams, different looks.
You know, you play a lot of snaps against against
the Raiders and then Broncos Giants.

Speaker 2 (17:49):
Just kind of take us through what your.

Speaker 4 (17:51):
Duties are, your tasks are what's asked of you, because
certainly the Giants look a lot different than anything else
we saw up to that point.

Speaker 3 (17:57):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (17:57):
Absolutely, I mean, no matter how many snaps or reps
you get, and your job description is to as a
defensive tackle, stop the run, effect the quarterback. You know,
specific plays are when you it's not all it's not
glamorous all the time. You know, you're not always gonna
make that splash play, that big play, but you you

(18:18):
you have within your job description to take on these blocks,
take on these double teams and free things up for
you know, the guys behind us Troy Dayon like and
and that goes such a long way. You know, when
they're able to play free and Deyon can float around
and have ten twelve tackles like, that's that's great. You know,
that helps the team win. And that's what we need.

Speaker 1 (18:37):
Talk about the room a little bit, man. It's it's
one of the position groups on this team that's super deep.
I mean, you guys can go five six deep on
the defensive line. What's with the competition, Like in the room,
it's just a kind of the camaraderie.

Speaker 5 (18:48):
Uh, The camaraderie is great. Honestly, And you know, I
started my career off in Tennessee. Tart was h Tart
was there, Deshaun was there. So these are these are
guys I've seen me earlier in my career and it's cool,
like full circle moment for them to you know, I'm going,
I'm in year five now and it's cool to be
able to play with these guys again. It's great relationship,

(19:10):
great vibes all throughout the room. Everybody just wants to win,
you know, and when you have a group of guys
that all have the same goal, you can accomplish so
much more.

Speaker 3 (19:19):
You know it.

Speaker 5 (19:20):
It's not a selfish room at all. Nobody's trying to
put themselves above the team. Like it's all just guys
who are like literally on the same track trying to
go in the same direction. We want to win. We
want to win the division, we want to win the
super Bowl. And I think that's the mindset of everybody
in the room.

Speaker 4 (19:36):
For the people to listen and watch, like, it's great
when you you know, you can kind of walk people
through it because you mentioned double teams and like that
Raider game, man, you're getting double teamed all over the place.
So can you just kind of share, you know, what
it means to take on a double team, what your
task is, what you're supposed to do, you know, and
how you're supposed to kind of help out those other
guys as you're occupying to dudes.

Speaker 5 (19:55):
Yeah, I mean this is like I would explain it
to my sister, my grandmother.

Speaker 2 (20:00):
He's perfect. You have.

Speaker 3 (20:04):
You have a gap, and I mean that is your home.
That is your gap.

Speaker 5 (20:08):
You own that gap, and you got a couple of
three hundred pounds plus guys trying to remove you from
that gap.

Speaker 3 (20:15):
You gotta do any means you gotta do.

Speaker 2 (20:17):
You got to man that gap.

Speaker 3 (20:18):
You have to man that gap.

Speaker 5 (20:19):
Sometimes you don't get lucky and have a secondary gap
that you could kind of play into. But I mean
pretty much, you got two big guys trying to push
you out of the area. You have to stay within
that area to make the play or to help, you know,
free somebody else up to make the play.

Speaker 3 (20:32):
And that's the best I can explain.

Speaker 4 (20:35):
I'm sorry, christ wanna fall up because there's so you
have that and then there's I think my favorite play
that I've that I've watched the Yours this year you're
playing like a zero and your your face up on
the center.

Speaker 2 (20:46):
What's the swim move?

Speaker 3 (20:47):
Man?

Speaker 2 (20:47):
Where why can't we get more of these swim moves?
Because you put a swim in.

Speaker 4 (20:50):
There and you have moss dead to rights for like
a five yard loss.

Speaker 5 (20:53):
I love it, and I love when we get put
on little movements and we're able to make stunts and
you know, I get to really show my cleticism and
show like how how good my feet are, and you
know how quick I can be. It just we I
mean there are a lot of players where like we're
able to show off that ability, but just being able
to switch it up and change it up, you know,
Like of course, typically every play you're gonna be it's

(21:16):
gonna be physical, it's gonna be a battle. You're gonna
have to hold up a couple doup, you're gonna have
to hold up a double team. You know, you're gonna
have to strike somebody, stay within the gap. But then
when you get that freedom and that ability to move
or make a stunt, like you really want to showcase that,
you know, you don't want to make yourself a one
dimensional player. And I feel like I surprised a lot
of offensivelignment with my size and being able how you know,
how quick I can move to the next gap.

Speaker 1 (21:39):
You know, and take out that that first drive by
the Giants. I mean, you guys kept Jackson starting that
offense and check largely most of most of the game
with a with a quarterback like that who's mobile. We
saw it with Mahomes in week one. We can see
it week five against Jadan Daniels. What's the biggest challenge
from your perspective in terms of kind of checking a

(22:00):
guy with that mobility.

Speaker 5 (22:02):
Yeah, those are always It makes it a little bit
tougher on the defense. I know in that first drive,
I rushed kind of up the field on that touchdown
play when he's able to scramble through the middle, and
you know, I should have probably played power and I
just put more stress on the guys behind me.

Speaker 3 (22:19):
You know.

Speaker 5 (22:19):
So going into games where quarterbacks are super mobile, you
always want to you always want to have a rush plan,
and you always want to work the entire defensive line.

Speaker 3 (22:28):
You want to work as one, you.

Speaker 5 (22:29):
Know, communicating just like the outside guys like Tuley or
Bud or if they're going to take an inside move,
you have to be ready to cover them to make
them right, especially with a mobile quarterback like Jayden Daniels.
He likes to eskatee more to his right or left,
so you have to make sure you really are disciplined
on that side of the ball or I mean, he'll
be able to bleed you through the middle, you know.

(22:50):
And we've given up a lot of run yards as
far as with the quarterbacks, So I feel like moving forward,
that'll be a big emphasis for us.

Speaker 4 (22:57):
What changes when because you know, we that heavy front,
and I love that heavy front so like and it
was odd to see that light front quite a bit
against the Giants. But when it's you, it's DeShawn, maybe
it's Tierra or could be called well and especially when
you get a boy b at that edge. Just kind
of if you can help us sort of give us
the idea of, like, what's the difference when it's when

(23:18):
it's that versus maybe just you and colwell and then
you got like Caleb and Tullia's the edges.

Speaker 2 (23:22):
How does that change what you're asked to do?

Speaker 3 (23:25):
Uh?

Speaker 5 (23:25):
I mean, you still have the same responsibility, but it's
I mean, you know, you got bigger guys out there.

Speaker 3 (23:30):
You know, you have a little bit more support.

Speaker 5 (23:31):
You know, as far as that that wall you want
to build on the front, on the front line. You
know when nig go kind of lighter box, lighter front,
like two D tackles instead of three, maybe you you
you kind.

Speaker 3 (23:41):
Of loosen up a little bit.

Speaker 5 (23:42):
And you you still have the you st have to
maintain those gaps, but you also are put into a
different you have to put into a different perspective. You
might get more passed, you might get more you know,
it's it's all.

Speaker 3 (23:53):
Instinctual, and you know it.

Speaker 5 (23:56):
Like I said it, it helps to have that extra
guy out there because you know you have a little
bit more support. But ultimately, I mean he used to
have a job description. You used to have to do
your job, you.

Speaker 1 (24:06):
Know, Nick Kwan, I look at the performance of Tully
on Sundays. I believe, yeah, four sacks, a ton of pressures,
career high tackles. But that's a team effort. I mean,
it doesn't happen without you guys. What was it like
watching Tully kind of in real time do what he
did on Sunday?

Speaker 5 (24:23):
I mean it was a great feeling, you know, like
him doing that makes me feel like like I was
doing it, you know, like he he he worked so hard,
like and you know, obviously Mac being down for a
little while, he steps up in ways like he's he's
still a younger player, but you would never tell the

(24:43):
way he's a professional. He handles his business like he
I mean, I don't him having games like that. I
feel like, is the football God's kind of blessing him
for how hard he works throughout the week. You know,
I practice, he's running to the ball every play, He's straining.
He's so like, how do you not have that success
in the game if you're really like going all out

(25:04):
all throughout the week. You know, like he he practices
like it's a game every day, So I would imagine
being in the game, it's kind of slower for him.
He's able to make those plays.

Speaker 4 (25:13):
Yeah, and you know, like Chris said, it's a product
of you know, the interior, you know, forcing the quarterback
off a spot into where it rotwue. He might be
the one thing I've noticed in watching all your snaps
back is you seem very mindful of just you know,
engaging holding your gap, but also keeping an eye for
the bad it pace. It seems like the bad it
pass a big thing with you. You got that one
in the Raider game, you were sure to let everybody

(25:35):
know that you got it. But it does seem like
that has that always been Is that a is that
a Jesse min or Mike Elston thing? Or is that
something that you've been coached to do, you know, as
a responsibility and something to keep it because this really
for us the prior regime, we were constantly saying, why
are there not more bad it passes? And it feels
like it's been a big emphasis with this group.

Speaker 3 (25:55):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (25:55):
Absolutely, I mean and everywhere I've been, you know, that's
that's been like a big emphasis.

Speaker 3 (25:59):
Like if you're not gonna if.

Speaker 5 (26:00):
You can't get the quarterback off the spot, or if
you're not gonna get the sack or get the hit,
like you gotta find the ways to affect the quarterback
in different ways, especially with us being taller than the quarterbacks,
and you know, if we're right in front of them,
put our hands up and you know you got reached,
like you're gonna affect that pass. Like even if you
don't bat the ball down, he's gonna have to adjust
the ball to get it to the receiver without you

(26:21):
know you're trying to like bat the ball down, so
I feel like that's always you know, you're not gonna
get the sack every play. You're not gonna get a
pressure every play. Like the offensive lineman get paid as well.
You know they're good, some of them are really good.
So you gotta just find different ways to affect the
quarterback in those situations.

Speaker 1 (26:38):
I think you talked about this in the off season,
but maybe just take our fans and viewers through just
kind of your free agency journey and why you landed
on the Chargers and just how it's kind of matched
what you expected. Maybe in the off season it was.

Speaker 5 (26:54):
I mean speaking like obviously when I was in Arizona
last year, we played the Chargers.

Speaker 3 (26:59):
Now you wrecked them.

Speaker 2 (27:00):
Maybe George saw that, dude.

Speaker 3 (27:05):
Yeah, it was.

Speaker 5 (27:06):
That was a really fun game, and especially seeing their
defense Tier getting an interception, like you know, guys flying
around like that. Obviously I wasn't like looking at their
defense at the time, But that's a fun defense. That's
something you want to be a part of, you know,
you want to you want to be a part of
a confident defense, a loud defense. Guys are yelling, communicating

(27:26):
with each other, flying around like celebrating with each other,
like you you always want to be a part of
something like that. And going into the off season, I
was speaking with Tierre a lot, and he's like, Bro,
you're gonna have a good opportunity here. You're gonna love
it here, Like so I had no doubt that this
is where I wanted to be, you know. And then
obviously they signed Deshaun at the same time, so I

(27:47):
was like, Oh, it's like it's like home. I know,
buds here, you know, Elijah's here. Like a lot of
guys that I played with earlier in my career, you know,
are here.

Speaker 1 (27:54):
That's why you played with Button Tennessee, right, Yeah.

Speaker 5 (27:56):
Yeah, so at Elijah, Elijah, Molden, Murphy, you know, so
a bunch of guys, you know, and it just feels.

Speaker 4 (28:03):
Like home Tennessee West Money that I was just gonna say,
for whatever reason, they love guys that played with the Titans.
I don't know what the system was there and how
it matches up with Jesse, but Michigan State guy you
started with with marked Antonio and then melt Tucker just.

Speaker 2 (28:17):
Kind of the right.

Speaker 4 (28:19):
People always say Michigan Ohio State, but I don't think
they recognize how gnarly Michigan Michigan State is. Just kind
of what was it like going up against Michigan? And
do you ever have any conversations with some of the
guys here about that?

Speaker 1 (28:29):
Maybe the head coach, Oh, yeah, I talked.

Speaker 3 (28:31):
I yeah.

Speaker 5 (28:33):
So when I first spoke with coach Harborough, I let
him know and he's like, well, we're not trying to
win bowl games here, We're trying to win Super Bowl.
He's like, we can get over that. We can look
past that, you know, and just messing around. I'd like
to wear my Michigan State hoodie around the building a lot, right,
And every time I see Hassan, I kind of give
him a hard time about it.

Speaker 3 (28:54):
You know, I beat him a couple of times. But
those are.

Speaker 5 (28:56):
Always fun games, especially being here and just being around
the like the coach your eyes. I haven't never gone
to Michigan, but just being around all the coaches and
you know, it really starts. It's a very professional atmosphere,
very like family oriented atmosphere.

Speaker 3 (29:12):
So it's I can see.

Speaker 5 (29:13):
Why people go to Michigan, but not me, but I
can see a lot of people would have enjoyed going
to Michigan.

Speaker 4 (29:19):
That christ here went to Northwestern back to high school?
So did they did they not recruit you?

Speaker 3 (29:26):
Like?

Speaker 5 (29:27):
Nah, they did a little bit, but it was right,
I kind of want to do it. No, I kind
of have my mindset on Michigan. Stayed pretty early. I
committed pretty early, and from there it was just kind
of I knew that's where I wanted to be.

Speaker 1 (29:38):
Sometimes you want to get away from home too a little.

Speaker 5 (29:39):
Yeah, yeah, like a four hour drive and you know,
not too far, not too close.

Speaker 3 (29:43):
But it was I'm happy I made that decision, you.

Speaker 1 (29:47):
Know, big my last one for me.

Speaker 3 (29:49):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (29:49):
We were just talking about the bounce back, right, Yeah,
take me inside the locker room after a loss in
just kind of the maybe the sense of urgency in
the locker room to kind of get back in the wind.

Speaker 5 (29:58):
Cal I mean, we're not in a spot where we're desperate.
You know, we know the capability of this team and
we know that. I mean we started the season three
and oh, so we know what it takes to be successful.
You know what it takes to win. You know, it
obviously is disappointing. Guys are upset. You know, everybody hates losing.
You know, and I feel like that's also another thing

(30:21):
and why I feel like this team would be so
good because people hate the feeling of losing, you know,
the leadership in the room, in the locker room, Durwin,
you know, dayon like they they really don't like to lose,
you know. And when you have captains and you have
people that are competitive like that, they push everybody to

(30:41):
be you know, a certain standard and to like you said,
just flush it, move forward. Even with practice yesterday, you know,
practice like today it's gonna be. People are trying to
do everything to not have that feeling again, you know.
So guys are pushing themselves even harder this week to
make sure Sunday we can come on with a w.

Speaker 2 (31:01):
I'll see some more of them swim moves.

Speaker 3 (31:02):
Oh yeah, we got a lot more, just last one.

Speaker 4 (31:05):
Then we'll get you out on this. They you know,
Smitty in the equipment room, he's awesome. You guys got
a ton of options. Yeah, we see dudes come up
here and and everything. Uh, you're all navy, very similar
shade to Michigan's Navy as opposed to like the Powder Blues.

Speaker 2 (31:19):
Are you a Navy guy? Is that your favorite kind?

Speaker 5 (31:21):
Of I like the versatility, honestly, like I might just
go all yellow one day, all gold, and you know,
I just like, you know, I like to be a
little bit color coordinated.

Speaker 3 (31:33):
But for the most part is clean.

Speaker 5 (31:36):
I got some I got a nice Navy pair of
cleats for that Thursday night game.

Speaker 3 (31:39):
There we go, you know, so I like.

Speaker 4 (31:41):
To fans are going to freak out for that. By
the way, Yeah, they freak out with the name. They
freak out for the Navvies.

Speaker 3 (31:46):
I'm excited.

Speaker 4 (31:46):
You have to snap a streak. They have not won
in the Navies since they went to Powder Blue.

Speaker 3 (31:53):
Yeah, we're gonna win. We're gonna win these names. We're
gonna win in these names.

Speaker 4 (31:58):
The fans of that man we get at. I'm like, look,
I just wanted to win in the Navy. They're like
zero and eight in the Navy, so I just need
to get a win.

Speaker 2 (32:04):
I'm gotch in the Navy.

Speaker 3 (32:05):
We got you, Okay, we got I got you.

Speaker 2 (32:06):
There we go.

Speaker 1 (32:07):
He got you real quick because you're wearing the na
Kwan tech. We see these sweatshirts in the shirts around
the building seen for the last two years, which one
is this is this from a couple of weeks ago.

Speaker 2 (32:18):
This might be Bronx, the Bronco Okay, but the Bulldozer work.

Speaker 3 (32:22):
Yeah yeah, yeah, work shirt. It's the work shirt. Got
the name on the front.

Speaker 5 (32:26):
Coacharbar really likes these, you know, they represent just like
going to work, lunch pale, That's what he said.

Speaker 3 (32:32):
He really likes these. And it's a cool design.

Speaker 5 (32:34):
The shirt is even cool. I almost wore the shirt.
The shirt is cooler, but the hoodie is right to
the point.

Speaker 3 (32:39):
Name on the front. You get to work.

Speaker 1 (32:41):
It's the best man. It's like it's like the little
things in this building that I think the guys get behind.

Speaker 3 (32:46):
The little things matter. Yeah, yeah, there we go.

Speaker 1 (32:48):
Nike, W You're the best man.

Speaker 3 (32:50):
Appreciate it. Thank you.

Speaker 1 (32:53):
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(33:16):
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to secure your ticket package today, somebody what of many
contributors across that defensive line. It's great having Akwon in

(33:37):
the building and just you know, just keep it by.
He was an active Week one. That's how deep they
have been at defensive tackle.

Speaker 4 (33:43):
Yeah, And I think it just goes to show you
competitors welcome. You know that here's someone who signed a
free agent deal. You've got Tito in house. There's a
lot of competition for the interior of that line. You
got a rookie that was drafted in the in the
third round, and you know, Jamari's getting a ton of snacks.
Who are my best guys, That's who's gonna play. And
I think Nake one has flashed and there've been some

(34:05):
you know, we didn't get into everything with him, but
it's been impressive. He's he is sort of the you
know bTB is they like, you know, it's a he's
a burst of the ball guy. And when you see
tackles being made, he's a big man. He's got a
lot of weight to carry around out there and he's
chasing bo Nick's out of bounds on a scrambled, chasing
Gino out of bounds on a scramble.

Speaker 2 (34:25):
He does not let up.

Speaker 4 (34:26):
And so I think that's you know, it's not just
making the play, but it's also a contagion. It's something
that that spreads throughout a defense. It's like, all right, well, Nick,
one can can drag his three hundred and thirty pounds
and what am I doing?

Speaker 2 (34:40):
You know?

Speaker 4 (34:40):
And so I think he's really good at that, and
I think that's one of the reasons why it's earned
him a lot of snaps. And Jesse Minner and Mike
Elson got a lot of options, you know, they can
rotate these guys. We talked about the heavy front versus
that light front. Like I said, I really I like
that heavy front, and I think it's just it's very
reminiscent of Baltimore, what they do with their edges and

(35:01):
their active interior defensive lineman. I feel like that when
you get the three bigs and if a boy or
if it's two with a boy b as the edge
and Tully like it's just a it seems to produce
a little bit more than going light so I would
expect that we're going to see a little bit more
of that in this game especially, But you're gonna need athleticism,

(35:24):
right because you know, like he said, Jaden likes to run.
You're gonna have to have some you know, Caleb's quick
enough where he can track these guys down, and so
it'll be interesting to see how they rotate those guys
because they're gonna have their hands full. I mean, Jaden
with the ball in his hands is a nightmare.

Speaker 1 (35:36):
Yeah, he's electric, but he's coming back from a kneeedge. Yeah,
so that's the big thing. I think you have to
assume that he's gonna have his full mobility. He may
wear a brace, he may not, but I know that
he's been wearing a brace this week during practice. It
sounds like so it's almost like a tail of two teams.
You have the first two games with Jaden, who wasn't
overly spectacular.

Speaker 2 (35:57):
In Arga, Mariota was better. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (35:59):
Yeah, I mean they up twenty seven points against Atlanta
and lost. It's really their defense has been kind of
kind of an issue. But offensively, no, Austin Eckler, it's
I got a three headed attack at running back led
by Bill Krosskey Merritt.

Speaker 4 (36:11):
Yeah, seems like he's starting to get featured a little
bit more and more like they're gonna end up going
he's a good back.

Speaker 1 (36:15):
Yeah, he's a good back. Chris Rodriguez and McNichol, I think,
or the other two, and then not having Terry McLaurin.
You're I think you're starting to see kind of the
struggles on the outside with Washington, and you know, Deebo
is probably going to be featured a heck of a
lot more, as you alluded to before the Nakuon interview,
and I'm just I'm intrigued to see how they're going
to come out and just how healthy Jayden is with

(36:38):
that need.

Speaker 4 (36:39):
Yeah, to me, I'm going to assume that he's fully healthy,
because I just don't know why you playing with how
well Mariota's played. It's like, what's the point of putting
him out there if he's not one hundred percent go?
So I'm just that's the way I'm going to operate, because,
like I said, Mariota, you could argue it has been
better in his two games than Jayden was in his
two games. Just how well he's playing and Mariot's a

(36:59):
guy that's given the Chargers fits in his past, so
you know we know it well. Yeah, I think, to me,
the bigger deals the other side of the ball. I
think for the Chargers just because of their their injuries
on the offensive line. You know, we talked about the front.
They don't have a lot of pressures, but they can
get it from the interior with Theron Payin and they
get it from the edge of Doran's Armstrong. Outside of that,
there's really not a whole lot. But man, their secondary

(37:21):
has been a problem, like it's it's.

Speaker 1 (37:23):
Marsh Latimore is a shell of themselves. Yeah, compared to
what we saw in New Orleans.

Speaker 4 (37:27):
Yeah, the safeties have been a serious issue. And so
I think with how well that that q and and
Ladd and Keenan have played as a trio, I think
just can you give them time, like can you give
Herbert time to get that ball out there, because it's
been it's very reminiscent of, you know, a certain time

(37:48):
in a certain place where there was a lot of
point in going on and a lot of poems.

Speaker 2 (37:51):
To the area.

Speaker 4 (37:51):
You feel like there's a lot of that that's been
out there, and I know, Dan Quinn's kind of taken
some responsibility for that in the press this last week
about kind of what's going on on the back end.
But when you got a healthy justin Herbert, you know,
throwing it around, and you've got that trio of receivers
who are also healthy, to me, there's there's an opportunity
to put up some points in the passing game. And
that's where running the ball comes in. Complimentary football, get

(38:14):
that play action working again because those safeties, man, their
eyes are in the backfield a lot, yeah, and they
are they're giving up some explosives because they just they
get nosy and and nobody can take advantage of that
better than Herbert.

Speaker 2 (38:27):
You know, with these receivers, you don't know.

Speaker 1 (38:28):
If it's a combination of all like scheme versus also
just kind of the age of some of these players too,
like Bobby Wagner, What are the greatest to do it?
But Bobby Wagner is pretty old and he's one of
their better players, I know, and he's always on the field.
The thing about last week, they give up thirty four
points to the Falcons who were shut out by the
Carolina Panthers. I think four hundred.

Speaker 2 (38:47):
I mean they make look like an all pro.

Speaker 1 (38:48):
Yeah, Pennicks like twenty of twenty seven, three hundred yards easy,
Like it was like a walk in the park. So
that's the biggest key, and it's so obvious. Can you
protect Justin Herbert? I think if you get Makai Beckton Beck,
you get Will Disli back, and you have a game
plan for protecting Justin. Maybe get the ball out of
his hands a little bit earlier, maybe get lad involved early. Yeah,
and then find opportunities to take your shots downfield. Because

(39:11):
to your point, like guys been wide opening against that
Washington second Theary.

Speaker 4 (39:15):
Yeah, it's I'm glad it's at home, you know. I
think it's when when you look at our schedule, when
you look at the schedule and the way it lays out,
you know, next week we're back to a ten am game,
ten am game in what's possibly going to be an
incredibly hot, humid, very similar atmosphere, very similar weather to
what we had in New York. I mean it was

(39:35):
unseasonably not warm, hot, like scalding hot down on that
field for a ten am game. And you're gonna get that,
you know, how Miami is you know they've got the
visitors bench right there in the sun for those one
pm coach in Miami time. It's brutal and so good
to have this one here and not on the East
coast again, you know, in the district. So look, I

(39:56):
think the matchups there, I think the matchups are there
for the Chargers to take advantage of. Like we said,
you know, with no McLaurin, you don't really have someone
that can take the top off. We know how Jesse
Miner likes to play, to keep the lid on things,
keep everything in front of him, rally and tackle. His
team does a great job of that, batting balls of
the line of scrimmage. The one thing they've been victimized
by repeatedly is the quarterback scramble. You know, Mahomes did

(40:18):
it in Brazil. Even Gino got a couple of them
who who normally doesn't run around against the Raiders. And
then we know bo Nicks, you know, got a few
as well, not to mention what happened with Jackson Dart.
So I think it's just keep that under wraps, and
I think it lines up pretty well for him.

Speaker 1 (40:34):
How do you do that? Do you do put a
spy on Jayden, I mean you got a great spy.

Speaker 4 (40:38):
Yeah, I mean you've got a great spy and dayn
But you know, we saw like on that on that
last drive when they were trying to get as much
clock as possible, Dan was spying, you know, Dart and
what happens at tight end just kind of snuck out
right into that green behind him in the middle of
the field for that first down completion that you know,
took another minute and a half off the clock and
gave him almost nothing left.

Speaker 2 (40:58):
To work with.

Speaker 4 (40:58):
So and and you know, zach Ertz is a pro.
He said, you know, he might be an old guy,
but he's still an old pro and he knows what
he's doing out there. Super Bowl champ and and so
I think you still have to be wary, but yeah,
I would probably be more comfortable with having a spy
in this game than not having one.

Speaker 2 (41:15):
You know.

Speaker 1 (41:15):
One of the things that that you could point to
last week as well was just the time of possession.
The Giants control time of ten minutes Man and the
Commanders were one of the best in the NFL that
last year. That hasn't really come to fruition this year.
But if you can get Jaden off the field. He's
three and outs. I think Green Bay was able to
accomplish that in that Thursday night game Week two. Is
just keep him off the football field. Don't let them

(41:38):
have these sustained drives where they just they're killing clock,
they're getting six or seven, because you know, you look
at what Jackson Dart did too, Like even after that
eighty nine yard drive, there were some drives where it's
just kind of dunking and duncan you know Moliague Nabors
was out of the football game. Camp Scataboo would get
five six yards and they just they'd kill clock. And
that's really why they won the football game.

Speaker 2 (41:58):
Yeah, no doubt.

Speaker 4 (41:59):
I mean it was ten extra minutes of possessions thirty
five to twenty five. Ultimately, I think you know, like
to me with this game, the best way I can
maybe summarize it is, you know, like what do you
want to believe? Do you want to believe the first
three weeks or do you want to believe last week?
That's ultimately what it comes down to you, right, because
last week was so out of character. It was a

(42:19):
top five defense on third down that performed like one
of the worst defenses on third down. It was a
top five defense in the red zone that had and
granted the issues with the red zone were a little
bit different, but you know, you think about that eighteen
yard run from Jackson Dart that didn't look anything like
we've seen from this defense in the first three weeks.
You know, the first three weeks, like I said, penalties
fifteen for one hundred and seven and that one game

(42:41):
fourteen for one hundred. It was just such an out
of character game. And I think if you are able
to and I'm not saying you have to shove it aside,
but if you can, it's like, look at those other
three weeks and then apply that to the Commanders versus
the Giants game to the Commanders and getting off the
field on third down? What was the Bronco game and
then was like two for thirteen they were on third down,

(43:03):
Like they just have to get back to being who
they are. And that's a really good third down defense.
A team that limits you and you're gonna have to
you know, your defense is going to have to perform
or you're gonna lose the game because you're not gonna
score a lot of points. And I still think all
of that's in there in the defense, I think that's
as bad as as injuries have taken their toll on
the offensive line, defense is still for the most part,

(43:25):
you know the team that we came into the season
with and they can get after it.

Speaker 1 (43:30):
Seventeen game season two though. That's the one thing I
think that it's it's probably important to stress to people
who are watching. This is like, like you're gonna have
adversity in a seventeen game season. This is the first bout,
and just because you lose to the Giants, your season
is this is like this guy's not falling. Like I
hear so much about like, Okay, well, what are they
gonna do? Is there enough depth across the offensive front?

(43:52):
Do you think that Rashawn Slater paying him ninety million,
like and Joe All going out and Makai Becton going
out is like a personnel is like those guys were
supposed to be in a game, right. You pay for
Shaun Slater to be one of the best tackles in football.
He unfortunately goes out with an injury. Joe All goes
out in the middle of the first quarter, and McKay
Beckton didn't play so Okay, you're three and zero in

(44:13):
the division. You stub your toe in New York. You're
gonna have that throughout a seventeen game season. It's just
it's about kind of withstanding some of these storms and
finding a way to win and get another week closer
to getting Joel back or getting McKay Beckton back. So
it's just you feel that since this panic after a

(44:35):
loss to the Giants, with like forgetting that you just
swept the division in the first three weeks.

Speaker 4 (44:39):
Yeah, I think, you know, I go back to what
Anthony Lynn used to say, and that was, you know
that he breaks the season up in quarters, you know,
and the Chargers had a three and one first quarter.
You know that projects the twelve or thirteen wins on
the season. Can they get another three and one, you know,
potentially a four and zero second quarter.

Speaker 2 (44:54):
It lines up.

Speaker 4 (44:55):
You got three games at home, you know, this one
against the Commanders Cold Spikings on Thursday night. Your one
road trip game is to Miami. It's ten am start.
But it's a team that struggled so far this year.
They just lost Tyreek Kill for the season. So the
second quarters of the season has lined up pretty well
for him starts with this one, and I think maybe
more of the panic Chris, to me, like, is a
little bit more about because coach Harbaugh has preached it

(45:18):
offensive line. Offensive line all starts. What unit on the
team doesn't need anybody else, but everybody else needs them.
Like when you hear that and you're like, oh, wow,
now they're down both of their all pro tackles. Don't
know how long all it's going to be out for,
but it's going to be you know, for a minute.
And they're down their big free agent, their biggest free
agent signing in mcguy Becked And what does that mean?

(45:39):
Because this is the unit that's supposed to provide for
everybody else and nobody else has to worry about. So
I think that's kind of where And then also I
think it's the performance and it's making sure that your quarterback,
because that's what this thing's all built around.

Speaker 2 (45:54):
Right.

Speaker 4 (45:54):
If Herbert's healthy, you have a chance to win the
super Bowl. He's just that good. But when you're getting
hit six times in two weeks and you've got a
pressure rate of fifty percent and you see him, you know,
getting worked on that left hand, that something happened when
he took one of those shots and you kind of
and you see him limping a little bit after getting tagged,
you know, the eighth or ninth time in that Giants game.

(46:15):
It's like that's and I think that's why coach Harbaugh
even addressed it. You know, he will never he'll never
you know, put any players on, you know, on in
the media. He will never point that stuff out. But
you heard what he said. He's like, we've got to
figure out a way how to protect justin like that.
We cannot allow this to continue for just That was
kind of the way he framed it. And so that's

(46:36):
that's I think the reality it's.

Speaker 1 (46:38):
It's so for I mean, it's just it's the unfortunate
reality of the NFL of these injuries. I mean, like
Joe Burrow out, Like I feel like Cincinnati season is
like on the brink now, yeah, right, it's and it
comes down to a guy that you can't afford to
lose and unfortunately Joe al It's like, you can't afford
to lose that guy. Now you really have to reassess
everything you're doing. And I'll be interested to see how

(46:58):
the offense comes out on Sunday. Yeah, without standing there
and what the plan is going to be.

Speaker 2 (47:02):
Is it sol your is it? Is it deculous?

Speaker 1 (47:05):
And it was so your Wednesday right and left tackle
in practice?

Speaker 4 (47:08):
So and I think I think based on what we've
seen from Jamari in the past, you can make the
case that he's been better at tackle than guard. Yeah,
you know, I think card has been a real struggle
for him.

Speaker 1 (47:17):
So one year when Rashaun went down, he.

Speaker 4 (47:18):
Was, Yeah, he played okay, And I think that's all
you need. You don't need great, you can't have terrible,
you know, you just need okay. And if you can
get okay from an offensive line with a quarterback like Herbert,
you can win a lot of games. And so I
think that's what they're probably trying to work through right now.
How can we be okay? And it's too bad because
they really could have been great with how this thing

(47:39):
was late.

Speaker 2 (47:40):
They really could have.

Speaker 1 (47:40):
Been But you know, it's I think when you have
your first bout of adversity, whether you're a player or
you're a fan, it's like you forget how long the
season is. It's like, okay, like this is the stretch
where we're gonna be down a few guys like Khalil's down,
Benzel's down right right now, that's a big one. Elijah
was down. Like you started to get guys. I remember,
like I think it was last year. It's like, okay, well,

(48:02):
we have to just we got to play like five
hundred football down the stretch and then we're gonna get
all these guys back to back half, you know. So
it's it's almost unfortunately, you know we're October second, but
you're kind of thinking that way a little bit.

Speaker 4 (48:14):
I know a portion of our audience won't like me
making the analogy, but I'll leave them with this. It's
very similar to the Dodgers. You know, Dodgers had a
bunch of guys go down in the middle of the season.
Everybody was saying the sky is falling, they might not
win the division for just the second time in thirteen years.
And then look at what happens when the playoff. It's like, no,
we're just gonna if we can just get it to

(48:34):
this point. And now they've got all of their guys back,
and Snell is out there, and Otani is pitching, and
Mookie is right. It's like, that's what it's supposed to
look like. And I think for the Chargers, it's very similar.
It's like, Okay, if we can just get Denzel and
Khalil and Alt and all these guys are back, and
if we can just maintain and the schedule's friendly is

(48:55):
our friend because of the home games and the way
this thing laid out, can we maintain for these next
four weeks, You're gonna end up getting Khalil back by then,
probably all back by then, and then you can really
kind of start to make that push for a team
that we think is good enough to win the Super Bowl.

Speaker 1 (49:08):
Yeah, the attrition to like, you know, not when you
sign nause. You look at nase's history of like not
missing games game it's like, man, what happened? But anything else,
that's it.

Speaker 4 (49:18):
Man, Let's get a it's get a win at home
and make our way out to Miami, get another win,
and you know, just string it together. We felt so
good through those first three games. Don't let you know,
one loss. A lot of times it could just be
not a wake up call, but a reminder that it's
the National Football League and these teams are good no
matter what their record is. You know, they're good enough
to win games weekend and week out. I mean, you know,
Browns Packers. It's just it happens.

Speaker 1 (49:39):
It happens, all right, Bolts looking for a bounce back
on Sunday for money. I'm Chris. This has been Chargers week.