It's very difficult for a team to make it make to the Super Bowl back-to-back years...but what about a team from the same city? Will the Chargers have the firepower to take on the AFC West, let alone the entire league in 2022?
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:07):
Welcome back to another episode of Cleats Off the Couch.
Guys working through season predictions in 2022 for the NFL, one team from each division at a time.
This is the team we'll talk about from the AFC finishing one from every division in the ASC.
Before we get started over in the NFC.
(00:30):
With that, we're going to talk about the Los Angeles Chargers.
Don't know if we're going to talk about the other La team when we get to the NFC for this first round, but La in general is looking really good this year.
Los Angeles is going to have a lot of great representation from both the Chargers and the Rams.
(00:52):
But for the Chargers, the AFC West got to be the most difficult, the most exciting, the most muddied division in football.
In 2022.
I think the AFC North will be pretty hectic as well.
It always is, although not as hectic as the AFC West, especially with all the hullablu around Cleveland that's been happening.
(01:20):
So Los Angeles last year, they finished nine and eight on the season, had an overall good team, great defense, and they've added to it.
I'll be honest, I don't recall a lot of the Los Angeles I'm typing in right now draft results here from 2022.
(01:42):
But I know they added some pieces on defense.
They brought in JC.
Jackson, I believe.
Did they bring in another pass rusher or linebacker? They just have gotten better.
They're one of the teams that I think has improved.
Nothing but improved.
This year offense still looks excellent.
They got to figure out the injury situation, though.
(02:03):
That constantly happens, I feel Even back with Philip Rivers, it was an issue with keeping receivers healthy.
I don't know why.
I don't know why that's a thing.
I don't know if I'm just misremembering things, but I want to see here who they got back in the draft.
(02:25):
They short up offensive line in the first round, which is big as they're looking to let Justin Herbert do his thing and have another excellent season.
He's one of those guys that has a great year, even his rookie year, I felt like great season.
People just don't talk about it.
I don't know why.
(02:46):
But he's a good quarterback and he's enjoyable to watch.
I feel like Philip Rivers.
That happened with Philip Rivers, too, right? He was always fun to watch play while he was in Los Angeles, but we're not going to get in that conversation, right.
While he was in San Diego.
(03:07):
But they got a safety in round three and then they short up some other stuff.
Yeah.
So they were more bench stashes and fill in as necessary, especially since they had like, what is it, six picks in rounds six and seven.
(03:28):
So I don't know what the grading would be from their draft because again, I didn't pay close enough attention to the charges because again, I think it's the same thing.
Nobody really talks about them.
Nobody really talks about them.
Now, I will say I'm from the East Coast, so I don't hear a lot about West Coast teams in general, so I'm going to chalk it up to that.
(03:50):
But La guy, I went through this, I've said before it was doing this live on tick Tock at Delcury.
I would love to have you in with us Tuesday nights just after 09:00 p.m.
Eastern time.
But we talk football and different predictions like this.
That's where this originally came up, this foundation episodes as we get things started here with Cleats off the couch because conversation always went to football.
(04:21):
So we started talking about what we thought the new season would look like, how we thought teams would do.
And with that, my previous prediction put them potentially third or fourth in the division.
Now I will say this, I'll put this out there as well because I've been doing a one win swing up and down.
(04:45):
It also put them in a potential to be tied for first.
So I have everybody in this division in muddy water.
Everybody is going to be really close to one another from those conversations as we go back through again here.
(05:05):
It could change, it could shift a little.
I am not the perfection of truth, especially since this is all prediction stuff.
So things could change even in a day, let alone a month, let alone in the fall.
Starting off though, they're going to play a division game against the Raiders.
I feel like I've been seeing this a lot, is interdivision play within the first four weeks, like two teams within your division in the first three or four weeks? That seems crazy to me, but it is what it is.
(05:39):
I know there's a whole, there's a whole, what do you call it, equation or whatever it is that they use to be able to figure out who plays who.
And the Chargers finished nine and eight last season, third in the AFC West.
There's been changes all across the board.
The Chiefs just talking generally about the AFC West, I think the Chiefs will take a step back, the readers will take a step forward, the Chargers will take a step forward, the Broncos will take a step forward.
(06:06):
That's in its simplest terms, but they're all going to be muddy.
The cheaps were twelve and five, the Raiders were ten and seven, the Chargers were nine and eight, the Broncos were seven and ten.
So by me saying the Chiefs are going to take a step back, they won twelve games last year, so does that mean they're going to win eleven or ten, who knows? The Broncos are going to take a step forward from seven wins last year.
Does that mean they're going to win eight, nine, or does that mean they're going to win twelve? I don't know.
(06:31):
The Chargers, though, at nine and eight, they open up against the Raiders'and because of how muddy this division looks this year.
I'm thinking a lot of these AFC West teams are going to be splitting with each other in division play and so at home to start the season.
(06:54):
I'll be honest with you guys, I think Las Vegas is going to come out swinging in the first week.
Or rather, I think Las Vegas is going to be expected to swing in the first week.
But guys, Chargers, their offense and defense honestly will be top ten.
(07:18):
Both their offense and defense will be top ten, potentially top five.
Somebody said that a big bold prediction that they had was that the Chargers offense and defense would both rank top three by the end of the 2022 season.
That's really hard to do.
I don't see that happening.
(07:39):
I do think their offense will do really well.
I think we're going to see some more injuries, especially from receivers.
It just happens with the Chargers, I don't know why.
And with that, I think their offense will be top ten, probably even top five.
But their defense, their defense, guys, that is going to be where it's at.
(08:01):
Don't they have Durwin James, JC.
Jackson.
Bosa.
They have so much talent stacked on defense and so I think that's going to obviously play a big factor.
So I'm going to give the win at home to open up this season to the Chargers and then they travel to Arrowhead.
(08:24):
I'm going to give them the win in Kansas City.
Again, I missed this.
It's a Thursday night game in Kansas City.
That's hard.
I'm going to give the wind to Kansas City.
I'm going to start them out at one and one.
And with that, like I said, I think they're going to split with the rest of the division.
So just because they're starting here in my prediction at one and one doesn't mean it's going to be an eight and nine, nine and eight season.
(08:49):
It could, but I don't think we're going to see that.
So we got a one on one start and then they're at home again against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
I think that's a win puts them at two in one.
And then they travel to Energy Stadium in Houston.
In Houston, Texas.
Houston only going to improve maybe one or two games this year.
(09:11):
Not going to be a hard two game wind stretch.
The Chargers take the win there, make it three and one to start the season, and then they travel to Cleveland.
Cleveland dropping down my window board.
Based upon all of the stuff that's happening, there no doubt causing different things.
You can only imagine how everything that's been happening in Cleveland affects how a roster, those on a roster and their interaction as a team, they can say different things and try to stay focused and keep focus, but it hangs an EOR cloud over their head.
(09:45):
It has to.
It has to.
I don't think Cleveland will get that win even at home.
The Chargers again looking really good.
I do think the Cleveland Browns have a good defense.
They have a lot of great offensive pieces, but they're going to be playing with Jacobi Presented or possibly even Josh Dobbs.
Yeah, so the Charges get a win there, three straight, making it four in one, and then they're going to play Denver here at home after a three win streak, making them four and one.
(10:18):
I think they went five and four at home last year and four and four on the road.
So at home here, I'm going to give a loss.
No, I'm going to give the win to the Chargers and then when they play Denver in Mile High, I'm going to give the win there.
I think based upon Seattle and Russell Wilson's time there, he's been bred to win home football games.
(10:44):
He's been bred to feed off that energy because that's how they do it in Seattle.
That's just what they do with the 12th man, right.
So win over Denver at home, making that a four game win streak, making them five in one overall, and then they play Seattle at home.
And I think they go into the bi week with another win there going six and one on the front side of the buy.
(11:08):
So week eight buy and then it's a long stretch from the first week of November all the way through the second week of January.
At six and one starting, they're going to come out of the buy and then they're going to travel to Mercedes Benz Stadium and play the Atlanta Falcons.
I think the Chargers will get the win in Atlanta, but I wouldn't be surprised if that's one of those games out of the by week.
(11:33):
Other side of the country, their West Coast team playing over to the East Coast.
I really could see a surprise win by a lesser team like the Falcons.
I could, but I'm not going to give them that victory yet.
I'm going to give it to the Chargers here.
Seven and one coming out of the by week.
Then they travel to Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara and the 49 ers again.
(11:58):
If injuries hold up this year, san Fran has a Super Bowl caliber team, I think.
I think the Chargers, without injury, could work themselves to be a Super Bowl caliber team.
I think I keep under shooting the Chargers, if I'm honest, I really do.
But I do think the Niners are a team that are under appreciated.
(12:19):
Now, obviously, all of the stuff happening with are they trading Garoppolo? Is Garoppolo going to end up in Seattle to potentially smack at San Fran twice in the season and then they're relied upon the young guy there in the second year, Trey Lance.
If that's the case, I really don't see the Super Bowl run with Trey Lance as I do with Jimmy Garoppolo.
(12:46):
Not that I think Garoppolo is the greatest quarterback I don't know.
I just think Trade Lance is a little inexperienced and we haven't seen his true colors.
Why have they held him off so long if they've been so contentious with Jimmy G? I don't know.
But I'm going to give the wind to Sam.
Fran.
Guys, we're going off the idea they're able to stay healthy into the second week of November, finally break that three year injury bug and give that wind to San Fran, making only two losses so far.
(13:19):
And that puts us at what? Seven and two? Yes, seven and 29 games so far.
Then they're going to play Kansas City at home.
I'm going to give the wind to Kansas City.
It will be hungry coming out of a loss in San Fran to redeem themselves, putting themselves at eight and two.
And then they're going to travel to the Cardinals.
This is a game that, again, the Cardinals the past three seasons has it been the Cardinals always start off hot in the first half of the year, always.
(13:51):
And then the second half they crash and burn.
They may last year I think they made it into first round of playoffs.
Right.
They're a fringe team for me in the NFC just because of the second half of the year play.
Well, November 27 is the second half of the year and they're playing against a team like the Chargers.
(14:12):
It is going to be in Glendale.
It is going to be, in a way, game for the Chargers.
But it's the second half of season.
So based on these past couple of seasons, I'm going to go Chargers with the win.
Man, I didn't have the charges with this many wins in the first time I talked about it, to be honest with you guys.
But I'm going to go I don't know, guys.
(14:33):
I'm hesitating over just saying a win and moving on from Arizona.
Where to skip that one.
I'm going to come back to that one.
I haven't done that yet, but we're going to do that right now.
Eight and two and then we're skipping Arizona at Las Vegas.
I gave Las Vegas the win earlier.
I think Chargers get the win here, making it nine and two.
And then Miami Dolphins in sofa.
(14:55):
Miami is a huge potential team this year.
The Dolphins are a team I really feel will underperform their potential consistently.
They're not a team like the jets that I think will give us fun surprise moments.
I think the Dolphins are a team that should give us those exciting moments but will fail to but I never like choosing for any team just to auto win over the lesser teams on their schedule, if you will.
(15:33):
So it's hard for me to just constantly be like, oh, yeah, because they're NFL teams.
I don't care if you're the top team or the bottom team.
You're still able to see teams like last year or two years ago, the Detroit Lions still be able to surprise different teams to give people runs for their money at the end of games to force overtime.
(15:58):
You never know.
You really don't.
So I'm still going to give the wind to the Chargers here.
I'm getting hesitant because I'm already at ten wins for the Chargers.
I don't know about that.
Then they're going to be at home against Tennessee.
Tennessee is going to be a team that's going to take I said last episode when I talked about the Titans is going to take a step back, but they can play at par with teams like the Chargers.
(16:26):
I honestly right now forget what I said in the last episode.
So I might contradict myself here, but I'm going to give the win to Tennessee.
I'm going to give the win to Tennessee.
I don't see the Chargers being a team.
I see them being a double digit win team this year, but I don't see them being a team that strings together eight wins.
So there's going to be these ones that pop in.
(16:47):
They're going to be teams like Miami, Atlanta, potentially Arizona second half of the season.
But then they lose to a team like Tennessee, and in fact, then they play at Indianapolis.
They lose in Lucas oil.
I'm on the Matt Ryan train.
Guys.
I want to see Indiana.
Indianapolis, can I be honest with you? Indianapolis is probably my sleeper pick.
(17:11):
If I had to choose from the teams that I think are going to be playoffbound in 2022 and not choose an obvious contender, we're not choosing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, we're not choosing the Bengals or the Rams.
We're not choosing the obvious ones.
So probably more so a lucky a lucky third or fourth division winner or a wild card team.
(17:35):
I think the Indianapolis Colts are my sleeper pick for the Super Bowl as of right now.
I really do.
That defense.
Matt Ryan still is a little bit left in the gas tank.
Jonathan Taylor in that run game.
I think Indianapolis is a sleeper team for me this year at home.
(17:58):
Lucas Oil, I don't see oh, and it's a Monday Night Football game the day after Christmas, indianapolis gets the win and then back against well, not back against they haven't played the Rams yet.
Oh, that was the preseason.
My mind got messed up there.
Then they go back home to play the Los Angeles Rams.
(18:19):
And guys, the Rams look good.
I mean, they improved.
I mean, the Rams got good.
I mean, the Chargers also improved.
So that could be a fun one to see.
But January 1, new Year's Day, sunday night Football, man.
Monday night against the Colts and then Sunday night against the Rams, that's going to be an interesting back to back for the Chargers.
(18:43):
I don't see the Chargers losing both of those.
But right now, looking at who they're playing, looking at what the teams look like, I'm not going to give them the win.
I'm not going to give them the win.
They were already at ten wins.
I have Tennessee.
Honestly, see, here's the other thing.
I got to be real.
I don't see a four game losing streak to end the season by the Chargers.
(19:07):
And you listening or watching right now, I highly doubt you think the Chargers will do that, too.
They end the season against the Tennessee Titans, the Colts, the Rams and the Broncos.
They're home against the Titans and the Rams.
They're at Indianapolis and Denver.
I do think they split with Denver.
(19:27):
They lose to end the season at Denver.
I do think they lose at Indianapolis.
What did I say? They went five and four at home and four and four away.
So that's not really helpful, trying to think through where they do better ball at.
But it was split last season.
(19:47):
Now I'm trying to remind myself, too, I'm just looking at win, total potential.
So whether or not I'm correct on the specific games in which they lose or win, the idea right now is trying to predict where they'll end up with the amount of wins that they'll end up with.
And so even if in this mock prediction we have four losses to end the season, they already had ten wins.
(20:13):
They already had ten wins.
Seth would put us at 15.
I still needed the Arizona one, which means I'm off by one.
I got to relook at this, revisiting that we've talked through this.
A win against the Raiders, a loss at Kansas City, one in one.
A win against Jacksonville, two in one.
A win in Houston, three in one.
(20:35):
A win in Cleveland, four in one.
A win at home against Denver, five in one.
A win at home against Seattle, six in one.
Then the by week.
And then they travel to Atlanta.
That's going to be seven in one.
Potential of a surprise, one there from west to East Coast, but six and one here or seven and one here.
(20:57):
And then at San Francisco in Santa Clara, san Fran gets the win, puts them at seven and two.
Home against Kansas City, a win for the Chargers, putting them at eight and two when they travel to Arizona.
I'm going to give the Chargers to win against Arizona, putting them at nine and two at Las Vegas.
(21:23):
I'm going to give the loss.
Las Vegas is going to get a win there, putting it at nine and three, and then a win against Miami at ten and three and then four straight losses, putting us at ten and seven.
Now, again, I don't think we're going to be dealing with a four game loss streak at the end of the season for the Chargers, but to say that the charges end up ten and seven is still decent.
(21:53):
It's only a one game improvement over last year from nine and eight, moving to ten and seven.
But I'm doing a one win swing.
Now I will say with the tik tok live predictions, I went for an eight to ten win.
Looking at things now, I do think that moves up in what I'm saying.
I think the Chargers go nine to eleven wins, a definite improvement, potential for some top all around gameplay next year and opportunity to really shake things up in the playoffs.
(22:24):
AFC west is no doubt going to have three teams in the playoffs next year at minimum, which is insane to think about for one division in the league.
What do you guys think, though? Nine to eleven wins for the Chargers.
That's what I got.
That's what I'm going with.
I don't know what else to think but we're going to move the NFC in the next episode here on Cleats off the couch.
(22:46):
Thanks for listening.
I will see you guys in the next one.
See you.
Welcome back to another episode of Cleats Off the Couch.
Guys working through season predictions in 2022 for the NFL, one team from each division at a time.
This is the team we'll talk about from the AFC finishing one from every division in the ASC.
Before we get started over in the NFC.
(00:30):
With that, we're going to talk about the Los Angeles Chargers.
Don't know if we're going to talk about the other La team when we get to the NFC for this first round, but La in general is looking really good this year.
Los Angeles is going to have a lot of great representation from both the Chargers and the Rams.
(00:52):
But for the Chargers, the AFC West got to be the most difficult, the most exciting, the most muddied division in football.
In 2022.
I think the AFC North will be pretty hectic as well.
It always is, although not as hectic as the AFC West, especially with all the hullablu around Cleveland that's been happening.
(01:20):
So Los Angeles last year, they finished nine and eight on the season, had an overall good team, great defense, and they've added to it.
I'll be honest, I don't recall a lot of the Los Angeles I'm typing in right now draft results here from 2022.
(01:42):
But I know they added some pieces on defense.
They brought in JC.
Jackson, I believe.
Did they bring in another pass rusher or linebacker? They just have gotten better.
They're one of the teams that I think has improved.
Nothing but improved.
This year offense still looks excellent.
They got to figure out the injury situation, though.
(02:03):
That constantly happens, I feel Even back with Philip Rivers, it was an issue with keeping receivers healthy.
I don't know why.
I don't know why that's a thing.
I don't know if I'm just misremembering things, but I want to see here who they got back in the draft.
(02:25):
They short up offensive line in the first round, which is big as they're looking to let Justin Herbert do his thing and have another excellent season.
He's one of those guys that has a great year, even his rookie year, I felt like great season.
People just don't talk about it.
I don't know why.
(02:46):
But he's a good quarterback and he's enjoyable to watch.
I feel like Philip Rivers.
That happened with Philip Rivers, too, right? He was always fun to watch play while he was in Los Angeles, but we're not going to get in that conversation, right.
While he was in San Diego.
(03:07):
But they got a safety in round three and then they short up some other stuff.
Yeah.
So they were more bench stashes and fill in as necessary, especially since they had like, what is it, six picks in rounds six and seven.
(03:28):
So I don't know what the grading would be from their draft because again, I didn't pay close enough attention to the charges because again, I think it's the same thing.
Nobody really talks about them.
Nobody really talks about them.
Now, I will say I'm from the East Coast, so I don't hear a lot about West Coast teams in general, so I'm going to chalk it up to that.
(03:50):
But La guy, I went through this, I've said before it was doing this live on tick Tock at Delcury.
I would love to have you in with us Tuesday nights just after 09:00 p.m.
Eastern time.
But we talk football and different predictions like this.
That's where this originally came up, this foundation episodes as we get things started here with Cleats off the couch because conversation always went to football.
(04:21):
So we started talking about what we thought the new season would look like, how we thought teams would do.
And with that, my previous prediction put them potentially third or fourth in the division.
Now I will say this, I'll put this out there as well because I've been doing a one win swing up and down.
(04:45):
It also put them in a potential to be tied for first.
So I have everybody in this division in muddy water.
Everybody is going to be really close to one another from those conversations as we go back through again here.
(05:05):
It could change, it could shift a little.
I am not the perfection of truth, especially since this is all prediction stuff.
So things could change even in a day, let alone a month, let alone in the fall.
Starting off though, they're going to play a division game against the Raiders.
I feel like I've been seeing this a lot, is interdivision play within the first four weeks, like two teams within your division in the first three or four weeks? That seems crazy to me, but it is what it is.
(05:39):
I know there's a whole, there's a whole, what do you call it, equation or whatever it is that they use to be able to figure out who plays who.
And the Chargers finished nine and eight last season, third in the AFC West.
There's been changes all across the board.
The Chiefs just talking generally about the AFC West, I think the Chiefs will take a step back, the readers will take a step forward, the Chargers will take a step forward, the Broncos will take a step forward.
(06:06):
That's in its simplest terms, but they're all going to be muddy.
The cheaps were twelve and five, the Raiders were ten and seven, the Chargers were nine and eight, the Broncos were seven and ten.
So by me saying the Chiefs are going to take a step back, they won twelve games last year, so does that mean they're going to win eleven or ten, who knows? The Broncos are going to take a step forward from seven wins last year.
Does that mean they're going to win eight, nine, or does that mean they're going to win twelve? I don't know.
(06:31):
The Chargers, though, at nine and eight, they open up against the Raiders'and because of how muddy this division looks this year.
I'm thinking a lot of these AFC West teams are going to be splitting with each other in division play and so at home to start the season.
(06:54):
I'll be honest with you guys, I think Las Vegas is going to come out swinging in the first week.
Or rather, I think Las Vegas is going to be expected to swing in the first week.
But guys, Chargers, their offense and defense honestly will be top ten.
(07:18):
Both their offense and defense will be top ten, potentially top five.
Somebody said that a big bold prediction that they had was that the Chargers offense and defense would both rank top three by the end of the 2022 season.
That's really hard to do.
I don't see that happening.
(07:39):
I do think their offense will do really well.
I think we're going to see some more injuries, especially from receivers.
It just happens with the Chargers, I don't know why.
And with that, I think their offense will be top ten, probably even top five.
But their defense, their defense, guys, that is going to be where it's at.
(08:01):
Don't they have Durwin James, JC.
Jackson.
Bosa.
They have so much talent stacked on defense and so I think that's going to obviously play a big factor.
So I'm going to give the win at home to open up this season to the Chargers and then they travel to Arrowhead.
(08:24):
I'm going to give them the win in Kansas City.
Again, I missed this.
It's a Thursday night game in Kansas City.
That's hard.
I'm going to give the wind to Kansas City.
I'm going to start them out at one and one.
And with that, like I said, I think they're going to split with the rest of the division.
So just because they're starting here in my prediction at one and one doesn't mean it's going to be an eight and nine, nine and eight season.
(08:49):
It could, but I don't think we're going to see that.
So we got a one on one start and then they're at home again against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
I think that's a win puts them at two in one.
And then they travel to Energy Stadium in Houston.
In Houston, Texas.
Houston only going to improve maybe one or two games this year.
(09:11):
Not going to be a hard two game wind stretch.
The Chargers take the win there, make it three and one to start the season, and then they travel to Cleveland.
Cleveland dropping down my window board.
Based upon all of the stuff that's happening, there no doubt causing different things.
You can only imagine how everything that's been happening in Cleveland affects how a roster, those on a roster and their interaction as a team, they can say different things and try to stay focused and keep focus, but it hangs an EOR cloud over their head.
(09:45):
It has to.
It has to.
I don't think Cleveland will get that win even at home.
The Chargers again looking really good.
I do think the Cleveland Browns have a good defense.
They have a lot of great offensive pieces, but they're going to be playing with Jacobi Presented or possibly even Josh Dobbs.
Yeah, so the Charges get a win there, three straight, making it four in one, and then they're going to play Denver here at home after a three win streak, making them four and one.
(10:18):
I think they went five and four at home last year and four and four on the road.
So at home here, I'm going to give a loss.
No, I'm going to give the win to the Chargers and then when they play Denver in Mile High, I'm going to give the win there.
I think based upon Seattle and Russell Wilson's time there, he's been bred to win home football games.
(10:44):
He's been bred to feed off that energy because that's how they do it in Seattle.
That's just what they do with the 12th man, right.
So win over Denver at home, making that a four game win streak, making them five in one overall, and then they play Seattle at home.
And I think they go into the bi week with another win there going six and one on the front side of the buy.
(11:08):
So week eight buy and then it's a long stretch from the first week of November all the way through the second week of January.
At six and one starting, they're going to come out of the buy and then they're going to travel to Mercedes Benz Stadium and play the Atlanta Falcons.
I think the Chargers will get the win in Atlanta, but I wouldn't be surprised if that's one of those games out of the by week.
(11:33):
Other side of the country, their West Coast team playing over to the East Coast.
I really could see a surprise win by a lesser team like the Falcons.
I could, but I'm not going to give them that victory yet.
I'm going to give it to the Chargers here.
Seven and one coming out of the by week.
Then they travel to Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara and the 49 ers again.
(11:58):
If injuries hold up this year, san Fran has a Super Bowl caliber team, I think.
I think the Chargers, without injury, could work themselves to be a Super Bowl caliber team.
I think I keep under shooting the Chargers, if I'm honest, I really do.
But I do think the Niners are a team that are under appreciated.
(12:19):
Now, obviously, all of the stuff happening with are they trading Garoppolo? Is Garoppolo going to end up in Seattle to potentially smack at San Fran twice in the season and then they're relied upon the young guy there in the second year, Trey Lance.
If that's the case, I really don't see the Super Bowl run with Trey Lance as I do with Jimmy Garoppolo.
(12:46):
Not that I think Garoppolo is the greatest quarterback I don't know.
I just think Trade Lance is a little inexperienced and we haven't seen his true colors.
Why have they held him off so long if they've been so contentious with Jimmy G? I don't know.
But I'm going to give the wind to Sam.
Fran.
Guys, we're going off the idea they're able to stay healthy into the second week of November, finally break that three year injury bug and give that wind to San Fran, making only two losses so far.
(13:19):
And that puts us at what? Seven and two? Yes, seven and 29 games so far.
Then they're going to play Kansas City at home.
I'm going to give the wind to Kansas City.
It will be hungry coming out of a loss in San Fran to redeem themselves, putting themselves at eight and two.
And then they're going to travel to the Cardinals.
This is a game that, again, the Cardinals the past three seasons has it been the Cardinals always start off hot in the first half of the year, always.
(13:51):
And then the second half they crash and burn.
They may last year I think they made it into first round of playoffs.
Right.
They're a fringe team for me in the NFC just because of the second half of the year play.
Well, November 27 is the second half of the year and they're playing against a team like the Chargers.
(14:12):
It is going to be in Glendale.
It is going to be, in a way, game for the Chargers.
But it's the second half of season.
So based on these past couple of seasons, I'm going to go Chargers with the win.
Man, I didn't have the charges with this many wins in the first time I talked about it, to be honest with you guys.
But I'm going to go I don't know, guys.
(14:33):
I'm hesitating over just saying a win and moving on from Arizona.
Where to skip that one.
I'm going to come back to that one.
I haven't done that yet, but we're going to do that right now.
Eight and two and then we're skipping Arizona at Las Vegas.
I gave Las Vegas the win earlier.
I think Chargers get the win here, making it nine and two.
And then Miami Dolphins in sofa.
(14:55):
Miami is a huge potential team this year.
The Dolphins are a team I really feel will underperform their potential consistently.
They're not a team like the jets that I think will give us fun surprise moments.
I think the Dolphins are a team that should give us those exciting moments but will fail to but I never like choosing for any team just to auto win over the lesser teams on their schedule, if you will.
(15:33):
So it's hard for me to just constantly be like, oh, yeah, because they're NFL teams.
I don't care if you're the top team or the bottom team.
You're still able to see teams like last year or two years ago, the Detroit Lions still be able to surprise different teams to give people runs for their money at the end of games to force overtime.
(15:58):
You never know.
You really don't.
So I'm still going to give the wind to the Chargers here.
I'm getting hesitant because I'm already at ten wins for the Chargers.
I don't know about that.
Then they're going to be at home against Tennessee.
Tennessee is going to be a team that's going to take I said last episode when I talked about the Titans is going to take a step back, but they can play at par with teams like the Chargers.
(16:26):
I honestly right now forget what I said in the last episode.
So I might contradict myself here, but I'm going to give the win to Tennessee.
I'm going to give the win to Tennessee.
I don't see the Chargers being a team.
I see them being a double digit win team this year, but I don't see them being a team that strings together eight wins.
So there's going to be these ones that pop in.
(16:47):
They're going to be teams like Miami, Atlanta, potentially Arizona second half of the season.
But then they lose to a team like Tennessee, and in fact, then they play at Indianapolis.
They lose in Lucas oil.
I'm on the Matt Ryan train.
Guys.
I want to see Indiana.
Indianapolis, can I be honest with you? Indianapolis is probably my sleeper pick.
(17:11):
If I had to choose from the teams that I think are going to be playoffbound in 2022 and not choose an obvious contender, we're not choosing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, we're not choosing the Bengals or the Rams.
We're not choosing the obvious ones.
So probably more so a lucky a lucky third or fourth division winner or a wild card team.
(17:35):
I think the Indianapolis Colts are my sleeper pick for the Super Bowl as of right now.
I really do.
That defense.
Matt Ryan still is a little bit left in the gas tank.
Jonathan Taylor in that run game.
I think Indianapolis is a sleeper team for me this year at home.
(17:58):
Lucas Oil, I don't see oh, and it's a Monday Night Football game the day after Christmas, indianapolis gets the win and then back against well, not back against they haven't played the Rams yet.
Oh, that was the preseason.
My mind got messed up there.
Then they go back home to play the Los Angeles Rams.
(18:19):
And guys, the Rams look good.
I mean, they improved.
I mean, the Rams got good.
I mean, the Chargers also improved.
So that could be a fun one to see.
But January 1, new Year's Day, sunday night Football, man.
Monday night against the Colts and then Sunday night against the Rams, that's going to be an interesting back to back for the Chargers.
(18:43):
I don't see the Chargers losing both of those.
But right now, looking at who they're playing, looking at what the teams look like, I'm not going to give them the win.
I'm not going to give them the win.
They were already at ten wins.
I have Tennessee.
Honestly, see, here's the other thing.
I got to be real.
I don't see a four game losing streak to end the season by the Chargers.
(19:07):
And you listening or watching right now, I highly doubt you think the Chargers will do that, too.
They end the season against the Tennessee Titans, the Colts, the Rams and the Broncos.
They're home against the Titans and the Rams.
They're at Indianapolis and Denver.
I do think they split with Denver.
(19:27):
They lose to end the season at Denver.
I do think they lose at Indianapolis.
What did I say? They went five and four at home and four and four away.
So that's not really helpful, trying to think through where they do better ball at.
But it was split last season.
(19:47):
Now I'm trying to remind myself, too, I'm just looking at win, total potential.
So whether or not I'm correct on the specific games in which they lose or win, the idea right now is trying to predict where they'll end up with the amount of wins that they'll end up with.
And so even if in this mock prediction we have four losses to end the season, they already had ten wins.
(20:13):
They already had ten wins.
Seth would put us at 15.
I still needed the Arizona one, which means I'm off by one.
I got to relook at this, revisiting that we've talked through this.
A win against the Raiders, a loss at Kansas City, one in one.
A win against Jacksonville, two in one.
A win in Houston, three in one.
(20:35):
A win in Cleveland, four in one.
A win at home against Denver, five in one.
A win at home against Seattle, six in one.
Then the by week.
And then they travel to Atlanta.
That's going to be seven in one.
Potential of a surprise, one there from west to East Coast, but six and one here or seven and one here.
(20:57):
And then at San Francisco in Santa Clara, san Fran gets the win, puts them at seven and two.
Home against Kansas City, a win for the Chargers, putting them at eight and two when they travel to Arizona.
I'm going to give the Chargers to win against Arizona, putting them at nine and two at Las Vegas.
(21:23):
I'm going to give the loss.
Las Vegas is going to get a win there, putting it at nine and three, and then a win against Miami at ten and three and then four straight losses, putting us at ten and seven.
Now, again, I don't think we're going to be dealing with a four game loss streak at the end of the season for the Chargers, but to say that the charges end up ten and seven is still decent.
(21:53):
It's only a one game improvement over last year from nine and eight, moving to ten and seven.
But I'm doing a one win swing.
Now I will say with the tik tok live predictions, I went for an eight to ten win.
Looking at things now, I do think that moves up in what I'm saying.
I think the Chargers go nine to eleven wins, a definite improvement, potential for some top all around gameplay next year and opportunity to really shake things up in the playoffs.
(22:24):
AFC west is no doubt going to have three teams in the playoffs next year at minimum, which is insane to think about for one division in the league.
What do you guys think, though? Nine to eleven wins for the Chargers.
That's what I got.
That's what I'm going with.
I don't know what else to think but we're going to move the NFC in the next episode here on Cleats off the couch.
(22:46):
Thanks for listening.
I will see you guys in the next one.
See you.
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