10-11-24 Daniel Popper with Broncos Country Tonight

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
We go right out to the Kia Common Spiritual Hotline and

(00:02):
bring our guy on the Athletic Daniel Popper. Daniel, how
you doing this evening?

Speaker 2 (00:08):
Doing great?

Speaker 1 (00:08):
Thanks for having me, absolutely always love having you all.
We get a chance to take all the Chargers and
kind of preview that news coming down today. Gus Edwards
out not really I don't think surprising.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
To a lot of people.

Speaker 1 (00:19):
But who is going to take over his place in
that secondary running back role? Is that going to be
Vidal has Haskins. Who are we going to see complimenting JK. Dobbins,
who's gotten out to a red heart's red hot start
this season for the Chargers. A little much of the
offense there has not necessarily been red hot.

Speaker 2 (00:36):
Yeah, I think you so. Early on the season he
service fifty split between Dobbins and Edwards. I would imagine
you're going to see sort of an uptick in the
number of touches for Dobbins with Edwards datas he sort
of takes on like a really RB one role versus
sort of a you know, a committee back there. And
then obviously you mentioned the two other guys options there
with with Haskins and and Kimanie by Dale interesting with out.

(01:00):
He hasn't been active yet this season. Obviously the six
round pick. He showed some interesting things in the preseason.
So I imagine you sort of see Hassan Hopkins invited out,
both get touches there, and as Greg Rohman had sort
of said, the offensive coordinator for the Chargers obviously throughout
this process like they're going to be and so I
think Dobbins probably moves into more of a clear cut
running back one role, and then both of those guys,

(01:23):
I assume will get touches and if they start making
plays and then Roman will certainly see them.

Speaker 3 (01:28):
Dan, you and we will get the Chargers. The first
two week at the season, they were flying high and
everyone was really optimistic. Over the past two weeks, not
so much, and with the team battling some some injuries.
D J sean he's not back. How is it that
coach Harborugh and Justin Herbert muster offensive production against the
Denver Broncos defense, who've been playing pretty well this season.

Speaker 2 (01:51):
Yeah. I mean a lot of the how the beginning
of the season went was sort of like you know
your opponents, right, you have the Raiders and the Panthers,
two teams that aren't very good, and they handled business
against those teams, and then you have the Steelers and
the Chiefs too much better teams and they came out short.
There you mentioned the injuries. I think you know, having
a bye week at this point is going to be
really helpful for some of these injuries they're dealing with.

(02:11):
Joe Alt, there standout rookie right tackle, missed the Week
four game against the Chiefs with an MCL sprain. He
was back in practice this week and he was off
the injury report, so getting him back at tackle is
going to be huge. They've also been without Rashaun Slater
and losing you know, your two tackles is going to
be difficult. They had to move a bunch of pieces around.
They had a practice squad guy, and Sam Mustaf started
right guard for them against the Chiefs. So getting Joe

(02:34):
all back in there will be key. You know, even
if Rashaun Slater is unable to play, he's he's questionable
for the game. At least you know you'll you won't
be turning to practice squad guys in the offensive line,
so you expect a little bit better pass protection, better
better run blocking with with Joe Alt back in there
and fewer moving pieces. And obviously the other part of
this too is Justin Herberston is dealing with the high
ankle sprain. He has another week to get healthier. He

(02:58):
comes off the injury report today. It's the first time
he's actually been off the report and hasn't been questionable
since he suffered that high ankle strain. If he's moving better,
that allows you to get deeper into the playbook, some
more boots stuff, quarterback movement stuff, and then obviously, you know,
out of structure, if Justin Herbert can move around a
little bit better, you know, you would expect him to
be able to make plays out of structure on the

(03:19):
move off script, and obviously he's one of the best
in the league of doing that.

Speaker 1 (03:23):
Broncos fans familiar with. Sam Mustafer was on the you know,
the training camp roster here for the Broncos, unable to crack.
He was trying to be the center. He's unable to
crack the roster with Forsyth and and Wattenburg. Wattenberg of
course hurt and is out for this game. As we
look at the Chargers offense again, it feels like that
this has been a bit of a disjointed sort of effort.

(03:46):
It feels like it's been something that's it really just
hasn't quite come together yet with Greg Roman trying to
figure out what it is that that he and Justin
Herbert the magic they can make together.

Speaker 2 (03:56):
Yeah, it's a bright spot.

Speaker 1 (03:57):
I mean, Quentin Johnson does seem to have improved, not
that could have gotten much worse than he was last year,
but he's gotten better. You know, he looks like he's
got better. Lab Mconnky looks like he's going to be
something in this league. Josh Palmers looked all right, and
then of course you get the tight ends and Hurst
and Disteyould looked like something. Dobbins averaging absurd six yards
of carry at this point, you know, you look at
the offensive line of healthy, you know, the Chargers for
you to be something you mentioned Ray Shawn Slater of

(04:18):
course his godfather's are you know, you know a guy
in their sales department here, Jeff Johnson. They've they've got
some they've got some pieces there, but it just feels
to me like it hasn't quite come together yet.

Speaker 2 (04:30):
Yeah, I think you make a good point. You know,
a lot of this early part of the season I
feel like has been about establishing an identity. You bring
in Jim Harbour as your head coach, you bring in
Greg Roman as your offensive coordinator. There's a way that
they want to play and it's it's bigger and broader
than schematics, right, It's about a philosophy of Like when
a team sees the Chargers on the schedule, they want

(04:51):
to know that they're in for a long day. And
what you have to establish is a level of physicality upfront.
You have to establish the ability to run the ball,
the threat to run the ball. That's how these guys
want to play football. And so early on in the season,
you've seen a heavy lead into the running game. You know,
I you know, obviously I've dove into the statistics, like
they lead the league and designed rush rate they're at

(05:13):
forty nine point three percent overall. What I like to do.
And this is something that my colleague Mike Sando sort
of invented at the Athletic He called it the Cook Index.
But you sort of look at the first twenty eight
minutes of the first of the of a game, in
the first half, first and second downs in the first
twenty eight minutes when score isn't really dictating how much
you run the ball. In those situations, the Chargers are

(05:35):
running it over fifty seven percent of the time. So
they've really tried to establish this identity and what that's
led to is obviously less production from Justin Herbert. And
now you're sort of through that phase, you're through the
quarter pole of the season. You've established that identity to
a degree. At times. I think the Panthers game is
a really good example of what they could be in
the running game, and it's sort of fallen off because

(05:55):
of injuries. But now that you sort of established that mentality,
you've shown that you're going to call runs consistently and
try and try and build that part of the offense.
What can you do now that you're coming out of
the buy and maybe try and turn that dial up
a little bit in the passing game and allow Justin
Herbert to air it out a little bit more. And
so that's sort of what I'm looking at. I think

(06:15):
they've established what they want to be. I think you'd
be talking to guys in the locker room. There's there's
a clear cut identity of what they want to be.
Upfront and how they want to be offensively, and now
I think you can start turning the dials a little
bit more to maybe get some more out of the
passing game and out of Justin Herberts right on.

Speaker 3 (06:33):
So I'm looking at the injury report, find an injury
report of the week, and I'm saying Shrek Taylor and
a Sante Samuel Junior are expected to be out at
least that's kind of the game status at this particular point.
How does this change what Jesse Mentored, the defensive coordinator,
wants to do coming into this game against the Broncos.

Speaker 2 (06:55):
Yeah, so both those guys have been ruled out. J
just Dear Taylor actually missed the Week four game. He's
dealing with a fibular injury that he suffered in Week one.
Their rookie Tartige still they draft in the fifth round
at A Maryland, actually played really well at nickel in
place of Jair Taylor last week. Sea Junior. He was
a full participant on Thursday and was out of practice

(07:16):
on Friday. He had some sort of setback with that
shoulder injury. And so the question is who's going to
start at outside corner. I think they're pretty comfortable with Hard,
he's still at nickel. The other spot, it could be
Dean Leonard who's but he's also dealing with a hamstring
injury that kept him out of the Week four game.
The next guy up would be Cam Hart, another rookie

(07:36):
that they drafted in the fifth round. Tremendous size and
lengths on the outside at six foot three corner, and
he's a guy that could potentially be slotting in there.
He's been playing some special teams a sort as their
personal protector on punt and so you're looking at some
moving pieces there in the secondary, but they've kind of
been dealing with moving pieces throughout this season. Derwin James

(07:57):
missed the game because of his suspension. Safety Alohi Gilman,
their other starting safety, missed the game with a knee injury.
And I think what Jesse Minser are sort of proving
here is that he's done a really good job of
cross training these guys, and he does a really good
job of having these young players ready to step in.
And in that Chiefs game, you know they're down Derrow
and James, they were down j just here Taylor, and

(08:18):
they still got to a lot of complexity on the
back end in terms of what they were calling, the
variety of coverages, the disguises, some of the third down
calls in terms of how they were trying to attack
practice mahomes with blitzes and simulated pressures. So I still
think regardless of who's in there, you're going to see
some complexity from Jesse Minter. The question is are the

(08:39):
players coming in there that end up starting are they
to be ready to execute it?

Speaker 1 (08:43):
Well, yeah, that is the question. To date, they've done
a very good job. I mean, the Chargers are a
extremely underrated defense nationally, at least in terms of the
amount of buzz that they get. I think everybody can
look at the numbers and see what they've been able
to do. But it feels like that this is a
very physical defense that has has not gotten its flowers
in terms of what they've been able to do. Philosophically,

(09:05):
things have changed a little bit from what they used
to be under Brandon Staley, and I think Denver world
familiar with the Vic Fangil blueprint, which is sort of
what Staley ran there as well. You can see how
the Broncos have shifted away with that with Vance Joseph
running something more akin to what Wade Phillips used to run.
What are the differences there in LA with what it
is that they're doing versus what they used to do

(09:26):
with a sort of vic blueprint under Staley.

Speaker 2 (09:30):
Yeah, I think the biggest difference is the level of
physicality that you just mentioned that you can even attribute
that to Jim Harbaugh. There's just like a standard of
how you have to play on both sides of the
ball to get on the field for Jim Harbaugh, and
so that's really shown up in the running game. Like
that's been the biggest difference. I know how many conversations
that we had been over the years under Staley where
it was just like, what's going on with this run defense?

(09:51):
It was every year that couldn't really stop the run.
And what you've gotten this year is a team that's
way more physical. And the guy I would point to
that's really made a difference in the run defense is
Pune of four, who was really an afterthought in Buffalo
last season. He was inactive for most of the season
healthy scratch, he only played in eight games with Chargers
identified him as a guy with potentially something to prove

(10:13):
and He's been a real force in the middle of
the of the defensive line, really like a pure nose tackle.
Just the ability to take on double teams, create penetration,
and just be that rock in the center of the
defensive line. And I think what you've seen is the
physicality of the players around Tuneiford has really been elevated
as a result because he's just so stout in there.
So you see Denzel Perryman. Another addition that they made

(10:33):
this offseason, Dan Henley, the two linebackers really able to
tack downhill. Your edge rushers are able to make more
plays in the ball because of that stoutness in the interior.
So the running game has improved, has put them in
more advantageous situations. In terms of like coverage split, there
hasn't been too much of a change. They're playing way
less cover six, the less quarter quarter half that was

(10:54):
a big stay staple, but they're actually their most played
coverage is quarters coverage, which is obviously like a staple
of the Fangio scheme, but I think like it's more
of a mentality shift. I think the Fangio scheme in
the day idea is to you know, play more passively
allowed dink and dunks and just sort of wait for
the mistake. I think the mentality of this defense is
play downhill, play with physicality, and allow players to be

(11:19):
aggressive in terms of how they attack ball carriers, how
they attack on blitzed And you can really see it
on the tape, just that mentality shift, how it's allowed
players to play more freely, more confidently, and just with
that level of aggression that I don't think we ever
really saw under Brandon Staley.

Speaker 3 (11:34):
Well, speaking of love of aggression, I'm used to hearing
Joey Bosa's name as far as being a very intimidating
edge rusher, but it just seems as though things are
kind of shifted in a different direction.

Speaker 2 (11:45):
Like only two.

Speaker 3 (11:46):
Sacks on the season, I think one was went against
the Raiders and the other against the Carolina Panthers. Well,
other than injury, right, and I know inrey plays a
huge role on how impactful a guy can be. What
it seems to be the issue with Julie Bosa.

Speaker 2 (12:02):
Yeah, Well it's injuries. I mean, he played the whole
first game of the season and then he was dealing
with a back issue that limited the fourteen snaps against
the Panthers. On the very first play of the Steelers game,
he suffered a hip injury that knocked him out of
that game, and then he didn't play in the Chiefs game.
So when you're talking about production specifically, it's entirely related
to injuries for him this season. He had a hand
injury in training camp that he needs surgery on, then

(12:24):
the back, now the hip. But if you go watch
the tape from that Raiders game, that was one of
the best games that I've ever seen Joey Bosa play.
And it wasn't just the way he was rushing or
playing to run. It was the effort level which that
absolutely jumped off the tape. I mean, he was chasing
down Gardner Minshew to the sideline, he was chasing him
down up the middle. The level of effort that he

(12:46):
played with really showed me that he's turned a corner
as far as prioritizing winning over everything else. It's is
something that he's talked about a lot. So the key
right now is just get him on the field like
he hasn't been on the field. Fourteen snaps against the Panthers,
two snaps agains. If the Feelers didn't play against the Chiefs.
When he's been on the field, he's been the Joey
Bosa that you know I've seen when he's been at
his best. The problem is the injuries that kept him

(13:07):
off the field.

Speaker 1 (13:08):
All right, Daniel, When we look at this thing, you know,
I'm pretty sure both these teams look at this game
as a winnable game, or at least started the season
looking at this game as a as a very winnable game.
As it's approaches us a little closer here this weekend,
how are you feeling. What's your confidence level for the
Chargers this weekend? And you know, what is the key
for them to be able to pull off a win
versus Denver doing the same?

Speaker 2 (13:30):
Yeah, So, I think defensively, I feel pretty confident in
what the Chargers are able to do. I think jesse
Mentor is the real deal, and I think they're going
to be able to go out and play good defense
on a week to week basis. Offensively, they were hands
frum by penalties against the Chiefs. They had eight offensive penalties,
They were behind the sticks, and they really got into
these disadvantages, this advantageous downs and distances. So I think

(13:51):
they need to be able to be more efficient on
early downs and avoid you know, those pass rushing situations
because I went, I went and looked at Zach Allen
film in the first five weeks of the season and
oh my god, like that guy is playing out of
his mind. And if there is a weakness here for
the Chargers up front, even when they get a little
bit healthier, it is that interior. You would likely have

(14:15):
you know, Jamari sallyar In at guard, and that's a
place that Zach Allen could absolutely attack if they do
get into some of these certain lungs where he can
put his ears back and get out of the quarterbacks.
So defensively, I feel like they're gonna be able to
play good defense. Offensively, all about early down efficiency and
being able to get yourself into advantageous downs and distance

(14:35):
to avoid you know, letting Zach Allen really ruin the game.

Speaker 1 (14:39):
Daniel Popper from the Athletic, We always appreciate you coming by.
You can be out here this weekend.

Speaker 2 (14:44):
Absolutely, I'll be there, Toma.

Speaker 1 (14:45):
Look forward to look forward to seeing you then, sir,
and get a chance to chat with you and seen
you at the game.

Speaker 2 (14:51):
All right, guy, thanks for having me.

Speaker 1 (14:52):
All right, take care,