May 12, 2023 • 49 mins
Matt "Money" Smith and Chris Hayre break down the Chargers’ 2023 regular season schedule (3:30) which includes an early bye (18:59), six primetime games (22:18) and four divisional games in the last five weeks.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Only fifteen to ten touched up Sucker. What's up? Guys,
welcome into a schedule release edition of Chargers Weekly. Pay
them this a day late because we wanted to make
sure that schedule came out so we could break it
(00:21):
down as always, joined by Matt Money Smith Money. It's
always a big day on the calendar. We always know
the who, but the one and the where is important.
The videos that come out the anime release Part two
did not disappoint. We could start in a number of directions.
You want to start there? Sure, Sure, I look, I'm
pretty amazing. We don't need to say it. We're biased.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
It's the best digital and social media team in the NFL.
They outdo themselves regularly, whether it's all in through digital
and the YouTube stuff they put together, the breakdowns, the
people they bring in to host those you know, that content,
and the social media team and everything that goes into
the anime. We'll still be finding Easter eggs and that
(01:06):
thing for the next three weeks. Some of my favorites
wildly underrated. I thought was Week one and just Mike
McDaniel being accused of vapin you know, and having all
the vape cloud. I think was one that perhaps snuck
by a handful of people. As someone who's been in
football as long as I have to see miniche Meda,
(01:27):
I'm the missing mister for the Jets was exceptional. So
there's let's see if I'm just going through.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
So we two Week two it looked very like, just
all right, Derek Hennery, your robot on the right of
him is is an old banana in the mao in
a can of mao. For will levels, that was great.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
The next level, of course, was week fifteen Raiders loss
of seventy two million bucks for Garoppolo. You click the
QR code and it takes you are you a Charger fan?
Are you a Raider fan? You click the Raider fan
and it takes you to how to get a job.
It's they did great. They did really.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
You know the fact that it's not redeemable for a
wedding invite.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
I don't know if you've read oh that's so great,
so great, And that they started it out with some
self deprecation I think set the tone of hey, we
can make fun of ourselves as well with the twenty
seven zero ticket that they stepped on.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
So well done.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Of all the other ones, and I didn't see all
of them, but I kind of tried to watch all
the other teams videos until I got bored, and I
got bored pretty quickly with most of them. The only
one that gave the Chargers a run for its money
was Tennessee's. So you did not check out the Titans
(02:50):
schedule release that. I don't ever want to take the
crown from the Chargers because of all the greatness that
goes into it, But well done, Tennessee. That was as
good as anyone we've seen in a while. If you
have not seen that, make sure you go seek it
out and watch. They went down to Broadway, which is
the main drag in Nashville where all the bars are,
and just got a bunch of drunk people, showed them
(03:12):
the logos the mascots of the teams, asking them what
team they were playing. So make sure you seek that out.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
It's great. That was great. I forgot what they did.
Lightning McQueen I think was the Chargers Lightning McQueen cars,
Lightning McQueen's who the Chargers were. It's a pretty great.
Oh god, all right, let's get into this schedule and
you know, let's just go game by game, because you know,
I'm looking at each game and we again we knew
the opponents, But I think what a way to start
(03:40):
Week one, right, Herbert two Staley, Fangio, Ronaldo Hill. It's
a it's kind of a rematch of that that Sunday
night game last year, Dolphins Chargers kicking it off in
so far money.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Look, we know Vic Fangio is nothing against Brandon Staley,
but you know Vick was his guy, so he's arguably
the brightest defensive mind in the NFL. We know how
tough those Broncos games were, no matter who was on
the roster. Every time the Chargers went to playing when
Fangio was the coach, it was a nightmare. And I
(04:16):
dug in a little bit, you open up. It's so
there's two sides to that, right. Mike McDaniels sort of
called the running game genius the special sauce to Kyle
Shanahan's offense when he was in San Francisco. We know
how good he is with the run, So I'll start there.
Week one. You're still waiting for Austin Johnson to get healthy,
(04:37):
Tito Abonia to get healthy. You didn't really get any
reinforcements for the interior of that line in free agency
or the draft. So you're talking about going up against
one of the best run game coordinators and run game
play callers in the league without full health, because we
don't know, and maybe those guys will be ready, But
that's a concern. Two Fangio and what he has been
(05:02):
able to do no matter who his opponent is. I
dug in. In twenty twenty one, Kellen Moore and the
Cowboys faced Vic Fangio and the Broncos with the number
one offense in the NFL. They had won six games
straight and at the eight minute mark of the fourth
quarter they were losing thirty to zero. So just to
(05:23):
kind of put that in perspective, and what Vic Fangio
was able to do to Dak Prescott and Zeke Elliot
and Tony Pollard And although Mariy Cooper all those guys
with Kellen Moore callin plays, he's really good. He is
really really good. So it is a tough way to
start the season. Having said that Miami was a buzzsaw
(05:44):
offensively last year, coming into that Sunday night football game,
Brandon Staley had a brilliant game plan pressing those receivers,
pushing his guys up a little bit to the middle
of that field and taking away what had been working
so well for them and to it just couldn't overcome it.
The the offense stalled out big time. And and that's
(06:06):
a tip of the cap to Staley for coming up
and because remember after that, everybody emulated what Staley did
moving forward, and that was how they tried to thwart
that offensive attack of Jalen Waddle and and Tyreek Hillen.
Just to put a button on it. The I don't
know what the corner situation is gonna look like, is it.
Is it gonna be just here in the slot. Is
(06:27):
it gonna be j. T. Woods being asked to do
a lot up high? That's a lot for week one.
If it's gonna be those two second years, second year
players because J. C.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Jackson also was not ready yet.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
You know, going into into that context, it's a it's
a tough way to start.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
It is. And you know, as far as Kellen Moore's
offense is concerned, is it gonna be hot out the gates?
Is it gonna take a few weeks? Right? It kind
of gets you get your legs under you and understand
the playbook and understand what they're doing. So it's it's
a fascinating matchup in an AFC that's absolutely loaded, a
game that you may need down the stretch in terms
of tyber Baker situations based on what Miami does this year.
(07:02):
You know, you know, we got sixteen more to go,
but obviously Dolphins at home, that's a great way to
start the season for the Chargers. Make a statement. Weeks
two and three, money you go on the road, We're
going to Nashville. Where was that barbecue place we went
to in Nashville that had the band Martin's Martin's, So
I'm gonna put in the reservation for Martin's after the
podcast Nashville. Is it gonna be Will Levis starting? Is
(07:26):
it gonna be Ryan Tannehill starting? It seems like Tennessee
is is closer to rebuild than contender at this point.
First road test for the Chargers. Time to get your
first road win of the year.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
So I would say, instead of kind of going game
by game just because we've known our opponents the whole time,
I think it's a perfect time to sort of zoom
out and go big picture because you just said it.
Back to back road games, right, Chargers. The schedule makers
could not have done the Chargers more favors. You can't
control the opponents. The opponents are what they are. It's
(08:02):
tough schedule. It's a really tough schedule. But when you
look at the way this schedule lays out, here's a
couple of things that jump out to me and I
took a ton of notes, so the strength of schedule.
Understand this, when you look at strength of schedule, we're
going to be the AFC West and the AFC East
(08:22):
are going to have the toughest schedules because one look
at the participants in each of those divisions, Chiefs, Broncos, Raiders, Chargers, Patriots, Dolphins, Bills, Jets.
Those are eight good teams. Those are eight really good teams.
You can make a case for any of those eight
teams to make the postseason. The Raiders maybe come to
mine or the Broncos because of how poorly it went,
but Sean Payton's in there. They still have an absolutely
(08:45):
dominant d If they can get that offensive right, we
know how good that team could be. Raiders lost a
ton of close games last year, and personally, I think
they upgraded at quarterback, and a lot of that was
quarterback driven as to how they were coming up short
late in those games. When you talk about the AFC East, again,
easy to make a case right for any of those
four teams. Jets with that defense, Bills are one of
(09:08):
the best teams in football, the Dolphins made the playoffs
last year, and the Patriots are the Patriots. So strength
of schedule. Understand, you're going to see the AFC West
and the AFC East because they also play each other.
So you're talking about ten of seventeen games for the
teams in the AFC West to be against, six against
each other and four against the AFC. Same thing for
the AFC East. Right, you've got six against each other,
(09:30):
four against the AFC West. So strength the schedule is tough.
Nothing you can do about that. But what you can
look at is, in fact, the Chargers only have one
back to back road trip. That's it. You've got the
Giants with two three game road trips back to back
to back. Think about the Chargers only happened one and
(09:51):
it's right at the start of the year when you
hope health is at a premium, So that is a
After those two back to backs Raiders at home, then
the bye. Look at the schedule, home away, home away,
home away, home away, home away, home away home, they
alternate every week. Yeah, that's a huge advantage, an absolutely
(10:11):
huge advantage. And when you look at the rest of
the division, Chris, the Chargers have that one back to
back roadie, the Broncos, the Raiders, and the Chiefs, they
all have three back to back road game situations. So
that's a big net advantage for the Bolts.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
Yeah, it's a great point. And you know, again, Hope
health is that are premium in September, and it's two
teams that did. Frankly, the Chargers could beat and should be.
You know, I think Minnesota maybe a little bit tougher
than Tennessee. It's September. You got an Eric Kendricks reunion,
you got a Ryan Ficken reunion early in September. But listen,
(10:48):
we'll go through, you know, different chunks of the schedule.
If we worked backwards to money and I said this
last time I was looking at the schedule. After Thanksgiving
is when the season starts with the Chargers, they could
be five and five going into that game against the Ravens.
You have the Ravens on Sunday night, then you got
to go to New England, and then you have four
of your six division games to close the year Broncos, Raiders,
(11:13):
Broncos Chiefs, with the Bills sandwiched in between there. Yeah,
I mean those are all teams that you're going to
be competing with for either a division title or a
wildcard spot. So you could be four and six, five
and five, six and four, whatever. The season doesn't really
start until after Thanksgiving, and you got to hope, you know,
(11:35):
and this is where you know, we don't know, Hopefully
you're healthy, you're playing your best ball. That Kellen Moore
offense is humming in December and January. But I just
found it interesting because you know, sometimes teams have their
divisional opponents up in September and October when maybe you're
not the team that you're going to be in December
and January. So I think it's a great opportunity for
(11:55):
the Chargers if they're going to ascend throughout the year
with a new offense and some of some new players
and some rookies that may contribute, to have those division
games at the back half of the year. That was
the one thing that stood out to me. You don't
have like Chiefs, Raiders, Broncos to start the season. You're
going to get those teams late.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
So think about last year. They clinched in Week sixteen
at Indianapolis day after Christmas. So when you look at
week sixteen, you're coming off you get the mini buys.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
So that's the hell.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
We can get into little bit of that stuff because
I dug into the rest and who's coming off of
buy or the Chargers coming off of buy, who's got
more rest going into that game, who's traveling further? All
that sort of stuff we can touch upon. But since
you brought that up, I think that's the toughest stretch
of the season sixteen seventeen eighteen. Now, I know Charger
fans don't want to hear it, but the Chiefs have
owned this division. Chiefs have owned the best record in
(12:53):
the conference or very close to it, seemingly year in
and year out. Right, So you get the Chiefs in
Week eighteen. If you're not in contention for the division
at that point, like you said, say they're coming in
fighting for that wildcard, Well, now you might be taking
a Chiefs team on that's resting everybody, and that's a
benefit for you and nothing against the Chargers, but this
(13:15):
is just recent and the last five years that we're
talking about that the Chiefs have dominated the AFC. So
just looking at it realistically, that's a benefit. I would
rather have the Chiefs in Week eighteen than in Week fourteen, fifteen,
or sixteen, So that's a plus. But when you're talking
about Buffalo on Saturday night at Denver, we know how
(13:39):
good that defense is. They lost to them in Week
eighteen and they needed overtime and an incredible special teams
play to beat them at home last year. That defense
is good. So that's week seven that you cannot lose
that game because then you got Kansas City. If you're
fighting for the division, that's a really top There's a
number of tough stretches in I look at you mentioned Baltimore.
(14:01):
Baltimore having to go to New England again, Denver's an
issue that's a bit of a tough and plus you
know just Detroit having to go to Green Bay. I
think weatherwise they caught a break. You got to go
to New England first week of first week of December
and then Denver. Cold has never really bothered me. I
don't feel like it bothers the guys either, But that
(14:22):
East Coast cold is a different level cold. So when
you're talking about New England first week of December, that
can be a little bit tough. January's a little rough
in Denver too, that could end up being cold, so
you get a little bit of cold weather in there
as well. It's a rough. It's a rough close to
the season. That Buffalo game, just since we're already on it,
to bring it up. The Buffalo game, the Chargers get
a mini by because Buffalo will be on a short week.
(14:46):
The Chargers are coming off the Thursday night football game
against the Raiders, so the Bills are playing on Sunday.
The Chargers are playing all the way back on Thursday,
so you're talking about extra rest versus short rest for Buffalo.
So that's a bit of an advantage. And they're at home,
so Buffalo's the road team having just played on Sunday,
the Chargers of the home team, having played the past
(15:06):
Thursday night. So you get that ten days of rest
going into what could be a slobber knocker against one
of the best teams in the league. Slide advantage Chargers there.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
Just remember last year though, exactly a year ago, We're
looking at the schedule and we said, oh my god,
Sunday Night football against Sean McVay and the Rams. Wow,
Monday Night football against the Colts team that we thought
was going to be a contender. Jeff Saturday was the
head coach on Monday Night Football, and the Rams are
way out of content change. All we can do is
(15:39):
all we can always is.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
All we can do is take the information we have
right now exactly exactly. We can just project based on
what we see right now. And let's not forget Chargers
lost pretty much their entire defense. They lost their high
priced corner, they lost their entire interior defensive line. Joey
Bosa was out for eleven games. They lost their left tackle.
(16:01):
Like the Chargers were part of that as well. They
just happened to overcome it. Then put it this like
the one thing to look at if you want to
go down this road. DraftKings has the Chargers favored in
twelve of seventeen games.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
That's good.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
So that's good. Yeah, they think they're gonna win twelve
of seventeen. They think they've got them at twelve and
five in terms of how the line's set up right now.
We know that'll change based on performance, could get better,
could get worse, But at least going into it with
this schedule, I feel pretty good about how it lays out,
(16:39):
just in terms of travel. Fact that they don't have
with all of these East Coast with all of these
Midwest and East Coast games, Green Bay, Minnesota, Tennessee, New England,
New York, like, it could have been gnarly. It could
have been a gnarly schedule based on a lot of
those trips and the fact that they are alternating every
(17:01):
other week, and even the one that we have a
back to back, Minnesota's two and a half hour flight,
that's nothing. That's one of the shorter trips that you're
gonna make. Tennessee's not bad. Tennessee's three hours to get there,
you know, three and a half four to get home.
So that's another easy one. And that's the only back
to back. So that really helped the way to schedule
laid out.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
Yeah, I mean New England is the furthest trip. Before
that you host the Ravens, and then after that you
host the Broncos, and then you have a Thursday night
game against the Raiders. That's a you know I can
get talk about a win. Yeah, I mean, come on, like,
you're gonna get a full week of practice California. It
takes longer than to get to Vegas.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
Right, So remember what they always talk about being a
road team on Thursday, and at football, you lose it.
You lose a day of practice because you have to
travel on Wednesday. Not the case here. You're gonna get
a full day of practice in because you have to
be in town eighteen hours before kick.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
So kick is at five o'clock.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
You don't have to be in Vegas until ten o'clock
if you want, you can get there that late and
get a full day of practice, have a regular you
can have the exact same practice week that the Raiders have,
save that forty minute flight and a bus ride to
a hotel.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
Muddy. That's last year we were on the bus to
the hotel longer than we were in the air, right,
That's like how quick it is? So right, So that's
a huge win. The fact that you have a road
Thursday night football game and it's the shortest trip you
could possibly take, save if you played the Rams at home.
But it's the shortest trip you can take. And so
(18:29):
there is no that the home team has such a
big advantage over the road team on Thursday at football
because they get an extra day of practice. They don't
have to take that Wednesday to trial, Monday's recovery day,
Tuesday install Wednesday practice.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
Well, now you get that as a road team. You know,
the road team normally would not get that. Maybe they
have to condense a little bit and they don't have
to do that. They will be on the exact same
schedule as the Raiders. So that's a huge advantage considering
you had a road Thursday night football game for it
to be in Las Vegas.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
The buye came into me last year. Yeah, this is
not that's the one negative. Yeah, I mean it's it's early.
It's week five, but the earliest it can be, it's
earliest it can be. But you know what, the first
four games, right, Miami, Tennessee, Minnesota and the Raiders, wouldn't
it be awesome for the charge you get like three
and one reset and play the rest of the schedule.
(19:21):
You mentioned that you're gonna get mini buys that you know,
the mini buy from Thursday night football to the following
the way that the schedule lays out as you beautifully outlined.
I mean, it's not like it's gonna be a tough
road to hoe without a bye coming in like week
nine or week ten. So I think that's the one
advantage that's like, all right, we're gonna give you the
(19:41):
buye in week five, but we're not gonna make you
go back to back road road trips, and especially in December.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
I think it lays out nicely if you told me
that's the trade off. The bye stinks. There's I'm not
going to try to put lipstick on that pig. It's
a it's a crappy buye. You don't want to buy
in week five. It's just so early. Last year they
had one. They had it right in the middle. That's
what you want, man, right in the middle. Get that
week refresh, get some guys healthy that got banged up.
(20:08):
But I will trade this schedule for that bye too
early any day of the week. The fact that you
are alternating home after that buye, that you are alternating
home and away games all the way through the Thursday,
and at football against the Raiders, you get set the Chargers,
we've been traveling on Christmas or We've been gone on
(20:28):
Christmas three years in a row. Now they give you
the twenty third. So the guys get to spend time
at home or get to do something with their families
on Christmas Day, on Sunday or on Monday, I should say,
you know, Christmas Eve on Sunday. We play on Saturday
night at home. So that's nice for the staff, for
the coaches, the coaches who have families, for the players
(20:50):
that have young kids to have been gone these last
three years. Indianapolis, Houston, Houston, that's nice. I'm happy to
see that the league perhaps recognized what the last three
years have been like.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
And I think that's emotionally. It's late in the year.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
You're looking for little victories, right, So that to me
is that's that's something that can make you feel good.
Put a little pep in your step, you know what.
We're going into a game at Denver. We just played
the Bills, and I get to spend Christmas, even Christmas
Day with my family, well all these other guys. We
got three games on Christmas Day, We got a full
slate on Sunday, Christmas Eve, and we got to play
(21:24):
on Saturday with Pittsburgh and Cincinnati on the twenty third, and.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
We get those two days.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
That's to me, that's an emotional lift that when you're
that late in the season, you're absolutely beat to hell.
I think that's that's something that it's tiny, but at
the same time, I know what it felt like, at
least for me, and I felt like you could you
could feel it in snack and in catering in Houston
(21:50):
and Indianapolis these last few years. Like, man, it's it's
Christmas Day and I'm sitting in a hotel ballroom eating
steak and fish and having a smoothie maid and there's
the omelet bar, and it's just it's the same. It's
a rinse repeat, and I think it's a little depressing,
just to be fully honest. So to have that this year,
I think it's a big that's great. It's a great
(22:13):
way to have the schedule having laid out that way
for these guys.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
YEP six primetime games will take a quick break and
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money we talked about that week five. By coming out
(23:22):
of that is Cowboys Chargers on Monday Night football, Kellen
Moore gets to face his former squad. And you know
this is about as marquee as it gets. You get
the Cowboys coming to Sofi Stadium. And again, if we're
gonna go any silver lining with the buy, you get
two weeks or to prepare for your first nationally televised game.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
It's big advantage teams coming off of buy versus teams
that aren't big advantage and they get it. They're coming
off the buy. The Cowboys are coming off Sunday night
football for Monday night football, so they get full rest
even though they play late on Sunday. Slid advantage chargers,
no doubt about that. You mentioned six primetime game before
you took the break there, Chris. That's I know that
(24:06):
the spanos Is and Tom aren't going to want to
hear this, but why do you think we got six
primetime games. That's why that guy's gonna make the amount
of money he's gonna make, and he's worth every cent.
When you talk about being in a group with the
Buffalo Bills and Josh Allen, the Kansas City Chiefs and
Patrick Mahomes and America's team, the Dallas Cowboys, and you're
(24:27):
the only one in that group, You're the only other
one in that small group, guess what you got yourself?
A superstar quarterback that everybody wants to watch play football.
He plays an exciting brand of football. Everybody knows that
no lead either way is safe, and they always play
exciting games in primetime, and that's that's why the amount
(24:50):
of money that that is worth to have. You know,
we were talking I'm going to out you Greg before
we started this, and he's it's funny when you're a fan,
you look at those primetime games and you're like, this
is awesome. When you're inside, it's like the suck because
you're sitting around all day waiting to play. It's always
when you're on the road for the primetime you know
(25:12):
we're gonna leave, We're gonna leave New York City somewhere
around one am, two am New York time. We're gonna
land in La somewhere around three thirty four AM from
that Monday night er, and you got a Tuesday workday
the next day. It's not ideal, it's rough, but the
fans love it, so you are talking about Premium. Four
(25:32):
of those six are at home. We only have two
road games in primetime, Thursday night in Vegas and Monday
night in New York. Everything else Saturday night against Buffalo,
Monday Night Football with the Cowboys, Sunday Night Football with
the Bears. These are Marquee National Fan Base games. Baltimore
(25:54):
Sunday Night Football, Lamar Jackson and Justin Herbert. That's for
the Charger. You you mean to tell me that place
ain't gonna be packed with football fans. Every one of
those four home games of the nine we have are
going to be packed with people. It is gonna be
juice to the nines. And thank you number ten, because man,
(26:20):
that's that's how you get into group with the Bills,
the Chiefs and the Cowboys. Is the most primetime games
in twenty twenty three.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
The next four games out of the bye. Baby, you
know what, maybe the bid did come at the right
time money, because you got you got Cowboys, Chargers, Then
you got a short week. You gotta go to Arrowhead
and that's the that's the lone day game of the
next four and that's probably the most marquee Mames Herbert
at Arrowhead. Then you got Bears, Chargers and then Chargers
Jets Monday Night football. So again a little bit of
(26:51):
a disadvantage that you gotta go to Arrowhead on a
short week.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
A short week and they have a mini bye. By
the way, they're coming off Thursday Night football, so it's
a double whamming. So Chiefs git ten days, Chargers coming
off Monday night football and traveling. That's if we're just
talking about the advantages, there's one of the disadvantages and
hiccups in the schedule.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
So okay, so we got we got Chargers, Cowboys, Charge Chiefs, Bears,
Chargers and Chargers Jets, And you know you were talking
about the AFC East and the AFC West. Listen, the
Bears are gonna take a leap this year. I don't
know how big of a leap, but Justin Field's I
think proved last year that he's got some juice and
we'll see where that goes with guys like DJ Moore
(27:34):
and Clay Pool and trying to build that offense. So
you know, I'm looking at some of these NFC North
teams and last year you're like, oh man, NFC North
maybe down a little bit. Lions are opening the season
against the Chiefs. You got the Lions at home going
to Green Bay. I don't care if it' Zara Rodgers Geordan.
(27:54):
I mean, you go into Lambeau. Lambo is not gonna
be the easiest place to get a win. We talked
about the Bears Vikings early in the season going to Minnesota,
so we knew how tough this schedule was gonna be.
I think the way it lays out to your point earlier,
it does work out for the Chargers. But some of
these games that you like look at in May and
(28:15):
you're like, oh man, Charger should get that one. They should.
But you know, everybody's got a squad this year, and
I think it's gonna be a little bit more difficult
when we talk about teams like the Lions and Bears,
teams that maybe last year and the year before, you're like,
oh man, those are those are wins. So I'll I'll
(28:35):
disagree with you a little bit. On the Bears.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
I think they're gonna stink. Just I to me, they're
they're in like the middle of a two or a three. Now, look,
you can say that and I'll be completely wrong. But
when I look at that offensive line still needs a
lot of work. The getting DJ Moore, I don't know
what Chase claypool is, you know, giving them an opportunity
(28:57):
to redo that trade. There's no question they don't give
up a second for Chase clay But I'll believe it
when I see it. With Justin Fields, I'll believe it
when I see it. Just there there were a lot
of issues throwing the ball and again didn't have the weapons.
Terrible offensive line. Are they going to be better in
there is Cody white Hair and Tevin Jenkins and these
(29:17):
young guys Darnell right at right tackle, are they going
to be better in front of him? We know the
threat he.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
Is using his feet. They didn't do that.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
It's not a good defense. It's not a good defense.
So that's one that the Chargers should be able to
I would love to see them get a big lead
in that game. And on the Sunday night football going
into a trip to New York City to take on
a gnarly Jets team, I'd love to see them be
able to get some rest in that game. It's asking
(29:49):
a lot. There are very few blowouts in the NFL.
Typically the games are tight. But of all the opponents
they have next year, that's the worst one to me
that they are, on paper, the worst team that the
Chargers will face next year. And look, they have the
number one overall pick in the draft. Yeah, they were
the worst team in the NFL in twenty twenty two.
So it's not like I'm sticking my neck out and
(30:10):
saying that they're gonna play five of the top seven
DVOA defenses Football Outsiders dot Com from twenty twenty two Dallas,
New England, Buffalo, the Jets, Baltimore five of the top
seven defenses in the league. They're gonna play five of
the top six offenses in the league, the Chiefs twice.
(30:30):
So Chiefs, Chiefs, Buffalo, Detroit, Miami. I bring that up
now because it speaks to your point about the Lions
and people that might see the Lions on the schedule
and say that's the Lions. Let's I forget that team
close strong, that team was a sniff away from making
(30:51):
the playoffs, and they booted Aaron Rodgers and the Packers
from the playoffs when they had nothing to play for.
Because so that's that, I think something to to your point.
It's when you you can't base everything on the year before.
Green Bay still has a really good defense. That defense
(31:12):
probably the best defense, it's probably the best defense in
the in the NFC North. And you're playing in green
Bay outdoors mid November shouldn't be too cold, but it's
sure is heck is gonna be Southern California. So yes,
each opponent presents a challenge and Detroit. We know, man,
they can put it on you offensively. That is a
(31:33):
really good offensive team. They have invested heavily on their lines.
It's one of the probably it's gonna be one of
the best offensive lines. They see Taylor Decker, ragnow vay
Tai Sewel that it's gonna be in it and we
know they love to run the ball.
Speaker 1 (31:50):
He'll be back for that one too. I think he
misses the first six games. Oh, that's right, you have
to deal with James and Williams.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
Yeah, so you're talking about the and not to mentioned,
it's a physical It's a physical offense. They want to
run the heck out of the ball. It's why they
drafted Jamier Gibbs and signed David Montgomery. So it's it's
a it's an offense that can beat you up a
little bit.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
When we look at the draft, and we talked about
this when Quentin Johnson was drafted. Uh, I think Zay
Flowers and Jordan Addison. You know, this is just the
kind of the storyline part of the season. We're gonna
see Zay Flowers so close, that's a great call. We're
gonna see Jordan Addison early against the Vikings. So to
those those wide receivers that were drafted right after Quintin, Uh,
(32:35):
they'll they'll get a chance to to go toe to
toe against the Chargers. Uh, let's see here, we got
Bears Bears. Actually, the Bears have four primetime games this year.
Speaker 2 (32:44):
Money, like justin Fields was exciting last year running all
over the place.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
But I'd be very surprised.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
Let me see, I have not taken a look at
when those primetime games are up there. So there's Thursday,
then the Chargers. Then yeah, that that Monday night football
against or actually, no, that's not let's see that. Yeah,
it is that Monday night football game against Minnesota week twelve.
Speaker 1 (33:09):
I'd be very surprised if that stayed there. So that's
just my projection. Football can flex.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
They can flex this exactly. They can flex this year.
So that would not that that would that one would
surprise me if that's not one of the first flexes
of the season.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
So I kind of win here and we can just
kind of close the podcast on this is just this
back half of the year when you have the Ravens
coming to town. Then you have to go face Bill
Belichick in the Patriots. Mac Jones and then four of
the last five are in the division and the other
one is the Bills. I mean, we touched on it
at the top, money, but like, that's not an easy
(33:46):
way to close. But I'll tell you what, if the
Chargers can be ascending, Like that's quite the momentum shift
going into January. If you can take care of a
lot of those games and make yourself or at least
put yourself in a position to win the division or
get one of those wildcard spots.
Speaker 2 (34:05):
We said at the top, it's a tough it's a
tough schedule. So Miami's tough going to Tennessee. We know
how tough they are defensively. Remember what McCurry did last
year and how tight that game was and needed a
game winning field goal. So Minnesota had the best record.
Speaker 1 (34:19):
I think. Did they end up with the best record
in the NFC?
Speaker 2 (34:21):
I feel like they did, and I know they lost
in the playoffs to the Giants, right, but oh no,
they had the second best record too, Philadelphia. But I
mean you're talking about a team that won twelve games
last year, thirteen and whatever it was. So Minnesota's a
very good team. I'm interested to see if Dalvin Cook's
going to be on that team. Sounds like they were
at an impass and there's some people saying they may
just cut them. So that would be a huge win
(34:43):
for the Chargers not having a deal with Dalvin Cook.
We know Justin Jefferson's in the conversation is the best
receiver and the league. Kirk cousins been wildly underrated. Kevin
O'Connell's a great play caller, So that's going to be
a tough game. We talked about the Raiders. You know,
those games were tight last year, so there's I'm trying
to think of there's anything else. I dug up the
(35:05):
who are the Raiders? Who are the Raiders this year?
Speaker 1 (35:07):
Money? Like you know, we talked abou all the quarterbacks
in this division. Garoppolo was not one of the quarter quarterbacks.
How good is Tyree Wilson? Is he?
Speaker 2 (35:14):
Is he over his Liz Frank injury? And is he
going to be opposite Max Crosby in a three man
rotation with Chandler Jones. That's going to go a long
way when you've got to contend when you can't double
both those guys. If Tyree Wilson's as good as people say,
he is, there are people out there talking about him
and Miles Garrett just his length and his explosion things
(35:35):
like that. So that's yeah, So that's a big one.
Is he going to be ready to go? And if
he is, there were some people that had questions about
taking place up.
Speaker 1 (35:44):
Whatever.
Speaker 2 (35:45):
Guy's a nightmare. So you still have to deal with
Devontae Adams. We know they built it a lot like
the Patriots where they got rid of Darren Waller and
brought in Michael Mayer. We know that most tight ends
don't really make an impact rookie seasons for whatever reason,
so that that part doesn't work. But when you're talking
about Jacobe Meyers, Hunter, Renfro, Devonte Adams, that's built a
(36:07):
lot like Josh McDaniels has put his stamp on this team,
it is it has now built a lot like what
he was doing with the Patriots. Even brought in Yakob
Johnson at full back. You know, you got Josh Jacobs,
who's an absolute hammer. He's got Garoppolo who knows the system.
Haven't been with him for a few years. So the
(36:28):
one the one thing about the Raiders the O line.
They did not draft OH line, which was really surprising.
They needed o Ligneman and they drafted none. So that's
early in the season. Joey's healthy Week four, Toy Polo
two was a little bit more comfortable. Thirty two year
old Khalil Max is still feeling pretty good, so that's
(36:49):
an advantage there. But that to me, it'll come down
to how good is Tyree Wilson, because we know Max
Crosby's been nothing short of an absolute, complete and total nightmare,
or the Chargers since he came into the league, and.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
Then the Patriots. We've listed all those quarterbacks in the division.
Mac Jones is one of them either, but again they're
coached by Bill Belichick, and you go onto these coast
I think Bill's gonna have them in the conversation for
a playoff spot. Again, I look at guys like Mike
Tomlin with Kenny Pickett and Bill Belichick with Mac Jones.
(37:24):
You don't have the top tier quarterback in the division,
but you could coach and those are the types of
teams that I think the Chargers will be competing with
for a playoff spot. And it's sometimes it's not just
a quarterback. If the quarterback like Jimmy Garoppolo or mac
Jones can keep you in games, and you could win
it with your defense, like you said with Tyree Wilson
and Max Crosby, or with the Patriots are packing Bill
(37:45):
O'Brien's a new offensive coordinator there. Those are just the
teams that you have to be a little wary of.
They may not have the eight plus quarterback, but they
have a lot of other things. They lost to Mac
Jones's rookie year at home two years ago. You could
make a case them out of the playoffs, the missed
payoffs by one game. They lost to Matt Jones his
rookie year. Bill Belichick destroyed Herbert forty five to zero
(38:08):
in twenty twenty his rookie season, So we know that
Bill can be a headache, an absolute headache for And
let's not forget what her and I bring that up,
because Herbert had an incredible rookie season.
Speaker 2 (38:22):
It was the only hiccup on the whole schedule. Everything
else was, Yeah, this guy is the next great quarterback
and he's going to be in the conversation.
Speaker 1 (38:29):
It's the greatest of his era.
Speaker 2 (38:30):
And Bill Belichick beat him forty five to nothing with
Cam Newton out there, So that's how good he is,
and you're going Foxborough's a weird place to play out
there on the sticks. You're on your bus. It's a
long commute because you can't stay in Foxborough. So whether
you stay in Boston or in Providence, you're talking about
an hour drive by bus to get the Foxborough, which sucks.
(38:53):
It's a one lane road. You feel like you're in
Salem and there's which trials happen in somewhere two hundred
eat outside your bus. It's just a creepy place. And
then all of a sudden you make a right next
to like some weird looking house and you're at Foxborough
and you're just it's eerie. It's I hate that place,
and I'm sure players do too. And it's the first
(39:16):
week of December, so there's not gonna be any leaves
on the it's gonna be it's gonna be snow, it's
gonna be cold, it's gonna be overcast, it's gonna be
Creepy's that's a tough one.
Speaker 1 (39:26):
You pretty much just described that divisional game in twenty eighteen,
twenty nineteen. Yeah, you know, it was the coldest. It
was the coldest game. I think i've been a part
of Yeah, it's it was. It was a nightmare.
Speaker 2 (39:40):
So they've got let's see what else do I have left?
Two short road weeks at Kansas City up Monday night football,
at the Raiders Thursday night football, four games of less
rest than their opponent Minnesota, they're coming off of Mini
buy with Thursday night football. They got a handful of those.
They got kind of hosed on those. Kansas City coming
(40:00):
off Thursday night football. Detroit is on a short week
coming off They're actually Detroit's coming off of bye, and
the Chargers are coming off of Monday night football that stinks.
And Baltimore coming off many buy a Thursday at football,
So that's a negative. They got four of those that
they've got to overcome where they've got considerably less rest
than their opponent.
Speaker 1 (40:22):
So you know, hey, man, they will have earned it.
They try to make it fair for everybody. They will
have earned it if they make the playoffs this year,
if they somehow can dethrone the Chiefs. I mean, this
is a this is a beast of a schedule, especially
down the stretch.
Speaker 2 (40:39):
But so I tell you, Chris homer Road, you're a
fan homer Road, you get to pick a game of
the seventeen Homer Road all expenses paid, all that sort
of stuff, or you don't even have to travel. I've
discovered teleportation, so oh my god, the riggers of travel
aren't even involved. Do you just snap your fingers and
(41:01):
you're there? What game do you want to go to?
Speaker 1 (41:07):
Dude?
Speaker 2 (41:07):
There's like or is it at home? Could be one
of the home games? We got four prime time games
at home?
Speaker 1 (41:11):
You know what's funny is like the one place I
have not been that it's like it's almost like a
bucketless place as Lambeau. But the game is in. It
doesn't have the bigness of some of these, not as
much sizzle as some of the others. So I'll take
that out of it. I will say I will say Monday,
(41:31):
November six in New York because justin Herbert in the
Big Apple against Aarah Rodgers. I think that that's going
to be fantastic. You know, I think that would be
And you don't get that every year, right, you can
easily say Mahomes versus Herbert and going to Arrowhead or
Vegas Cowboys. They charged played the Cowboys a couple of
years ago. I think this is a unique opportunity for
(41:53):
Justin Herbert to face Aaron Rodgers, maybe for the last
time in his career.
Speaker 2 (41:59):
Up In, so I would say, Chargers Jets, what about you,
It's a great one. I'm gonna go Buffalo at home
on Saturday. To me, that's I believe both of these
teams are gonna be in the thick of it. It's
week sixteen. Holiday vibes, Josh, it's the It's December twenty third.
(42:19):
It's an early Christmas present, you know, son, daughter, We're
going to the game Saturday night, and we're still gonna
be at Grandma's for Christmas Eve, and you're still gonna
wake up Christmas morning and open all your Star Wars figures.
That Saturday night Buffalo, I just I feel like the
stakes are gonna be so high, much like Monday Night.
(42:40):
I would want the standalone game, knowing that the eyes
of the football nation are upon me and the game
that I'm watching. So it's it's one of the primetime games,
no doubt. And it's gonna be the first game ever
broadcast on Peacock as we continue to move towards streaming
and away from over the air broadcasts, So they're going
(43:00):
to pull out all the stops to try to make
this a real spectacle.
Speaker 1 (43:04):
And I think it's a potential playoff preview.
Speaker 2 (43:08):
Yeah, but it's a potential AFC championship game, potential divisional game,
potential wildcard game. And that's a really good Buffalo team,
and it's a really good Chargers team, and it's late
in the season.
Speaker 1 (43:21):
So give me all that.
Speaker 2 (43:23):
I mean, look, if you told me, if you guaranteed
me that it's for the division Week eighteen at home
against the Chiefs, now.
Speaker 1 (43:31):
That it's a no.
Speaker 2 (43:32):
It's obviously a no brainer. Sunday night football. It's another
playoff game. Yeah right, they'll end up making that the
Remember they always do that with one game, right, So
that's what that game would become. It would become the
standalone Sunday night football game for the AFC West. If
you told me that that's what that game means, then yeah,
that's the no brainer. But I'll take Buffalo.
Speaker 1 (43:55):
I like it. I like Buffalo, and you know you
can't go wrong. I mean, like the the home fans
be spoiled this year. You got you got a Chicago Bear.
You know, when a team like Chicago, like a big
market team comes in and it's a big game. It
just it feels like a big game Baltimore with with
Lamar Jackson, a team you're gonna be competing with for
a division. Uh. You know we talked about Chargers Jets
(44:17):
on the road. Uh, I think Cowboys Chargers on Monday
Night football, Joe and Troy coming to so far Kellen
Moore versus Mike McCarthy. It's is Tony Polly gonna run
the ball forty five times? Is justin gonna throw it
sixty five times? You know what's gonna what's gonna happen
against against the Cowboys And then you know some of
these some of these games in the afternoon. Man, like
(44:39):
you said, like the Lions are opening the NFL season
at arrow hit. That's what they think of the Detroit
Lions this year. You know, so this is this is
a fun schedule. There's been a fun podcast, uh kind
of breaking it down. And it's always fun to look
back at, you know, what you thought in May versus
what happens with with injuries and teams get off to
(45:00):
a slow start and maybe making changes. You know, the
season always takes on a life of its own. But
it's fun to talk about. The NFL has remarkably made
this one of the biggest off season dates on the calendar. Man,
you know the opponents.
Speaker 2 (45:17):
It's it's weird you already know the opponents, but the
way a lot does war If you're not familiar and
you're on social media, be sure to follow Warren Sharp.
He does a great job, Warren Sharp. And I think
is it Brian Burns? Is the name of the guy
at ESPN. I want to say that does a lot
of schedule and logistical Let me just type it in
to make sure I give credit where credit is?
Speaker 1 (45:39):
Do? I feel like it's Brian Burns? Is his name?
Darn it?
Speaker 2 (45:43):
He's at ESPN, But he and Warren Sharp do a
great job of breaking all this sort.
Speaker 1 (45:51):
Of stuff down. Maybe it's not Brian burn Is it
Bruce whatever? Sorry, my great apologies. Hold on, Greg's here?
Who is it? Brian Burke? There? You go? See.
Speaker 2 (46:03):
I probably didn't say Brian Burke because he was the
former general manager of the Anaheim Ducks. So is it
Brian Burke?
Speaker 1 (46:13):
Is that who it is? I see now I feel terrible.
It's a beautiful thing about podcasts. Yeah, okay, it's uh.
I think it's Brian Burke ESPN. Yep, it is. But
the first Brian Burke, Okay, thank you ch for me
was the guy that that you were referring to, Hockey
exec author proud Dad.
Speaker 2 (46:32):
Yeah, there we go, there you go. Yeah Brian, that's
why I was. I couldn't get the Burke thing right.
But he's great to follow. Warren Sharp is great to follow.
They do things they They've got years and years of
data they break down to say, oh, back to back
road games, three in a row, road games. These are
(46:53):
the winning percentages that more rest than your opponent. These
are the winning percentages home prime time versus road prime time.
They break all of that down. So go through their timelines,
dig into those things because it's really cool. And if
you haven't seen it yet, if you're listening to this podcast,
obviously you saw it. But keep hitting pause and keep
picking up all those Easter eggs. Green Bay in the Darkness,
(47:16):
that was great, The little light in the light that
the lighter to get out of the darkness, New England,
The Spygate stuff with Bill Belichick watching overheads of all
the practices in the NFL stadium's phenomenal, so good, trying
to think we already talked about the Raiders called Sean
Payton taking Russell Wilson's office back.
Speaker 1 (47:35):
Love that you gotta pause it because that's where all
the easter eggs are, you know, hundred percent like the darkness,
the darkness retreat when when the light comes on, there's
a bunch of like all kinds of post notes on
the stuff in the background. Oh, I forget that. I
wanted to mention this too. J C. Jackson said, it's
a revenge game for me. I'm excited to go back
(47:56):
and pick mac Jones off and show them why they
should have never let me go. So there we go.
JC calling his shot against against the Patriots in December,
so hopefully he'll be back in one hundred and ten
percent by then.
Speaker 2 (48:06):
You know, I'm hopeful it was a deep cornerback draft.
And the only thing I can think of as to
why the Chargers didn't take a corner is because JC
is well on his way to be ready for Week one.
That's the only thing I can think of. Yeah, So
let's hope once you get out there, JC and pick
off Mac Jones three times. Absolutely, let's get after that.
(48:28):
That would be fun, all right, guys, always appreciate it.
We'll be back normal time. I think next week. I
think that'll that'll be the cadence moving forred. We'll get
this thing out on Thursdays for money.
Speaker 1 (48:39):
I'm Chris. This has been charges weekly, all right, guys.
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Only fifteen to ten touched up Sucker. What's up? Guys,
welcome into a schedule release edition of Chargers Weekly. Pay
them this a day late because we wanted to make
sure that schedule came out so we could break it
(00:21):
down as always, joined by Matt Money Smith Money. It's
always a big day on the calendar. We always know
the who, but the one and the where is important.
The videos that come out the anime release Part two
did not disappoint. We could start in a number of directions.
You want to start there? Sure, Sure, I look, I'm
pretty amazing. We don't need to say it. We're biased.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
It's the best digital and social media team in the NFL.
They outdo themselves regularly, whether it's all in through digital
and the YouTube stuff they put together, the breakdowns, the
people they bring in to host those you know, that content,
and the social media team and everything that goes into
the anime. We'll still be finding Easter eggs and that
(01:06):
thing for the next three weeks. Some of my favorites
wildly underrated. I thought was Week one and just Mike
McDaniel being accused of vapin you know, and having all
the vape cloud. I think was one that perhaps snuck
by a handful of people. As someone who's been in
football as long as I have to see miniche Meda,
(01:27):
I'm the missing mister for the Jets was exceptional. So
there's let's see if I'm just going through.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
So we two Week two it looked very like, just
all right, Derek Hennery, your robot on the right of
him is is an old banana in the mao in
a can of mao. For will levels, that was great.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
The next level, of course, was week fifteen Raiders loss
of seventy two million bucks for Garoppolo. You click the
QR code and it takes you are you a Charger fan?
Are you a Raider fan? You click the Raider fan
and it takes you to how to get a job.
It's they did great. They did really.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
You know the fact that it's not redeemable for a
wedding invite.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
I don't know if you've read oh that's so great,
so great, And that they started it out with some
self deprecation I think set the tone of hey, we
can make fun of ourselves as well with the twenty
seven zero ticket that they stepped on.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
So well done.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Of all the other ones, and I didn't see all
of them, but I kind of tried to watch all
the other teams videos until I got bored, and I
got bored pretty quickly with most of them. The only
one that gave the Chargers a run for its money
was Tennessee's. So you did not check out the Titans
(02:50):
schedule release that. I don't ever want to take the
crown from the Chargers because of all the greatness that
goes into it, But well done, Tennessee. That was as
good as anyone we've seen in a while. If you
have not seen that, make sure you go seek it
out and watch. They went down to Broadway, which is
the main drag in Nashville where all the bars are,
and just got a bunch of drunk people, showed them
(03:12):
the logos the mascots of the teams, asking them what
team they were playing. So make sure you seek that out.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
It's great. That was great. I forgot what they did.
Lightning McQueen I think was the Chargers Lightning McQueen cars,
Lightning McQueen's who the Chargers were. It's a pretty great.
Oh god, all right, let's get into this schedule and
you know, let's just go game by game, because you know,
I'm looking at each game and we again we knew
the opponents, But I think what a way to start
(03:40):
Week one, right, Herbert two Staley, Fangio, Ronaldo Hill. It's
a it's kind of a rematch of that that Sunday
night game last year, Dolphins Chargers kicking it off in
so far money.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Look, we know Vic Fangio is nothing against Brandon Staley,
but you know Vick was his guy, so he's arguably
the brightest defensive mind in the NFL. We know how
tough those Broncos games were, no matter who was on
the roster. Every time the Chargers went to playing when
Fangio was the coach, it was a nightmare. And I
(04:16):
dug in a little bit, you open up. It's so
there's two sides to that, right. Mike McDaniels sort of
called the running game genius the special sauce to Kyle
Shanahan's offense when he was in San Francisco. We know
how good he is with the run, So I'll start there.
Week one. You're still waiting for Austin Johnson to get healthy,
(04:37):
Tito Abonia to get healthy. You didn't really get any
reinforcements for the interior of that line in free agency
or the draft. So you're talking about going up against
one of the best run game coordinators and run game
play callers in the league without full health, because we
don't know, and maybe those guys will be ready, But
that's a concern. Two Fangio and what he has been
(05:02):
able to do no matter who his opponent is. I
dug in. In twenty twenty one, Kellen Moore and the
Cowboys faced Vic Fangio and the Broncos with the number
one offense in the NFL. They had won six games
straight and at the eight minute mark of the fourth
quarter they were losing thirty to zero. So just to
(05:23):
kind of put that in perspective, and what Vic Fangio
was able to do to Dak Prescott and Zeke Elliot
and Tony Pollard And although Mariy Cooper all those guys
with Kellen Moore callin plays, he's really good. He is
really really good. So it is a tough way to
start the season. Having said that Miami was a buzzsaw
(05:44):
offensively last year, coming into that Sunday night football game,
Brandon Staley had a brilliant game plan pressing those receivers,
pushing his guys up a little bit to the middle
of that field and taking away what had been working
so well for them and to it just couldn't overcome it.
The the offense stalled out big time. And and that's
(06:06):
a tip of the cap to Staley for coming up
and because remember after that, everybody emulated what Staley did
moving forward, and that was how they tried to thwart
that offensive attack of Jalen Waddle and and Tyreek Hillen.
Just to put a button on it. The I don't
know what the corner situation is gonna look like, is it.
Is it gonna be just here in the slot. Is
(06:27):
it gonna be j. T. Woods being asked to do
a lot up high? That's a lot for week one.
If it's gonna be those two second years, second year
players because J. C.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Jackson also was not ready yet.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
You know, going into into that context, it's a it's
a tough way to start.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
It is. And you know, as far as Kellen Moore's
offense is concerned, is it gonna be hot out the gates?
Is it gonna take a few weeks? Right? It kind
of gets you get your legs under you and understand
the playbook and understand what they're doing. So it's it's
a fascinating matchup in an AFC that's absolutely loaded, a
game that you may need down the stretch in terms
of tyber Baker situations based on what Miami does this year.
(07:02):
You know, you know, we got sixteen more to go,
but obviously Dolphins at home, that's a great way to
start the season for the Chargers. Make a statement. Weeks
two and three, money you go on the road, We're
going to Nashville. Where was that barbecue place we went
to in Nashville that had the band Martin's Martin's, So
I'm gonna put in the reservation for Martin's after the
podcast Nashville. Is it gonna be Will Levis starting? Is
(07:26):
it gonna be Ryan Tannehill starting? It seems like Tennessee
is is closer to rebuild than contender at this point.
First road test for the Chargers. Time to get your
first road win of the year.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
So I would say, instead of kind of going game
by game just because we've known our opponents the whole time,
I think it's a perfect time to sort of zoom
out and go big picture because you just said it.
Back to back road games, right, Chargers. The schedule makers
could not have done the Chargers more favors. You can't
control the opponents. The opponents are what they are. It's
(08:02):
tough schedule. It's a really tough schedule. But when you
look at the way this schedule lays out, here's a
couple of things that jump out to me and I
took a ton of notes, so the strength of schedule.
Understand this, when you look at strength of schedule, we're
going to be the AFC West and the AFC East
(08:22):
are going to have the toughest schedules because one look
at the participants in each of those divisions, Chiefs, Broncos, Raiders, Chargers, Patriots, Dolphins, Bills, Jets.
Those are eight good teams. Those are eight really good teams.
You can make a case for any of those eight
teams to make the postseason. The Raiders maybe come to
mine or the Broncos because of how poorly it went,
but Sean Payton's in there. They still have an absolutely
(08:45):
dominant d If they can get that offensive right, we
know how good that team could be. Raiders lost a
ton of close games last year, and personally, I think
they upgraded at quarterback, and a lot of that was
quarterback driven as to how they were coming up short
late in those games. When you talk about the AFC East, again,
easy to make a case right for any of those
four teams. Jets with that defense, Bills are one of
(09:08):
the best teams in football, the Dolphins made the playoffs
last year, and the Patriots are the Patriots. So strength
of schedule. Understand, you're going to see the AFC West
and the AFC East because they also play each other.
So you're talking about ten of seventeen games for the
teams in the AFC West to be against, six against
each other and four against the AFC. Same thing for
the AFC East. Right, you've got six against each other,
(09:30):
four against the AFC West. So strength the schedule is tough.
Nothing you can do about that. But what you can
look at is, in fact, the Chargers only have one
back to back road trip. That's it. You've got the
Giants with two three game road trips back to back
to back. Think about the Chargers only happened one and
(09:51):
it's right at the start of the year when you
hope health is at a premium, So that is a
After those two back to backs Raiders at home, then
the bye. Look at the schedule, home away, home away,
home away, home away, home away, home away home, they
alternate every week. Yeah, that's a huge advantage, an absolutely
(10:11):
huge advantage. And when you look at the rest of
the division, Chris, the Chargers have that one back to
back roadie, the Broncos, the Raiders, and the Chiefs, they
all have three back to back road game situations. So
that's a big net advantage for the Bolts.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
Yeah, it's a great point. And you know, again, Hope
health is that are premium in September, and it's two
teams that did. Frankly, the Chargers could beat and should be.
You know, I think Minnesota maybe a little bit tougher
than Tennessee. It's September. You got an Eric Kendricks reunion,
you got a Ryan Ficken reunion early in September. But listen,
(10:48):
we'll go through, you know, different chunks of the schedule.
If we worked backwards to money and I said this
last time I was looking at the schedule. After Thanksgiving
is when the season starts with the Chargers, they could
be five and five going into that game against the Ravens.
You have the Ravens on Sunday night, then you got
to go to New England, and then you have four
of your six division games to close the year Broncos, Raiders,
(11:13):
Broncos Chiefs, with the Bills sandwiched in between there. Yeah,
I mean those are all teams that you're going to
be competing with for either a division title or a
wildcard spot. So you could be four and six, five
and five, six and four, whatever. The season doesn't really
start until after Thanksgiving, and you got to hope, you know,
(11:35):
and this is where you know, we don't know, Hopefully
you're healthy, you're playing your best ball. That Kellen Moore
offense is humming in December and January. But I just
found it interesting because you know, sometimes teams have their
divisional opponents up in September and October when maybe you're
not the team that you're going to be in December
and January. So I think it's a great opportunity for
(11:55):
the Chargers if they're going to ascend throughout the year
with a new offense and some of some new players
and some rookies that may contribute, to have those division
games at the back half of the year. That was
the one thing that stood out to me. You don't
have like Chiefs, Raiders, Broncos to start the season. You're
going to get those teams late.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
So think about last year. They clinched in Week sixteen
at Indianapolis day after Christmas. So when you look at
week sixteen, you're coming off you get the mini buys.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
So that's the hell.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
We can get into little bit of that stuff because
I dug into the rest and who's coming off of
buy or the Chargers coming off of buy, who's got
more rest going into that game, who's traveling further? All
that sort of stuff we can touch upon. But since
you brought that up, I think that's the toughest stretch
of the season sixteen seventeen eighteen. Now, I know Charger
fans don't want to hear it, but the Chiefs have
owned this division. Chiefs have owned the best record in
(12:53):
the conference or very close to it, seemingly year in
and year out. Right, So you get the Chiefs in
Week eighteen. If you're not in contention for the division
at that point, like you said, say they're coming in
fighting for that wildcard, Well, now you might be taking
a Chiefs team on that's resting everybody, and that's a
benefit for you and nothing against the Chargers, but this
(13:15):
is just recent and the last five years that we're
talking about that the Chiefs have dominated the AFC. So
just looking at it realistically, that's a benefit. I would
rather have the Chiefs in Week eighteen than in Week fourteen, fifteen,
or sixteen, So that's a plus. But when you're talking
about Buffalo on Saturday night at Denver, we know how
(13:39):
good that defense is. They lost to them in Week
eighteen and they needed overtime and an incredible special teams
play to beat them at home last year. That defense
is good. So that's week seven that you cannot lose
that game because then you got Kansas City. If you're
fighting for the division, that's a really top There's a
number of tough stretches in I look at you mentioned Baltimore.
(14:01):
Baltimore having to go to New England again, Denver's an
issue that's a bit of a tough and plus you
know just Detroit having to go to Green Bay. I
think weatherwise they caught a break. You got to go
to New England first week of first week of December
and then Denver. Cold has never really bothered me. I
don't feel like it bothers the guys either, But that
(14:22):
East Coast cold is a different level cold. So when
you're talking about New England first week of December, that
can be a little bit tough. January's a little rough
in Denver too, that could end up being cold, so
you get a little bit of cold weather in there
as well. It's a rough. It's a rough close to
the season. That Buffalo game, just since we're already on it,
to bring it up. The Buffalo game, the Chargers get
a mini by because Buffalo will be on a short week.
(14:46):
The Chargers are coming off the Thursday night football game
against the Raiders, so the Bills are playing on Sunday.
The Chargers are playing all the way back on Thursday,
so you're talking about extra rest versus short rest for Buffalo.
So that's a bit of an advantage. And they're at home,
so Buffalo's the road team having just played on Sunday,
the Chargers of the home team, having played the past
(15:06):
Thursday night. So you get that ten days of rest
going into what could be a slobber knocker against one
of the best teams in the league. Slide advantage Chargers there.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
Just remember last year though, exactly a year ago, We're
looking at the schedule and we said, oh my god,
Sunday Night football against Sean McVay and the Rams. Wow,
Monday Night football against the Colts team that we thought
was going to be a contender. Jeff Saturday was the
head coach on Monday Night Football, and the Rams are
way out of content change. All we can do is
(15:39):
all we can always is.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
All we can do is take the information we have
right now exactly exactly. We can just project based on
what we see right now. And let's not forget Chargers
lost pretty much their entire defense. They lost their high
priced corner, they lost their entire interior defensive line. Joey
Bosa was out for eleven games. They lost their left tackle.
(16:01):
Like the Chargers were part of that as well. They
just happened to overcome it. Then put it this like
the one thing to look at if you want to
go down this road. DraftKings has the Chargers favored in
twelve of seventeen games.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
That's good.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
So that's good. Yeah, they think they're gonna win twelve
of seventeen. They think they've got them at twelve and
five in terms of how the line's set up right now.
We know that'll change based on performance, could get better,
could get worse, But at least going into it with
this schedule, I feel pretty good about how it lays out,
(16:39):
just in terms of travel. Fact that they don't have
with all of these East Coast with all of these
Midwest and East Coast games, Green Bay, Minnesota, Tennessee, New England,
New York, like, it could have been gnarly. It could
have been a gnarly schedule based on a lot of
those trips and the fact that they are alternating every
(17:01):
other week, and even the one that we have a
back to back, Minnesota's two and a half hour flight,
that's nothing. That's one of the shorter trips that you're
gonna make. Tennessee's not bad. Tennessee's three hours to get there,
you know, three and a half four to get home.
So that's another easy one. And that's the only back
to back. So that really helped the way to schedule
laid out.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
Yeah, I mean New England is the furthest trip. Before
that you host the Ravens, and then after that you
host the Broncos, and then you have a Thursday night
game against the Raiders. That's a you know I can
get talk about a win. Yeah, I mean, come on, like,
you're gonna get a full week of practice California. It
takes longer than to get to Vegas.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
Right, So remember what they always talk about being a
road team on Thursday, and at football, you lose it.
You lose a day of practice because you have to
travel on Wednesday. Not the case here. You're gonna get
a full day of practice in because you have to
be in town eighteen hours before kick.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
So kick is at five o'clock.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
You don't have to be in Vegas until ten o'clock
if you want, you can get there that late and
get a full day of practice, have a regular you
can have the exact same practice week that the Raiders have,
save that forty minute flight and a bus ride to
a hotel.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
Muddy. That's last year we were on the bus to
the hotel longer than we were in the air, right,
That's like how quick it is? So right, So that's
a huge win. The fact that you have a road
Thursday night football game and it's the shortest trip you
could possibly take, save if you played the Rams at home.
But it's the shortest trip you can take. And so
(18:29):
there is no that the home team has such a
big advantage over the road team on Thursday at football
because they get an extra day of practice. They don't
have to take that Wednesday to trial, Monday's recovery day,
Tuesday install Wednesday practice.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
Well, now you get that as a road team. You know,
the road team normally would not get that. Maybe they
have to condense a little bit and they don't have
to do that. They will be on the exact same
schedule as the Raiders. So that's a huge advantage considering
you had a road Thursday night football game for it
to be in Las Vegas.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
The buye came into me last year. Yeah, this is
not that's the one negative. Yeah, I mean it's it's early.
It's week five, but the earliest it can be, it's
earliest it can be. But you know what, the first
four games, right, Miami, Tennessee, Minnesota and the Raiders, wouldn't
it be awesome for the charge you get like three
and one reset and play the rest of the schedule.
(19:21):
You mentioned that you're gonna get mini buys that you know,
the mini buy from Thursday night football to the following
the way that the schedule lays out as you beautifully outlined.
I mean, it's not like it's gonna be a tough
road to hoe without a bye coming in like week
nine or week ten. So I think that's the one
advantage that's like, all right, we're gonna give you the
(19:41):
buye in week five, but we're not gonna make you
go back to back road road trips, and especially in December.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
I think it lays out nicely if you told me
that's the trade off. The bye stinks. There's I'm not
going to try to put lipstick on that pig. It's
a it's a crappy buye. You don't want to buy
in week five. It's just so early. Last year they
had one. They had it right in the middle. That's
what you want, man, right in the middle. Get that
week refresh, get some guys healthy that got banged up.
(20:08):
But I will trade this schedule for that bye too
early any day of the week. The fact that you
are alternating home after that buye, that you are alternating
home and away games all the way through the Thursday,
and at football against the Raiders, you get set the Chargers,
we've been traveling on Christmas or We've been gone on
(20:28):
Christmas three years in a row. Now they give you
the twenty third. So the guys get to spend time
at home or get to do something with their families
on Christmas Day, on Sunday or on Monday, I should say,
you know, Christmas Eve on Sunday. We play on Saturday
night at home. So that's nice for the staff, for
the coaches, the coaches who have families, for the players
(20:50):
that have young kids to have been gone these last
three years. Indianapolis, Houston, Houston, that's nice. I'm happy to
see that the league perhaps recognized what the last three
years have been like.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
And I think that's emotionally. It's late in the year.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
You're looking for little victories, right, So that to me
is that's that's something that can make you feel good.
Put a little pep in your step, you know what.
We're going into a game at Denver. We just played
the Bills, and I get to spend Christmas, even Christmas
Day with my family, well all these other guys. We
got three games on Christmas Day, We got a full
slate on Sunday, Christmas Eve, and we got to play
(21:24):
on Saturday with Pittsburgh and Cincinnati on the twenty third, and.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
We get those two days.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
That's to me, that's an emotional lift that when you're
that late in the season, you're absolutely beat to hell.
I think that's that's something that it's tiny, but at
the same time, I know what it felt like, at
least for me, and I felt like you could you
could feel it in snack and in catering in Houston
(21:50):
and Indianapolis these last few years. Like, man, it's it's
Christmas Day and I'm sitting in a hotel ballroom eating
steak and fish and having a smoothie maid and there's
the omelet bar, and it's just it's the same. It's
a rinse repeat, and I think it's a little depressing,
just to be fully honest. So to have that this year,
I think it's a big that's great. It's a great
(22:13):
way to have the schedule having laid out that way
for these guys.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
YEP six primetime games will take a quick break and
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money we talked about that week five. By coming out
(23:22):
of that is Cowboys Chargers on Monday Night football, Kellen
Moore gets to face his former squad. And you know
this is about as marquee as it gets. You get
the Cowboys coming to Sofi Stadium. And again, if we're
gonna go any silver lining with the buy, you get
two weeks or to prepare for your first nationally televised game.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
It's big advantage teams coming off of buy versus teams
that aren't big advantage and they get it. They're coming
off the buy. The Cowboys are coming off Sunday night
football for Monday night football, so they get full rest
even though they play late on Sunday. Slid advantage chargers,
no doubt about that. You mentioned six primetime game before
you took the break there, Chris. That's I know that
(24:06):
the spanos Is and Tom aren't going to want to
hear this, but why do you think we got six
primetime games. That's why that guy's gonna make the amount
of money he's gonna make, and he's worth every cent.
When you talk about being in a group with the
Buffalo Bills and Josh Allen, the Kansas City Chiefs and
Patrick Mahomes and America's team, the Dallas Cowboys, and you're
(24:27):
the only one in that group, You're the only other
one in that small group, guess what you got yourself?
A superstar quarterback that everybody wants to watch play football.
He plays an exciting brand of football. Everybody knows that
no lead either way is safe, and they always play
exciting games in primetime, and that's that's why the amount
(24:50):
of money that that is worth to have. You know,
we were talking I'm going to out you Greg before
we started this, and he's it's funny when you're a fan,
you look at those primetime games and you're like, this
is awesome. When you're inside, it's like the suck because
you're sitting around all day waiting to play. It's always
when you're on the road for the primetime you know
(25:12):
we're gonna leave, We're gonna leave New York City somewhere
around one am, two am New York time. We're gonna
land in La somewhere around three thirty four AM from
that Monday night er, and you got a Tuesday workday
the next day. It's not ideal, it's rough, but the
fans love it, so you are talking about Premium. Four
(25:32):
of those six are at home. We only have two
road games in primetime, Thursday night in Vegas and Monday
night in New York. Everything else Saturday night against Buffalo,
Monday Night Football with the Cowboys, Sunday Night Football with
the Bears. These are Marquee National Fan Base games. Baltimore
(25:54):
Sunday Night Football, Lamar Jackson and Justin Herbert. That's for
the Charger. You you mean to tell me that place
ain't gonna be packed with football fans. Every one of
those four home games of the nine we have are
going to be packed with people. It is gonna be
juice to the nines. And thank you number ten, because man,
(26:20):
that's that's how you get into group with the Bills,
the Chiefs and the Cowboys. Is the most primetime games
in twenty twenty three.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
The next four games out of the bye. Baby, you
know what, maybe the bid did come at the right
time money, because you got you got Cowboys, Chargers, Then
you got a short week. You gotta go to Arrowhead
and that's the that's the lone day game of the
next four and that's probably the most marquee Mames Herbert
at Arrowhead. Then you got Bears, Chargers and then Chargers
Jets Monday Night football. So again a little bit of
(26:51):
a disadvantage that you gotta go to Arrowhead on a
short week.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
A short week and they have a mini bye. By
the way, they're coming off Thursday Night football, so it's
a double whamming. So Chiefs git ten days, Chargers coming
off Monday night football and traveling. That's if we're just
talking about the advantages, there's one of the disadvantages and
hiccups in the schedule.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
So okay, so we got we got Chargers, Cowboys, Charge Chiefs, Bears,
Chargers and Chargers Jets, And you know you were talking
about the AFC East and the AFC West. Listen, the
Bears are gonna take a leap this year. I don't
know how big of a leap, but Justin Field's I
think proved last year that he's got some juice and
we'll see where that goes with guys like DJ Moore
(27:34):
and Clay Pool and trying to build that offense. So
you know, I'm looking at some of these NFC North
teams and last year you're like, oh man, NFC North
maybe down a little bit. Lions are opening the season
against the Chiefs. You got the Lions at home going
to Green Bay. I don't care if it' Zara Rodgers Geordan.
(27:54):
I mean, you go into Lambeau. Lambo is not gonna
be the easiest place to get a win. We talked
about the Bears Vikings early in the season going to Minnesota,
so we knew how tough this schedule was gonna be.
I think the way it lays out to your point earlier,
it does work out for the Chargers. But some of
these games that you like look at in May and
(28:15):
you're like, oh man, Charger should get that one. They should.
But you know, everybody's got a squad this year, and
I think it's gonna be a little bit more difficult
when we talk about teams like the Lions and Bears,
teams that maybe last year and the year before, you're like,
oh man, those are those are wins. So I'll I'll
(28:35):
disagree with you a little bit. On the Bears.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
I think they're gonna stink. Just I to me, they're
they're in like the middle of a two or a three. Now, look,
you can say that and I'll be completely wrong. But
when I look at that offensive line still needs a
lot of work. The getting DJ Moore, I don't know
what Chase claypool is, you know, giving them an opportunity
(28:57):
to redo that trade. There's no question they don't give
up a second for Chase clay But I'll believe it
when I see it. With Justin Fields, I'll believe it
when I see it. Just there there were a lot
of issues throwing the ball and again didn't have the weapons.
Terrible offensive line. Are they going to be better in
there is Cody white Hair and Tevin Jenkins and these
(29:17):
young guys Darnell right at right tackle, are they going
to be better in front of him? We know the
threat he.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
Is using his feet. They didn't do that.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
It's not a good defense. It's not a good defense.
So that's one that the Chargers should be able to
I would love to see them get a big lead
in that game. And on the Sunday night football going
into a trip to New York City to take on
a gnarly Jets team, I'd love to see them be
able to get some rest in that game. It's asking
(29:49):
a lot. There are very few blowouts in the NFL.
Typically the games are tight. But of all the opponents
they have next year, that's the worst one to me
that they are, on paper, the worst team that the
Chargers will face next year. And look, they have the
number one overall pick in the draft. Yeah, they were
the worst team in the NFL in twenty twenty two.
So it's not like I'm sticking my neck out and
(30:10):
saying that they're gonna play five of the top seven
DVOA defenses Football Outsiders dot Com from twenty twenty two Dallas,
New England, Buffalo, the Jets, Baltimore five of the top
seven defenses in the league. They're gonna play five of
the top six offenses in the league, the Chiefs twice.
(30:30):
So Chiefs, Chiefs, Buffalo, Detroit, Miami. I bring that up
now because it speaks to your point about the Lions
and people that might see the Lions on the schedule
and say that's the Lions. Let's I forget that team
close strong, that team was a sniff away from making
(30:51):
the playoffs, and they booted Aaron Rodgers and the Packers
from the playoffs when they had nothing to play for.
Because so that's that, I think something to to your point.
It's when you you can't base everything on the year before.
Green Bay still has a really good defense. That defense
(31:12):
probably the best defense, it's probably the best defense in
the in the NFC North. And you're playing in green
Bay outdoors mid November shouldn't be too cold, but it's
sure is heck is gonna be Southern California. So yes,
each opponent presents a challenge and Detroit. We know, man,
they can put it on you offensively. That is a
(31:33):
really good offensive team. They have invested heavily on their lines.
It's one of the probably it's gonna be one of
the best offensive lines. They see Taylor Decker, ragnow vay
Tai Sewel that it's gonna be in it and we
know they love to run the ball.
Speaker 1 (31:50):
He'll be back for that one too. I think he
misses the first six games. Oh, that's right, you have
to deal with James and Williams.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
Yeah, so you're talking about the and not to mentioned,
it's a physical It's a physical offense. They want to
run the heck out of the ball. It's why they
drafted Jamier Gibbs and signed David Montgomery. So it's it's
a it's an offense that can beat you up a
little bit.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
When we look at the draft, and we talked about
this when Quentin Johnson was drafted. Uh, I think Zay
Flowers and Jordan Addison. You know, this is just the
kind of the storyline part of the season. We're gonna
see Zay Flowers so close, that's a great call. We're
gonna see Jordan Addison early against the Vikings. So to
those those wide receivers that were drafted right after Quintin, Uh,
(32:35):
they'll they'll get a chance to to go toe to
toe against the Chargers. Uh, let's see here, we got
Bears Bears. Actually, the Bears have four primetime games this year.
Speaker 2 (32:44):
Money, like justin Fields was exciting last year running all
over the place.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
But I'd be very surprised.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
Let me see, I have not taken a look at
when those primetime games are up there. So there's Thursday,
then the Chargers. Then yeah, that that Monday night football
against or actually, no, that's not let's see that. Yeah,
it is that Monday night football game against Minnesota week twelve.
Speaker 1 (33:09):
I'd be very surprised if that stayed there. So that's
just my projection. Football can flex.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
They can flex this exactly. They can flex this year.
So that would not that that would that one would
surprise me if that's not one of the first flexes
of the season.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
So I kind of win here and we can just
kind of close the podcast on this is just this
back half of the year when you have the Ravens
coming to town. Then you have to go face Bill
Belichick in the Patriots. Mac Jones and then four of
the last five are in the division and the other
one is the Bills. I mean, we touched on it
at the top, money, but like, that's not an easy
(33:46):
way to close. But I'll tell you what, if the
Chargers can be ascending, Like that's quite the momentum shift
going into January. If you can take care of a
lot of those games and make yourself or at least
put yourself in a position to win the division or
get one of those wildcard spots.
Speaker 2 (34:05):
We said at the top, it's a tough it's a
tough schedule. So Miami's tough going to Tennessee. We know
how tough they are defensively. Remember what McCurry did last
year and how tight that game was and needed a
game winning field goal. So Minnesota had the best record.
Speaker 1 (34:19):
I think. Did they end up with the best record
in the NFC?
Speaker 2 (34:21):
I feel like they did, and I know they lost
in the playoffs to the Giants, right, but oh no,
they had the second best record too, Philadelphia. But I
mean you're talking about a team that won twelve games
last year, thirteen and whatever it was. So Minnesota's a
very good team. I'm interested to see if Dalvin Cook's
going to be on that team. Sounds like they were
at an impass and there's some people saying they may
just cut them. So that would be a huge win
(34:43):
for the Chargers not having a deal with Dalvin Cook.
We know Justin Jefferson's in the conversation is the best
receiver and the league. Kirk cousins been wildly underrated. Kevin
O'Connell's a great play caller, So that's going to be
a tough game. We talked about the Raiders. You know,
those games were tight last year, so there's I'm trying
to think of there's anything else. I dug up the
(35:05):
who are the Raiders? Who are the Raiders this year?
Speaker 1 (35:07):
Money? Like you know, we talked abou all the quarterbacks
in this division. Garoppolo was not one of the quarter quarterbacks.
How good is Tyree Wilson? Is he?
Speaker 2 (35:14):
Is he over his Liz Frank injury? And is he
going to be opposite Max Crosby in a three man
rotation with Chandler Jones. That's going to go a long
way when you've got to contend when you can't double
both those guys. If Tyree Wilson's as good as people say,
he is, there are people out there talking about him
and Miles Garrett just his length and his explosion things
(35:35):
like that. So that's yeah, So that's a big one.
Is he going to be ready to go? And if
he is, there were some people that had questions about
taking place up.
Speaker 1 (35:44):
Whatever.
Speaker 2 (35:45):
Guy's a nightmare. So you still have to deal with
Devontae Adams. We know they built it a lot like
the Patriots where they got rid of Darren Waller and
brought in Michael Mayer. We know that most tight ends
don't really make an impact rookie seasons for whatever reason,
so that that part doesn't work. But when you're talking
about Jacobe Meyers, Hunter, Renfro, Devonte Adams, that's built a
(36:07):
lot like Josh McDaniels has put his stamp on this team,
it is it has now built a lot like what
he was doing with the Patriots. Even brought in Yakob
Johnson at full back. You know, you got Josh Jacobs,
who's an absolute hammer. He's got Garoppolo who knows the system.
Haven't been with him for a few years. So the
(36:28):
one the one thing about the Raiders the O line.
They did not draft OH line, which was really surprising.
They needed o Ligneman and they drafted none. So that's
early in the season. Joey's healthy Week four, Toy Polo
two was a little bit more comfortable. Thirty two year
old Khalil Max is still feeling pretty good, so that's
(36:49):
an advantage there. But that to me, it'll come down
to how good is Tyree Wilson, because we know Max
Crosby's been nothing short of an absolute, complete and total nightmare,
or the Chargers since he came into the league, and.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
Then the Patriots. We've listed all those quarterbacks in the division.
Mac Jones is one of them either, but again they're
coached by Bill Belichick, and you go onto these coast
I think Bill's gonna have them in the conversation for
a playoff spot. Again, I look at guys like Mike
Tomlin with Kenny Pickett and Bill Belichick with Mac Jones.
(37:24):
You don't have the top tier quarterback in the division,
but you could coach and those are the types of
teams that I think the Chargers will be competing with
for a playoff spot. And it's sometimes it's not just
a quarterback. If the quarterback like Jimmy Garoppolo or mac
Jones can keep you in games, and you could win
it with your defense, like you said with Tyree Wilson
and Max Crosby, or with the Patriots are packing Bill
(37:45):
O'Brien's a new offensive coordinator there. Those are just the
teams that you have to be a little wary of.
They may not have the eight plus quarterback, but they
have a lot of other things. They lost to Mac
Jones's rookie year at home two years ago. You could
make a case them out of the playoffs, the missed
payoffs by one game. They lost to Matt Jones his
rookie year. Bill Belichick destroyed Herbert forty five to zero
(38:08):
in twenty twenty his rookie season, So we know that
Bill can be a headache, an absolute headache for And
let's not forget what her and I bring that up,
because Herbert had an incredible rookie season.
Speaker 2 (38:22):
It was the only hiccup on the whole schedule. Everything
else was, Yeah, this guy is the next great quarterback
and he's going to be in the conversation.
Speaker 1 (38:29):
It's the greatest of his era.
Speaker 2 (38:30):
And Bill Belichick beat him forty five to nothing with
Cam Newton out there, So that's how good he is,
and you're going Foxborough's a weird place to play out
there on the sticks. You're on your bus. It's a
long commute because you can't stay in Foxborough. So whether
you stay in Boston or in Providence, you're talking about
an hour drive by bus to get the Foxborough, which sucks.
(38:53):
It's a one lane road. You feel like you're in
Salem and there's which trials happen in somewhere two hundred
eat outside your bus. It's just a creepy place. And
then all of a sudden you make a right next
to like some weird looking house and you're at Foxborough
and you're just it's eerie. It's I hate that place,
and I'm sure players do too. And it's the first
(39:16):
week of December, so there's not gonna be any leaves
on the it's gonna be it's gonna be snow, it's
gonna be cold, it's gonna be overcast, it's gonna be
Creepy's that's a tough one.
Speaker 1 (39:26):
You pretty much just described that divisional game in twenty eighteen,
twenty nineteen. Yeah, you know, it was the coldest. It
was the coldest game. I think i've been a part
of Yeah, it's it was. It was a nightmare.
Speaker 2 (39:40):
So they've got let's see what else do I have left?
Two short road weeks at Kansas City up Monday night football,
at the Raiders Thursday night football, four games of less
rest than their opponent Minnesota, they're coming off of Mini
buy with Thursday night football. They got a handful of those.
They got kind of hosed on those. Kansas City coming
(40:00):
off Thursday night football. Detroit is on a short week
coming off They're actually Detroit's coming off of bye, and
the Chargers are coming off of Monday night football that stinks.
And Baltimore coming off many buy a Thursday at football,
So that's a negative. They got four of those that
they've got to overcome where they've got considerably less rest
than their opponent.
Speaker 1 (40:22):
So you know, hey, man, they will have earned it.
They try to make it fair for everybody. They will
have earned it if they make the playoffs this year,
if they somehow can dethrone the Chiefs. I mean, this
is a this is a beast of a schedule, especially
down the stretch.
Speaker 2 (40:39):
But so I tell you, Chris homer Road, you're a
fan homer Road, you get to pick a game of
the seventeen Homer Road all expenses paid, all that sort
of stuff, or you don't even have to travel. I've
discovered teleportation, so oh my god, the riggers of travel
aren't even involved. Do you just snap your fingers and
(41:01):
you're there? What game do you want to go to?
Speaker 1 (41:07):
Dude?
Speaker 2 (41:07):
There's like or is it at home? Could be one
of the home games? We got four prime time games
at home?
Speaker 1 (41:11):
You know what's funny is like the one place I
have not been that it's like it's almost like a
bucketless place as Lambeau. But the game is in. It
doesn't have the bigness of some of these, not as
much sizzle as some of the others. So I'll take
that out of it. I will say I will say Monday,
(41:31):
November six in New York because justin Herbert in the
Big Apple against Aarah Rodgers. I think that that's going
to be fantastic. You know, I think that would be
And you don't get that every year, right, you can
easily say Mahomes versus Herbert and going to Arrowhead or
Vegas Cowboys. They charged played the Cowboys a couple of
years ago. I think this is a unique opportunity for
(41:53):
Justin Herbert to face Aaron Rodgers, maybe for the last
time in his career.
Speaker 2 (41:59):
Up In, so I would say, Chargers Jets, what about you,
It's a great one. I'm gonna go Buffalo at home
on Saturday. To me, that's I believe both of these
teams are gonna be in the thick of it. It's
week sixteen. Holiday vibes, Josh, it's the It's December twenty third.
(42:19):
It's an early Christmas present, you know, son, daughter, We're
going to the game Saturday night, and we're still gonna
be at Grandma's for Christmas Eve, and you're still gonna
wake up Christmas morning and open all your Star Wars figures.
That Saturday night Buffalo, I just I feel like the
stakes are gonna be so high, much like Monday Night.
(42:40):
I would want the standalone game, knowing that the eyes
of the football nation are upon me and the game
that I'm watching. So it's it's one of the primetime games,
no doubt. And it's gonna be the first game ever
broadcast on Peacock as we continue to move towards streaming
and away from over the air broadcasts, So they're going
(43:00):
to pull out all the stops to try to make
this a real spectacle.
Speaker 1 (43:04):
And I think it's a potential playoff preview.
Speaker 2 (43:08):
Yeah, but it's a potential AFC championship game, potential divisional game,
potential wildcard game. And that's a really good Buffalo team,
and it's a really good Chargers team, and it's late
in the season.
Speaker 1 (43:21):
So give me all that.
Speaker 2 (43:23):
I mean, look, if you told me, if you guaranteed
me that it's for the division Week eighteen at home
against the Chiefs, now.
Speaker 1 (43:31):
That it's a no.
Speaker 2 (43:32):
It's obviously a no brainer. Sunday night football. It's another
playoff game. Yeah right, they'll end up making that the
Remember they always do that with one game, right, So
that's what that game would become. It would become the
standalone Sunday night football game for the AFC West. If
you told me that that's what that game means, then yeah,
that's the no brainer. But I'll take Buffalo.
Speaker 1 (43:55):
I like it. I like Buffalo, and you know you
can't go wrong. I mean, like the the home fans
be spoiled this year. You got you got a Chicago Bear.
You know, when a team like Chicago, like a big
market team comes in and it's a big game. It
just it feels like a big game Baltimore with with
Lamar Jackson, a team you're gonna be competing with for
a division. Uh. You know we talked about Chargers Jets
(44:17):
on the road. Uh, I think Cowboys Chargers on Monday
Night football, Joe and Troy coming to so far Kellen
Moore versus Mike McCarthy. It's is Tony Polly gonna run
the ball forty five times? Is justin gonna throw it
sixty five times? You know what's gonna what's gonna happen
against against the Cowboys And then you know some of
these some of these games in the afternoon. Man, like
(44:39):
you said, like the Lions are opening the NFL season
at arrow hit. That's what they think of the Detroit
Lions this year. You know, so this is this is
a fun schedule. There's been a fun podcast, uh kind
of breaking it down. And it's always fun to look
back at, you know, what you thought in May versus
what happens with with injuries and teams get off to
(45:00):
a slow start and maybe making changes. You know, the
season always takes on a life of its own. But
it's fun to talk about. The NFL has remarkably made
this one of the biggest off season dates on the calendar. Man,
you know the opponents.
Speaker 2 (45:17):
It's it's weird you already know the opponents, but the
way a lot does war If you're not familiar and
you're on social media, be sure to follow Warren Sharp.
He does a great job, Warren Sharp. And I think
is it Brian Burns? Is the name of the guy
at ESPN. I want to say that does a lot
of schedule and logistical Let me just type it in
to make sure I give credit where credit is?
Speaker 1 (45:39):
Do? I feel like it's Brian Burns? Is his name?
Darn it?
Speaker 2 (45:43):
He's at ESPN, But he and Warren Sharp do a
great job of breaking all this sort.
Speaker 1 (45:51):
Of stuff down. Maybe it's not Brian burn Is it
Bruce whatever? Sorry, my great apologies. Hold on, Greg's here?
Who is it? Brian Burke? There? You go? See.
Speaker 2 (46:03):
I probably didn't say Brian Burke because he was the
former general manager of the Anaheim Ducks. So is it
Brian Burke?
Speaker 1 (46:13):
Is that who it is? I see now I feel terrible.
It's a beautiful thing about podcasts. Yeah, okay, it's uh.
I think it's Brian Burke ESPN. Yep, it is. But
the first Brian Burke, Okay, thank you ch for me
was the guy that that you were referring to, Hockey
exec author proud Dad.
Speaker 2 (46:32):
Yeah, there we go, there you go. Yeah Brian, that's
why I was. I couldn't get the Burke thing right.
But he's great to follow. Warren Sharp is great to follow.
They do things they They've got years and years of
data they break down to say, oh, back to back
road games, three in a row, road games. These are
(46:53):
the winning percentages that more rest than your opponent. These
are the winning percentages home prime time versus road prime time.
They break all of that down. So go through their timelines,
dig into those things because it's really cool. And if
you haven't seen it yet, if you're listening to this podcast,
obviously you saw it. But keep hitting pause and keep
picking up all those Easter eggs. Green Bay in the Darkness,
(47:16):
that was great, The little light in the light that
the lighter to get out of the darkness, New England,
The Spygate stuff with Bill Belichick watching overheads of all
the practices in the NFL stadium's phenomenal, so good, trying
to think we already talked about the Raiders called Sean
Payton taking Russell Wilson's office back.
Speaker 1 (47:35):
Love that you gotta pause it because that's where all
the easter eggs are, you know, hundred percent like the darkness,
the darkness retreat when when the light comes on, there's
a bunch of like all kinds of post notes on
the stuff in the background. Oh, I forget that. I
wanted to mention this too. J C. Jackson said, it's
a revenge game for me. I'm excited to go back
(47:56):
and pick mac Jones off and show them why they
should have never let me go. So there we go.
JC calling his shot against against the Patriots in December,
so hopefully he'll be back in one hundred and ten
percent by then.
Speaker 2 (48:06):
You know, I'm hopeful it was a deep cornerback draft.
And the only thing I can think of as to
why the Chargers didn't take a corner is because JC
is well on his way to be ready for Week one.
That's the only thing I can think of. Yeah, So
let's hope once you get out there, JC and pick
off Mac Jones three times. Absolutely, let's get after that.
(48:28):
That would be fun, all right, guys, always appreciate it.
We'll be back normal time. I think next week. I
think that'll that'll be the cadence moving forred. We'll get
this thing out on Thursdays for money.
Speaker 1 (48:39):
I'm Chris. This has been charges weekly, all right, guys.
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