How Chargers Can Bounce Back Vs Raiders | LA Chargers

How Chargers Can Bounce Back Vs Raiders | LA Chargers

has a lane 1510 touchdown Chargers. What’s up guys? Welcome into a week 13 edition of Chargers Weekly. We are presented by Splatero joined by my guy Jalil Adai Matt Money Smith. A welldeserved week off traveling to the Midwest to see family. Happy Thanksgiving to everybody. Jal, happy Thanksgiving to you and yours. As you see behind me, dude, you have girls, so you know, they run the house. So, uh, I have twin girls, four years old. They have skipped over Thanksgiving and gone straight to Christmas. They wanted to put this thing up like two weeks ago. So, I said, “Listen, we’ll do it this week, but we’re we’re in Christmas mode over here, man.” I mean, I seen that in the background and I was like, man, my wife’s been bugging me to put the Christmas tree up and I’ve been like, “No, let’s wait.” Now, I feel bad, so I’ll probably throw it up after this episode. Happy Thanksgiving, man. Hey, what’s your uh what’s your go-to dish? My go-to dish, I’m not a big turkey guy, but because it’s t it’s Thanksgiving, I’ll have some turkey. I like I like doing a whole chicken, uh macaroni, cornbread, uh got to have the stuffing in there, yams, collard greens. I do it all, man. I’m I’m a I’m a big big on the cooking side. I get that from my dad. I can throw down My wife can throw down, too, but I like to let she does a lot. So, I’m like, “Listen, let me This is the day. Let me let me take care of it. How about you, man? You know what? I’m I’m not good in the kitchen, but I I can eat anything and I will eat everything tomorrow. And you know, we we got this this slate of games. You’re always going to watch football Thanksgiving, but you got you got Lions, Packers, you got uh Chiefs Cowboys, which will have some implications for the Chargers, and then of course the Ravens, Bengals, man. So, Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays, and uh happy to spend it with you uh this next hour, man. We’re going to talk about a lot of different things. Um, obviously we’ll preview the Raiders game and then we’ll look at the uh the last six weeks of the year and kind of the the path to the playoffs to the Chargers. Um, but let’s just start with, you know, back from the buy and uh, as a player coming back, especially coming off a loss like that, like how do you recalibrate knowing that this team, they had been on the road for so long, they started training camp before everybody else. Uh, they had the Hall of Fame game, they went to Brazil. Uh we talk about all the miles they logged cross country. Um how do you come back from a buy like this uh refocused and ready to to get that ultimate prize get to the postseason? Yeah, you you hit it on the head, Chris. They obviously started the season early with the Hall of Fame game. Um and it’s a toll. It takes a toll mentally and physically. Um having those extra weeks. Um many won’t understand that. But listen, I think the buy came at a a really good time. and you you ask how do you you come back from a a game that was played so poorly by the organization as a whole. Um and I think as a you get away, right? You get away with family. You kind of just let you know let that be, right? You look past it. Um and you take some time off, but when you get back then you’re looking at, hey, how did we’re not going to get beat by the Raiders, excuse me, we’re not going to get beat by the Jaguars twice. So, we’re going to look at what hurt us. We’re going to see how we can fix it. But then it’s like you got to be eager to play because you had that taste in your mouth for such a long time, right? Usually if you have a bad loss like that, you’re hoping to play a Thursday night or maybe play the following week. They had to sit on it, right? So I know that these coaches and the players are eager to get back, especially speaking from a player standpoint. Uh eager to get back, man, because the next one is the most important one. And once you get that one in, uh that that sour taste kind of goes out of your mouth from the previous weeks. Yeah. You know, the Chargers had that luxury of playing four days after that Colts game and just getting right back out there taking care of the Vikings. To have to sit on that one especially because everything everything went wrong in that game, but it’s also an opportunity to self scout and coach Harbaugh spoke uh on Tuesday just about the buy and kind of refocusing and some of the topics of conversation. Obviously the offensive line, it’s been a topic of conversation, frankly, all season long, but just trying to find the the best five and um the the reporters out at practice on Tuesday said that Jamari Sawyer was practicing at left tackle, Trey Pipkins at right tackle, and then the same three on the interior. And you know, just starting with the offensive line, like I I don’t think you’re married to any combination at this point. It’s just like, all right, let’s let’s tinker. Let’s figure out the best five moving forward these last six weeks. And you know, we’ve talked about it several times on this podcast. Jamari Sawier was very serviceable when uh when Rashawn Slater was out and I believe it was 2021. And um even in the limited snaps that we’ve seen him at left tackle this year, uh he looks to be maybe the most solid option. Now it’s it’s if he’s starting there at practice is probably trending that way. Um, what’s your take on the offensive line right now knowing, you know, Joe Al’s not gonna come back and save this unit and they’re gonna have to just roll with the guys they have at this point. Yeah, you hit it on the head, Chris. I mean, at the end of the day, there’s not going to be a starting there’s not going to be a select five that were like we’re etched in stone. Obviously, all and you know, being out is one of the biggest things. Raan Slater being out is one of the biggest things, but then you have guys on offensive line like you talk about the interior, then you talk about Jamari playing on the outside and he was serviceable a couple years ago. But it’s more so like what’s the best what’s the best cohesiveness that we can find, right? It is what it is that like you can’t cry with Sport Milk. Obviously, two of the best tackles in the league are out. This is what it is. Everyone in the league is injured. Everyone in the league has people playing in positions that they’re not playing in. I remember when we played in 2018, I was playing Mike Limebacker. Agent Phillips was playing Will, right? But we found a way, right? 70 DBs on the field at a time, but we found a way. Obviously, well, you guys you guys did that in a playoff game and you won on Yeah. And and not to speak about my time, but it’s also it’s just going it’s it’s pointing to, hey, listen, injuries are going to happen and you’re going to have to shuffle and you’re going to have to come together as a team. You’re going to have to come together as teammates, put in extra film, study extra. You might be playing out of position. You got to stay after practice and get extra work. And like you said, the coaches are going to evaluate. I think it’s a week-to-eek basis what they’re evaluating what five work best together, who communicate best together, and who co cohesively are playing best together. And I don’t think there’s a right answer right now, Chris. I really don’t. Um especially coming off of last week. Um and it’s tough. It’s a tough position to be beat up at because obviously that the offense goes through the offensive line, right? Same on the other side of the ball. The defensive line is beat up. The defense runs through the defensive line of it’s it’s the trenches and that’s what makes both sides of the ball go. Um it’d be interesting to see it’s going to be interesting to see uh what five they roll out there and what the combination is um on Sunday. Yeah, you know, it’s it’s an opportunity the last couple of weeks. One of the things Coach Harbaugh said is, you know, at least the offensive line, the guys that are actually in the room right now are healthy. You know, Bobby Hart actually played pretty well in in the limited snaps that he’s played as a Charger. So, he’s healthy. Uh Pipkins is healthy. Uh, you know, Penning just got there and I know he had some struggles against the Jags as well, but you hit it, man. It’s it’s just trying to find the right combination these last six weeks in an effort to get into the tournament. And I tell you what, a a good offensive line or a way to help the offensive line, let’s just say, uh, a good running game and Amarian Hampton’s window is open. And, you know, I I go back to weeks three and four, 294 yards from scrimmage and a pair of touchdowns. Man, that guy was he almost single-handedly helped them beat the Giants with everything going wrong. 14 penalties in that game, a couple of turnovers. He was a monster. Um he was awesome down the stretch in that Broncos game. And um you know, I give Kimani all the credit in the world for holding it down. But um Amari is just different and and he’s going to help that offensive line look a little bit better, especially in the running game. Yeah. I mean, you talk about Kamani, first of all, I want to shout him out, right? a guy that didn’t get much reps, a guy that was, you know, third string, fourth string on the depth chart. And when you talk about the offensive line and Kamani, the run game, there was a couple weeks in there where he baldled, right? 100 plus yards in two weeks, I think it was, that he had. Um, so the best way to slow down a pass rush is a running game and and Kamani, no slight to him. Um, he did a really good job, you know, but having Amari and Hampton come back and seeing the success that Amari Kam Kamani had right over those courses of those couple weeks. Obviously, there was some weeks where they were struggling. we couldn’t get the run game going. But seeing the success that Kamani Videll had, um it’s it’s reassuring, right? It’s reassuring saying that, hey, regardless of our offensive line being beat up, we still were able to find holes, right? Jirro was still was able to, you know, scheme it up for gap gap runs. And, you know, I think it’s going to be a real real big um asset to this offense to have Omar and Hampton back. Obviously, you mentioned it. Um before he got hurt, Chris, he was rolling, right? He looked like he started the game slowed down for him. It looked like he was picking it up. um and he was looking like the back that everyone expected him to be coming out of the first round. So, I’m excited to see if he’ll possibly be able to come back and help this team um resurge and get another boost that they need. Obviously with all these injuries, you know, coming into the year, we were expecting Alt, Slater, Hampton, and Harris, right now, you know, Naji has start every game in in the pros and you’re expecting a fourth quarter where you can kind of just just run the football and ice the game, get get up on teams and finish them off in the fourth quarter. um to have all those guys out, all four of them out for a stretch and to be able to sustain that at least getting Amarian back and we’ve seen Kimi uh Jal and I know you’ve seen it too like with each carry Kimmani gets better in the football game like he I I he had some slow starts and he would just get better in the second, better in the third and was rolling in the fourth and if if they can kind of find that formula in the running game and uh just try to get out on teams early and and ice the game in the fourth with hopefully that offensive line can hold up and and run block for those guys down the stretch. Yeah, but that’s Harball’s that’s his uh DNA, right? That’s, you know, getting out in front and in the fourth quarter beating you up and just demoralizing you on the four-minute offense. And we just haven’t been able to do that lately, right? We just haven’t been able to do that. But I think, you know, having a big time run game um come in and and being able to that’ll be able to spell Herbert, right? Not asking him to drop back 30 to 35 times. Obviously with this offensive line um that’s seeing stunts that’s seeing pressures and teams know defensive coordinators know defensive players on the other side know they know when they play the Chargers okay what’s their weakness right now it’s offensive line right who’s their superman it’s Justin Herbert and how do we get to him that’s through the offensive line so they’re giving they’re pre they’re pressuring they’re not pressuring they’re getting home with four they’re giving different looks and a lot of times with offensive line guys think that you’re just dropping b and blocking right no you’re you’re setting protections right you got to be able to communicate post snap, excuse me, pre- snap, during the snap, right? Post snap. Like, it’s it’s it’s not an easy position. And for it to work, all five guys have to be on the same page. It’s kind of similar to the secondary, right? One mis assignment, one blown coverage, and there you go. 67, 70 yards over the top for a touchdown. Same thing as offensive line. One miscommunication, one blown assignment, there goes a sack, there goes a strip fumble, and it’s a big impact on the game, right? So, um I think it it’s it’s a good week to come back off the buy obviously because obviously it’s Raider week and it’s going to be a tough game regardless of their record because the Raiders play the Chargers good all the time. Division rival. Um but they’re very beatable and the Chargers should be able to go out there regardless of the injuries, regardless of the, you know, um not having cohesiveness on offensive line. They should be able to go out there and take care of business. Chargers Weekly is presented by Splatero, helping homeowners access their home equity with no monthly payments. Split offers home equity investments, a better way to access the cash you need from your home without getting to go through a bank. Get a lump sum of cash in exchange for a share of your home’s future value. Pay off debt, renovate your home, and better your life. Get your free cash estimate at splitro.com/chargers. seven and four right now, but I guess elephant in the room, number 10’s been hit way too much this year. Just way, way too much. And um yes, it’s the offensive line. I think Justin has admitted too that he can maybe get the ball out of his hands a little bit quicker or maybe avoid sacks. Um either which way, he can’t get hit at this clip and expect to a survive the season and and b get this team to play in in January. So that’s another thing with the offensive line, you like what do you do if you’re Greg Roman? We saw kind of the game plan against Pittsburgh getting the ball out of his hands pretty quick and you know the running game was clicking and just that didn’t happen. You guys, you and Money did a great job kind of breaking down what went wrong a couple of weeks ago against Jacksonville. But but moving forward, a it’s finding the right combination, but you got to scheme it up uh knowing you don’t have Alton Slater and you can’t allow 10 to to get hit the way he’s been getting hit. Yeah. I mean, the biggest thing, Chris, is a run game. You have to try to establish the run. And if it’s not there, you can’t shy away from it early. You got to try to keep pounding, keep pounding. And then you talked about the Steelers game, and I mentioned, I think I was on with you. Yep, I was the week before that. And I talked about you got to get the ball out of his hands. Quick screens, right? Tunnel screens, bubble screens, halfback screens. Those are extensions of the run game, right? And I think that when you do that, you slow down the pass rush. And also, I mean, I remember there was a time when Pton Manning and God bless his soul, uh, Demarius Thomas, right? They would run the ball with CJ Anderson, and then they would get those those tunnel screens out on the outside, right between the numbers in the hash with DT and he’d take it to the house, right? The Chargers have those kind of receivers. QJ’s a yak guy, Lad’s a yak guy, right? You can find ways to get the ball into these guys’ hands without having to truly do the traditional tradition traditional, excuse me, run game or the fivestep three-step drop. And then once you do that, now they’re like, “Okay, now we can’t blitz as much. We can’t pressure as much.” Because if you blitz against your screen, the wide receiver, the runback’s going to hit his head on the goal post, touchdown all day. Right? So it slows the defense down. It makes the defensive coordinator not play as aggressive, right? And so then now that you can get back into your three-step drops, your five-step drops when the games allow when the game allows it to. But early on, early often, you have to establish the run, however that looks, right? I can’t tell you how that may look or how it has to look. But then you have to get the quick game and you got to get those screens implemented into the game plan, especially in the first 15. Jill, what about just making Justin Herbert just an active runner, just a a part of the game plan in terms of designed runs? Like he he’s healthy. He’s awesome at it. And and I almost feel like that that has to be a a point of emphasis. I almost feel like he’s safer running than in the pocket because he’s just so dynamic. He we we’ve seen whether he he’s finishing off games in week one with that 19- yard rush or just some of these kind of just killer rushes for the opposing defenses. I I just I I feel like the combination of him, Amarian, and Kibani too in the running game using Justin as an active runner similar to Josh Allen. I I almost feel like that has to be a part of the game plan moving forward. You took it out of my you took the words out of my mouth. I was going to right because they’re similar in body type, right? And they both have the same attributes. And I talked about it earlier in the season and I said I would love to see him, you know, have more designed runs. Having a designed run at the quarterback, it it creates an extra gap, right? The defense is always short and I think that it allows the offense and not only the offense, allows Herbert to get into a groove early on and early and often. Um, when you’re playing the game and you don’t get your pads hit or you don’t set your pads, you don’t get a tackle for the first couple, you know, series, you you feel like you’re not in tune with the game yet. And I think, you know, starting him off early in the first 15, um, doing QB powers, QB sweeps, however it may look, I think that’s a good look for the offense. I think it changes it up. I think I think it keeps the defense on their heels. And then I think that it allows Justin Herbert to settle in the game a lot quicker. Um, you hit it on the head. When you’re standing back there in the pocket and you’re basically like you’re a sitting duck, you can’t protect yourself. We seen that last week. Uh, he was folded up like a pretzel on some of those hits, man, and it didn’t look good. Um, when he runs the ball, it’s different. you know, he he finds he picks and chooses times to lower his shoulder. He picks and chooses times to get down and be safe. And I think it’s all in all, Chris, you you hit it on the head. It’s it’s a good attribute. It’s a good wrinkle that the offense, I think, needs to implement into the game plan. And I I love what you said about the receivers, too. Like, you have the receivers, especially in a quick game. Like, that’s what was so frustrating in Jacksonville. Like, Quinton doesn’t get on the stat sheet again. And you know, we saw the impact plays that he made at the beginning of the year. You have Keenan, you have Lad, you have Trey Harris, you have Aronda Gatson. Like these weapons should be I was just It’s kind of just a shocking result 14 days ago, man. It’s like I I don’t even know if you can like I think you said what you say, burn it, bury it, bury that tape a couple weeks ago. You almost have to because it’s such an anomaly. Like they they possess the ball for 22 minutes. the three weeks before that it was like 39 minutes, 37 minutes, 34 minutes. That’s been the formula. So, um I’m confident that we’ll see a different result on Sunday. And just, you know, let’s flip it to the defense because, you know, one of the things that I I believe coach Harbaugh mentioned is just the self- scouting aspect of things is is the run defense. Jacksonville runs for 192 yards a couple of weeks ago. And, you know, there has been uh kind of slip ups throughout the year. I mean, this this defense has looked dominant um for stretches. And then also, you could point to the Miami game with Achan breaking off a 50-yard run or Jakori Kroski Merritt uh in week five uh just kind of having his way with the run defense. Um where do you think that inconsistency lies? Because it seems like they have the guys to do it. Um you get back Khalil, you trade for Adaf, you know, they needed that edge help, they got that. Um, how do you consistently put together a solid run defense these last six weeks? If you look at the film these past weeks and when they struggled against the run, it’s it’s a little bit of everything, right? And then we kind of broke it down last week with, you know, money and and a lot of times you like to put it on the coaches and as a player you got to take ownership, right? There’s some stuff that we seen on the film and obviously it wasn’t the first team, but guys were just out of out of the gap, right? It’s just simple stuff. It’s it’s alignment, assignment, and then do your job, right? Alignment, assignment, and then do your job once the ball snapped. And I think that the players have to make the play come to life, right? Good players get bad coaching decisions out of that slump, right? And and and no coach is going to be perfect. And I’m not blaming it on the players, but and I’m not blaming it on the coaches. This is a togetherness thing. And a lot of times Jesse Mener likes to play that too high shell. We know that. Um and we talk about it consistently and it’s worked for them. um and they’re able to stop the run with a sevenman box. But when guys are misaligned, when guys are not staying in their gap, when guys are not playing downhill, all that stuff ties into the running game, right? And and and my coach always say the defensive line has to play in the other team’s backfield, right? They have to set a new line of scrimmage. And too many times last week in the games that they were gashed, their defensive line, the linebackers were were not coming downhill. They weren’t playing aggressive and their offensive line was creating a new line of scrimmage. Um, and I love Duran that nickel. It’s another point. I love Duran at the nickel. I think you can do a lot with him. Um, but I think more so on first and second down, you go into more of a base defense when you got bigger guys on the line, bigger linebackers, only two safeties, right? Four DBs total, and then you bring Duran in the box still, right? You line him up to the You line him up to the passing tight end, you still bring him in the box. Now, that’s a eight-man box. Eightman box are known and are made and were created to stop the run. sevenman box. You can, but everyone has to be really really gap sound, right? And lately, they haven’t been gap sound. So, I think that’s where they’ve been getting hurt. I would like to see on first and second down going to a base package. We have bigger guys, defense, three line uh sorry, defensive line, three linebackers, two safeties with um Molden James in the back, drop Duran down for the run, and then on third down, you can get cute, you can get fancy, but I think you have to allow them to play behind the sticks. And too many times this year, teams when the defense is not on, teams are playing not behind the sticks, it’s second and six, it’s second and four. And those are called waste downs, right? Because they’re already have game plans for third and four, third and six. And at that point, they can just kind of do a screen. They can take a shot because if it’s incomplete, guess what? It’s third and four, it’s third and six. It’s still a manageable down to get the first. So, I would love to see them play more base. Uh to answer your question, uh defensive line play downhill, linebackers play downhill, and force them to pass. Force them to pass. I don’t think that a team can consistently beat us passing the ball down the field. You know, the next two weeks, you got Ashton Genty, and we’ll get into Ashton and and just the Raiders preview in a little bit, but after that, you got Saquon Barkley. And then after that, it’s it’s uh it’s Kansas City, uh kind of a pass heavy team. uh the Cowboys with CD Lamb and George Pickkins and then you have the Texans coming to town followed by that week 18 game in Denver. But just looking at these next two weeks like those are the the two guys you can’t let beat you, Saquon Barkley and and Ashton Genty. So other than that, man, Julia, I I came out of that Pittsburgh game and just seeing the way JRO called that game and um the way the defense played it, I left Sofi Stadium that I think like, hey, if the Chargers are going to get to the postseason and make noise in the postseason, it’s going to be the defense. It’s going to be the defense that carries the day and you have a franchise quarterback that can do just enough to to to win games. But um I I still believe that like I do feel like that that game 14 days ago was was kind of an anomaly because I’ve seen this defense um play really good football for a year and a half, right? Like he you had a slip up against Liam Cohen last year um when he was the offensive coordinator of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. for whatever reason, Liam Cohen knows how to play this defense. But other than that, and then a couple other games um under Jesse Mitzer, like this defense has been just dependable and you have leaders on all three levels and I still have confidence that with six weeks to go, this is the unit to kind of carry the day. I mean, it’s cliche, right? Defense wins championships and we know that. Um, obviously you got to have a quarterback at the helm that can get the job done in tight situations and and had that clutch jeans so to say, but yeah, the defense is gonna bring this home. And I think when you have a defense and you have a special teams like the Chargers have and and a kicker, right, those are two of the most valuable things that you need when you’re going into the postseason and when you’re heading into December. Um, because December is just an extension of the playoffs, right? You have to play your best football in December and that’s where we are and the defense has to step up, right? However it looks, they have to win the turnover margin. We have to be able to get to the quarterback, right? Your your superstars have to play superstar ball. That goes that’s Darren James, that’s Khalil Mack, right? That’s Deon Hane, that’s Dion. And then at on the outside, you got to have guys and we talk about all the time. They there’s they rotate corners so much, right? You you you see Tarheed, you see Cam, right? You see Dante, it’s you see St. Juice. Like they rotate guys so much and all these guys are productive, right? All these guys are productive. So, they have the talent. We als we obviously know Jesse Manner is the guy for the job, right? He’s he’s he’s a whiz on the defensive end, on the defensive side, but they have to put it together, Chris. And we’re not in those meetings. We’re not at those practices. We’re not at those walkthroughs. Um, but I know that they’re real detail oriented. And the guys have to take what they’re learning in the classroom, what they’re learning in the walkthroughs, take it to practice, and from practice, take it to the field. And I think although that loss to Jacksonville was bad, I think that might have been the best thing that needed to happen to this team, right? Coming off Pittsburgh, feeling himself, national television, out physicaling one of the most physical organizations in the history of the NFL. And I mean, everyone was on Cloud9. I was walking on my tippy toes around here in Carl’s bad, right? Wearing my Chargers gear, feeling good. And it it’s natural, right? It’s a natural thing, right? It you you play well on a national stage. you you’re heading to a team down south who’s not really the the team that you just beat got a by-week look staring at you right in your right in your face. Could you have not been as focused? Could you guys have not been detail oriented? Maybe. Right. But I think that was very humbling. I think those guys and the coaches never want to put a product out there on tape like that again. And I think they’re going to do the ne necessary things to change that. And keep in mind Jacksonville, they blew a 19-point lead in the fourth quarter the week before. Can you imagine what that locker room was like after that game and the practice was and the the uh kind of the want to to get back out there? And I and I feel like it’s almost the same thing with the Chargers this week against the Raiders. Like you got humiliated, you had to sit with him for two weeks and now you have your division rival coming to town and you want nothing more than to to beat them badly, get to eight and four and and start to get on a run. And um I I want to shift to just the the last six weeks and just the playoff picture as we sit. Like right now, even though the Chargers lost to the Jags, they’re ahead of the Jags because of these crazy AFC tiebreakers. Like if you’re if you’re seven and four with another team like the Buffalo Bills, the Chargers, they took care of the division early. They have a better uh conference record right now. So, uh, they’d be going to Baltimore if the season ended today to to take on the Ravens in the wild card round. Um, there’s 10 teams and there’s seven spots essentially right now. And, um, the math didn’t help out the Chargers on Sunday. The Chiefs beat the Colts. You saw the Texans beat the Bills. So, that kind of brought the Bills down a little bit, brought the Texans up a little bit. Um, so there there wasn’t a lot of a good in terms of uh uh kind of tiebreers and things of that nature, but the Chargers have to just take care of their own business. And um I think the path to the playoffs is you got to get three of the next six, right? You got to get to 10 wins. And I think you get in if you beat the Raiders and then I’m circling the the game at Arrowhead and then the game against the Houston Texans coming to Sofi Stadium. Of course, you want to beat the Cowboys. You want to beat the Eagles. you want to beat the Broncos week 18, that may or may not mean anything, right? But I I just I look at those three games. We’re allowed to look ahead. This this team is focused on the Raiders, but um I look at those three games, Jalo, is like, “Okay, those are the three that you got to get to to ensure that you’re in the postseason.” Yeah, 100%. And and the key to beating the Raiders is you get after Gino and stop the run, right? They lean heavy on Ashen Genty and right now he’s struggling um whatever that case may be with his offensive line schemes. Um, and then you look at the Chiefs, right? And the Chiefs were almost in a sink or swim situation last week in Arrowhead, um, in a playoff atmosphere with a team that’s probably one of the better teams in the AFC right now with the Colts. And they squeaked it out. Um, and that was do or die ball. They might not say it in the media, but I know in those meetings, they were talking like, “Hey, listen, we we take a L here. We could be looking at not making the playoffs.” Um, so the Chargers going to Arrowhead, that’s going to be tough. We know that it’s going to be tough. It’s going to be a playoff atmosphere. Um, and that’s going to be one that they got to grab. And then you look at Houston and what Houston just did. The way their defense is playing, man. Their defense is scary right now. They’re scary, man. I mean, are they are they the best defense in football? I I think you could make our argument Denver Green Bay in that conversation, but I think it’s Houston. Denver and Houston might be the two. But cuz Houston, it’s it’s all three levels. Their their secondary is nasty. Their safeties are nasty. They have a premier shutdown corner. Their linebackers are physical. And then they their defensive front is probably the best defensive front, two best pass rushers in the NFL right now, right? Um, if you would have asked me this maybe five weeks ago, I mean, no one was really talking about the Texans, but the beating that they put on Who did they just play? Was it national TV? They just they just beat Buffalo Thursday Night Football. Yep. On Thursday Night Football, Buffalo, they made Buffalo look really average, right? And that the week before Josh Allen went for six total touchdowns. So, those are going to be three tough games. Obviously, the Raiders should be the most attainable, but because it’s the Raiders, and we know how the Chargers in the Raiders games go, no matter the record, no matter the time of year, um it’s not going to be you just roll the ball out and and and think that things are going to fall and chips are going to fall where they need to fall. You got to put the effort and you got to put the work in this week. Um and like you said, they’re looking at the Raiders now. We’re looking at it in a big picture. Um but it’s not an easy road, right? And the and Charger Nations, we know that. Um they know that it’s not going to be an easy road at all. But I think if you go back to July in training camp when everyone’s healthy and you can say, “Hey, listen.” And by Thanksgiving, uh, we’re going to have this many injuries and going into December, you got to play your best ball. We got the chance to go eight and four with the Raiders on our schedule. I think a lot of Charger Nations and I think me and you both will say that’s we’ll take that, right? Um, so I I think at the end of the day, although there’s been a lot of es and flows, like the stock market with this team, up and down, up and down, uh, to be able to come out of this week on Monday 8 and four, um, with a new with a new vision, feeling better about ourselves, um, I think it’s a good thing for the organization as a whole, Jul, if they do get into the tournament, they will certainly have earned it. I was I was on the uh the locked on podcast with those guys and we were just talking about the you know the differences in winning 11 games last year against some teams that were not that great. It was a fourth place schedule. The quarterbacks weren’t um the quarterbacks that they’re seeing this year certainly. Uh but to to beat Patrick Mahomes, to beat Bo Nicks, uh to to to beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, uh to get these quality wins in the AFC and then you look at what’s ahead, right? If if you get into the playoffs, you’re going to have to go through the Chiefs again. You’re going to have to go through the Texans. You’re going to have to go through that Philadelphia defensive line, man. Like on Monday Night Football and then travel to Arrowhead on a short week. You got the Dallas Cowboys in that explosive offense. Um and then you got the Broncos in week 18 that could mean the division could mean nothing. But, uh, if they do get in, like they will have earned it and I think they they would be actually more battle tested going into the postseason this year than they were last year. Yeah. And I think there there’s something to say. Listen, if they do get in with the p the picture you just painted, by the way, you’re Picasso. You painted that thing beautiful, Chris. If they do get in, Chris, listen, they’re going to be one of the teams that nobody wants to play, right? because of how battle tested they are. Every game going down this stretch, and you can say this a lot for other teams, but every game going on this stretch with the strength of schedule, this is this is playoff football. December is playoff football for the Chargers right now. And they got to look at it like that. Yeah. If if if you’re an NFL fan and your team is playing meaningful football after Thanksgiving, you should be thankful. It’s it’s a good time to to to to tap in and get ready for December football. On the other side here, we’re gonna preview this game against the Las Vegas Raiders. Head to San Francisco and experience the Super Bowl with On Location, the official hospitality provider of the NFL and proud partner of the Los Angeles Chargers. Secure packages that bundle verified tickets with exclusive access to pregame parties, featuring renowned entertainment and top-of-the-line food and drinks, plus immersive postgame field celebrations. Onloation delivers unforgettable experiences so you can create memories that will last a lifetime. Visit onloationexeexp.comblx or call 877373-5062 to secure your ticket package today. All right, Jal, it’s Raider week. I I we’ve probably done this before, but you have to give me your favorite Raider story from your time playing. like was was there a was there a game was there a season that you remember beating these guys and uh maybe there was some fireworks behind it? Uh man, the Raiders, man. I just know that I remember coming to the Chargers and I I’m coming from Florida, Central Michigan University, and they’re like, “The Chargers are our Raiders. I mean, uh the Raiders are excuse me, the Raiders are a rival and when we go to the Coliseum, they advised us not for our family to come, right? because those fans can get really rowdy as you know. Um, and they want your family to be as safe as possible. So, I told my family not to come as my I think it was my rookie year and I remember driving in uh to the coliseum and they were throwing stuff at us, flicking us off. They got the face paint. They got the mask on and I’m like, “All right, these guys are rowdy.” Then we get out there, right? And we’re playing. I can feel it. You can feel the energy, the black hole. You can feel the energy. Um, you can feel, you know, the tension. They’re talking smack. We’re talking smack and then it’s like halftime and I’m like I’m like like what’s that smell? I’m like no I think I know what it is. I’m like this is my welcome to California moment. I’m like in the middle of the game. I’m like this is crazy. That was the first first like thing that I’ve remember about the Raiders, right? The atmosphere. Is this in Oakland? It was in Oakland. The Coliseum. Yes. Not the Coliseum. Um I forgot the name of the stadium. Yes. Yeah. It was like the Oakland Coliseum. Yeah. Yes. Oakland Coliseum. And then I remember it was like in 2015 I think it was uh we were playing Derek Carr. Um we were I think we were in overtime and I was playing middle safety and this was one of the most memorable plays that I had. Um Verrett actually ended the game with a pick I think in over overtime this game. But they tried to take me deep. It was like third and 12 and I was the middlefield safety and they ran a big corner post on our corner and he was shallow and it came to me. It was right in front of the black hole and I remember like the they threw it deep and I’m just chasing it and it got caught in the lights and it’s dark in there all black crowd and I couldn’t really see the ball and at last second I see it drop and I had to dive over the receivers’s back and like get my hand between his hands and I didn’t know if I broke the ball up or not. I almost I got up almost like dang did he score? And then I just heard the crowd go and a and the referee goes incomplete. And I remember I was a young guy at the time and I was like I could not have that on my resume with Charger Nation losing the game like that. And it was on national TV. I think it was a Thursday night. Uh incomplete uh got up celebrator man. That was one of the good memorable uh plays I had against the Raiders, man. Oh, that’s awesome. You know, the the records don’t matter in this rivalry. Raider Nation, we know they’re going to show up. Charge is going to show up. These two fan bases do not like each other. It feels like ancient history. The last time they played week two, I I remember just what a big game that was on Monday Night Football. Q had that big uh touchdown catch and they win 20 to9 and it’s just it’s amazing what can happen in like a 10 to 12 week span, man. Like the the Raiders uh they’ve had a lot of close losses. They’ve also been blown out and you know their season is essentially over. where they fired their offensive coordinator, Chip Kelly, right after that Browns game. And um I don’t know if you could just kind of take me inside a defensive meeting room and there’s a new offensive coordinator, but the same personnel like it seems to me just listening to Pete Carol um this week. I I listened to one of the interviews he did with the uh with the in-house folks over there. They want to run the football. I don’t know if they can run the football with that offensive line, but um how do you approach this week knowing that Chip Kelly’s no longer calling the plays and Greg Olsen is in? I mean, they’re not going to um implement a whole new playbook, right? You’re going to see the same stuff, right? They might dress it differently. They might run stuff out of 3x one formation where they have tendencies, but they might start off in an empty set, right? 3x two and then motion the running back into the back field to get to the original play. So, you’re not going to see much. They’re not going to create a whole new playbook, but what they will try to do is new offensive coordinator calling. They’re going to try to run the ball with Ashton Genty. Everyone’s calling for it, right? You know, that’s what they want. And he has shown like he has shown the ability. He runs the ball tough. He’s he’s has he’s probably has like six tombstones in his in his bedroom right now because he’s ran over guys at play after play. Like if he gets into the open field, it’s oneonone and you don’t lower your pads, you will be on his highlight tape, right? He’s a physical runner. Keeps his legs turnurning and that’s what the offense is gonna go through. I mean, sad to say, like, who who are they going to run the offense through in the passing game, right? What receiver for on their roster is going to beat you other than Brock Bowers, right? That’s their number one. Yeah. Right. Gino Smith, obviously have a lot of respect for Gino. Played with Gino. Um, but he’s struggling right now. And he he’s he doesn’t seem to have the timing down. He doesn’t seem to have the time to throw the ball. And I think that’s the biggest thing where if we can get home with four, maybe five, um, but stop the run on first and second down, like the defense should eat all day long on Sunday. All day long. Jill, I don’t know if you agree with this. I I look at their team and I see three players. It’s like the Raiders big three. Like these are the three guys that you cannot let affect the game. Max Crosby, Ashen Genty, and Brock Bowers. Like those are the three guys who if the Raiders somehow win a football game, they’re going to have a stat sheet that that looks like they they were the ones who put the Raiders in the position to win, right? Ashen Genty, Brock Bowers, and Max Crosby. Um we just talked about Ashen Genty and and you know in the segment before just the need to to stop the run and and make sure that you got you got Hass on the on the football. Uh with Brock Bowers, he was hurt in week two. Like I think we forget that he was not 100%. I think he’s 100% now. Is this something where you just put Derwin on him and and let it just like set it and forget it or do you have a plan for black Brock Bowers beyond just number three? I excuse me. I think you do Duran James mono. Um like I said, I think you run base. Think you get big guys in there. You drop Dur down to the side that he’s on. Play manto man. Manto man. Listen, when you play manto man, it makes the run gap so much easier because it’s my man, my fit. Wherever my man inserts, that’s where I’m fitting. Right now, when you’re playing zone and gaps move and guards are pulling and tackles are pulling and you got to be able to be gap sound. Defensive line has to stay in the gaps. Linebackers have to flow. It’s a lot of moving parts and that’s a lot of things that you work through walkthroughs and you work through in team meetings and defensive meetings. But when you go manto man, you say my guy versus your guy. And I believe that he’s better. And I believe that Darren James is better than Brock Bowers. Brock Powers is going to be a really good tight end in this league. But we’ve seen Duran James time after time take away big- time tight ends. He’s done it against Kelsey. He’s done it over and over and over and he’s is he going to lose some? Yeah, he’s he’s human, but I think he minimizes the big gains that you have with Brock. And then on third down, you could double him. You can get fancy, but when you’re talking first and second down, you drop Dur in the box on base, right? And then you play my man, my fit, man, man. Wide receivers’s on the outside, corners on the outside. Y’all are locked up. I don’t believe that your wide receivers are better than our secondary. You have you close the middle of the field. You stop the run. If Brock motions during, you travel. If he splits, Duran, you go, right? And then you play like that. And then once you start to see the EPS and flow of the game and see how they’re attacking you, then maybe you can adjust. But straight starting starting the game with a game plan. I’m walking in there. We’re saying Duran James, we’re playing manto man. Duran, you got Brock outside. You got to hold up middle of the field closed. Defensive line and linebackers play downhill, right? Play downhill. Hit hit uh two much as you can, hard as you can legally between the whistles. And when Gino drops back to pass, make it cloudy and get after him. It’s it’s funny because, you know, we talk about a new offensive coordinator versus like a new quarterback, let’s say. It’s just it’s totally different. Like the personnel is the same for Greg Olsen and and we know that there’s not a lot of places that he can go outside of Bowers in in Jenty. I remember, do you remember the uh the game that Joe Flacco came to the Bengals and Jamar Chase was just like, “Just throw me the ball.” Like he was targeted like 23 times. Like I always feel like that’s what Greg Olsen is probably going to do with Brock Bower. It’s just like I don’t care if he’s doubled, tripled, just throw it to 89. Throw it up there and see what happens and give Ashton Jensy as many carries as possible because there’s not much else you can do, right? No, I mean, you hit it on the head. I mean, that’s that’s what I think the game plan is going to be. They’re going to try to run the ball. I think Ashton will probably get 18 to 22 carries and like you said, they’re going to try to get Brock, they’re going to do tight end screens. They’re going to play him off the ball, motion him, boots, right? Get Gino out the pocket, you know, because they know we’re going to come after him. Um, so I think that’s the game plan. The coaches know that’s the game plan. I think the whole uh Chargers Nation, Raiders Nation knows that’s the game plan. Ashen Genty, Brock Bowers, and then you talk about Max Crosby. Um, I watched the game last week live. Um, and obviously Max is a dog, right? He he’s everything. Yeah, he’s everything. He’s as advertised. Um, but even the Cleveland Browns, they they they mitigated his his his uh his game wrecking ability and I think that the Chargers can do it do it as well. I remember week two, um, wasn’t it Pip wasn’t it Pip that was on him in week two? Yeah. Yeah. He got he got some help, but they they kept Crosby in check. They did what they had to do, right? And and that’s what I’m kind of alluding to almost like you got to go back to that same game plan. If it’s not broke, don’t fix it. what did you do in week two against Max um that allowed Herbert to have the time that he had? Um and I think once you do that, I think, listen, man, the Chargers should go into this game and they should run away with this thing. But like you said, it has to be a good game plan. The players have to make the plays come to life and they can’t go in there thinking that they’re just going to roll the ball out and beat the Raiders. Yeah, it it’ll be one in the trenches. And you know, the the the Raiders, you allow Gino to get sacked 10 times, man. 10 times last Sunday. Um, the Raiders have allowed 20 sacks in the last three weeks. So, I’m looking at Khalil Mack who who had a six sack performance against the Raiders a couple of years ago. We all remember Adafuli Tui Palo. You could even throw Bud Dupri in that mix. Um, those edge rushers, they’re going to they’re going to tee off and and I think that will be the unit to watch on Sunday is like how much can they affect Gino? We saw uh even the secondary in week two, Jal, like they got their hands on so many balls uh that Gino threw up there. I know Gina was sailing some, but like the the DBs were were real sticky in coverage in week two and and and I just think that the way that the the Raiders offensive line has been playing, man, it’s uh you have no choice but to look at look at your leader, Khalil Mack, and say, “You go and we will follow.” Yeah. Yeah. And it’s as as important as the edge rushers are going to be, I’m going to I’m going to even dare to say the interior Chris, they have to push that pocket, right? Because they’re going to tell them like, look, they have the edge rushers and what we want to do is run them wide and run them past Gino and Gino, we want you to step up in the pocket and step up in the A and B gap because Gino can run if he needs to, right? I think the biggest thing will be the interior. That’s what I’m looking at this game is looking at that interior and see what the push like, right? Is are you creating a new line of scrimmage? you put in the center and the guard in Gino’s lap so that he has to escape outside to where our war wounds our war our warriors are right and I think that’s going to be the name of the game interior defense create a new line of scrimmage on the run and interior defense whenever he’s dropping back the pass you have to push the pocket so that you can allow your edge rushers to do their thing uh before we get out of here Jal give me give me a player on both sides of the ball that you think uh is going to have to show up on Sunday and really moving forward to to get this team in the postseason. I’m going to go with the two two top dogs on defense. I’m going with one on defense and I’m going one on offense and I’m going with Duran, right? I’m going with Duran. He’s a heartbeat, right? Duran has to play the best play his best football in December. Obviously, he’s going to start week one with Brock Bowers. He has to be the guy to mitigate minimize, you know, the the damage that Brock Bowers can do, right? I’m going with Dur on defense. He’s the spark plug. He’s the energy. He brings the juice and everybody feeds off him. Then on offense, I’m going with Herbert. Right? You had a a not so good showing last week. No matter what, your offensive line’s beat up. Your running backs are out. Nobody cares, right? It it is what it is. And so so many times, Herbert, you’ve shown Charger Nation, you’ve shown us that regardless of the regardless of the situation around you, right? You’re able to overcome that. You’re able to be that Superman. You’re able to move the change with your feet. You’re able to do the thing the unthinkable. And you spoiled us, right? And he has spoiled us. And that’s the kind of player he is. but he’s gonna also have to play his best his best football going into December starting with the Raiders moving forward. And then the coaches, let’s not forget about the coaches. The game plan has to be legit, right? You got to help these guys out. You know, you’re hampered in some areas on offense, defense, and special teams has to step up. Obviously, Cameron Dicker has been really, really good for a long time, but the special team as a whole, the kickoff team, the punt return team, these guys got to fluke the field. These guys got to play complimentary football for all three phases. You know what, man? That was the the one thing that I I wanted to mention to you at the top that I didn’t with special teams, and you just hit it there. Like there’s there’s been a little inconsistency with the special teams, but but we know who Ryan Ficken is, man. Ryan Ficken has been rock solid as a as a coordinator from his time in Minnesota to his time in Los Angeles. Just real quick on that unit, how important is it to get that unit going, especially in the kick return game? We talk about, you know, Nahhem Hines, who’s no longer on the team, had that big kick return. They’re going to they’re going to need some some splash plays in that phase of the game moving forward. Yeah, I think you got to get Darius, we keep forgetting that Daryus Davis, he was a all he was a allpro, right? He’s all pro returner at one point in time and early in his career. And he’s when you look at the kicker turn, kicker turn is almost like it’s it’s like being a running back, but it’s just you’re playing further and further away from each other and the impact’s bigger. And Darius doesn’t have that big frame, right? So, how you use Darius is we like to say counters. So, you attack to the you attack to the short side and then you bring it back to the field and you allow him to use his speed. What I’ve seen them doing with him this year is kind of just making him run straight up the middle and that’s not really his game. He’s a speedster. He’s a jitter guy. He’s a guy that wants to get on the outside, use his speed, and if he sees a if he sees a crease, he’ll stick his foot in the ground and get north and south. But I think you got to somehow run some kind of counters, right? get him going one way, bring it back the other way and and schematically scheme it up so that you can see his ability come to life. And then on punt return, the same thing, and then on kickoff, right, that’s that’s just an extension of the defense that they set the tempo, right? They set the tempo. You know how it is. You kick the ball off and the kickoff team goes down there and gets a big hit and everyone’s juiced up, crunch, oo, let’s go. The defense jogs on the field, you’re feeding off of that, right? So the right Yeah. The special teams has to get going, right? because the offense and defense both depend on them and they both get their energy from them. I can’t wait for Sunday, man. I feel like we’ve been gone for too long that that by week and um the the great thing about that game after the game, Jalil Adai going to be in studio CBS Los Angeles on Sunday, right? You’ll be there this Sunday. I’ll be there this Sunday. Let’s go. Tune in, baby. Let’s go. Yeah, I’ll be at the game. Jal be in studio breaking it down. Does an awesome job with our sports central crew. So, looking forward to that. And uh just want to give a shout out to all our listeners and viewers, man. Uh we are thankful for you. You guys are with us every single week. Win, lose, or draw. Um it’s uh it’s awesome, man. It’s it’s I love having Jal part of this mix and and money is the absolute best. Wish him a happy Thanksgiving. And uh anything else before we get out of here, bro? Uh no, that’s it. Happy Thanksgiving. Um don’t eat too much and if you do, that’s okay. That’s what the holidays for. Just make sure you get your steps in and we’ll be fired up for Sunday ready to see the Chargers get a W. Yeah, you may be in a a little a little turkey coma, but just wake up for Sunday, right? That’s all we ask. That’s it. I’m going to be on two to three plates, so I don’t judge anybody. All right, for Jalo, I’m Chris. This has been Chargers Weekly. We’ll see you next week. [Music]

On this episode of Chargers Weekly, host Chris Hayre and former Chargers safety Jahleel Addae recap the latest news involving LA and the entire NFL. The hosts analyze the state of the Chargers offense following the bye week and break down how the Bolts can bounce back in their matchup against the Raiders this Sunday. They predict how the defense will cover running back Ashton Jeanty and tight end Brock Bowers under the Raiders new Offensive Coordinator Greg Olson and assess the playoff implications of post-Thanksgiving football. Presented by Splitero.

2:00 Post-bye State of the Chargers Roster
13:00 Offensive Analysis
22:00 Defensive Analysis
31:30 Raiders Game Preview

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