{"id":1002833,"date":"2026-09-17T01:06:24","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T01:06:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/1002833\/"},"modified":"2026-09-17T01:06:24","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T01:06:24","slug":"which-overreactions-are-legit-why-execs-scouts-are-out-on-chargers-but-high-on-rams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/1002833\/","title":{"rendered":"Which Overreactions Are Legit? Why Execs, Scouts Are Out On Chargers, But High on Rams"},"content":{"rendered":"

There’s no better time to overreact than after Week 1 of the NFL season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Week 1 brought plenty of surprises around the league, giving us plenty of material to judge and make grand statements. Are the Los Angeles Rams not as good as we thought? Will the New England Patriots take a step back?\u00a0<\/p>\n

We asked people around the league which overreactions they think are a figment, and which ones are legitimate. There was an overwhelming consensus that one overreaction is just that, while another might have some truth behind it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here’s what we learned from our conversations around the league.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Los<\/a>\u00a0\"Los<\/a>\u00a0One L.A. Story Should Get Better, But Other Could Get Worse<\/p>\n

Ralph Vacchiano: It\u2019s hard to find two bigger flops in Week 1 than the teams that share a stadium in Los Angeles. Both embarrassingly lost their openers.<\/p>\n

One will probably be fine. The other \u2026 maybe not so much.<\/p>\n

“I won\u2019t overreact to the Rams at all,” one NFL scout told me. “They\u2019re still loaded, so I can chalk that up to the weird circumstances of a game in Australia. But the Chargers \u2026 that\u2019s a team that looks like it has problems.”<\/p>\n

“I really thought [Chargers offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel] would be the guy who would finally turn Justin Herbert into the star we all think he could be,” another scout told me. “But maybe we\u2019re just wrong about Herbert. Or about McDaniel. But they were a no-show on offense against what I don\u2019t think is a very good Cardinals team.”<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Justin Herbert and the Chargers gained just 268 yards of offense in the first game of Mike McDaniel’s (right) tenure as offensive coordinator. (Robert Gauthier\/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images) <\/p>\n

The Chargers, considered by some to be a playoff contender, gained just 268 yards and turned the ball over twice in their 26-14 loss to the Arizona Cardinals in L.A. That included just 81 rushing yards, and Herbert was 17 of 27 for 209 yards with one touchdown and one interception.<\/p>\n

“How many years are we going to look at Herbert and yell about his potential, only to watch him be average or worse?” the first scout told me. “Maybe this is just who he is. And maybe this is who the Chargers are, too.”<\/p>\n

As for the Rams, they were equally bad offensively in a 27-7 loss to the San Francisco 49ers in Australia, gaining just 290 yards. And now they\u2019ll be without Myles Garrett, the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, for a month, too.<\/p>\n

“The Rams will be fine,” the second scout told me. “Honestly, I\u2019d feel bad for the Giants (the Rams’ next opponent). They\u2019re going to be angry. Sean McVay is going to be determined to get this fix fast. That combination could be deadly.”<\/p>\n

\"Los<\/a>No Excuses, But The Rams Had Plenty Of Excuses<\/p>\n

Vacchiano: The 49ers may have made a statement with their convincing Week 1 win, but it apparently wasn\u2019t much of a statement about the team they beat. In fact, it was hard to find anyone around the NFL who was worried about the Rams after they lost to San Francisco 27-7 in Melbourne, Australia last Wednesday night.<\/p>\n

“Not at all,” one NFL executive told me. “I didn\u2019t necessarily believe in all that \u2018Dream Team\u2019 stuff, but they were one of the NFL\u2019s best teams last season and they\u2019re even better now. One game in Week 1 doesn\u2019t change that.<\/p>\n

“You\u2019ll see. That\u2019ll look like an anomaly in a few weeks. They\u2019ll be fine.”<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Matthew Stafford threw for fewer than 200 yards in the Rams’ loss to the 49ers. (Photo by Quinn Rooney\/Getty Images) <\/p>\n

“I don\u2019t know what the right answer is on the travel, but arriving on a 15-hour flight the day before the game clearly was a mistake. They played like they were jet-lagged,” an NFC assistant coach told me. “It\u2019s not an excuse that they\u2019ll use, but it might be a real one. That had to be a hard game to prepare for, so I wouldn\u2019t read anything into it.”<\/p>\n

The Rams still have last year\u2019s MVP in quarterback Matthew Stafford and weapons like receivers Puka Nacua and Davante Adams. They still have a defense that\u2019ll soon be anchored by the unretired Aaron Donald, and in a few weeks, Myles Garrett will be back too.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why an NFL scout told me via text: “Ignore the opener. They\u2019re still loaded. Chalk it up to [playing in] Australia. Besides, we all know strange things always happen in Week 1.”<\/p>\n

\"Los<\/a>More Evaluators Expect A Rams Bounce-Back<\/p>\n

Eric D. Williams: It\u2019s only one game.<\/p>\n

That was the sentiment from league sources I spoke with about the Los Angeles Rams. The heavy favorite to win the Super Bowl at the start of the year, Sean McVay\u2019s Rams stubbed their toe with a poor performance in Australia, a painful 27-7 setback to the team\u2019s NFC West rivals, the San Francisco 49ers.<\/p>\n

Despite the poor performance in Australia, league sources I spoke to expect the Rams to rebound with extra time to prepare for Week 2 home contest on Monday Night Football against the New York Giants.<\/p>\n

“Yessir,” a league exec responded when I asked if the Rams would perform better in Week 2.<\/p>\n

“They underestimated the impact of travelling so far,” another league source told me. “Bad game. It\u2019s a marathon, not a sprint. There\u2019s a lot of football left for them to sort things out.”<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Rams take on an upstart Giants team in Week 2, but evaluators believe Los Angeles should be able to win that game. (Photo by Elsa\/Getty Images) <\/p>\n

Added another NFL talent evaluator: “Week 1 is a liar. Last year\u2019s Super Bowl teams both lost at home in Week 1. The Patriots lost to the Raiders.”<\/p>\n

The NFL talent evaluator went on to say Week 1 is the hardest to prepare for because there\u2019s no film of your upcoming opponent to break down and evaluate in preparation for the game.<\/p>\n

“As a quarterback, I really felt uncomfortable in Week 1 games because you really have no idea how to study the opponent,” the talent evaluator told me. “Everything is probably a Trojan horse. Teams show their hands of who they really want to be schematically after the first regular season game.<\/p>\n

Speaking of quarterbacks, another longtime NFL scout I spoke with pointed to better play needed from reigning NFL MVP Matthew Stafford.<\/p>\n

“Travel and neither side of the ball played to expectations,” the scout told me. “And the QB was just a guy.”<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There’s no better time to overreact than after Week 1 of the NFL season.\u00a0 Week 1 brought plenty…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1002834,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2064],"tags":[4094,390,241,5430,7,1159,1014,262,58,2444,2443,32,1304,122,6,252,505],"class_list":["post-1002833","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles-chargers","tag-aaron-donald","tag-arizona-cardinals","tag-chargers","tag-davante-adams","tag-football","tag-justin-herbert","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-chargers","tag-los-angeles-rams","tag-losangeles","tag-losangeleschargers","tag-matthew-stafford","tag-myles-garrett","tag-national-football-league","tag-nfl","tag-san-francisco-49ers","tag-super-bowl"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/117283703486217018","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1002833","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1002833"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1002833\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1002834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1002833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1002833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1002833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}