Show start [Music] w [Music] hey what is up everybody Welcome to the guil is charge podcast my name is Stephen and I am the host as always and joining me is my guy Tyler Tyler what's up man how you doing today can't complain man the birds are chirping the Chargers are one and0 apparently they're also the number one seed in the entire AFC so that'll definitely continue the entire rest of the way good stuff man I'm doing well how are you I'm doing good as well uh I want to say the stop the count reference here as as the Chargers one AFC but if anybody's confused by that it's because they won a divisional game and so it it it breaks the tiebreakers first so that's why but uh no man I'm good today is the hopefully last day of summer weather in Fresno so we get we're actually in the 70s next week so right today's uh 101 and then next by the end of next weekend we're down to the 70 so I'm excited I I love the fall it's like the one main thing I miss about like the actual state of Utah is having like a real fall season because we don't get that here in California um in fres get it for like a week so uh I'm excited for some cooler weather on the way I just can't wait to wear like a hoodie you know you're wearing a hoodie now cuz you live in a cooler area but like I can't wear a hoodie right now it's too hot and I I just want to wear a hoodie you know yeah well I'm only wearing it inside with the air conditioning outside it's 900 Degrees and South Orange County is on fire so we're at that's true uh hopefully if anybody here is affected by that fire hopefully you're you're staying safe so um Today's Show uh we're really excited about doing this episode you know when we uh obviously last season had our our arrangement with the Chargers we were not really able to do kind of a film review you know every single week sometimes the film gets uploaded late and so you just didn't we didn't have the time to always get to it um so we have both watched the all 22 coaches film and and we'll have some takeaways there um and I think it just it helps us kind of take a step back every single time and realize like certain things were either not as bad as they seemed or certain things were not as good as they seemed certain players stand out when you're watching on film versus watching on the broadcast or or in the stadium um so it's just going to be you know a good way for us to kind of take a step back each week and and talk about the takeaway so we have a few segments that we are going to do each week the first one um you know we're calling this whole thing kind of upon further review as we take a step back so the first segment we're going to get to each week is going to be an unsung hero against somebody that stands out on tape that not necessarily got a ton of attention on a live recap so you know we talked about guys like Joey Bosa Puna Ford people that were a little bit more easily identifiable obviously lad makoni had some big moments um so we'll dive into that we're also going to talk about a narrative of the week whether that is a player or group development a scheme standout something like that that's kind of consistently popping up obviously week one we're just going to talk about week one but um that's going to give us a way to kind of measure throughout the season what is going on and then the last one we'll touch on today is is is it real or is it fake you know there week one stuff happens across the league um and so we're gonna Identify some things that we think are legitimately and will continue throughout the the season or some things that are fake and might not continue throughout the season so should be a lot of fun today Tyler yeah I'm excited uh is it real or is it fake is a game you can play in Orange County all the time G from a football perspective we'll be able to talk about that too yeah nicely done nicely done thank you um all right Tyler let's let's start with the unsung heroes here um we both have two defensive players here to discuss which I think will be a good conversation and we can maybe discuss an offensive guy here in a minute but who is your unsung Morgan Fox unsung hero hero of your tape watching experience yeah for me it's Morgan Fox I think if you watch the game you remember the edge rushers you remember Puna Ford even otito abonia but to me even just watching it live I went wow Morgan Fox is playing pretty well against the Run surely given the number of times I've seen him play well against the Run he must have had 25 snaps they really must have upped his snap count he had seven run defense snaps and three of them were run stops he now currently leads the league in Run Stop rate by a lot with three stops on seven run defense stops uh snaps and then four total four total stops on the day last year Morgan Fox had eight on the entire season his career high is 21 he had four stops on Sunday he was really really strong especially for a guy who didn't play a ton of snaps very efficient so we know who he is as a pass rusher watching him on film I was I was genuinely surprised by this guy who is what 276 280 maybe certainly not the heaviest into your defensive line he's no Puna Ford he's holding up very well at the line of scrimmage and playing the run very well again to the tune of three run stops so tackles within three yards of the line of scrimmage on seven run defense snaps so watching him I kind of noticed it live but after seeing the numbers and the fact that he only had seven run defense snaps and then what he was able to do on sometimes a run stop can be oh I kind of disengage and I'm late and I'm Sho string tackling somebody like he was very involved and strong and stout in the Run game I was very surprised by him yeah I think he stood out and and he's had some moments like I think you know the San Francisco 49er game from two years ago like he had you know a good amount of run stops in that one when the whole other chargers defensive line got injured and then it was just kind of it was him and BR foko and that was like it and I think Forest Merill played in that game so it was you know he's he's had some moments but if he can play like that consistently I think it just gives the Chargers some some real depth I think you know I feel pretty good about where Puna Ford and we could talk about him and where otog Bonia are at but they want to keep guys fresh and they're going to rotate all five you know Jim Harbaugh said afterwards that they would like to see more snaps for trar tar uh who I heard in the alohi Gilman uh maed up people just call him Tai so much easier than Ty or tart or however you want to say it so Ty tart is how we're gonna we're gonna call him from now on because that's what the team calls him um but I think if Morgan Fox can can carve out a run stopping role we know what he can do as a pass rusher and he didn't get a ton of opportunities here um in this one but you know if he can consistently play like that it just gives the Chargers so much more depth up front that they have not had in quite some time so I think as the season progresses will feel progressively better about the interior defensive lineing room especially if Morgan can defend the run at a high level yeah I had a ton of questions about this group I think we felt good about the average potential of the group I did not expect to see what I I saw and we'll get into this interior defensive line but I couldn't believe what I was seeing especially compared to the last few years like it's not even you know expensive Talent first round picks none of that it's just great football these guys are playing great football yeah and it helped the linebackers and I know you want to talk about a linebacker so if you'd like to for your unsung hero please go for it well yeah I guess we can talk just wrap up the defensive line conversation I I've been watching Chargers tape like all 22 for Four Poona Ford went ballistic Seasons basically I legitimately think Puna for just put together the best tape I've ever seen of any Chargers defensive tackle and it's not like the Chargers defensive tackle has been amazing right there's been more bad than good for the most part but this guy was unblockable against the run like just had so many key run stops I think he stopped two Raiders short yardage plays almost by himself um the guy you know had a pass break up on a screen play and then he had the interception and he had a couple like reps where the PFF did count them as pressures but like he definitely pushed the pocket and collapsed the pocket and and affected the play so Puna Ford I thought was outstanding I thought otito you know showed some real flashes as well and Jesse M said that he's taken a massive leap if he plays like that every single week and continues to get better then I can agree with that assessment so those two just started the game off so well and we talked about them after the fact but Puna Ford popped so much on tape he was just consistently disruptive in the backfield anchoring down against double teams I was amazed I could not believe what I was watching and I was like relatively excited about him and so were you but I don't think either of us were expecting him to be potentially like the third best defensive player on the team right away so it's just it was awesome if they can get him to stay healthy and play like this it's just gonna make the defense that much better yeah I had I had no idea that was on the way I looked at an article I wrote like a month or two before the season and I ranked his contract as like the third best of a value contract of all the free agents that Ortiz brought in even I didn't see this coming dude like I thought pretty stout good nose tackle hopefully gives you something else but pass break up um chasing guys down the sideline the pressures you know or even just L like I think there's a lot of pressures that were on PFF or lack of pressures that I felt you're sure they weren't pressures but they affected the quarterback like you said like you really tell the condensing of the pocket very much so helped I I have not seen the interior defensive line and linebackers played such complimentary football in a while and that's a surprise like when they brought in Sebastian Joseph day Austin Johnson all these guys you thought okay like here we go they never really got that to be doing what they did with Perryman Coulson and Henley um Perryman and Henley in particular I think I couldn't believe it like this interior defensive line is right now way ahead of where I thought they'd be yeah uh and dude the the screenplay and the interception like this guy must have been a former defensive back because like the technique there was incredible to see like he played through the hands of the running back he was fantastic he you know hands caught the the interception so it was it was fun to watch it was even more fun to watch on tape um my unsung hero you just Denzel Perryman unsung hero mentioned him is Mr Denzel Perryman I was so excited to see how this linebacker room would kind of put it all on tape after having you know a great Camp great preseason and I mentioned Denzel Perryman As an X Factor and I I felt like I kind of had a good feeling for what his role was and he executed it perfectly on Sunday um started off again on the the first short yardage situation for the Raiders um Puna for makes the play he's the one who gets the credit for the tackle for loss he's the one who gets the credit for the Run stop but if I I tweeted this clip out if you if you slow-mo it Denzel Perman kind of creeps up to the line of in scrimmage takes on Dylan Parham who's a good guard he's not an amazing guard but he's a good guard and he's still a guard you know he's outweighs Denzel Perryman by you know 80 pounds or whatever it is and Denzel Perryman set the line of scrimmage and he pushed Parham back and he forced the running back to have no other way than to go right into Puna Ford and so it's a little thing like that that really Stacks up and he was consistently doing it um he had a couple of just fantastic flows to the football you know run stops that were just really really high level really good couple run run blitzes I think his role is very well defined and he's a run Defender and that's who he was when he was with the Chargers right like the first time around so we know what he can do but I think it just frees up the other linebackers to kind of play more free not have a ton of you know things that they don't do super well because I like Di and Junior cson a lot I don't think either of them can take on a block the way that Denzel man can which is crazy because he's the smallest of the bunch like when you watch the tape the size of Deon and Junior next to Denzel is always so funny to me because Denzel is is you know FES shorter and and he just doesn't have the same kind of length so I thought his role was very well defined I thought he executed it perfectly and and it showed up on tape time and time again so I don't think the way the Chargers defended the run on Sunday is possible without Denzel consistently just mugging up rushing Lanes taking on blocker hitting people the physicality was just outstanding to see and so I definitely had to shout that out on tape yeah he's a perfect influence and Captain for this this defense for this linebacker room the way he plays is so perfectly complimentary to the interior defensive line and we've just been missing it like is Perman the greatest athlete at this point is he a young stud not really but he plays awesome he plays downhill in a way that we've really been missing it's I don't know how long it's been since we've seen actually downhill tackling football even even Kaiser and Drew tranquil I think were great blitzers yeah but they weren really like a Denzel Perryman who the Chargers have been missing since he went away and they never found you know a replacement for him with Kenneth Murray theyd hoped was never that guy Perryman was fantastic I always forget that he's not a big guy he's not small by any means but like he's he's under six foot not exactly a big guy but he he plays huge he plays awesome you know we remember it from him knocking over maai beckon I think he's got no problem being physical obviously and that's such a tone Setter for this team I I just see everyone in the defense whether it's Henley Elijah molden had a couple of hits like close to atanta scrimmage everyone's playing downhill and I think Perryman just embodies everything they want and how they want to play like M harble Chargers football yeah I think the the pads were definitely popping on Sunday and it was it was just really I think Puna and Denzel like started that right away and you could just tell like the effect that those two had and I'm just really excited to see what that looks like hopefully those guys stay healthy um Rashawn Slater cooked okay did you have an unsunk here on offense maybe that you wanted to shout out before we move on it was kind of tricky I almost wanted to say in a strange way ran Slater because he was so not as much disussed as the was so good man and it always is like when ran is healthy he's an elite film watch yeah I I didn't realize like we talked about joal great debut we talked about the interior offensive line not great we even said that Slater was good the pressure numbers were good which was ends up being zero but like I didn't realize how good it was like rashan Slater like Jo Walt did well against Max Crosby and statistically did not allow a pressure I don't think Max Crosby did a thing against ran Slater it was I have not seen Max Crosby that useless against a player certainly not against a Chargers player in quite some time that was that was domination of one of the best players in the NFL yeah and in the past he's had no reason to go against ran because it's like I he was just crushing whoever was on the opposite side unfortunately for Trey pipkins and storm Norton and uh I think he had a game against Trent Scott if I'm not if I remember correctly in Oakland probably probably so you know he's he's never had any reason to test ran but now that the Chargers have Jo Walt it's it's just been a good thing um hero is probably a bit stretched but I like what Quenton Johnson put on tape I thought that he was much more Quentin Johnston looked comfortable comfortable fluid confident you know I I just think like you know like I said before I don't think he's going to put up a ton of huge numbers but I just thought that he looked a lot more comfortable more natural you know I think the way that the Chargers are going to use him I think just puts him in a good position to succeed um and I'm I'm killing myself for not writing this down but um there was a statistical data account that I really like and I follow I can't remember who it was but he pointed out that Quenton Johnston technically was the number one read for Justin Herbert more than any of the other receivers on Sunday so again some of that was the design touches and and you you have to go to that kind of person but I think just the way that Quenton is going to be used I think is is going to be more conducive to to his success this year um you know I know that he had the two sideline plays which were not like amazing but I think that can can come with more success and more more reps so I just think you know hero again is a stretch he didn't like light it up by any means but um I just think that he deserved a shout out at least yeah I was very close to going with Quinton Johnston or even Hayden Hurst but quenon Johnston three forced Miss tackles on three receptions he looked like it it just belonged like it it made sense what he was doing it made sense to him he was comfortable with it he broke a tackle he forced him Miss I've never received so much push back for just saying hey let's at quenan Johnson do what he does well and boy the social media backlash on that one was something else personally I personally think players should do what they do well but maybe that's just me and look he did what he could do well and he did it well and maybe there's some confidence there you know he he just it looked better unfortunately PFF gave him like he they considered that contested catch on the sideline like a failed contest contested catch which sure but he was out of bounds but anyway PFF has that um as an 0 for one for him which is a little bit of a surprise um but otherwise I thought I thought that particular role works I think him and then makoni doing those crossers and working after the catch that's something there they can hit that button all day long and it's G to work for them yeah I'm excited to see how that comes together we we can talk about the receiving room here more in a minute but um Quenton definitely deserves a shout out for how he played and if and if he can just do that every single week uh you can feel a lot more comfortable with where he's at just with his his development MH okay uh Narrative of the Jesse Minter's defense is havoc up front, conservative in the secondary week I messaged you guys about this but I wanted to talk about Jesse Miner and just like his overall approach to the way that he called defenses so I think we saw kind of a mix of what he wants to be upfront versus like what he is maybe a little concerned about on the back end and what I mean by that is UPF front we saw the Chargers do so many different things up front with the defensive line uh they they put out the four Edge rusher look which we all wanted to see when they did that they also would have Morgan foxer another defensive lineman so they would have five defensive lineman up front with all four Edge rushers on every single rep one of them would drop you know uh it was usually bud or Tuli so essentially they would rush four and it was just like a a a way for them to get creative none of the plays actually worked which is unfortunate um but the Raiders did run three kind of smoke or screen routes to kind of combat that but them putting that out on tape consistently is just going to make the opposing offenses have an extra extra thing to prepare for and not every team is going to have you know a Devonte Adams type who's really good at smoke routes and things like that so it's going to cause him Havoc from a game planning perspective we saw a bunch of simulated pressures we saw a bunch of creep pressures we saw a bunch of Blitz is and there was you know I tweeted this clip of like one of the the sickest cover zero fake looks things that I've ever seen where he shows cover zero with Derwin and Junior and Deon and everybody all up on the line and then he ended up dropping Puna Ford and Morgan Fox into coverage and Junior Coulson gets home on a pressure Deion Henley forces Garner menu out of the pocket and results in an incomplete pass which led to the uh Carlson missed field goal after that so up front he is gonna push the limit and and try and get creative and try and put these quarterbacks into a lot of uncomfortable situations and then also you have Joey B and Kack who are just like completely wrecking shop on the back end I was curious to see what the plan was for Devon Adams and what the plan was for jacobe Myers and everybody like that and he was very cognizant of keeping alohi Gilman and Derwin James over the top of both of those guys which is smart to see it's it's a good approach and I think that indicates a that he understands who he was playing against and B who he has at quarterback it was a lot of conservative coverages it was a lot of cover two cover two man cover three you know these these coverages that have a lot of help built in to these quarterbacks who he is I don't think supremely confident in and I think some of that showed up with Asante Christian Fulton did not really get tested a whole lot but it's going to be this mix until one of these Corners Pro that they can play manto Man consistently which I think is what he wants to do that's what wink Martell and this defense is built around is a corner who can play manto man and you can be even more aggressive so I think it's just this blend of we're gonna get after the quarterback and then back we're just going to kind of protect ourselves we're going to limit mistakes we're going to protect ourselves against explosive passes we're not going to get beat over the top and until somebody emerges as a reliable man corner that's going to be the plan and I think it's a smart plan you can have a really high floor as a defense doing that it's kind of what Brian Flores did this past season with the Minnesota Vikings and and they had a you know a pretty high floor as a defense so it's I was curious to see kind of what the approach would be on the back end and it seems like he understands very well who he has playing quarterback and the kind of weaknesses that both of those players bring yeah it's a really nice mix I love that he's able to sure if he wants to do different things in the future fine find another Corner great but I'm glad that he feels comfortable and is successful with playing conservative on the back end not putting too much straight on these Corners who you know we'll see we we find more about them in the coming weeks yeah um but then just re wreck shop up front and you can do that you can do both and be successful with that I'm very curious you know week two I think they'll send the house Bryce Young's gonna throw 42 interceptions week three no idea what's happening at quarterback it's not going to be great I'm really curious how week four goes you know how that will tell me how maybe he wants to maybe play more or how he changes things more I I don't think we'll get a ton outside of just go beat up the poor Panthers or go beat up the Steelers or whatever um but the Chiefs is a different story so I'm curious how he plays there I didn't get a chance to watch a ton of the defense but I'm excited to I'm happy to hear there's a good mix of what he knows he's good at and what he knows he maybe doesn't have but they're still putting it put in a position to succeed which that's nice yeah it is nice uh you're not asking uh passes Prime Michael Davis to play Man coverage against everybody and it's just put on an island and make JC Jackson cover Tyreek Hill manto man coverage you know first game back off of a major injury yeah no I I enjoyed the approach but I think for Jesse to really feel like he can properly run his scheme like I think you know a big physical pressed Corner would be like number one at the list for next season so far again it's week one it's a lot to talk about but um that's that's the next missing piece because I think and he said publicly he feels great about the defensive attack room he has the edge rushers they like the linebacker room they really love the safety room especially now with Elijah molden who you talked about but can they get a true cornerback one that's that's the missing piece right now yeah side note seeing 22 out there and not having a panic attack it was I was watching from the stands I'm like why is he out oh yeah it's Elijah molden I had like no yeah but yeah it was better than I thought yeah I'm a little bummed we didn't get to see AJ Finley but I I understand why they would prefer Elijah molden instead veteran presence you know kind of deal but I'm I'm a little bummed that my guy J Finley didn't get to play on Sunday that's okay uh as far as my The IOL wasn't great you know Narrative of the week goes yeah unfortunately let's talk about the interior offensive line because it was as bad as we saw live I now I didn't watch the broadcast view so I didn't get the breakdowns and all that you know who specifically lost or how but it was a bummer to see all three of those guys struggle not the entire game there were good moments in the first three quarters and the fourth quarter was much better but it was a bummer to see them struggle in the ways that we kind of expected them to struggle and the the outcome was just kind of the lower outcome we're hoping for any of these three guys to pop and they really didn't and they all struggled in the ways we kind of thought Zion Johnson three separate times s could not pick up Max Crosby now Max I I do think it surprised the charges a little bit how much Max Crosby moved I think the addition of Christian Wilkins I agree was something that unlocked what he was able to do Christian Wilkins as much of a as much as you don't seem to love him based on his uh after the whistle an he was watching the tape he was doing extra stuff after whistle on every play it was so annoying yeah I was actually about to go watch the the receivers blocking and see if they messed up the Raiders DBS but any anyway I think that really unlocked Max Crosby in a way maybe the Chargers weren't expecting because it looked like in the first half Z Johnson had no idea Max Crosby was coming his way it was um henin or I think Butler that was his initial guy and then suddenly it was Crosby and no one was ready for him so that was unfortunate to see from Zion because that's exactly where we picked off last year Bradley Boseman bad day at the office like not great overall I can at least kind of say Zion Johnson had some good moments in the Run game two great moments in the Run game that you know helped free up JK Dobbins bosan was not great I don't think in either the pass or the run better in the run but not great overall and then Trey pipkins at least he's just trying to figure out Right Guard right now so I can give him some leeway I can give him you know half a season to see how this goes but he wasn't great either so the whole interior unfortunately Zion hasn't improved unfortunately Bradley Boseman doesn't look great right now hasn't found his career Resurgence just yet and pipkins looks like a guy who's trying to figure out Right Guard right now each of them has potential each of them has talent each of them has had good moments but on Sunday it was not great and it does not get any easier moving forward I guess thankfully Derek Brown unfortunately suffered a season ending injury but we're Chris Jones Is Almost Here man and that Wilkins at his way Chris Jones is coming up it's not gonna get a whole lot easier yeah and the the Steelers defensive line room is is terrifying to me as well it's it's it's a tough slate right now um the Zion stuff is really frustrating to me and we both were you know we weren't like broadcasting it but like we were kind of optimistic that the breakout season was finally gonna happen um and it just it got off to the worst possible start you know and it's just it the the main issues with Zion you know he gets over his toes too often which means that he is late on plays that happened probably three or four times like you mentioned a lot of Max Crosby but it happened against uh whoever 69 was I forget his name um hen or Butler I think one of those two the big fellow with the dreads and and yep yep um so Zion like he has this he has these moments where you're just like man like you're doing the same stuff over and over again but then some of his run blocking plays were like topnotch guard level stuff and some of his pass blocking stuff like I I do think that he settled down in the second half I think his second half performance was indicative of a guy who who can potentially break out but to see him come out in the first half and just struggle with the same kind of stuff that he's struggled with for the last two seasons it just it was frustrating it it really was I still am hopeful that these issues are correctable and now that this coaching staff has seen these issues on tape hopefully they're able to say hey like let's let's get together let's work on this make sure you're not doing the same kind of issues over and over again because in training camp you I mean you probably are not not really focusing in on hypers specific game plan things like that you're just you're focusing on a lot of like install and you know just like overall you know working and conditioning and things like that so now that they have like actual game plan and game technique things to work on maybe that that continues um Trey like you mentioned I'm G to give a little leeway to he had some good moments in pass protection he had some good moments in the Run game um but his issues that I kind of expected showed up on tape he's he's a little slow out of his stance which as an offensive tackle is not a huge issue when you have a ton of space between you and the edge rusher but when you have Christian Wilkins right in front of you you got to be on top of your stance you got to get out of there and that just was not a thing and so he's gonna have some issues you know in pass protection in run protection from time to time just because of that he's not used to it right um but again I think it's probably more positive than not but Bradley buzzman it was it was rough and he's been injured you know he did not practice a ton in training camp um which could have led to some of the communication issues but when you are losing your one-on-ones misidentifying blitzes miscommunicating and your run game is supposed to be your strength was kind of a mixed bag it was a tough day at the office so I I'm willing to give some some pass to the interior offensive line for those reasons but it was Bradley buzzman in particular it was it was a struggle on Sunday yeah and that cannot be the case moving forward um this is I'm sorry like Wilkins is Wilkins I get that but the rest of the group the whole defensive line like John Jenkins Adam Butler you know sorry respect to them I think it's an underrated group because we see them play the Chargers and they play well but like this isn't the Steelers like you mentioned this is not going to be the Kansas City Chiefs who can line up a whole host of rushers I I'm a little worried what did you make I don't know how much you watched of it but what did you make of the way bosan would call protections and how often if free Russia was just available yeah a lot of week one is figuring out like who is GNA do what and like who's actually gonna come on this blitz so you kind of are guessing in week one of like where to slide protections and and where to you know handle these kind of issues and the Chargers did do a much better job in the second half but in the first half they were like four or five times where they slid protection to the left and then Tyreek Wilson is a free rusher on the right or they SLP production to the right and you know they miss a a slot Blitz for no reason and it's just it was it was an issue that they did improve upon in the second half but you know I tweeted this out that's where a guy like Cory Lindley just has such a strong influence and Bradley Bosman is a veteran but he didn't he's not a natural Center like he kind of got forced to play center in the league and he stuck around at Center but not everybody can ID things the way that Cory Lindsay Jason Kelce Frank ragn now can and that's what makes those guys so great along with a lot of the physical attributes so I'm hopeful that things can kind of improve I saw Justin Herber take a lot more ownership in the second half of like hey let's do this let's do that and maybe that's kind of their solution but he's also never had to do that because of Cory Lindley so I think unfortunately it is going to be kind of an issue for the team uh this season yeah I I hope things get cleaned up thankfully they started rough but things improved in the second half like you said so maybe that's indicative of what's to come it's not a dumb coaching staff it's not an untalented group I think they can figure it out but they've got a game to really figure it out or it's going to cost them because yeah Herbert was I I can't believe Herbert wasn't sacked six times um this game from the interior it just speaks to how good he is at sack avoidance yeah but he was hit so many times we talked before the show there were several plays where I don't know how he got it to three separate players but he was crushed because of some of these interior guys and thankfully he got it out to a JK Dobbins or um will dley on the first play I Believe Y and he kept getting crushed because these guys couldn't figure it out so hopefully they do yeah even the touchdown to Lad Zion and and Boseman were trying to pass off a stun and um I forget who it was specifically on the Raiders but whoever was the the Pinner ended up taking Zan and Boseman out at the same time and they like their legs got crossed up and they they both fell over and somebody was in his face like right away but you know Herbert again we we talked about he didn't have his flashiest game but the sack of oance is Herbert's pocket presence I think right up there neck connect with Patrick Mahomes in terms of like best in the league of of avoiding sacks and avoiding taking those negative plays and even the the one sack that did happen like he almost got that ball off so it's just it's such a strength of his I think it really gives the Chargers such a high floor and I think there's a lot of discussion on like football Twitter right now of like what's leading to the fewer passing touchdowns and the low points this week it's because a lot of these quarterbacks are taking a ton of sacks like DeShawn Watson took seven sacks and Caleb Williams took six sacks and will Lis took six sacks like it's a problem around the league but Justin Herbert can do no wrong in that regard he's just so so smart about it um me and you before we started recording he almost hit lad in the corner of the end zone for the touchdown on that one play and I think him and momes and maybe Josh Allen are the only quarterbacks in the league who could a get that ball off and B throw it accurately where if lad makoni were an inch taller that's probably a touchdown so it's just it was a clinic of how to avoid taking sacks from Jus Herbert on Sunday it was you can look at the numbers and say oh he had a bad game and I'm sure it wasn't a 300 yard it wasn't the 400 yard Vikings game but there was a lot of great stuff in there in terms of pocket movement yeah that this close that play to makoni being like the play of the week yeah well he was that close to an elite play yeah so I somebody earli in the chat was like is Justin Herber cooked no not even close oh no the Chargers like once they got into a rhythm in the second half the offense looked a lot more comfortable it looked like okay I can kind of see like the the bones of this offense working and coming together it's so hard to establish a rhythm when you have three false starts a holding penalty a sack like the first half was just was kind of a disaster to be honest so yeah this game against the Panthers I'm expecting this essentially to be hey like let's get a rhythm let's test some things let's experiment some things you didn't really see the Chargers do a whole lot of play action on Sunday because they were just trying to get the ball out and avoid all the pressures this week I think we'll see really the Chargers kind of you know establish them R of them on offense yeah as oops wrong person sorry as damage points out and you just said it the way they interior played yeah you can't exactly throw the ball down the field also missing DJ Char so if that can improve we'll see you know a not cooked Justin Herbert yeah yeah all right uh let's do real or fake uh obviously as Tyler said this is is kind of an OD to hunting Huntington Beach and Orange County and all that uh in all seriousness I wanted to do this conversation because we fell for so many things in week one last year particularly about like the Run offense and things like that I'm trying really hard not to do that again so I wanted to do this real or fake conversation um and we can go either way with it so Tyler uh for you what did you want to hit as either real or fake from week one uh let Scott Matlock at FB me continue with me being somber and grumpy so this Scott madlock thing at fullback it's really cool and all the trades ran with it like look at him put a 300 pound defensive tackle at fullback which is I don't know what happened when mcfam became the fullback but I guess he's not a Defender so it's not as cool but he they can't be the best option guys at fullback I I just watching him and the specific look now full disclosure to be honest I didn't see a flat route to Scott matlaw coming it fooled me that was not on my bingo card I didn't think that was happening but you're trying to seal the game and that's your option and it just it just it just doesn't look right Stephen and watching it live watching it on film it just it looks like a defensive tackle who just found out he's playing fullback and Matlock has played a lot of football so he gets football I'm sure he played offense at some point as well he's very talented very athletic but it looks like a defensive tackle who playing fullback for the first time and it doesn't even look like uh mcfaden who's a blocker who understands you know all these things about how to be at least a Blocker on the move with Matlock it just it doesn't work for me now it's early he could develop into this guy very possible but they're not using him much as a as a defensive tackle I think he had 16 reps which is not a a lot and as a bler on offense I just I would prefer a true fullback honestly someone who can actually catch passes someone who can block maybe a bit better who's a comfortable Runner who's blocked before and I think Matt luck maybe something you explore like maybe as the season goes but they put so much faith in him as a fullback and I right now do not buy it no I I don't buy it either um I would have bought like hey like this is going to be an occasional goal thing and like this is like a fun little wrinkle of the offense they were asking him to like block Defenders one-on-one at sometimes and like you know full lead up into the hole and like try and kick out a linebacker that's just not who he is as as a player and maybe he can become that but I would much rather see them use their tight end room and use Eric Tomlinson and will dley and Hayden Hurst and put one of them in the back field let's get Jordan mcfat they didn't put Jordan mcfat out there at all after like Jet Sweep motioning him in training camp the first week and all of us lost my mind all of us lost our minds you know including myself um so it just it was puzzling to just to see them go full in and like treat him as a normal fully functioning fullback and it just it did it did not work so uh hopefully it can continue but I I would much rather see Eric Tomlinson out there I would much rather see Jordan mcfaden out there who are actual professional blockers of defensive lineman so it's just it was a cool wrinkle it was a cool story The usage has got to come way down in my opinion if you're gonna maximize who he is as a player yeah so that's that's my unfund take I'll go with you know what I Slater and Alt might be the best OT duo in the league think is real at least and go with something more positive we've discussed this I won't spend too much time but Joe Walt rashan Slater could finish the season as the best offensive tackle Duo in the NFL rashan Slater based on the way he played might be the best offensive tackle in football if that's how he's going to play against someone like Max Crosby and other Edge rushers like that if Joe Walt can at least also be what he did on Sunday improving the Run game be a little bit better overall that's the best duo like these guys are legit uh we you know I wasn't like dying to see if neighbors or Odun or har Jr or Al were better or whatever but I think five minutes into the first quarter Chargers fans almost panicked um oh Malik neighbors had 66 yards or something and you know the Chargers receivers weren't great honestly man after watching Jo Al play if that's what we're GNA get and he's only going to get better was the right pick man and so it was the right pick um at minimum he's going to be great I think and so I I truly believe this Duo was special yeah whenever the whenever the Raiders did just the normal like one-on-one rushing and the interior offensive line could hold up dude Justin Herbert could have like taken a nap in some of those Pockets like it was it was just gorgeous to see um you know you're talking about like best potential tackle Duo I think right now that that's probably the Eagles offensive tackle duo with Lane Johnson and uh Jordan Mila Lane Johnson to me is like potentially one of the four or five best scrimmage players in the league um Jordan milata is like clearly above average clearly a very very good football player so if Joe alt can continue to get better they can bridge that Gap and rashan I think is is an all pro Calibur left tackle they can challenge that and you can talk about maybe the Buccaneers offensive tackle room maybe or excuse me I would probably say the lions are second right now but again Taylor Decker is like above average very solid good football player if Joe Al keeps this up man like you're talking about easily best tackle group in the league because joal just has that high of a ceiling I the issues that I think he is going to struggle with popped up in this game just like functional strength which is understandable again this is a guy who's very new to offensive tackle this was kind of an issue at college but the sophomore leap that Joe alt is going to put together with a full offseason of Ben Herbert and maybe we can get that guy down to Texas and train with Duke Manny weather uh with with ran Slater it's just going to be incredible to watch like the the Run blocking flashes were there there was a rep where the Chargers ran left I want to say it was like an an I want to say uh Trey pulled so it was kind of like a trap counter kind of deal they asked 69ine Joe Al to go reach block a one technique Christian Wilkins and he got there and he sealed him off and I was like I could have cut out the I could have cut out the play because it ended up being a tackle for loss but the flashes for Joe as a run block as a as a pass protector were so so good and some of his you know clean slate against Max was a couple reps that were like you know ball out quick kind of deal and Max kind of did you know not cleanly beat him but he beat him around a corner kind of deal but some of the anchors were hilarious like there was there was a time where Max tried to speed to power him and and Joe anchored right away and I love to see that because that is kind of a weakness of his and Max tried to like jump up and maybe bat down a pass and you see Joe just like full extension and the 69ine length is crazy so the flashes from Joel were so so so much fun and if he can just clean some things up and just like you know continue to get stronger he can be one of the best players in the league I think he his ceiling is so tremendously high after seeing that yeah huge sigh of relief at least after one game I I can't wait to see this do a movie mov forward yeah gonna be a ton of fun okay uh one thing that's real for me um you know we kind of talked about the defense I had that marked down I don't Ladd McConkey becomes a safety blanket option think we really need to to Hash that out but I I want to shout out lad again because I think the way that he played is just indicative of somebody who's continually going to grow into a security blanket type of role and just continue to gain Justin's trust and the way that he played one little detail that matters a lot about lad is he always attacks the football and he a lot of young receivers don't understand that once you get to the NFL you know these quarterbacks are really really good and they can close the gap in a hurry and lad can really just be so good at attacking the football um his first catch I wasn't you know crazy about the way that that play that was designed um and then Justin kind of threw it back to the inside and and he forced him right back into the defender which is great which is not great the second one which is where he lined up outside and he ran kind of a curl back it was like a deep curl you know he created the separation at the top of the route and he came right back up and attacked the football and then he turned around and Dove for the first down it was beautiful it was textbook kind of Route running um and then late in the fourth quarter he had a a a a stick route and Justin Herbert kind of kind of threw a bad ball you know and he ended up getting sandwich between two Defenders but he full extension plucked that ball and he just like his hands are so so sound and things like that add up when you're playing with a guy like Justin Herbert because he is going to continually you know Express how much he trusts you by the way that he throws you the football and so I think lad is had a fantastic fantastic debut and the way that he attacks the football the way that he gets open you know it's just really trending towards those two developing a really really nice Rapport great relationship I I would love to see him get some more vertical opportunities but I was so pleased with the way lad got open on tape the way he tacked the football on tape created yards after catch created a couple first downs and then obviously the touchdown was just nasty work uh from after the catch standpoint and he hit him with a it's over celebration after which I love to see so I thought lad was fantastic on tape I thought he was fantastic on Sunday but it just really is trending so positively for him potentially being the number one receiver this year yeah he looks the part of the reason they drafted him I I can't wait to see what they can do down the field but just the Knack even from the first comeback I think maybe from the slot on the right side he caught the football created separation came back caught the football immediately just knew how to turn get past the defender and get a first down same thing on that shot Crosser for the touchdown made two guys miss he just gets it he gets space he gets how to get open he gets how to move it's exciting to see what they're going to do with him it feels like the Chargers got their I don't know Z flowers I guess in the second round like they found their Twitchy Yak guy um and frankly I think makuni is honestly was a better prospect it's particularly with the hands so excited to see what he does but you know for as much as we love Palmer there's definitely something Maki has that he doesn't and so if he becomes the receiver one especially with ch you know Char's absence now I'm excited to see what he does and but I think so far just based on what he did in one game he's worth the selection least he showed why he's worth the selection yeah I would agree with that so all things very very positive for the first two rookies of the Chargers class the third rookie I think had some really positive moments and this is my what is fake the fake of Chargers' pass defense this game I think is the Chargers pass defense I think they finished uh 11 11 in EPA per dropback this week or 12th or something like that um a lot of it I think is is fake because a gardner muu left a lot of meat on the bone like this is a guy who just was not seen the field the way that I think you probably should as an NFL starter um there were a couple snaps where Devonte or jacobe Myers are like literally wide open and Garner mire does not even look that way so it's just it it was it was very nice to see certain things but one thing I I am concerned about from a growing pain standpoint these two young linebackers Deion Henley and Junior Coulson when it came to like dropping for depth and dropping to match routes had some really really big issues there um and again neither of these players have played a whole lot a lot of that can come through reps but I think in the short term against better quarterbacks these linebackers are going to have some issues and you know Brock Bowers had some really nasty moments against these linebackers and again Garner MCH was not able to take advantage from time to time so I think the Chargers defense got off to a really really positive start there were a lot of encouraging signs but I think the coverage aspect from the linebackers and the cornerbacks is still a concern of mine and you know I got a lot of like top 10 defense comments on Sunday I would like to pump the braks there again a lot more positive than negative but when they play Patrick Mahomes in a couple weeks like they are going to go after these linebackers they're gonna go after these quarterbacks and [ __ ] they went after P they went after ran Smith in week one man like it's it's a concern for me of what these better quarterbacks in the league can do against these linebackers until they get more comfortable in the scheme more comfortable dropping it's all through experience I still believe in the ceiling I'm not I'm not questioning them as as players or anything like that but just the lack of experience really showed up like probably 15 times on tape for those two oh wow uh yes so I I didn't get to the back end of the defense to see what was going on there so that's a bummer to hear I know the numbers like 11th in EPA great that's that's pretty solid um Christian Folton statistically had a solid Day Z not so much both in terms of like analytics perspective and also just raw stats perspective not great there what I was very apparent to me and I'd have to actually watch this but I think you agree the linebackers in terms of getting depth it felt like several times maybe even particularly with Deon Henley where I felt like he would just stop his feet yes and it was very it was very easy for muu if he had time to finally to find someone over him and between him and whoever the DB was there were several times where if if I I expected Henley sitting in a Zone to see mchu and and shift move get depth whatever it was and break up the pass and watching it live I'm like why would you throw that he's right there you know Henley's going to moveed to that spot he just never quite did so I agree with you know that part of coverage um yeah I'm definitely wait and see I I look I didn't think they'd be able to handle Devonte Adams and Brock Bowers whether it's on muu or not the outcome was better than I expected so I got to give him props there for sure but I do want to see it against like you said a Patrick M homes what does that look like um heck even Lamar Jackson or Joe burrow or whoever it is guys that are not Garder men Shu not gonna self fumble and and all that jazz so we'll see yeah I'm not I'm not like red alert like this is going to be an issue for the team all season long um and they can continue to get better but if this version like if the Chargers had to go play Patrick Mahomes right now like the linebackers are going to have issues they have to go play Jo bur right now they're going to have issues the good news is they'll play Patrick early but then they don't have to play Joe burrow and these better quarterbacks until very late in the season so they're gonna be able to learn and really get their feet wet I mean Junior missed the bulk of training camp and I feel good about him matching up individually in coverage like he had a great great pass break up on Michael Mayer that really showed like where he's at from a man-to-man perspective but it's just different when you're playing cover three and you have to drop to the hook and then you have to match routes and you have to be able to keep communicating just felt like both of them were kind of static there and so against some of these better quarterbacks I think it'll be an issue I'm not like pumping the brakes on them as players by any means but you know I'm not fully buying into having them having like this amazing high-end pass defense when stuff like that is going on and Asante is struggling with the same things he's always struggled with and Jer Taylor Christian Fon were targeted five times combined so it just I'm kind of you know pumping the breaks a bit on the defense overall but the defensive line was awesome the run defense was great the safety play was fantastic so a lot more positive than negative but the past defense I need to see it against a better quarterback first yeah I agree I mean the the mshu Luke gety coordinator combination is not exactly one to be feared heck even St Sten and and minu was a bit obviously a much better combination before so yeah Reed homes whoever it ends up being got to see it and if they do this you know if if Kelsey has you know 59 yards or whatever BS had you know rashed rice has 56 or whatever Adams had yeah then yeah you I'll eat crow that's top 10 defense in route to a top 10 defense if they're healthy but just just got to see it so not pessimistic you aren't pessimistic but we just don't buy it yet even though statistically it bore out pretty well not so sure just yet yeah and listen man you can beat up on these bad quarterbacks and be a top 10 defense in this league like we've seen that time and time again top 15 defense you know and you take care of business against the non- elite quarterbacks you can have a great season but if this for these two players in particular to reach their potential they got to get more comfortable back there and I I do believe that can come with reps um all right Tyler I I think this was a great conversation hopefully you guys enjoyed this uh you know uh we're excited about doing this every single week um do you have any final thoughts from the all 22 tape that you watched this week um I do not uh I'll get to one just not necessarily all 22 comment but people are asking about it and then also the Super Chat from Easy Shot um did you guys feel like Pierce mentally waved the white flag on the infamous fourth and one punt yeah I thought I thought he waved the white flag on the field goal I think I think as soon as the Chargers realized the Raiders were just folding then they took over like part of them taking over the Raiders blinked the Chargers didn't and they won that game yeah I think when you are not a great team you got to take chances in those situations and I think for the Raiders in particular you know some people were saying like oh like the defense was playing great in my opinion that's a reason to be aggressive because you know in the fourth and one situation you know at that point in time it was still 16 to1 and if you had been able to go score a touchdown or even score a field goal that tremendously helps your chances of winning the football game but if you punt the Chargers have a chance to go score and ENT essentially end the game like the risk is way higher from punting whereas if you go for it the worst that can happen is the worst that can happen also if you punt it so the benefits of going for it there were just significantly greater and the analytics the data models whatever one you like it was like one of the most obvious go forward situations of the weekend and if not like one of the it was it was crazy high that like you go for that like nine times out of 10 10 times out of 10 kind of deal so yeah it was it was bad the field goal I can kind of understand because Carlson's a great kicker and and he can go usually make that kick like when he missed that kick I was stunned at what I saw especially in a dome so the field goal I can kind of understand the punt I was like what is this guy doing right now like this is a chance for you to go potentially win this game and instead they were like uh we're good yeah oh well thank you sure yep thanks uh did you have something besides the Super Chat oh people are asking about JK dobins versus Gus Edwards how close are we to a switch that JK is the official rb1 if he wasn't already uh I think JK is more naturally a talented Runner I think his vision is is higher but I think Gus Edwards is going to have a lot of value to this team still you know Greg Roman said they're gonna ride the hot hand I think obviously that is JK dobins right now but this next week when you're playing the Panthers you're trying to like pound the football like I do think we see Gus have a a pretty big game this week so I think we just need more data like yes J looks good but he's also coming off two major major injuries and he said on the pat mcka show I feel like I've been 100% for months now that's cool and all to say but we've seen so many players really struggle with these kind of injury recoveries so I think we need more data Gus also had some injury issues during training camp so I think we just got to wait and see right now I think JK is in the lead but I'm not ready to cement him as as like true rv1 and I don't think they're really ever going to be like you know a Workhorse situation I think it's it's going to be close to a split every single week because I think they trust both of these running backs to to play I agree any final takeaways from you no that was it man it was a great film watching experience um I got to watch quality blocking tight ends for the first time in a long time will disley had a rough first quarter from a penalty perspective but I thought he had some some great moments in the Run game uh J on Gus Edwards big run he was like the key Lynch bin to that play So I think Daniel popper tweeted out a clip if you want to go watch that so I thought dley was really good as a blocker I thought Hurst was good as a blocker tolton again play those three guys not the defensive tackle who's never played fullback in his life yeah yeah I'm open to other Solutions yeah but uh yeah it was a great experience I love watching tape I nerd out it's great I love it it's it's a fun time good stuff alrighty uh that's going to do it for us today uh we are going to be live on Thursday I believe at 5:30 or 6 around same time it's Thursday Night Football of week two you know I'm not like too keen on on uh I'm not too worried about missing it so you guys will be here I'm sure but we wanted to podcast at a normal time instead of at like 900 PM like last week so we'll be live on Thursday for our uh Panthers preview I don't know how many things we're going to talk about of keeping us up at night about this match up but we'll find something I'm sure um but it's gonna be a fun time we appreciate all of you for tuning in make sure like subscribe comment all that good stuff does help continue to the show this has been the guilty is charge podcast as always butter