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Post by totallybolted on Nov 8, 2020 19:48:21 GMT -7
I swear the first 2 end zone trips at the end of the 3rd and beginning of the 4th were the EXACT same plays to the same players... Parham and then Henry! We got lucky Henry got the hold call the second time. Terrible playcalling... i'm probably in the minority, but I'm liking our OC more. I get there are plays called that don't make sense, more of them than you might normally see, but he does mix it up, the plays aren't vanilla, and he takes risks. I'm ok with that. i think, like Lynn, there is a learning curve. I think he is getting better. I really do.
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Post by totallybolted on Nov 8, 2020 19:52:08 GMT -7
Telesco needs to follow Lynn out the door. The O Line has been weakness for the last 4 years and it still is. Zero depth that can fill in even near league average.
not ready for that. He has been pretty solid for every place else, and I think a bit handicapped in drafts when it came to OL. lamp and Feeney were the best attempt. Both had high ceilings. This draft he will have good opportunity to add.
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Post by moekid on Nov 8, 2020 19:57:22 GMT -7
Is nobody else livid that a fade to Parham is or call for the final play of the game? It's hilarious. I think the playcalling will improve when Herbert is ready
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Post by moekid on Nov 8, 2020 19:58:50 GMT -7
It looked to me like MW went out of bounds when he caught the ball at the 4. If he was we’d have had time for 4 plays from there. I also didn’t understand Lynn burning 20 sec’s before calling a time out when Herbert seemed to run for the 1st. As for the last play, Parham wasn’t open. I would rather see the ball go to Keenan or Henry in that circumstance but I really wanted to see JH do a qb draw In regard to MDub: Yup, it looked like it to me as well ... and Jay Posner as well. And the beat goes on. 🤷♂️ This stuff is just maddening and if I was Lynn I would be running down the sidelines screaming bloody murder.
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Post by cthommes on Nov 8, 2020 20:57:25 GMT -7
Is nobody else livid that a fade to Parham is or call for the final play of the game? It's hilarious. I think the playcalling will improve when Herbert is ready That will be cool. When Herbert is ready, will the refs stop fabricating pure bullshit?
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Post by moekid on Nov 8, 2020 21:21:25 GMT -7
I think the playcalling will improve when Herbert is ready That will be cool. When Herbert is ready, will the refs stop fabricating pure bullshit? Sadly I can’t guarantee that although I do think winners get more respect. I also think the coach needs to demand it from the refs.
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Post by lightsout42 on Nov 8, 2020 23:47:16 GMT -7
Popper’s latest. Depressing. Especially the part about Lynn likely coming back.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. — There was a moment Sunday afternoon, however brief and fleeting, when the Chargers and their fans thought they had witnessed the merciful end to this recurring nightmare. The referee, walking forward slowly from the back corner of the end zone, had his arms raised to signal a touchdown. Tight end Donald Parham rose to his feet, and with the ball secured in his right hand, started sprinting parallel to the end line. Hunter Henry had his arm around Parham’s shoulder, his first raised to the sky, and Parham kept running, jubilant, as teammates swarmed him from every which way. Quarterback Justin Herbert and right guard Cole Toner hugged like two siblings who had been separated for decades. Chargers players paraded off the sideline, screaming and jumping. Parham ended his dash with a hop step before spiking the ball into the SoFi Stadium turf, the frustration of an entire organization transformed into kinetic energy.
It was catharsis.
The Chargers, in that instant, were Bill Murray in the movie “Groundhog Day,” finding happiness through love and breaking the time loop.
But here is a little-known fact about that film: Phil Connors, Murray’s character, is estimated by the film’s director to have spent 30 to 40 years reliving that same fateful day, waking up and smashing his alarm clock to smithereens. The magic of Hollywood fit it all into less than two hours of screen time. The Chargers do not have access to those same tricks. They cannot speed this up through montages and cross dissolves. They are stuck in their own time loop, in which Sundays are destined for cruel and unusual punishment — the types of losses that leave even the strongest and most determined of men, like head coach Anthony Lynn, downtrodden and defeated — and they have no fast-forward button.
After reviewing the play, referee Brad Rogers overturned the call. Parham juggled the ball as he went to the ground, Rogers ruled. “Game over,” he said.
The Chargers lost to the Raiders, 31-26, on yet another play late in regulation that they did not make. They are now 0-9 in the AFC West since the start of the 2019 season. They are 3-15 in one-score games over that same span and they fell to 2-6 this season.
Here are my observations.
So what now?
The Chargers’ situation really has not changed much. I know that is not what people want to hear after another loss like this, but I do not think the team will be moving on from Lynn, despite his players repeatedly shrinking in the biggest moments. Ultimately, this season always has been about one thing and one thing only: developing Justin Herbert. Before the pregame injection mishap with Tyrod Taylor in Week 2, the Chargers believed the best way to facilitate that development was by having Herbert watch and learn. The circumstances obviously have changed, but the goal has not. Herbert’s growth is the organization’s priority, as it should be. And he continues to get better and better every week. That, more than anything, is why I believe Lynn remains safe.
As the head coach, Lynn is responsible for the team’s losses. In that same vein, though, he also is responsible for the good developments, like Herbert’s rise. Continuity is absolutely essential to success for a young quarterback early in his career. I understand the frustration among fans. I certainly have my doubts about Lynn’s capabilities as a head coach. But the organization has to keep Herbert’s growth at the forefront of their decision-making process. In their eyes, continuity is the best thing for Herbert. And so this offensive coaching staff, as currently constructed — Lynn, offensive coordinator Shane Steichen and quarterbacks coach Pep Hamilton — is the best thing for Herbert, who threw for 326 yards and two touchdowns with no turnovers in the loss.
The organization has always looked to 2021 as the decisive year for this regime. That coincides with the end of Lynn’s contract. Herbert will be in his second season. The Chargers hope to be healthier and have their best player, safety Derwin James, on the field.
Could they make other changes this season or during the offseason, like moving on from defensive coordinator Gus Bradley, whose unit has been wildly inconsistent this season? Perhaps.
For now, though, I do not see Lynn going anywhere. I am not saying I agree with that. I am simply reporting my expectation.
To me, the failure to close out these close games is indicative of a culture issue, one exacerbated by a maddeningly unaggressive coach. I have written at length about this before, and my opinion has not changed, so I am not going to rehash.
But on Sunday, for example, Lynn punted on fourth-and-1 for the fifth time in eight games this season.
Don’t expect the Chargers to disrupt Justin Herbert’s rookie season by firing Anthony Lynn.
The final sequence
The Chargers trailed the Raiders, 28-26, with 8:20 remaining in regulation when Bradley’s defense forced a crucial three-and-out. AJ Cole punted. Chargers returner K.J. Hill muffed it — yet another negative play from a Chargers special-teams group that has underperformed all season. Las Vegas recovered deep in Chargers territory and went on to kick a field goal to go up by five points.
Herbert proceeded to march the Chargers down the field in a little over four minutes to set up two shots at the end zone from the 4-yard line. I know some of you had issues with time management. It was far from the most efficient drive. But Herbert and the offense gave the team a chance. That is really all you can ask for from a rookie quarterback in that situation. This was not high on my list of missteps from this game.
On second-and-goal, Herbert attempted a fade ball to receiver Mike Williams, who was in single coverage against an inexperienced backup cornerback in Isaiah Johnson. Williams almost made the catch, but he lost the ball as he took a really hard fall. I was fine with this play call. Williams is typically great in jump-ball situations. Running a quick pass like this one guaranteed another play for the Chargers if Williams did not make the play.
What I did have an issue with was going back to that same fade route on the next play. When I asked Lynn about it after the game, he said the Chargers actually called an option play. The coaching staff allowed Herbert to read the coverage. If Parham had a one-on-one matchup on the outside — which he did, also against Johnson — then Herbert would go there with the ball. If the Chargers had the advantage in the box, then Herbert had the option to run. The Chargers had four receivers to the left side of the formation and Parham alone to the right. The Raiders kept six defenders in the box to match up with the Chargers’ five offensive linemen and Herbert. The Chargers did not have an advantage, so Herbert threw to the 6-foot-8 Parham, who couldn’t secure the catch.
“I thought it was a good call,” Lynn said. “We didn’t execute the play.”
I did not think this was a good call, despite Parham’s size advantage. Herbert is the Chargers’ best offensive player right now. If I were calling the shots, I would have put the ball in his hands on a bootleg. Roll him out to the right and allow him to either make a throw on the run or take off for the end zone. To not even put him in that scenario on either of the two plays, I thought, was poor decision-making. The two fade routes back-to-back were unimaginative. Steichen and Lynn could and should have done better with the play call on the final snap of the game.
About the defense…
In the week leading up to this game, Lynn was keenly aware of the Raiders’ size along the offensive line and their ability to run the ball. He mentioned a misconception about Las Vegas head coach Jon Gruden.
“I know Jon,” Lynn said Wednesday. “People think Jon is a passing guru. But Jon will run the football 50 times if you let him. And so we’re definitely going to have to figure out a way to stop his rushing attack.”
For whatever reason, this message did not get through to his defensive staff and players. The Raiders ran all over the Chargers, particularly in the first half. They were averaging more than eight yards per carry after the first two quarters and finished the game with 160 yards and two touchdowns on 26 carries, for a 6.2 yards-per-carry average. The Chargers’ defense lacked intensity when pursuing the Raiders’ ballcarriers. It was a poor showing in this regard, despite some improvement in the second half, and represented yet another major lapse from Bradley’s unit.
“Six yards a carry is not good enough,” Lynn said.
The coverage also broke down on two key plays in the third quarter. Raiders receiver Nelson Agholor beat Casey Hayward on a go route for a 45-yard touchdown. Then, Hunter Renfrow got behind Hayward on a broken play on the next drive for a gain of 53 yards. Hayward has played really good football for the Chargers for several years, but he looks like a diminished player this season.
Kenneth Murray got benched
The Chargers were ecstatic when they traded back into the first round in April to draft linebacker Kenneth Murray. But Sunday represented a low point in Murray’s young professional career.
After the Raiders jumped ahead 14-7 with their second rushing touchdown of the first half, the Chargers benched Murray, their starting middle linebacker, and replaced him with veteran Denzel Perryman.
Murray had played 100 percent of the defensive snaps in each of the last three games as the unit’s signal-caller. But he was not on the field much in the second half of this game. He only came in when the Chargers went to their base package with three linebackers. Perryman and Kyzir White were the linebackers in the nickel package, and Perryman was the lone linebacker on the field in the dime package. Murray had served that role over the previous three weeks.
Lynn explained that he removed Murray from the game because of “communication issues.”
There is no way to spin this positively. This is a step back for Murray. We will see how this affects his role moving forward.
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Post by eurobolt on Nov 9, 2020 2:16:44 GMT -7
Can we please fire Antonio Lame enough is enough.
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Post by chargerfreak on Nov 9, 2020 2:37:30 GMT -7
Is nobody else livid that a fade to Parham is or call for the final play of the game? It's hilarious. I think the playcalling will improve when Herbert is ready Nominated Post of the Day.
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Post by NYBOLTFAN1 on Nov 9, 2020 5:16:54 GMT -7
Just checking in to see if Spano's has sold the team yet? That's when the Chargers will actually win a championship.
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Post by afboltfan on Nov 9, 2020 7:30:03 GMT -7
Telesco needs to follow Lynn out the door. The O Line has been weakness for the last 4 years and it still is. Zero depth that can fill in even near league average.
not ready for that. He has been pretty solid for every place else, and I think a bit handicapped in drafts when it came to OL. lamp and Feeney were the best attempt. Both had high ceilings. This draft he will have good opportunity to add. That's arguable... He seems to have finally got one right at linebacker with Murray, but other than that no. Verrett was a bad pick, and now it looks like Derwyn James was a bad pick... I realize TT can't tell the future with injuries, but he still needs to be held responsible for the players put on the field. Oline is an obvious disaster, and we haven't had a reliable kicker in years... I think TT is just ok at being a GM... There are much better and there are much worse. He falls in the middle... This team will stay average to below average with what we have in place now with management.
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Post by moekid on Nov 9, 2020 7:38:32 GMT -7
not ready for that. He has been pretty solid for every place else, and I think a bit handicapped in drafts when it came to OL. lamp and Feeney were the best attempt. Both had high ceilings. This draft he will have good opportunity to add. That's arguable... He seems to have finally got one right at linebacker with Murray, but other than that no. Verrett was a bad pick, and now it looks like Derwyn James was a bad pick... I realize TT can't tell the future with injuries, but he still needs to be held responsible for the players put on the field. Oline is an obvious disaster, and we haven't had a reliable kicker in years... I think TT is just ok at being a GM... There are much better and there are much worse. He falls in the middle... This team will stay average to below average with what we have in place now with management. Murray has been invisible lately and was benched for the second half yesterday.
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Post by afboltfan on Nov 9, 2020 7:45:13 GMT -7
That's arguable... He seems to have finally got one right at linebacker with Murray, but other than that no. Verrett was a bad pick, and now it looks like Derwyn James was a bad pick... I realize TT can't tell the future with injuries, but he still needs to be held responsible for the players put on the field. Oline is an obvious disaster, and we haven't had a reliable kicker in years... I think TT is just ok at being a GM... There are much better and there are much worse. He falls in the middle... This team will stay average to below average with what we have in place now with management. Murray has been invisible lately and was benched for the second half yesterday. So Herbert gets the "rookie must learn" treatment but not Murray? Murray is still and will continue to be one of our more talented defenders.
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Post by afboltfan on Nov 9, 2020 8:02:56 GMT -7
Regarding Popper's piece:
Lynn has nothing to do with Herbert's development, at least positively speaking, he can still have a negative impact. Steichen is not qualified enough nor has the experience... Pep Hamilton is key to Herbert's development and should be given credit. besides wasn't it said that Herbert has already had several coaching changes over his football life? Bad excuse by Popper...
I don't think Lynn goes anywhere this year either... Its funny how he mentions Derwin James as hopeful for being on the field. We were hoping for that this year as well... Its crazy how they think DJ is some catalyst to us all of a sudden getting more wins. I just don't see it...
We've been saying this for years with the last 3 coaches... Sounds like a Spanos and to some degree TT issue...
Lynn will vehemently defend Steichen because he is his guy... Whisenhunt was a hold over, so that was not the case last year. I think the issue with Murray is a sign of Bradley and Lynn's relationship and right now it is rocky. I expect some drama to come from this and I doubt Bradley finishes the year, I wouldn't even be surprised if he quits.
This pain train is just picking up steam ladies and gentlemen!!!
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Post by moekid on Nov 9, 2020 8:07:26 GMT -7
Murray has been invisible lately and was benched for the second half yesterday. So Herbert gets the "rookie must learn" treatment but not Murray? Murray is still and will continue to be one of our more talented defenders. Herbert is performing like a veteran starter. Murray isn’t.
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