Defense Trending Up?

[OhioBolt]

I think the D will get better as the season rolls on.

1. The DL up front Melbane has made a difference, Caraun Reid has played well, Liguet isn't playing like he did last year which is a plus, and Joey Bosa should be getting in the mix if not this week then next week. Come week 5 we have Dominque Square back from the suspension the addition of these two guys helps rotation and helps put more pressure up front versus the run and pass

2. LB have been exposed by running backs in the pass game as well as the TE, but we are seeing a rapid developing player in Jatavius Brown who can cover and flat out play. Teo and Perryman need to pick there game up but I think you'll see an improvement with both of them when Square and Bosa come back. OLB Melvin got his first 2 sacks of the year and should continue, Emanuel won the starting position haven't seen nothing overly impressive but again nothing overly negative, Attouchi needs to become consistent he has the physical tools.


3. My main concerns about the secondary going into this season was Flowers based on last year and the both starting safeties (Lowery & Addae). Well so far Flowers looking okay, Verrett is the new Revis Island, and Casey Hayward is starting material and has paid big dividends in a short time frame. To the problem area safeties we may of just got a little better with Addae injury. Addae miss tackles going for kill shots out of position overly aggressive and ZERO interceptions in his career, the other safety Lowery knows where to be just can't always get there the combination of both starting is bad, now insert McCoil he has range and speed, he is able to cover the TE and has shown to be a good tackler.


If we can stay healthy the D is trending upward. Only other thing that I see that could be a problem is Pagano not making good in game adjustments.

[Boltergeist]

I'm loving what I've seen of Reid. On one play he was in the QB's face and then after the pass made a hard hit nine or ten yards down the field.

[chargerkdb]

I thought the Reid pick up would be good for depth. I think his release was because he lost out in a numbers game. Another mans trash and all that. Good players get released. I hope he has found his new home

[Lightningwill_420]

I think the D will be what it has been for years - not counting the first half of last season.
The D will look good against one-dimensional teams that Pagano can hide all his shitty players from. And we will look horrendous against teams that can block, pass, and run.
There is only so much we can do defensively with a really bad front seven.

[Millionaire Wussy]

I'm loving what I've seen of Reid. On one play he was in the QB's face and then after the pass made a hard hit nine or ten yards down the field.

Reid can move extremely well. I can't recall an interior d-lineman that we've ever had who could run so well. Great add by TT. Hard to believe he was cut. Seems like we're getting very lucky this year on players that are available on waivers or off the street.

[QSmokey]

I think the D will be what it has been for years - not counting the first half of last season.
The D will look good against one-dimensional teams that Pagano can hide all his shitty players from. And we will look horrendous against teams that can block, pass, and run.
There is only so much we can do defensively with a really bad front seven.

Far be it from me to even hint at being positive but I think you're being a bit harsh by claiming, as you have, that the defense contains only one good player (which I gotta believe is Verrett). No teams has 11 (or even 10 or 9 or 8) great starters on defense. Not saying this defense is even in the top half of the League, but it *has* played 3 good halfs of football so far this year. Mebane has been a nice addition, and Reid has been a nice surprise. Luiget hasn't been terrible, either (regardless of whether his salary and performance are on par). If Bosa turns out to be half the player we hope he is, that can only help.

As for the DBs, I think Heyward has played well thus far; as has Flowers. And Verrett, IMO, is a top 5 CB. We are extremely vulnerable at Safety, but perhaps McCoil can step up (and save Addae from CTS at 28).

Which brings us to the LBs. Obviously Perryman has got to raise his game. And Te'o is just a guy, IMO. But the player who has exceeded expectations is Brown. So I think that's been an unexpected plus.

I realize that it's easy to be optimistic after a blowout win; even against a hapless team like the Jaguars. So yeah, the first time we play a good team we'll see how well we fare. But even against two crappy opponents, the team has exceeded my expectations (which, granted, was pretty easy ).

[RTPbolt]

Q you call KC crappy? Not I....they were wat 11-5 last year? I think they have an excellent shot at the division.

The Jags have good players but im not sold on the cosching staff and schemes. Give them some credit they put up a good game against GB. We just have a better offense than GB in my opinion and I think we match up well against the Jags with our Defense.

Overall our D looks like it weathered the offseason well and is playing competitively AND forcing 4 turnovers is going to help a lot. Only 2 games in but I think we absolutely have improved...how much only time will tell. Indy has zero run game and their OL is very suspect so I expect a good showing if we can get to Luck and force some mistakes. If our offense starts off like it has we really force indy into a passing game which opens him up to the pass rush with a bad line.

[Steve]

Liuget has just had his two best games of his career. He knows we can cut him at the end of the year, and he is finally playing like he wants to stay. He is not running around blocks, and he is finally consistently playing his techniques. He is also not just making plays, but taking his share of plays as a decoy, taking on blocks and freeing his teammates up to make plays. In short, the guy finally looks like he gets it.

Ingram has always looked like he was slowly putting it together, but he has had a couple very good games too. The big difference is he isn't just running around. He looks like he knows what he is doing. I expect that he is not going to have anymore GB type games, where he almost singlehandedly loses the game for us by playing stupid.

Reid is playing very well too, and he is probably going to get better once he learns the D and gets to know the guys around him.

Before people get too excited about Bosa, this is a learning year for him. I think he will be a good run defender, and get some pressures on the QB, but the sacks and big plays will really start to happen in the future. He will flash some of it this year. Fortunately with Mebane, Reid and Liuget playing well, and Philon starting out well last week, I don't think we need him to play that well. If he does, it should help, and maybe he will be better than just about any other DL, but even if he develops at a more normal pace, Bosa will still be good addition.

Jatavis Brown had a couple of nice plays and I think he is going to be a nice addition down the stretch. Our ILB are not strong in coverage, but this kid can move. I think we will see a lot of him as a ILB in the nickle and dime, where he can neutralize a lot of the faster backs. It's just too bad he missed so much camp and preseason with his injury. He is playing well now, but I think he could be even better down the stretch.

I don't think we are as vulnerable at S as people think. Addae and Lowry are not playmakers, but they aren't the kind of guys who give up big plays that much either. They may not look good on the stat sheets, but they are OK players. I think McCoil may add the big play dimension if he can step up and add sme consistency to his game. The only thing which may slow him down is that he has spent so much time in OTA and in Canada playing like another LB, that it may take some time to step up at S.

AS far as exceeding expecations at LB, I think Perry is the guy who could do that. I know he hasn't done much yet, but Perry was a liability at this time last year. He couldn't cover, couldn't play the run, and was generally lost. If Perry can just keep sligging away at it, working at his craft, he has the kind of movement skills to split the other ILB job across from Perry with Brown. A lot of rookie LB take some time to figure out pro coverages, so we just need to be patient.

I thought the CB play would be a strength this year and it is. Heyward is a perfect fit to our scheme. I don't think he is going to intercept 2 passes per game, but he looked a lot more comfortable as the KC game progressed and then continued throughout the Jags game.

The other guy who has to get his head out of his butt is Attaochu. Ingram needs help with the rush off the edge, and Attaochu has the speed that compliments Ingrams mix of speed, moves and power. Emmanuel may turn out to be a complimentary rusher, but Attaochu is the kind of guy you can scare slow footed OT with, but only if he develops some consistency.

The Chargers have the makings of a very good D. Maybe not great, but good enough to hold the score down and allow our running game and Rivers off play action to score points. I still want to see us try and control the clock, because I don't want our very young D being left on the field for too many downs per game, but they have started off well and are picking things up as they go. This is the time of the season that we need Mebane to show his leadership and get after our younger players. If they start feeling too good about things, it's time to stop. Good D is not about ability, but about doing the little things right for 16 games. We let up on our LB pass drops in week 1 and it killed us. Now we need to keep playing solid, disiplined ball.

[Bolt-O]

Perry or Perryman?

[Steve]

Perry.

[Millionaire Wussy]

Perry.

How many Perry's do we have?

[MakoShark]

I think the D will be what it has been for years - not counting the first half of last season.
The D will look good against one-dimensional teams that Pagano can hide all his shitty players from. And we will look horrendous against teams that can block, pass, and run.
There is only so much we can do defensively with a really bad front seven.

I thought that stuff was supposed to make you feel better? Maybe you're doing it wrong.