Frank Reich

[MakoShark]

I must be tripping. I thought Clary was horrible at RT but pretty good at RG.

That's good stuff holmes...I was thinking the same thing about Clary.

[Sec-E4]

The lone loss of Hardwick is not the issue.

So it's just coincidence then?? Hardwick leaves, Then shit hits the fan.....Hardwick was the leader & kept those guys in check. Now they all look lost & have no idea what to do.

[ArtistFormerlyKnownAsBKR]

That's been my position all along: at RG, Clary is a solid starter. The results this season seems to be backing me up.

I thought he did a nice job for us last year. Not an all pro season, but pretty solid. Certainly better in the passing game.

[blueman]

This is so good on so many levels.

This line overachieved big time last year. And now we're minus 2 solid starters from it (Clary and Hardwick). One could argue we might need 4 new OL next year. Only guy that should be guaranteed a spot should be Fluker, and it might not even be at RT. Jury still out on Watt, obviously. I feel like everybody else we have out there is backup material AT BEST. Atrocious.

They didn't overachieve last season, it was two fifths different players (no Clary and Hardwick this season), Fluker w/o a bad ankle, and Rinehart playing on the other side (which apparently makes a difference for him...). Last year's oline was as good as it was, legit (even if some still don't like to admit it); this year's oline is as bad as it is, and it's mostly up the middle (no surprise).

[thelightningwill]

I must be tripping. I thought Clary was horrible at RT but pretty good at RG.

I don't have Steve-like abilities, and I was actually tripping at times, but Clary, in my opinion, was horrible at right tackle and pretty acceptable at right guard. He wasn't pretty good at anything other than smiling on the bench when we were losing. Unfortunately, his replacements haven't even been acceptable.

[Steve]

It is not just how the OG have been playing. Not that the OG have played well, but their individual performances are not as bad as the overall performance of the line. It seems like on so many plays, 2 of the 3 inside guys do a good job, and there is a big breakdown by the 3rd and the play disintegrates on us. So, the big thing that needs to happen is we need to get the entire line, especially inside playing as a single unit. It just hasn't really happened since Oliver's 2 big games. And it is not just the run blocking, but the pass blocking is just as big an issue.

Fluker is finally being exposed somewhat, but I don't think he has eliminated himself as our RT of the future. He needs to doa better job of sinking his hips and not getting caught with his weight too far forward. Almost all of the big plays he has given up, running and passing, you can see that is what he is doing. He just needs to be patient, keep his weight over the balls of his feet and sink his butt, and not bend at the waist. It seems simple, but when you are the size of him, it is a lot tougher then it looks. Hopefully, he can spend some time getting back to fundamentals this week.

But every guy on our OL has been a successful OL at some point, although in Watt's case, it is just in college. This is a good enough group to get by with. They are not good enough as individuals, so the key is working as a unit. That is what propelled our offense late last year. The OL finally got it all together and all played well as a unit.

AS far as Clary, I think he was always a solid player. RT are not tremendous pass protectors, or they would have been left tackles. He got exposed because everything Norv put a lot of extra pressure on our OT. Deep drops, having the QB hold the ball, not much help with chip blocks and we split our TE out wide most of the time. Then add in how much we asked him to pass in obvious situations, sometimes 40-50 times a game, he was always bound to give up some sacks, as Fluker is now, although Fluker is not nearly being placed on as much an island as Clary used to be.

Clary was a pretty good OG last year. He is never going to be a mauler, but if you are OK with him getting on his man and occupying him, keep him from making the tackle, then he is fine. He is never going to be the dominant guy, but when I would go back and watch him, at the end of the game, it always had him grading out pretty well. Not a top grade on most plays, just better then avreage and consistently going it. He also didnt give up many negative plays, which is something we sorely have lacked.

The real problem on O the last few weeks is that we have been committing penalties. We are stopping ourselves. And it is on early downs. We did some of that early in the year, but showed a great deal of toughness overcoming it. Now, not so much. Not that they are just getting pummeled, but we aren't executing at such a high level.

The reason we aren't executing so well is that teams are playing to just stop the short passing game. We either need to get our running game (inside and outside) going, or hit some deeper passes. To me the key will be start running and then get Green going on the play action game. The guy is still not a great route runner, but he is terribly effective on play action, and without our running game, the play action threat is not there. But teams can't keep playing this 1 deep zone crap against us if Floyd is going deep, and Green is drawing the S away from him. THey have to loosen the tight underneath coverage, and it will give Allen and Gates all the room they need.

[RollingThunder]

This guy is is going to get our QB killed(he's already killed his confidence) if he doesn't get his head out of his ass. His play calling has been exposed and it is the opposite of what we were last year. Long developing plays. He places both our QB and our weak offensive line at a disadvantage.

Last year it was all about rythm and timing in the huddle, calling quick plays to negate the pash rush. Ken Whisenhunt preached about having a certain pace to the offense and controlling the defense that way. This offense looks like the clumsy, norv turner coached offense of a couple years ago.

[Millionaire Wussy]

This guy is is going to get our QB killed if he doesn't get his head out of his ass. His play calling has been exposed and it is the opposite of what we were last year. Long developing plays. He places both our QB and our weak offensive line at a disadvantage.

Last year it was all about rythm and timing in the huddle, calling quick plays to negate the pash rush. Ken Whisenhunt preached about having a certain pace to the offense and controlling the defense that way. This offense looks like the clumsy, norv turner coached offense of a couple years ago.

Something is fucking Rivers' game up.

[TTK]

I thought for sure they were going to go run heavy in the second half since they showed improvement in the run game, and especially after the Rivers scare.

Not digging the play calling. Of course, I didn't really care for Whisenhunt either. Guess I'm hard to please.

[Stinky Wizzleteats+]

I'm not sure its the play calling the scheme of Rivers having a rib injury. What I saw that was concerning is Allen and Rivers not on the same page... The Laderious Green invisibility is also a concern. I thought it was because his routes require the oline to protect longer but Rivers does not seem to look his way often until he is under pressure.

If we are going to use him like this next year I would trade him. The offence has lost some of that magic it had late last year and earlier this year. Anyway I am kind of thinking we may need a new OC next year...

:fc:

[Coachmarkos]

I don't think there's anything wrong with the playcalling or scheme.

Players got to execute. How many dropped passes have the chargers had? Last year led the league in not dropping passes. Our draw plays look terrible...but they looked better last week with Mathews in there. And Woodhead is awesome at them. That's also part of it. Losing Hardwick is part of it, for sure. then losing his backup, and his backups backup, and then losing the backup again... Good Grief.

River has been off target last couple games, now we know why.

[Panama]

This guy is is going to get our QB killed(he's already killed his confidence) if he doesn't get his head out of his ass. His play calling has been exposed and it is the opposite of what we were last year. Long developing plays. He places both our QB and our weak offensive line at a disadvantage.

Last year it was all about rythm and timing in the huddle, calling quick plays to negate the pash rush. Ken Whisenhunt preached about having a certain pace to the offense and controlling the defense that way. This offense looks like the clumsy, norv turner coached offense of a couple years ago.

Not a very in-depth analysis. Did you stop and wonder why his playcalling is what it's been? His playcalling was brilliant early in the season, exactly what you are calling for, and now it's shit. Do you think that's because Reich has suddenly gone from brilliant to shit in the course of a few games, or perhaps because the situation dictates it? Let's see. We haven't been able to run for shit, and opposing teams know this, and our OL can't sustain blocks, which opposing teams also know, so they play to take away our short passing game. Trying to force the issue when the short passing game isn't there is probably not smart, and one way to loosen it up is to start hitting a few plays deep. I do believe that's what Reich is trying to accomplish. And I believe he can see just as well as we can that it's not working. The coaching staff will have to go back to the drawing board to figure things out, but as long as our OL plays like shit and defenses crowd up to take away the short passing game, there might not be a heck of a lot they can do.