2021 Official Chargers Season Discusssion

[Topcat]

This was a big takeaway from the pressers.....

7. Michael Thomas has put up record-setting numbers for the Saints as the X receiver in Payton’s offense. Mike Williams will be playing the same position for the Chargers, and Lombardi was very bullish on Williams for 2021. Williams is entering the final year of his contract. “As much as this offense will resemble New Orleans, he plays the ‘X’ and the ball has always kind of found the ‘X’ receiver in this offense,” Lombardi said of Williams. “I think that there will be some natural production that comes his way because of the nature of the offense.”

Lombardi added: “I see a big role for him. If I were a betting man, I’d bet on nice numbers coming from him on the stat sheet, that’s for sure.”

Good. Sets Mike Will up for a big stat season, which translates to a possible 3rd round comp pick after he leaves us next year...

[eaterfan]

Three big things I thought of while reading:

1. I disagree with those who are excited about Mike Williams playing the Mike Thomas role. The similarities end after the name Mike. Williams is a huge guy who pretty much only uses his size and athleticism to get jump balls. He's a bad route runner. Thomas is a top 3 route runner in the league and uses technique to always be open. If only we had a receiver who for that description who could fill that roll...

I'll reserve judgement until I see how it works, but I don't see it as a sure thing.

2. I was excited about the receivers having more freedom, but this could also backfire. Say what you want about Stiechen, but his strength was getting ready reads for Herbert. Giving receivers more freedom means Herbert may have to hold the ball longer. I hope the OL improved, but if not, it could get ugly.

3. Really excited about Adderley. I was hesitant. To me he seems like a guy with great speed and not a guy who was great at reading the play. That's the opposite of what Staley needs in his safeties. It's great to hear he's doing great at the trivia game diagnosing the plays!

[CivilBolt]

Three big things I thought of while reading:

1. I disagree with those who are excited about Mike Williams playing the Mike Thomas role. The similarities end after the name Mike. Williams is a huge guy who pretty much only uses his size and athleticism to get jump balls. He's a bad route runner. Thomas is a top 3 route runner in the league and uses technique to always be open. If only we had a receiver who for that description who could fill that roll...

I'll reserve judgement until I see how it works, but I don't see it as a sure thing.

2. I was excited about the receivers having more freedom, but this could also backfire. Say what you want about Stiechen, but his strength was getting ready reads for Herbert. Giving receivers more freedom means Herbert may have to hold the ball longer. I hope the OL improved, but if not, it could get ugly.

3. Really excited about Adderley. I was hesitant. To me he seems like a guy with great speed and not a guy who was great at reading the play. That's the opposite of what Staley needs in his safeties. It's great to hear he's doing great at the trivia game diagnosing the plays!

Just my two cents...
1. We already have a wr that uses technique to always get open and his name is Keenan Allen.

2. Having more freedom for wr is good. I don’t think JH got his timing/anticipation to Rivers level yet that if there’s miscommunication it is either an incompletion or INT.

3. I agree with Adderley. I want to see what he can do with this innovative scheme.

[chargeroo]

Like the new special teams coach a lot - what a difference!

I wonder if Lombardi is sick?

To me it seems KA is the guy that would play the Thomas role.

[eaterfan]

Just my two cents...
1. We already have a wr that uses technique to always get open and his name is Keenan Allen.

2. Having more freedom for wr is good. I don’t think JH got his timing/anticipation to Rivers level yet that if there’s miscommunication it is either an incompletion or INT.

3. I agree with Adderley. I want to see what he can do with this innovative scheme.

1. Yeah, so why not put KA in that role. It seems odd to put MW in it. It's like everyone getting excited that they would put Melvin Gordon in the Kamara roll because he'll get more touches and that will help him live up to his draft status, when Ekeler would seem to be a more natural fit for the roll. That's why I'm hesitant to declare this a good thing. It may work, but I don't think it's an automatic.

2. I think in a perfect world, it is a very good thing, but you need to be a very fast decision maker on both the WR end and the QB side. We saw the knock on Fields coming out was that he held the ball too long and you can't do that in the NFL. tOSU was running a lot of WR option routes and that's why Fields held the ball so long. This works great when you have one of the quickest decision makers in the NFL (Brees) and one of the top OLs. We'll see how it translates when you have a more inexperienced (but smart) QB and a potentially bad (even bad is still an upgrade over the putrid mess last year was) OL.

And I would just like to say, I'm not really that down on either point. I'm just not as excited about it as some. These are just things that have me scratching my head, not things I'm sure will fail. It doesn't hurt to experiment. The coaches may also not be totally tipping their hand yet, either.

[Xenos]

I don’t know if Pooper was taking a swipe at Gus or maybe didn’t mean it. But when Murray talked about being comfortable, the question was something like “when during your rookie season did you start to get comfortable, like you knew what was going on?” And Murray said, kind of humbly, that he never really felt comfortable as a rookie. I took it to mean that it was on him and his learning as a rookie. What Pooper wrote sounds like it was the Gus defense that caused it. Maybe that is just me.

One thing is for sure, every player I have listened to loves what they are hearing about the defense. So that is real. And players like Ramsey have said before that Gus’s old Seattle defense was a relic.

TG

It sounded like Staley doing his thing and building his scheme around a player’s strengths like Murray in this case.

[Xenos]

1. Yeah, so why not put KA in that role. It seems odd to put MW in it. It's like everyone getting excited that they would put Melvin Gordon in the Kamara roll because he'll get more touches and that will help him live up to his draft status, when Ekeler would seem to be a more natural fit for the roll. That's why I'm hesitant to declare this a good thing. It may work, but I don't think it's an automatic.

2. I think in a perfect world, it is a very good thing, but you need to be a very fast decision maker on both the WR end and the QB side. We saw the knock on Fields coming out was that he held the ball too long and you can't do that in the NFL. tOSU was running a lot of WR option routes and that's why Fields held the ball so long. This works great when you have one of the quickest decision makers in the NFL (Brees) and one of the top OLs. We'll see how it translates when you have a more inexperienced (but smart) QB and a potentially bad (even bad is still an upgrade over the putrid mess last year was) OL.

And I would just like to say, I'm not really that down on either point. I'm just not as excited about it as some. These are just things that have me scratching my head, not things I'm sure will fail. It doesn't hurt to experiment. The coaches may also not be totally tipping their hand yet, either.

With MW, I feel like his route running gets overlooked because of his ball skills and acrobatic catches, and because he’s not KA. I think his route running is solid but can be improved on. We’ll see if Lombardi’s scheme brings out the best in him. Maybe it’ll actually save him from injuring himself so much.

[wu-dai clan]

It sounded that Staley doing his thing and building his scheme around a player’s strengths like Murray in this case.

Kenneth Murray >> Micah Kiser.

[Formula 21]

I like that it’s a downhill, attacking defense. I’ve had enough of the backing up crap.

[Ghost of Quacksaw]

Kenneth Murray >> Micah Kiser.

Micah Parsons?

[CivilBolt]

Micah Parsons?

Micah Kiser is right. He is the current LAR ILB.

[sonorajim]

I like that it’s a downhill, attacking defense. I’ve had enough of the backing up crap.

Yes. K9 is a cool moniker, let him live up to it. Other teams have eaten us alive with a LB blitz. I'd like to return the favor. Not a fan of dropping ILB into coverage. Kind of like having Bosa play run containment most downs. Let's get some QBs dirty.