Coach Staley Discussion - Fired

[DerwinBosa]

And the 1st half was inexcusable by the defense. You can't expect to beat them if you don't pressure and contain Mahomes and you let his receivers run wide open in the secondary . . . . . . . . . The Chargers have not been able to play a complete and complimentary game all year - that's an indication of poor coaching.

Plenty of blame to go around . . . . . . . . . . . again (unfortunately).

I'd give them to the midpoint of the season (8 games in the books) - if they're 2-6 or 3-5 then it's time to start prepping for next year; play the young guys, trade the underperforming high dollar guys (for a ham sandwich if necessary), fire (launch) Brandon Staley into the sun (thanks Fleet - this imagery brightens up my evening more than you can know ), plan out the draft and the new coaching selections, GM candidates, etc., etc.

Ownership; DON'T sit around on your ass doing nothing until the end of the season . . . . . . . . . . . be proactive and have a plan!

Yes, the defense was terrible in the first half, but we were down by only seven. With the Chiefs scoring only seven points in the second half, it's not asking too much for the offense to win that game.

[DerwinBosa]

Defensive players not letting Staley get away with being dishonest about the approach in the first half.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — At the NFL combine in 2022, Brandon Staley was answering a question about the value of playing with two deep safeties when he offered an interesting personal insight on zone coverages.

“If you guys have seen anything the last five years with these quarterbacks, it’s if there’s a bunch of air in the coverage, they’re going to find it,” Staley said then. “You put a bunch of air in the coverage, you’ll wake up and they’ll have 80 percent, 85 percent completion for like 300, 400 (yards). And with their mobility, playing zone is the worst thing to play because you’re not connected, and then they’re going to find it.”

How prescient.

In the first half of Sunday’s 31-17 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, the Los Angeles Chargers played predominantly zone against one of the best zone-beating tandems in NFL history, quarterback Patrick Mahomes and tight end Travis Kelce. And Staley’s defense put enough air in those coverages to fill up every balloon in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Wake up: Mahomes finished with 424 yards passing on 76 percent completion.

He is the second quarterback this season to throw for more than 400 yards on Staley’s defense. Tua Tagovailoa threw for 466 yards in the Miami Dolphins’ Week 1 win over the Chargers.

The Chargers adjusted in the second half and started playing more man coverage on Kelce, in particular allowing safety Derwin James Jr. to press Kelce at the line of scrimmage. On many of those plays, they double-covered Kelce, with James underneath and safety Dean Marlowe over the top. The defense played much better in the second half as a result, holding the Chiefs to seven points. Mahomes threw for only 103 yards in the second half, averaging 5.4 yards per attempt. Kelce had three catches for 36 yards in the final two quarters after catching all nine of his targets for 143 yards in the first half.

Kelce made a mockery of the Chargers’ zone coverages in the first two quarters, finding open space after open space.

Playing more man worked. Why not play that way the whole game?

When asked that exact question in a postgame news conference, Staley said, “We played plenty of man in the first half, too.”

He added: ”I feel like no matter what scheme we were in in the first half from a coverage standpoint — man, pattern match, zone — (Mahomes) was able to create plays post-snap outside the pocket.”

Staley’s players told a different story in the locker room.

“We played zone,” cornerback Michael Davis said of the first-half game plan. “(Kelce) just goes to the spot and turns around. It has nothing to do with Travis. It’s us. We got to get on their ass. When you come down and you play the Chiefs, you got to come out and play man and get on their ass.”

“We played a little bit too much zone in the first half,” James said. “He was just getting behind our linebackers. He was getting open. In the second half, we switched it up.”

“There’s certain times we do have to play zone and live with that,” said cornerback Ja’Sir Taylor, who mentioned needing to play zone behind certain blitzes and when the Chiefs went into empty sets. “But once we realized he was eating up the zone like he usually does, we just said, ‘We’re going to win or lose with man.’ Whatever coach Staley called first half, I was down to ride and play with it.”

“We ran a little bit more zone the first half, and (Kelce) was able to just find some small, little pockets to extend plays, feel the zone out,” Marlowe said. “He’s probably one of the best tight ends at doing that.

“(In the second half), we had more man. We had more bracket coverages and things like that, and that really kind of helped us moving forward. Sometimes the flow of the game, you try something out, it’s not working and you got to fix it. And we fixed it. But we fell short as a team.”

[NoMoreChillies]

11 weeks to go. Can we get 11 weeks of press man coverage please?

[Topcat]

Playing more man worked. Why not play that way the whole game?

THIS is precisely what I have pounded the table about...press coverage for our team is more effective than that lame zone...HELLO!!!
(Oh, and we just traded away one of the best press coverage CB's in the league for a pittance...wow...)

[jaguarmanftype]

THIS is precisely what I have pounded the table about...press coverage for our team is more effective than that lame zone...HELLO!!!
(Oh, and we just traded away one of the best press coverage CB's in the league for a pittance...wow...)

Some of us have been pounding everything (even our heads against the wall) about this since 2021. Other than the Miami and Rams games in 2022, and partly the Jacksonville game in the postseason for the first half, Staley stubbornly keeps reverting to what doesn't work. Maybe based on his presser today, and the follow-up player commentary, he'll realize his shit does stink too.

Oh, and JC was right to throw Staley under the bus before being shipped out.

[wu-dai clan]

Yes, the defense was terrible in the first half, but we were down by only seven. With the Chiefs scoring only seven points in the second half, it's not asking too much for the offense to win that game.

No excuses, but there were some factors.

Everett and Ekeler getting dinged did not help, for example.

[DerwinBosa]

Some of us have been pounding everything (even our heads against the wall) about this since 2021. Other than the Miami and Rams games in 2022, and partly the Jacksonville game in the postseason for the first half, Staley stubbornly keeps reverting to what doesn't work. Maybe based on his presser today, and the follow-up player commentary, he'll realize his shit does stink too.

The fact that his players wouldn't let Staley off the hook about the first half approach makes me believe his time is running out. For Staley to deny what was obvious to everyone at his post game press conference is an act of desperation I do not expect from a head coach at any level. Then multiple times he goes and says, "The blame is mine. No one else's." Well, if you're going to take the blame, don't deny what's so obvious to everyone as to why it's your fault.

[jamrock]

The fact that his players wouldn't let Staley off the hook about the first half approach makes me believe his time is running out. For Staley to deny what was obvious to everyone at his post game press conference is an act of desperation I do not expect from a head coach at any level. Then multiple times he goes and says, "The blame is mine. No one else's." Well, if you're going to take the blame, don't deny what's so obvious to everyone as to why it's your fault.

The players aren’t co-signing his bullshit. Apparently the first was JCJ who is now doing just fine in NE. Now you’re hearing it from all of them. Waiting for the offense to join in so it’s a full scale revolt. Only ST played well. Take a page from the Raiders playbook and promote the ST coach.

[Chargers vs. Chargering]

Defensive players not letting Staley get away with being dishonest about the approach in the first half.



Kelce made a mockery of the Chargers’ zone coverages in the first two quarters, finding open space after open space.

Playing more man worked. Why not play that way the whole game?

When asked that exact question in a postgame news conference, Staley said, “We played plenty of man in the first half, too.”

He added: ”I feel like no matter what scheme we were in in the first half from a coverage standpoint — man, pattern match, zone — (Mahomes) was able to create plays post-snap outside the pocket.”

Staley’s players told a different story in the locker room.

“We played zone,” cornerback Michael Davis said of the first-half game plan. “(Kelce) just goes to the spot and turns around. It has nothing to do with Travis. It’s us. We got to get on their ass. When you come down and you play the Chiefs, you got to come out and play man and get on their ass.”

“We played a little bit too much zone in the first half,” James said. “He was just getting behind our linebackers. He was getting open. In the second half, we switched it up.”

“There’s certain times we do have to play zone and live with that,” said cornerback Ja’Sir Taylor, who mentioned needing to play zone behind certain blitzes and when the Chiefs went into empty sets. “But once we realized he was eating up the zone like he usually does, we just said, ‘We’re going to win or lose with man.’ Whatever coach Staley called first half, I was down to ride and play with it.”

“We ran a little bit more zone the first half, and (Kelce) was able to just find some small, little pockets to extend plays, feel the zone out,” Marlowe said. “He’s probably one of the best tight ends at doing that.

“(In the second half), we had more man. We had more bracket coverages and things like that, and that really kind of helped us moving forward. Sometimes the flow of the game, you try something out, it’s not working and you got to fix it. And we fixed it. But we fell short as a team.”[/B]

So add Lying Sack of Shit, Gas Lighter, Bull Shit Artist, and Delusional Dumb Ass to Staley's list of skills he can add to his resume.

[rensoul]

I honestly don't think Harbaugh could fix this team, at least not this year with TT as the GM... Harbaugh needs an off season with a totally new front office, even then they'll be tied up by Herbert's contract. Would also depend on who the new OC would be, Herbert needs to be torn down fundamentally and rebuilt, he is a mess right now.

It's not a one year job, more like 2-3 year job. They have no cap room in 2024 and unless they trade some guys there is no extra draft capital to speed up the process.

I wouldn't expect Harbaugh to fix this up quickly, or any coach really.

[DerwinBosa]

It's not a one year job, more like 2-3 year job. They have no cap room in 2024 and unless they trade some guys there is no extra draft capital to speed up the process.

I wouldn't expect Harbaugh to fix this up quickly, or any coach really.

I believe the 49ers missed the playoffs for eight straight years before Harbaugh took over as their head coach, and he got them to the NFC Championship Game in his first season. At that time he was also in a bad division, after Kurt Warner retired from the Cardinals, so he wasn't dealing with Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs.

Whether it's Harbaugh or any other good head coach, he'll get more out of what we have than what Staley is. I think the offensive and defensive lines, in particular, will play a lot better. Coaching is so vital to a young player's development, and recent draft picks like Zion Johnson and Jamaree Salyer will perform much better with a good coaching staff. Those who are already playing well under Staley (Rashawn Slater and Tuli Tuipulotu come to mind) may kick ass to a much higher level.

This would be a potentially very exciting future to think about if we had a good owner willing to prioritize finding the right head coach. Obviously we don't, though.

[ChargersPowderBlue]

(Oh, and we just traded away one of the best press coverage CB's in the league for a pittance...wow...)

Oh, and JC was right to throw Staley under the bus before being shipped out.

He made a dumb play in the Miami game and people started to dislike him. A portion of that money the team is still paying him for is to make him go away.

Only ST played well.

Except at the end of the game when they allowed Hardmen to have a good punt return which lead KC to go up by 14 points.