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Originally posted by Bolt Dude
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This. Norton needs to be recognized for the game he had today.
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This. Norton needs to be recognized for the game he had today.
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Kinda surprised about that too. They were rewarded handsomely.Originally posted by jamrock View PostComment
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Popper’s postgame thoughts. Nice to see some love for big Mike W.
LANDOVER, Md. — The Chargers opened their 2021 season and the Brandon Staley era with a 20-16 victory at the Washington Football Team on Sunday afternoon.
Here are my takeaways.
‘A fourth-quarter team’
It is only one game, and the Chargers still have plenty to prove this season before we can label them as a bona fide playoff contender. But coming from behind in the fourth quarter and closing this game out the way they did certainly means something.
Over the past two seasons, with Philip Rivers and then Justin Herbert under center, the Chargers lost 16 — yes, 16 — one-score games. That is half of their total games played. Costly mistakes late in games turned into a trend for this team, regardless of who was playing quarterback.
Herbert started to buck that trend in the last quarter of 2020, leading game-winning drives against the Falcons, Raiders and Broncos to eke out one-score victories. But this is a new regime. What was it going to look like under Staley?
Well, we got our initial answer Sunday afternoon. The wheels appeared to be coming off early in the fourth quarter. Herbert threw an interception in the red zone — his second red-zone turnover of the second half — when he did not see cornerback William Jackson peeling off his man on an attempt to tight end Stephen Anderson, who was breaking out to the sideline.
A familiar feeling settled in at FedEx Field.
Until Washington quarterback Taylor Heinicke, who had replaced an injured Ryan Fitzpatrick in the second quarter, handed off to running back Antonio Gibson on a stretch run to the right on the opening play of the ensuing series. Washington was backed up inside its own 5-yard line after the pick. Gibson took the ball and bounced it outside. Rookie cornerback Asante Samuel Jr. clamped down from his outside spot and met Gibson with a low, physical blow at the line of scrimmage. Gibson went tumbling forward, and Kyzir White jumped on him from behind, punching the ball out.
The Chargers recovered the fumble. Herbert found Mike Williams on a fade route three plays later for the go-ahead touchdown.
The Chargers defense then held on the next possession, forcing a Washington punt. Joey Bosa — who played an outstanding game overall — was called for a roughing the passer penalty on a third down early in the drive that kept Washington alive. But he responded by hustling to track down Heinicke on a scramble on a third-and-16, sprinting back from the line of scrimmage to prevent a first down.
The Chargers then got the ball with 6:43 on the clock. They never gave it back. Herbert converted all four third downs with his arm, connecting twice with Keenan Allen, once with K.J. Hill and once with Williams. The first conversion to Allen went for 16 yards. The second came on third-and-4 from the Washington 16-yard line and ended the game. Allen was running an option route and felt the nickel defender, Jackson, overcommit to the outside. Allen cut quickly to the inside, to the open grass, and Herbert hit him. The Chargers went into victory formation on the next snap.
“We finished the game with a lot of energy,” Staley said. “We were a fourth quarter team.”
“I know what it is to lay on the other side of the blanket,” Allen said of all the close losses. “This is definitely the cooler side, and we like this side more.”
The game was in the balance, and the Chargers made the necessary plays to snatch victory. How about that?
Third-down efficiency
The Chargers converted 14 of their 19 third downs in this game, which is just an outrageous figure.
“I really thought the story of the game was the way we played on third down,” Staley said.
Herbert threw for 12 of those 14 conversions, including five to Allen. He also sneaked for one at the end of the first half. Williams had three third-down conversions, including on his game-winning touchdown. Jared Cook had two. Jalen Guyton had one — a 22-yard gain on a wheel route on a third-and-3 in the second quarter. Hill had one, as well, finding a soft spot in the middle of the defense on a third-and-3 on the final drive.
Some historical context for you:
• Herbert is just the fifth QB since 1991 to covert 12 or more third downs through the air in a game.
• The Chargers’ 73.68 percent third-down conversion rate is the highest among any team since 1991 to face 19 or more third downs in a single game.
Some additional context for you:
• Allen actually earned a third-down conversion in the second quarter when he beat Jackson on a whip route and drew a pass interference. This does not show up in the box score but is equally as impactful. “I was in my groove,” Allen said.
• The Chargers’ 19th third down of the game was Herbert’s final kneel down. So it was really 14-of-18 on third down.
• Allen had an uncharacteristic third-down drop in the second quarter that forced Tristan Vizcaino onto the field for one of his two field goals. When asked about this drop after the game, Allen grabbed and shook the lectern and started growling. “I wanted to start the whole season over,” he joked. The Chargers could have been even more efficient.
Said Herbert: “14 of 19 is unheard of.”
The new-look offensive line held up against a very talented Washington front, and that was a big factor in this third-down success. Bryan Bulaga left the game with a back injury, and Storm Norton, his replacement, got beat on Herbert’s sack-fumble. But overall, the offensive line did its job, giving Herbert time to push the ball downfield, especially on third down. The Chargers’ three longest plays of the day all came on third-down completions. They had six third-down completions of at least 17 yards. You need solid protection to create those opportunities downfield.
“Those are some real guys on the front seven that they’ve got,” Herbert said. “Those are fast guys and some of the toughest in the league. I thought our offensive line did an incredible job.”
“I thought our protection plan was outstanding and I thought that Justin did a great job of avoiding pressure when there was pressure,” Staley said. “But you can’t say enough about our O line.”
Asante Samuel Jr. shows resiliency
I was really impressed with the way Samuel played against Washington.
He did commit a costly pass interference penalty on the first play of the second quarter that led to a Dustin Hopkins field goal. But Staley said after the game that Samuel was actually playing the correct leverage on the play, and that safety Nasir Adderley had made a “poor read.”
“He was expecting there to be a post player there (over the top),” Staley said. “I don’t put that completely on him.”
Still, it was a negative play that led to points. What was encouraging for the Chargers was how Samuel responded. He was in tight coverage on Washington receiver Dyami Brown on two plays on the next drive, which ended in a punt.
Then early in the fourth quarter, Samuel exploded at Brown after the receiver caught a short throw at the line of scrimmage near the right sideline. Samuel dragged Brown down for a loss, and Hopkins then missed a crucial 51-yard field goal that would have extended the Washington lead to six points.
“That’s a lonely tackle now,” Staley said of the play. “He was able to finish that tackle, which was outstanding.”
There will be ups and downs with Samuel this year. But he showed Sunday that he can be a difference-maker. He was the player who made the initial contact on Gibson on the fourth-quarter fumble.
“The thing about the guy is he can get you the ball. And that’s what he did at the end of the game. He went and got us the football,” Staley said. “He’s got real toughness. And now what he’s got to do is he’s got to keep learning how the NFL is going to attack him, because they’re coming for him.
“They’re going to test you when you’re a rookie.”
Mike Williams will be a huge factor this season
Herbert and offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi mentioned this offseason that they wanted Williams to be a big part of the offense.
That showed up against Washington.
Williams was targeted 12 times — the second-most in any game of his career. His eight catches were a career high. And I think the key was that many of these targets and receptions came in the short and intermediate areas of the field — not just on deep 50-50 balls.
“He’s an incredible receiver,” Herbert said.
Williams finished with 82 yards and a touchdown. He beat rookie Benjamin St.-Juste on the fade route for that game-winning score.
“Analytically, statistics, they say red zone fades are low percentage,” Staley said. “But what they don’t tell you is when you throw them to the right people with the right matchup, they’re real high percentage. When you throw it to Mike Williams, that’s the different statistical movie, and you can just see the value there.”
Williams did have a bad drop in the end zone, five plays before Herbert’s fumble. (Which was a weird call, by the way.) Williams beat his man on slant-and-go, and Herbert threw a perfect ball to the front corner of the end zone. It should have been a touchdown.
“He’s mad at himself right now because he didn’t come down with the one in the end zone,” Allen said.
But to spin it forward, the fact that Williams had these chances to begin with is a very positive sign.
“He wants to have that one back,” Staley said. “I think it’s exciting for him because he knows there’s more production out there.”Comment
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Just remembered something…
We are officially on a 5 GAME WINNING STREAK!
Our quarterback is a golden god.Comment
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Mike W dropped some easy passes. He's still not consistent enough.Originally posted by Xenos View PostPopper’s postgame thoughts. Nice to see some love for big Mike W.
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The regular season is over 4 months long. Calling to fire the entire coaching staff after 40 minutes of football is pretty damn delusional.Originally posted by Hadl2Alworth View Post
Not only were they proven wrong in the rest of the game, the coaching staff wasn't even making any particular mistakes, let alone repeated ones. You can't win every snap, or every game. The coaches did a good job this game.Comment
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Agree. He's shown steady improvement. He wasn't perfect we all know, but he wasn't a disaster either.Originally posted by cmplxgal View PostComment
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Game Day Theads are emotional, and some like to post interesting ways of showing that emotion. All I look for is that we don't burn down the house during the game.Originally posted by equivocation View PostComment
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From NFL.comComment
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Sorry that you and your family have had to go through that, but I am glad to hear that your father is stable. Best wishes to you and your family for a speedy recovery for your father.Originally posted by 21&500 View Post
On the lesser note, we pretty much dominated WFT everywhere but on the scoreboard. We dropped two TD passes, dropped a third down pass that would have given us goal to go, threw an interception inside of their 5 yard line and had a fumble called on an incomplete pass in the red zone that traveled 20+ yards in the air, bounced in the end zone, and went through the end zone. There were a number of other poor calls against us as well, which were recognized on the WFT forum that I read today.
Had we executed better in terms of catching the ball alone and not been screwed on the fumble call, we probably would have won by 21+ points.
But when the chips were down and we needed to run out the clock, Staley/Lombardi got it exactly right. They understand that the clock is controlled by getting first downs, not running the ball. So we threw the ball and got first downs. That is what we did starting deep in our own end and finishing at about the WFT 4 yard line when we made our game clinching final third down conversion. We ran the final 6:43 or so off of the clock on that possession, including converting on 3rd and 16 from deep in our own end.Comment
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DINGDINGDINGDING!!!!!! This is what you need from a backup OL in the NFL. Get the job done for one play or a whole game if needed. Kudos to Storm.........Originally posted by equivocation View PostComment
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Wow, WFT’s big 4 only got 5 total pressures when they rushed four? I wonder when’s the last time they were so limited?
I love our new OL.Our quarterback is a golden god.Comment
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