Should We Stop Going For It On 4th Down?

[Xenos]

Staley's ego cost us this game. I sense this guy will be another graduate of chargers university-4 years and out. He took us from a potential division lead to having to scoreboard watch today. In a strange way, the Texans game might be his biggest test of the year. If we don't bounce back, it will be a terrible sign the players don't care for him either.

Has nothing to do with ego. Every decision to go for it was based on analytics and win probability. We had a chance of winning the division in the first place because of his 4th down decisions.

[AK47]

I don't agree. They had passes that were catchable but dropped - that isn't on the coach.

Catchable balls being dropped in the end zone. The game plan was sound but the execution sucked. That said..........if we (our TE's and WRs) consistently can't catch moderate difficult to sometimes wide open passes then perhaps we should go the FG route. This totally goes against what Staley wanted since training camp which was deliver freakin' knockout blows. Not just for winning games but also for changing the culture.

[chargeroo]

Staley made poor decisions inside the 10. Both were 4 and > 3 yards. Very little field to guard. Cost us 6 points, momentum and in my opinion the game.

I don't agree. They had passes that were catchable but dropped - that isn't on the coach.

[Bolts318]

Staley's ego cost us this game. I sense this guy will be another graduate of chargers university-4 years and out. He took us from a potential division lead to having to scoreboard watch today. In a strange way, the Texans game might be his biggest test of the year. If we don't bounce back, it will be a terrible sign the players don't care for him either.

[Air Coryell]

Staley made poor decisions inside the 10. Both were 4 and > 3 yards. Very little field to guard. Cost us 6 points, momentum and in my opinion the game.

[21&500]

Kelce is a division rival, if James is the only guy who can cover him, we need to invest in a plan B
we simply don't have DB depth

[Bolt4Knob]

agree, and kelsey acts tough, but does not play well when teams rough him up......

Murray played 10 snaps
he really doesn't have a place on the field

I was wondering why they didn't line him up against Kelce and just have him knock the crap out of Kelce coming off the line of scrimmage. maybe it just temporarily stops the play but anything was better than nothing

[Charge!]

One thing we learned from this game is we sure need a capable backup for Derwin. Looks to me like it would be smart to have a LB slow Kelce at the LOS with Derwin out.

agree, and kelsey acts tough, but does not play well when teams rough him up......

[Charge!]

Dropped passes on third down it seems - way too often. Very true... would have needed less fourth downs and probably scored many more points if just middle of the NFL.

agree.....

imagine on last drive before OT, if MW had turned to look for that quick pass herbie launched to beat a blitz......MW would have caught that in FG range, or if he stayed on his feet, scored a long TD.....

This team is very close to being much better..... just needs more consistency.....

[Bolt4Knob]

this is pretty well said.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEmyPkQefCk

I would also add that if we dropped the ball less, we would have far less failures on 4th down and fewer needs to go for it on 4tth down.....

Dropped passes on third down it seems - way too often. Very true... would have needed less fourth downs and probably scored many more points if just middle of the NFL.

[Charge!]

this is pretty well said.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEmyPkQefCk

I would also add that if we dropped the ball less, we would have far less failures on 4th down and fewer needs to go for it on 4tth down.....

[gzubeck]

In Staley’s own words……he said he was playing to the teams strength going for it on fourth down.

my interpretation is he’s saying he lacks confidence in his defense ability to contain KC. Perhaps he knew Derwin wasn’t going to play the second half and Chargers needed a lot more points.

Consequently, I could actually see Staley’s 4th down strategy change next year. If he gains a better pass rush, run and pass defense
next year through the draft and FA’cy he might believe his defense can limit opponents to fewer points and field goals are golden.

Belichik and Harbaugh seldom go for 4th down conversions when they are in field go range because they trust their defenses to stop opponents. If they had the Chargers banged up defense, they might go for all those 4th down conversions too.

I've seen Belicheck games like this when his defense was completely depleted and the team even had a lead late in games. We are way to thin in the DB area and we need way better depth. Losing a game with 2 minutes on the clock with a touchdown lead just plain sucks. I think we would have been better off just tackling the receivers at the line of scrimmage and just burning the clock out and then try and keep them out of the endzone.

:smoking: