2023 Official Roster Build Thread - The Initial 53 / Practice Squad

[Velo]

i said it before and say it again: Salyer should have been 1st round pick

While Salyer was a steal at pick #195, no question, I am not prepared to agree he was a 1st round talent in his draft. May he prove me wrong. I look forward to it.

[powderblueboy]

My personal opinion (& i'm sure most agree) is that the 2nd half of an NFL game is more important than the 1rst half.

We know the Charger offense was at the bottom in 3rd quarter stats in points scored & most other categories other than 3 & outs,
but does anyone have their 4rth quarter stats?

I think this was ground well trodden (when some here wanted Lombo out), but I can't remember.
I think it was in the middle of the pack.

[powderblueboy]

While Salyer was a steal at pick #195, no question, I am not prepared to agree he was a 1st round talent in his draft. May he prove me wrong. I look forward to it.

Agree.

However, he does have an NFL guard physique.
Do long arms help guards?

[Lefty2SLO]

Your assessment that the offense was completely wrecked is overwrought and over-exaggerated imo. You’ve been posting this for 4 months, fairly constantly. We appreciate your perspective , some agree and some of us don’t.

Their offense was not a complete wreck, it was the strength of the team, it wasn’t quite enough and a couple key deficiencies we can now isolate kept them from their goal. It was never so bad that Staley should have blown up the squad mid-season imo. Teams that blow up their scheme and top personnel mid-season generally do not make the playoffs. Chargers did. Your view he should have blown it all up in the middle of the season is not the move I would make. Your leadership qualities are a bit archaic and out-dated imo, that shit doesnt fly anymore imo. Dramatically undermining and berating the guy in charge of offense is often a very bad leadership move if you’re then going to continue with that leader in that role. So if decision 1 is to not fire the OC mid-stream and blow it up, then decision 2 is a delicate affair to carefully manage. I don’t think he could have cut the legs out from under Lombo without anyone on the team knowing. That could very easily destroy confidence and motivation in the players if they all think the HC has zero respect for the OC. As mentioned previously by someone else, I don’t think its the way to lead. I dont lead my staff like that.

The truth, as in most things, lies in the middle. Yes Staley started as a first time HC with some strengths, some weaknesses and some fresh energetic new ideas. You see complete incurable ineptness, I see pros and cons, improvement year-to-year, and a strong desire to further improve both himself and the team overall. I do not see this false pride intransigence or lack of intelligence at all that some criticism him for. I see a young man who definitely studies, analyzes and I am pretty sure he knows all that we see and a hell of a lot more that we don’t.

I’m good with the plan rolling forward, I like the staff changes he made this off season a LOT. I like his / TT’s new defensive draft picks. I disagree with your emphatic certainty, I think life / truth in real time is not remotely close to that certain. Hindsight is fun but too easy.

Really - YOU'RE tired of MY position??

[Maniaque 6]

My personal opinion (& i'm sure most agree) is that the 2nd half of an NFL game is more important than the 1rst half.

We know the Charger offense was at the bottom in 3rd quarter stats in points scored & most other categories other than 3 & outs,
but does anyone have their 4rth quarter stats?

I think this was ground well trodden (when some here wanted Lombo out), but I can't remember.
I think it was in the middle of the pack.

Not much better than the 3rd !

30th in the 3rd, 25th in the 4th

NFL Football Stats - NFL Team 4th Quarter Points/Game | TeamRankings.com

[sonorajim]

Not much better than the 3rd !

30th in the 3rd, 25th in the 4th

NFL Football Stats - NFL Team 4th Quarter Points/Game | TeamRankings.com

We were #1 in the 4th in '21. Injuries were the difference IMO. No excuses for 3rd qtr. Consistently bad.

[Lefty2SLO]

I'm not even sure what to say to someone who says that "passing yards don't mean much these days"...

I'm sure the yards per pass attempt (being lower) had to do with losing your Pro Bowl LT (even though Salyer was very good). Fractured cartilage... deep threat (Guyton) gone for the year after game 3... Ekeler had 107 receptions... Bandy played in 10 games... Moore played in 6 games... there are just so many obvious reasons the yard per attempt went down.

Once your routes start getting shorter, the field condenses... and it becomes harder to run. The redzone efficiency was a problem... hence the scoring offense @ #13.
The defense had a tough time stopping the run. But Johnson, Tito, and Covington all went on IR. And the LB's weren't good at read/react.

This seems like an injury problem to me. The 2 weaknesses (OC and LB) are gone. What more can a head coach do...?

I meant that everyone's passing yardage is up these days, and that yardage in and of itself doesn't necessarily indicate a quality offense.

Injuries were definitely a part of our issues last year - I would hope that our coaching staff could help minimize their impacts, but IMO they didn't, and I'm not willing to give them a free pass on it - they get paid (very well) to adjust. Note that I said 'minimize', not 'eliminate' - I don't expect 2nd line players to replicate the production of 1st line players, I do expect the coaches to close the gap though. TT also shares responsibility for the lack of (talented) depth.

I'm hoping for better this year . . . . . . . we'll see

[Lefty2SLO]

Not much better than the 3rd !

30th in the 3rd, 25th in the 4th

NFL Football Stats - NFL Team 4th Quarter Points/Game | TeamRankings.com

Good find. Quality coaching right there! What this means is that the other team's staff made adjustments, and we had no counter, just like the Jags game . . . . . . . . .

[21&500]

Really - YOU'RE tired of MY position??

LOL
I'm not taking taking sides, I just think this was hilarious.

[powderblueboy]

Not much better than the 3rd !

30th in the 3rd, 25th in the 4th

NFL Football Stats - NFL Team 4th Quarter Points/Game | TeamRankings.com

The Charger defense didn't seem to faire much better. It seems like a miracle that they went 10 - 7 last year.

But then you consider the fact that the Chargers ran into some real stiffs those final 7 games of the season: Cardinals, Raiders, Tennessee, the Rams, Indy, Miami, Denver.

Charger wins, those final 7 games, came against teams that won a combined 3 wins the final 7 weeks, against the Raiders, Rams, Jets: something like 3 - 30

Chargers need to step it up by several levels this year; it will not be a patsy schedule.

[sonorajim]

Our 3rd quarter offense stunk under Lombardi. Oddly enough, we were NFL #1 in the 4th in 2021. It seems obvious that injuries played a role.
Whether you believe players make a difference or not, it doesn't matter. The team is at least 90% healthy and a new season is starting with significant changes in coaching. The Staley is crap theory will be put to the test. We all have to accept that winning the SB guarantees his return in 2024. How many playoff games do we have to lose to get rid of him?
My guess: one and done or no playoffs.

[Lefty2SLO]

We were #1 in the 4th in '21. Injuries were the difference IMO. No excuses for 3rd qtr. Consistently bad.

Partially correct, but it's not as simple as that. The rest of the league also had a better read on our offense (and Herbert) in 22 after the 21 season. Teams made adjustments to take away what we liked to do, we had injuries which limited us, and Lombardi / Staley had no answers . . . . . . . . . . (most) NFL coaches are pretty smart - they can determine what you like or want to do, and develop game plans to make that hard. We needed to be able to counter that, but in the most part failed to do so - as the 3rd & 4th quarter stats show.

It's frustrating to see our guys continually fail to make successful adjustments and counters, . . . . . . . . . . Pederson absolutely pantsed Staley / Lombardi in the 2nd half of the Jags game, on both sides of the ball . . . . . . . . . . that game was an extremely high profile and noticeable example of our coaching shortcomings. I'm hoping Moore solves the offensive side of things this year. I'm also hoping Staley (somehow) lives up to his defensive genius billing . . . . . . . . . . (why not right? What have I got to lose?)

Dmac - as requested I'm done with this topic until we see some real (not preseason) 2023 games - then I'll revisit this . . . . . . . . . and we can continue the 'discussion'