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Chiefs won the Superbowl with 10 Rookies....
"Locked, Cocked, and ready to Rock!" Jim Harbaugh
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Buddy Ryan was a coach on Weeb Eubanks' staff w/ New York Jets. Buddy Ryan said that Coach Weeb used to insist on the offense in keeping one more blocker, than the defense were sending defenders. That was Weeb's mantra on offense. So, Buddy starting sending one more defender than the offense had blockers. The genesis of the '46' defense named for Doug Plank, began in New York.Originally posted by gzubeck View Post
Just as I predicted...evil laugh!
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Didn't the Vikings try the 8-3 against us all game! LOLOriginally posted by ghost View PostChiefs won the Superbowl with 10 Rookies....
"Locked, Cocked, and ready to Rock!" Jim Harbaugh
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Yeah, Tuli is going to be very good. PFF says he has 5 sacks. The NFL official stats only has him with 2. I didn't think much of him when he was drafted. I wasn't sure what his strength was going to be. But so far he looks like he shoulda had a 1st round grade. I the trio of Tuli, Bosa & Mack are going to get a lot of sacks this season, the Chargers are going to have one of the league's better pass rushes, they're are going to be able to get to the QB just rushing four, that will help the back end coverage.
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Watching Mack, he still gets a lot of attention from offenses in pass protection.Originally posted by Velo View Post
He's getting chipped all the game.
Right now, Mack/Bosa are getting the attention, and Tuli is singled up.Comment
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Last season, the Los Angeles Chargers lost star pass rusher Joey Bosa to a torn groin in Week 3, and over the ensuing weeks, they struggled to generate a consistent pass rush. Opposing defenses could focus their protection plans on Khalil Mack, and the Chargers did not have a secondary rusher, particularly on the edge, who could capitalize.
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From Weeks 5 to 12, the Chargers ranked 25th in pressure rate and 29th in total pressures, according to TruMedia. Edge rusher Chris Rumph II missed two games with a knee injury during that span, and edge rusher Kyle Van Noy was nursing a back injury. By the home stretch of the season, Van Noy was healthy and had found his rhythm. Bosa returned in Week 16. But the struggles in those middle weeks sent a clear message to Chargers decision-makers: They needed more juice on the edge behind Bosa and Mack.
And so in the second round of the draft in the spring, the Chargers selected edge rusher Tuli Tuipulotu out of USC. They were excited about the pick that late April night. They loved Tuipulotu’s physicality. They felt like he could make an impact right away as a stout run defender and rotational pass rusher. Tuipulotu’s floor was high, and his ceiling was intriguing considering he would not be turning 21 until September.
GO DEEPER
Chargers draft Tuli Tuipulotu, providing needed depth behind Joey Bosa, Khalil Mack
Four months later, the Chargers opened their 2023 season against the Miami Dolphins. Bosa suffered a hamstring injury. Tuipulotu was forced into a starting role in his second regular season NFL game the following week against the Tennessee Titans, and he started again this past Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings. In those two games, Tuipulotu has proven the Chargers correct in thinking his floor is high. More importantly, Tuipulotu has shown that his ceiling is far more than intriguing.
He has a chance to be a star.
Tuipulotu’s 12 pressures over the last two weeks are tied for fourth in the NFL, according to TruMedia. He has one more than Myles Garrett, Nick Bosa and Trey Hendrickson and one fewer than T.J. Watt and Maxx Crosby.
Nine of those 12 pressures came this past weekend in the Chargers’ 28-24 win over the Vikings. Consider it Tuipulotu’s statement to the league.
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“We felt like he had a chance,” coach Brandon Staley said Sunday night in Minnesota. “He just does a lot of things that winning edge players do. He can rush the passer. He is rugged in the run game. We can move him around. He has a big-time motor. You see that motor get him to a lot of the plays. He has been around the quarterback a lot this year.”
Tuipulotu was a physically imposing player in college. What has stood out through these three games: His strength is translating immediately to this level, both as a pass rusher and run defender.
That showed up on film against the Titans. It was even more evident against the Vikings, who feature a plus tackle pairing in right tackle Brian O’Neill and left tackle Christian Darrisaw.
We will start with the pass rush.
On a third-and-4 in the third quarter, Tuipulotu set up in a wide alignment, matched up with O’Neill.
Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins took the shotgun snap, and Tuipulotu set up his move.
Tuipulotu does not have the deepest or most refined pass-rushing toolbox at this stage of his career. But what he does have is a devastating bull rush. And he went to this bread-and-butter.
He drove O’Neill straight back into Cousins, forcing the quarterback to tuck the ball and try and escape.
That gave interior defensive lineman Morgan Fox the time to clean up the sack, and Tuipulotu helped on the tackle.
Tuipulotu showed this type of power against Darrisaw, as well. Here is a rush on the first play of the next series.
You can see how Tuipulotu knocks Darrisaw completely off balance with a bench press before getting a hand into Cousins’ face. Tight end T.J. Hockenson came wide open on an in-breaker behind Kenneth Murray Jr., which allowed Cousins to get rid of the ball quickly. But that does not take away from the dominance of the rush. With better coverage and an extra tenth of a second, Tuipulotu would have likely forced Cousins to escape.
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“He has quick hands,” Staley said. “They get on you quick, and they’re heavy.”
Tuipulotu’s strength also shows up in the run game. On this second-quarter handoff to Vikings running back Alexander Mattison, Tuipulotu was aligned to the offense’s left side. The run was a counter designed to his side, with right guard Ed Ingram pulling to kick out Tuipulotu.
Cousins took the under-center snap and turned to hand off to Mattison. Ingram pulled to Tuipulotu.
Despite Ingram’s momentum, Tuipulotu did not give up any ground.
Tuipulotu then shed the block to set the edge and force Mattison to hesitate. Without a hole, Mattison bounced the run to the outside.
Derwin James Jr. was unblocked and made the tackle in run support.
Tuipulotu’s versatility as a pass rusher has also popped in this two-game stretch. He has an innate feel for rushing from the interior, something Staley discussed specifically during the draft in April.
This versatility is allowing Staley to get creative with his pass rushing packages. In particular, getting Bosa, Mack and Tuipulotu all on the field at the same time — Bosa and Mack on the edges, and Tuipulotu standing up over a guard.
Here is an example on Bosa’s sack in the first quarter. In this package, Staley has typically aligned his two inside linebackers — in this case, Murray and Nick Niemann — in a mug look tight to the line of scrimmage. Bosa is circled in orange. Mack in red. The linebackers in yellow. And Tuipulotu in green.
On this play, the alignment created one-on-one matchups for both Bosa, against O’Neill, and Tuipulotu, against Ingram.
As Cousins took the shotgun snap, Tuipulotu rushed to Ingram’s outside shoulder. Bosa prepared to pivot on a stunt to the inside.
Ingram took on Bosa. But Tuipulotu had already won to the inside before O’Neill could recover for the pass-off.
Tuipulotu leapt at Cousins.
And Cousins stepped right into the Bosa sack.
Tuipulotu, Bosa and Mack have been on the field together for 10 passing players this season, according to TruMedia. The Chargers have produced three sacks on those 10 plays — a 30 percent sack rate.
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For context, the league average rate is 6.5 percent.
This package is a weapon. Tuipulotu is a weapon.
And he is just scratching the surface of what he could become.
(Photo: Bruce Kluckhohn / Associated Press; screenshots via NFL+)
“The Football 100,” the definitive ranking of the NFL’s best 100 players of all time, goes on sale this fall. Preorder it here.
G-Ro knows.Comment
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#21 10/10 for formatting effort. Herculean. 10/10 content. That was/is next-level content.
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Correct me - isn’t Tuli also mostly going inside and beating OGs vs Joey and Mack outside against OTs. Tuli is balling, not taking anything away, but OGs can’t pass block as well as OTs as a rule. A lot of good college OTs have to become OGs at the pro level for this singular reason.Originally posted by jamrock View Post
I didn’t have him on my draft radar but did my usual sparse shitty interwebby research after the pick - i loved everything I saw about him. Led the nation, Pac12 DPOY, its legit“Less is more? NO NO NO - MORE is MORE!”Comment
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He made Brian O'Neil and Darrisaw look silly last week.Originally posted by dmac_bolt View Post
I didn't see today's game.Comment
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Raiders tried to take Tuli away today and that allowed Mack to feast. It was awesome.Comment
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And Tuli still made some plays. Mack showed what he can do one on oneOriginally posted by NoMoreChillies View PostComment
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