Lions at Chargers (+1.5) Pregame Discussion (Wk 10)

[Xenos]

[Critty]

My thoughts are based on actual film study. The season points per game means very little this isn't the same offense that played Miami, Tenn, the Jets, or even KC. Palmer's loss is underappreciated and big. Eckeler has lost several steps, even more since his injury, and Kelly consistently goes down on 1st contact. QJ can't get off press coverage and is slow in his breaks in and out of routes. All he can do is run go routes from off coverage & he's really not much of a threat doing that. Guyton doesn't have the same speed as before his injury & isn't gonna scare anybody. Both the current receiver group & running back groups are in contention for the worst in the league. Can anyone think of any worse receiving or running back corps in the NFL? Maybe arizona. Who else? We have a decent 3rd down receiving scatback and a nice chain moving underneath receiver. Derius Davis could add some nice juice to the O but he's not utilized much at all.

The Oline is average to bad in every category. Sorry, but there's just not much here to work with currently with this offense. Trust me, when opposing defenses see this offense on tape their eyes light up....this is a "get right" week for opposing defenses. Tee off on the QB and go get some.

So you saw Ekeler not follow his blocks to the right on a play call that was blocked well and instead cut back run into a tackle and barely gain anything. You saw Ekeler drop 3 passes. You saw QJ open underneath and Herbert force an incomplete to Allen.
They left a lot of plays out on field.
They can score. They have enough talent.
Allen, Ekeler, Everett, Parham, QJ, DD, Kelley.

To me the blocking by OL especially Pipkins is where they struggle. Might be why Ekeler cut back to left instead of trust right side to make their blocks.

[sonorajim]

stats can be deceiving....... its about who you play..... most of our good stats have been pikled up against a really horrible offense or a really bad defense..... our offense has been poor against good defenses and our defense has looked silly bad against good offenses......

2 of our 4 wins were against late round rookie QB's.... and one from D2.... and a 3rd win was against maybe the worst starting veteran QB in NFL...... and the win against Vikes was just flat out stupid lucky.......

True. Nothing in either team's past means anything in this game. It suggests probability depending on how we personally interpret them.
Opinions are like assholes. We all have one.
I like the Chargers in this game.
You expect the marginally favored Lions to win.
No big deal. This will be fun. I enjoy quality competition. Makes the W sweeter.
Go Bolts!

[charger1_sj]

Seems like they didn't respect our run game hence why we had some open holes to run through. Did we even deploy play action runs/ delayed runs?

Correct in your fist sentence. No point in play action as their front three were getting the job done leaving 4 guys to clean up any mess in both the passing
or running game. There were two runs one by Kelly and one by Ekleler of 12 and 20 yards. Don't remember but I'm guessing both were stretch plays to
the outside where their LBs screwed up. We tried QJ on a end around sweep, nothing. We tried short passes (Herbert went 16/30 53%), we even tried
a couple of +20 yards, no go. We tried screens to no avail. There were two drives where things went well for the offense, that was about it.

The basic problem when facing the Jets D is that they get good pressure from 3 or 4 line men. Leaving some damn good LBs and DBs to do their thing.
What works? Running game if you can get it going. The Jets were giving up 144 yards per game through the ground. Unfortunately for us that requires
good run blocking which unfortunately we do not have.

[Riverwalk]

I agree. He was getting less than 2 seconds to operate yesterday. .

Then Herbert has to release it in less than 2 seconds.

[CanadianBoltFan]

The truth is that this is just as likely as any of the dooms-club predictions, and I like it! Negative “accept the truth” posts are just personal hunches and there’s no reason for Lefty and The Cabal to attack you and insist you bow to “their truth”. your strength in the face of such unrelenting attacks is a testament to courage, bravo! You are not alone!

We can win this game. Good chance, really good, ??? … idunno. Lions are favored and have a better record on paper though as I first posted early this week - there is only one good team in that list and it was game 1, KC without Kelce and C Jones. I see the Chargers are on the up and look forward to seeing what happens, gonna pop some corn! This game is technically not a must-win like some reflexively claim but a loss would create some future must-wins down the road. So — let’s go get it!

Getting past the talk of who is negative and who isn't I am going to post for you the biggest TRUTH of all and the reason some of us have taken off the homer glasses and want to see some proof before we see only sugar plums before every important game.

In the last 2 years the Chargers are 1-9 against the good teams they play. They beat the bad teams and lose to almost every good contending team they play. Time for woulda coulda shoulda and excuses is over. Pretty much every single time they play a good team in a big game they choke and just cant get it done, from the coaching to the players.

So based on that, the most important factual evidence of all, why would some of us be all giddy and cocky over a couple of wins against the Bears and Jets??

Go out there and beat the Lions in a good performance this Sunday and then lets talk. A loss and its just the same old...a couple of wins against bad to average teams...then a couple of losses to the real contenders....hover in and around 500 or a game above...hope all falls your way and you scrape in for a wildcard....zzzzzzzzzzz

[CanadianBoltFan]

I totally get what you are saying that it does seem that the Lions offense has more firepiower with the running backs, La Porta at TE and Wrs. But the data shows - the offense of the chargers is scoring more than the Lions. Granted, maybe if you take away the DD special teams touchdown, that puts the Lions ahead. Or, take away the touchdown drive from the two yard line since the offense only had to go two yards.

Just like the QBR that shows Herbert is top 7 or whatever

Just like the data that shows in his 56 starts, the defense for Herbert is bottom four in points per game allowed

But bases on data I heard Lions have #2 ranked offense and we have #13 or something. Is that true?

[SAY OW 55]

Beating the Jets means something. That’s the best defense in the NFL and we just beat them.

I think one thing people aren’t mentioning is we played not to fuck up. Our game plan was so watered down when we got up. We didn’t want to take shots against Sauce Gardner.

not too smart to just air it out against those guys. Try to put 44 up. Mahomes Hurts Allen. You play into thier hands. Those guys are ball hawks. It was a brilliant game plan. We basically just willed the defense 4 yds here 4 yds there and it was the ropa dope. The jets couldn’t get going.

with that defensive line we wanted to be careful not strip fumbles.

where the Chargers have to be careful is the right side Pipkins unfortunately some of the best pass rushers lineup on that side. This week it’s Aiden Hutchinson. And Johnson got to Herbert repeatedly. It’s up to Pipkins. If he gives Herbert a clean pocket he can get the ball to his playmakers and the Chargers win.

[charger1_sj]

But bases on data I heard Lions have #2 ranked offense and we have #13 or something. Is that true?

Based on yards per game the Lions are #2 the Chargers #15

Based on points per game the Lions are 9th (25 per game) Chargers are 8th (25.1 per game).

Based on who both teams have played I'd say the offenses are more or less even. They seem to have the advantage
on defense. The caveat being our D seems to be playing much better now than earlier in the year.

However those are stats and you can probably throw them out the window. What going to matter is the matchups.
Our O verses their D. Their O versus our D.

A good showing by our D should win the game. But if the Lions score around 30 we're probably in trouble.
That's because while our D has been trending up, our O has been trending down.

[dmac_bolt]

Getting past the talk of who is negative and who isn't I am going to post for you the biggest TRUTH of all and the reason some of us have taken off the homer glasses and want to see some proof before we see only sugar plums before every important game.

In the last 2 years the Chargers are 1-9 against the good teams they play. They beat the bad teams and lose to almost every good contending team they play. Time for woulda coulda shoulda and excuses is over. Pretty much every single time they play a good team in a big game they choke and just cant get it done, from the coaching to the players.

So based on that, the most important factual evidence of all, why would some of us be all giddy and cocky over a couple of wins against the Bears and Jets??

Go out there and beat the Lions in a good performance this Sunday and then lets talk. A loss and its just the same old...a couple of wins against bad to average teams...then a couple of losses to the real contenders....hover in and around 500 or a game above...hope all falls your way and you scrape in for a wildcard....zzzzzzzzzzz

Is there a difference between saying you want to see it and saying the Chargers aren't good, won't win against any good team, etc.? I see alot more of the latter than the former being posted - it sure seems like its more than "i want to see it". Never mind the relevance of that oft-stated post to begin with.

Did you look at who Detroit beat this year? I did, intuitively it seemed they have had an easy schedule I did a 30 sec search, this site popped up. According to this schmoe, Chargers is 10th toughs, Lions 21st

http://powerrankingsguru.com/nfl/strength-of-schedule.php

[jamrock]

Where the vast offensive improvement Kellen Moore was supposed to bring? Are there growing pains or is the guy just overhyped and under equipped? Dak Prescott is playing pretty good ball without him

[sonorajim]

Correct in your fist sentence. No point in play action as their front three were getting the job done leaving 4 guys to clean up any mess in both the passing
or running game. There were two runs one by Kelly and one by Ekleler of 12 and 20 yards. Don't remember but I'm guessing both were stretch plays to
the outside where their LBs screwed up. We tried QJ on a end around sweep, nothing. We tried short passes (Herbert went 16/30 53%), we even tried
a couple of +20 yards, no go. We tried screens to no avail. There were two drives where things went well for the offense, that was about it.

The basic problem when facing the Jets D is that they get good pressure from 3 or 4 line men. Leaving some damn good LBs and DBs to do their thing.
What works? Running game if you can get it going. The Jets were giving up 144 yards per game through the ground. Unfortunately for us that requires
good run blocking which unfortunately we do not have.

....Have not had. IMO run blocking is possible to achieve with current personnel. Moore and Nugent aren't getting the job done. Play design, sequencing and technique are lacking. We should be average or better with our roster.