Originally posted by Riverwalk
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could the same be said for many plays last Sunday in MetLife stadium?Justin Herbert 2026 MVP Watch
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I don't think he did.Originally posted by Maniaque 6 View PostJustin Herbert 2026 MVP WatchComment
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I think we need to do a deeper dive here. When Gro uses the following words, they really mean:Originally posted by dmac_bolt View Post
GRO: "He's a future Hall-of-Famer"
TRANSLATION: He really is an elite player.
GRO: "He's amazing"
TRANSLATION: He's slightly above average.
GRO: "He's playing well"
TRANSLATION: He's barely average, but messes up from time to time.
GRO: "He's a valuable addition to our team"
TRANSLATION: I'm stuck with another Jag that Trader Joe picked up dumpster diving.
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So, let's review our current, nominated and past Fearless Leaders:Originally posted by dmac_bolt View Post
MAYOR: Velo
RETIRED MAYOR of FLIPVILLE: Dmac
KING: Wud
EMPEROR: That dude from the other forum, Freak...Comment
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you forgot our beloved ********Originally posted by Topcat View Post
I go by my more recent title "Bolt Harbor Port Commish", but its ok. My mayoral term didnt go so well.Justin Herbert 2026 MVP WatchComment
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I forgot...who IS the guvnuh? Fleet?Originally posted by dmac_bolt View Post
And does the Bolt Harbor Port Commish supervise arrivals and departures? As in players signed and cut?Comment
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Tuli Tuipulotu has arrived for the Chargers, right when they needed him most
By Daniel Popper
Oct. 3, 2025 5:00 am MST
EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — The Tuli Tuipulotu breakout is happening.
Through four games this season, the Los Angeles Chargers edge rusher is performing like one of the best players in the league at his position. Tuipulotu had a career-high four sacks in Sunday’s loss at the New York Giants, but the jump he is making in his third NFL season stretches beyond the simple box-score stats.
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His flashes of dominance have turned into sustained dominance, particularly as a pass rusher.
After releasing Joey Bosa this past offseason, the Chargers hoped Tuipulotu would move into a more prominent role and emerge as a true star. Tuipulotu is delivering on that hope — and doing so while top Chargers edge rusher Khalil Mack has been sidelined for the last two games with an elbow injury.
“He’s a complete player,” Mack said this week of Tuipulotu. “He does everything at a high level.”
Tuipulotu enters Sunday’s game against the Washington Commanders tied for third among edge rushers with 23 pressures this season, according to Pro Football Focus. Only the Green Bay Packers’ Micah Parsons and the Houston Texans’ Will Anderson have more.
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Alt could land on injured reserve after suffering a high ankle sprain. Meanwhile, Herbert is taking hits at a record rate.
Tuipulotu’s pass-rushing efficiency has also skyrocketed. As a rookie in 2023, Tuipulotu produced pressure on 11.9 percent of his pass-rushing snaps, according to TruMedia. That efficiency dropped slightly in 2024 to 10.8 percent. Through four games this season, Tuipulotu is producing pressure on 19.3 percent of his pass-rushing snaps. That ranks eighth among 105 players with at least 75 pass-rush snaps this season, according to TruMedia.
“My mindset, to be honest, is just to play hard,” Tuipulotu said this week.
That shows up in how relentless Tuipulotu is in all phases of the game. His best traits are his power and his motor, and he uses them to his advantage. On his first sack Sunday, Tuipulotu drove Giants right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor five yards into the backfield with a ferocious bull rush. Quarterback Jaxson Dart felt the pressure, stepped up and escaped left. Tuipulotu shed Eluemunor and tracked Dart from behind before smothering him with a leaping tackle.
“Sprinting to the ball,” Tuipulotu said.
Tuipulotu has been seeing more attention with Mack sidelined. Mack injured his elbow in the first quarter of the Chargers’ Week 2 win over the Las Vegas Raiders.
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The bona fide elite edge rushers can still perform in these situations — when teams are building their protection plans around neutralizing a single opposing pass rusher. On Tuipulotu’s fourth sack Sunday, the Giants slid their protection to his side. Two players, right guard Greg Van Roten and Eluemunor, were blocking Tuipulotu. He powered through both offensive linemen and sacked quarterback Russell Wilson, who had briefly replaced Dart. Tuipulotu also jarred the ball loose for a fumble.
“Power sets the tone,” Tuipulotu said.
It looked like a play Mack would make. And in so many ways, Mack has been the perfect mentor for Tuipulotu. They are both immensely powerful players. Mack shapes his pass rush toolbox around his bull rush, his sharpest tool. Tuipulotu has followed the same blueprint.
Tuipulotu is now seeing how impactful his power can be — how it can turn him into a dominant force down to down.
Mack said seeing that vision materialize on the field is the “special sauce” in becoming an elite edge rusher.
“It’s a pocket, it’s a groove,” Mack said. “He found it, and he’s going to stay in it now.”
Tuipulotu has always been a physical and disruptive run defender. That has continued this season. On Sunday, he stuffed a rush attempt from Dart on a third-and-goal from the 1-yard line, a key play in the Chargers’ fourth-quarter goal-line stand.
Now he is that same consistently disruptive player as a pass rusher. The Chargers are moving him all over the defensive front, and Tuipulotu has been creating pressure as an interior rusher, as well.
“He can do kind of whatever he wants to do out there,” Mack said. “Taking whatever they’re giving you at the moment, he’s great at that, whether it’s the power, whether it’s the speed rushes, whether it’s the counters inside.”
Bosa was another mentor for Tuipulotu over his first two seasons. Bosa is one of the best hand-usage technicians in the game. Tuipuilotu would ask Bosa for tips to refine his technique.
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“I just did it so much that it kind of just happens now,” Bosa would reply.
The message: Repetitions cultivate the necessary muscle memory.
With enough banked experience now, Tuipulotu is starting to feel that muscle memory within his own game. He is not thinking about when to swipe to dislodge the hand placement of his opponent. He is just doing it.
“The more I do it,” Tuipulotu said, “the more it will work.”
Tuipulotu has also refined his preparation. When he first got into the league as a second-round pick in 2023, Tuipulotu heard veterans tell him to “practice like a pro.” Initially, Tuipulotu said, he took that “the wrong way.”
“That means don’t go too hard,” Tuipulotu said. “But then now I’m like, I can go hard, I just got to be smart about it.”
“You practice how you play,” he added. “I’m a true believer in that.”
Tuipulotu’s practice habits have made an impression on his coaches.
“Guys that do that stuff on a consistent basis — the way they prepare, the way they practice, the way they play — that’s the focal point for us,” defensive coordinator Jesse Minter said. “So just really trying to get everybody on the page of Tuli, who does this all the time.”
Mack has seen Tuipulotu evolve his eating habits, his recovery routine and how he takes care of his body.
“I just believe now that he prepares how he sees himself as a player, which is at an elite level,” Minter said. “Tuli is one of our top guys running to the ball every day, one of our top guys in preparation and communication. When you become like that, when you prepare like that, oftentimes it leads to performance like that.”
Mack has now been on injured reserve for two games. He must miss two more before he is eligible to return.
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When that happens, the Chargers will have a frightening edge-rushing duo.
“It’s no secret,” Mack said. “It’s just hard work, and then when the opportunity comes, going out and displaying what you’ve been working so hard to do. … He puts it on film. That’s what you want to see.”
Tuipulotu has arrived. Just as the Chargers envisioned this offseason.
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Nutty is our Gov. Fleet is more like our Commodore, at least to me.Originally posted by Topcat View Post
All we do at Port Commish is skim a vig off anything coming in our going out.
Justin Herbert 2026 MVP WatchComment
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I have been laying low... speaking softly... but I'm about to break out the big stick.Originally posted by dmac_bolt View Post
Nutty is our Gov. Fleet is more like our Commodore, at least to me.
All we do at Port Commish is skim a vig off anything coming in our going out.
Omarion Hampton broke out last weekend... time to bludgeon the Commanders.Protect the QB
Run the ball
Play great defenseComment
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But they didn'tOriginally posted by Riverwalk View Post
We can say the same thing. Had Roman run the ball more, the game is different, Herbert isnt hit as much, maybe slows the pass rush down......but we didn't..Comment
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No, I think that's an apples to oranges comparison...with McVay, it all came down to ONE play...with Gro, there were MULTIPLE examples of Herbie getting hit, some of those hits due to a lack of game-planning to compensate for poor pass pro...something that could have been addressed, at least in part, by additional blocking and chipping help by RB's and TE's...by shorter pass routes...AND by more ground game...Originally posted by dmac_bolt View PostComment
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I like that...COMMODORE Fleet...because the technical definition of a commodore is the admiral in charge of a FLEET of ships...Originally posted by dmac_bolt View Post
Nutty is our Gov. Fleet is more like our Commodore, at least to me.
All we do at Port Commish is skim a vig off anything coming in our going out.
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