Why we don't suck as bad as it looked

[Boltjolt]

IMO what this game showed is that the chronic lack of depth this team has suffered from for ages continues. When your number 2's and 3's get blown out like the Charger reserves did then it's a real problem. Telesco gets a lot of accolades, but his draft and FA signings show otherwise. He's in his 4th year and yes there are some quality starters, but championship teams have quality depth behind their starters, something Telesco has failed to deliver. When you add up the score card his misses far outweigh his hits.

This game was a shameful debut for a team that is struggling to re-invent itself. I need to remind people that in SD the Chargers averaged between 50-55K in attendance per game. Even their pre=season numbers were close to or exceeded 50K. At Stub Hub the Chargers tout selling out 27K??? That's half of what they were getting in SD which they said wasn't good enough. Then the actual attendance was only about 21K which suggest some book cooking. Also did you note the typical LA apathy by fans who left at halftime? The stadium was half empty at the start of the second half. In other words, in LA the fans tend to be fair weather. You need to win to keep them. I know I was born and raised in LA. How long will they fight traffic and pay the highest seat prices in the league for a team that doesn't deliver? Not very long.

I find it interesting that had Spanos spent the money he's spending on relocation fees to the NFL and to move the team, he could have had his stadium in SD. Just saying....ya know.

So! What does that mean? Id say it means its preseason in a stadium and a team that is new to the area and they arent sure about. Not to mention the tickets for preseason there arent cheap. Ive seen many stadiums in preseason that werent filled and were half empty by halftime. I may not go to preseason game if you gave me the tickets. I dont want to see the scrubs play, and the game is meaningless and i think its messed up that all the organizations sell preseason tickets for full price.

Those LA teams are going to get most of their money from TV anyways. I read an articlee someplace that said if NOBODY goes to the game there, the team will stil make money. That wasnt happening in SD.

[Formula 21]

48-17. How can it get worse than that?

48 - 0?

[Panamamike]

48-17. How can it get worse than that?

The game could have actually meant something in the standings?

[Concudan]

Well...
I was very happy with the results 1st string v. 1st string.
I was less than thrilled with our backups and scrubs. Especially given the injury history of this team.

Why is Clemons still on the team. The kid stinks on ice. If Rivers goes down and he is our QB be are fooked.

What this game did for me was make me more concerned about our depth.

[whookimane]

My takeaways are as follows (don't care to really analyze players that aren't making the roster)

Good
Rivers - Efficient and accurate
Benjamin - A healthy Travis Benjamin is a top tier deep threat in league
O line pass blocking - Starters did a good job in pass pro
Desmond King - Missed some tackles, but certainly looks to have a nose for the ball. Nice ball skills on the pick in traffic and a chase down forced fumble (from a guy that "cant run". Not a coincidence that he is always making plays on the ball.
Bo Olivier - Looks healthy and tough to bring down. Fights for every last inch when he runs the ball

Interesting
Michael Davis - I know he got beat deep multiple times but he looks very interesting. He actually had very good coverage on a couple of those deep shots they hit on him with either a great catch by the wr or he simply didn't locate the ball.

Bad
Clemons - Just awful
Cardale - An absolute disaster but at least he is younger with more upside than clemons
O Line Run blocking - Once again Melvin gets ball and has nowhere to go almost every single time
Kyle Emmanuel - I just don't think he can play OLB in a 4-3, he looks stiff and slow playing on the edge. He looks exposed any time he is in space

[Boltjolt]

Well...
I was very happy with the results 1st string v. 1st string.
I was less than thrilled with our backups and scrubs. Especially given the injury history of this team.

Why is Clemons still on the team. The kid stinks on ice. If Rivers goes down and he is our QB be are fooked.

What this game did for me was make me more concerned about our depth.

This isn't Bolttalk, you can say "fucked" here lol

[Panamamike]

My takeaways are as follows (don't care to really analyze players that aren't making the roster)

Good
Rivers - Efficient and accurate
Benjamin - A healthy Travis Benjamin is a top tier deep threat in league
O line pass blocking - Starters did a good job in pass pro
Desmond King - Missed some tackles, but certainly looks to have a nose for the ball. Nice ball skills on the pick in traffic and a chase down forced fumble (from a guy that "cant run". Not a coincidence that he is always making plays on the ball.
Bo Olivier - Looks healthy and tough to bring down. Fights for every last inch when he runs the ball

Interesting
Michael Davis - I know he got beat deep multiple times but he looks very interesting. He actually had very good coverage on a couple of those deep shots they hit on him with either a great catch by the wr or he simply didn't locate the ball.

Bad
Clemons - Just awful
Cardale - An absolute disaster but at least he is younger with more upside than clemons
O Line Run blocking - Once again Melvin gets ball and has nowhere to go almost every single time
Kyle Emmanuel - I just don't think he can play OLB in a 4-3, he looks stiff and slow playing on the edge. He looks exposed any time he is in space

pretty much agree. Though at this point i give Cardale no grade at all YET. He is green as hell and has been here all of two weeks? An NFL OC could game plan a few games with him and compete given his ability to run. Clemens blows dead elephants as a qb.

[Fleet]

I think the starters did well given they were not even close to running plays that are anything other than vanilla. That was one of the best defenses in the league and struggled with the simple stuff we threw at them. Im not terribly worried about the starters. Then again im sure Seattle was bland on defense. Still the run blocking should have been better. Thats a concern.

The depth has always been a a concern. But its not like TT just drafts a player and they should be able to be solid depth from the get go. This team struggles to develop players. And that was under McCoy. Im not going to let one game make me think Lynn and our new staff is already failed because our depth looked terrible. The depth he inherited still needs to be developed and what we are seeing are players that spent a lot of time/years working on the negatives under McCoy. You see it by 3 major flaws that seem to never get better on this team. Thats contain, pursuit and tackling. Our tackling is still terrible with the back ups. Now we are asking them to learn a new defense.

It may take some time to teach the players that have been with us for a couple years as well as new players the basic fundamentals of this sceme. Its a culture change and one game wont show much of a difference from the McCoy days. In fact maybe we should just cut a bunch of the guys that have deeply rooted bad habits and look to grab cut players that have had better coaching. There will be well coached and developed players that get cut because some teams are just stacked. I dont blame TT 100% for not bringing in good depth. I blame our ability to develop players. And im hoping over the course of a couple years with this new staff things will change.

[Boltjolt]

Seattle actually blitzed a lot. Usually defenses are vanilla.

[rustybolt]

This team suffers a huge number of injuries each year. This continues to be the case, i.e. Perryman as an example. That is why their depth is important and the lack of it has proved this teams downfall each year under Telesco. Four years is more than enough time to turn a team around. KC, Denver and the Raiders all did it in far less. Sure the starters looked very good. But there is precious little behind them. Even when they are healthy, quality rotational players are required. I simply don't see that level of play from the backups and rotational players. Cardale showed me nothing new at all. He's a marginal player who simply hasn't grasped the need to be able to read defenses. His throws are inconsistent and a lot of that is from not understanding what he is seeing. So he assumes he can simply run his way out of problems. That is not what you want from a QB. He does not adequately if at all go thru his progressions. Thats why if Rivers goes down they have no one behind him. The 3 guys behind Rivers are all scrubs who have no business in the NFL.

What I don't like about Bradley's defenses is they are too simplistic. His scheme is predicated on a very high level of precision execution from his players. He comes close with his starters but it's why his depth players struggle. It's why his defensive scheme looked like crap once the starters left. Conversely did anyone watch the Rams' game? Wade Phillips' influence is immediately apparent. That defense can be very good. He's running the same defense John Pagano ran in SD. The Chargers have the makings of a top 10 defense under Bradley with the starters. But my concern is what happens when they are out? It's painfully obvious he doesn't have that kind of depth players behind them.

As much as Telesco praises Cardale, just remember he was still calling Fluker the RT of the future just before he was moved to RG where he busted out as well.

To end in a positive note, the first unit offense looked very good. The Oline blocked well in pass protection, but still can't run block. Wiggins showed surprising mobility when asked to pull. It's clear from his play he's strictly a OG and could be very good depth there. Pulley's oline calls were pretty good as well. Henry could be huge in this offense if used well. As much as I love Gates he needs to just play a rotational role this year. I would love to see more 12 personnel or A formations by the Chargers. This is a double TE look they could use with Gates and Henry. This would give them the potential of 5 receivers (2 WR, 2 TE, 1 RB). It also is a way to defeat 8 man boxes that Gordon often faces. It extends the edge making it much harder for the defense to set or defend. It keeps the defense in their base so that at least one WR will likely be in single coverage or forces them into a zone which Rivers' loves.

If everyone stays healthy this offense can be very good.

[Boltjolt]

It should be enough time but the Raiders were actually awful for about 12 years so it doesn't always happen.

[OhioBolt]

Offense the starters where the only positives we can survive without Mike Williams, barring no other injuries to Allen, Tyrell Williams, Benjamin and Inman. I feel we are good at RB with Gordon and Oliver, and I like Williams as the power back. TE we are good Hunter Henry I think will be on the field more than Gates which is a good thing and can keep Gates fresh.

Now the to be determine is the O-line they look good in the first series, but are we one injury away before we look like we did the rest of the game?

Defense I think the DL will be solid Bosa, Ingram, Mebane, Liguet, Square, and Reid.
ILB just got a big ? mark with Perryman injury, and OLB is paper thin I like Brown a lot but Emanuel is like a step slow I wonder does he have the ability to play inside while Perryman is out. Depth is an issue across the board ILB and OLB outside of Toomer there is a lot of inexperience at the position.

Cornerback I thought Trevon Williams was solid we know what we have in Hayward and Verrett when healthy, and the talk of Davis he obviously not ready for prime-time which leaves us to Mager and Reed.

Safeties the plus is Addae didn't hurt himself or any team mates, negative Lowry starting, little flash and lot of fizzle from the rest of the safeties except I give a pass to King he missed some tackles but did get an INT and caused a fumble.

Key to the season HEALTH!

[Screeme]