Chargers 2017 Season Was A Success

[LAChargersSafeHaven]

chargers111011-02.jpg

Wow.. What a roller coaster ride! I just spent two days at 6 Flags, and this season might have been the best ride. Seriously.

Ok, the Chargers didn't make the Playoffs. That sucks. But, this team put the Raiders down like dogs to end the season. All that hype about the stadium being all Raider fans, and the crowd noise being a factor? Nah man.

All that hype about Lynch being a threat? Nonsense. He got his yards, but the Chargers kept him in check. 0 Lynch touchdowns today. 10 points allowed by the defense. It was never really close.

Tre Boston. Is he better than Weddle? Maybe not. But he has filled in nicely, and has similar stats for less money. Danny Woodhead doesn't even touch Ekeler's stats this year. Not missing either player, after their anti-Charger Twitter posts earlier this season. Personally, I can't wait for the rematch next season.

After the Jags folded like a house of cards today, I immediately became a Bengals fan for the first time in years! When I was little, I used to pretend I was Ickey Woods. Boomer Esiason, Reggie Williams, James Brooks.. I loved the Tiger Stripes as a child. Watching that last drive by Dalton and Company reignited that for me.

It was a long shot for the Bolts to make the playoffs. I really can't be that mad about the Bills, or the Titans, or even the Jags for making it in. I am rooting for any of those teams over the Steelers, Chiefs, or Patriots. I will never root for the Ravens, so I'm glad they are on the couch. Keep looking for that SB team Weddle and Woodhead! Get that paycheck! Pfffft.

After the move to LA, there was so much talk about this team not being close to competitive. So much talk about Anthony Lynn being a bad coaching choice. Gus Bradley being a washed up defensive coordinator, that was riding the coat-tails of a reputation he was blessed with in Seattle, because his players were elite. That this organization, and the majority of it's players, were scrap heap rejects.

I want to make it clear. Anybody who started off the season (most bloggers) saying that the depth players on this team were worst in the league.. needs to think twice about ever posting before they hit the button. This team has surprised us all. But, I'm not that surprised. I am not anti-Charger. I didn't spend the season consumed with the Spanos family moving the team to LA. I was only interested in the reality of this team getting better. Which they did. And, I can't wait for next season.

Are there adjustments to be made? Yes. Does the kicking game need attention? Yes. Are there holes to be filled by players who are in contract years? Yes. Could better decisions have been made? Of course. Are things going to get better? Probably.

This team is trending in the right direction. It doesn't matter where we pick in the draft, because we are going to get good players. Contacts will be signed, players will be kept. Some won't. Free Agency will be here soon.

I personally predicted an 8-8 record as a success this season. They went 9-7, like in 2014, and missed the playoffs. But, that 2014 team was going in the wrong direction. This team is ascending. That's the truth.

Happy New Year Bolt Fans! Thanks for reading all year, and hope for a dominant 2018!

Keep Bolting Toward Excellence!

[Fleet]

Yeah Karma. We always hear about that from the haters. But we seemed to overcome what was perceived as what was deserved. But the Weddle and Woody cheap shots are hilarious to me now that they got hosed. Just remembered that they lost.

Thanks for teaming up with me this season. You did splendid. It was a joy to have these blogs.

Will you be sticking around with us? And more importantly are you looking forward to doing this again next year? Lots to be excited about Pete.

[LAChargersSafeHaven]

Of Course. We have a whole Off-Season to make it even better

[Steve]

Tre Boston is nowhere near as good as Weddle. Weddle is still a pretty good S. He is just butt-hurt at not being treated as a special guy by the franchise. This is a little like LT at the end of his tenor with us, although Weddle's thing was forced by his contract rather than his aging. Still, he wanted to get paid for his past production, rather than his future potential which is what contracts are. It's too bad, but he is gone because he needed to go.

As far as Boston goes, he finally started to play well. He has been an up and down guy who finally seemed to find a D that fit his talents. That being said, there is a limit to how much I would pay to keep him. He is a good, but not great player. Today's int was the first play that I felt like was a good play by him. Most of the rest are gimme's, or forced by others. If another team makes a big push, I would let him walk, but make a good offer and hope he knows a good thing.

Lost in todays victory was the fact that Jenkins had a very strong game in pass coverage. Phillips may be a very good coverage DB underneath. but Jenkins looks like he could be even better.

There are things to be done to make the team better, but if the Chargers can start to tackle a lot better next year, they will be contenders.

[Bolt-O]

Jenkins did play well today, just a late bloomer. I'm hoping that Jenkins and King continue to improve, and that they figure out the right spot for Jatavis Brown. I think Boston will be 'paid' for this season, I don't think it will be with the Chargers though.

[LAChargersSafeHaven]

Right with you on Jenkins. Really hope Bradley hangs around, since that was "his pick". Bradley has been great for our ypung D.

To be clear, I acknowledged that Tre Boston isn't as good as Weddle. But, when Boston has 4 picks compared to 6 of Weddle's.. More tackles.. and Weddle has one lone sack more than Boston.. Not signing Weddle to a ridiculous contract seems like a pretty smart move right now... It's not like Weddle pushed the Ravens into the playoffs. Production.

As you said.. LT was a circumstance of age who is still heavily involved with the team. Guys like Floyd, Dielman, Gates, Rivers, Hardwick, Seau, Alworth, Merriman, Sproles.. On and on... Will be remembered as true Chargers. Weddle WAS in that classy group. He made sure everyone knows he didn't belong in it by making a cash-grab, and trashing the team when he didn't get it.

Then, also making statements about how bad the team was, and wanting to be a part of an organization that has a "real shot at a title". I guess if you mean a team that finishes one conference game ahead of the Chargers, and still misses the playoffs.. While still collecting an outrageous check.. Sure. Make no mistake. Weddle was not interested in restructuring or negotiating his contract. I'll take Tre Boston.

Stay away from Social Media kids!

[Charged4Life]

Tre Boston is nowhere near as good as Weddle. Weddle is still a pretty good S. He is just butt-hurt at not being treated as a special guy by the franchise. This is a little like LT at the end of his tenor with us, although Weddle's thing was forced by his contract rather than his aging. Still, he wanted to get paid for his past production, rather than his future potential which is what contracts are. It's too bad, but he is gone because he needed to go.

As far as Boston goes, he finally started to play well. He has been an up and down guy who finally seemed to find a D that fit his talents. That being said, there is a limit to how much I would pay to keep him. He is a good, but not great player. Today's int was the first play that I felt like was a good play by him. Most of the rest are gimme's, or forced by others. If another team makes a big push, I would let him walk, but make a good offer and hope he knows a good thing.

Lost in todays victory was the fact that Jenkins had a very strong game in pass coverage. Phillips may be a very good coverage DB underneath. but Jenkins looks like he could be even better.

There are things to be done to make the team better, but if the Chargers can start to tackle a lot better next year, they will be contenders.

I'd be so fine with drafting another Perryman or two at linebacker. Our defense would be awesome.

[Steve]

I think drafting 2 LB is a waste of draft picks. Do we need to spend that much draft (2 out of 7) on part time players?

If you look back at the games we played down the stretch, we did most of that in our dime package. Our run D got BETTER once we played more DB. We just need all the players on our D to take a closer focus on their run fits and tackling, and the run D will be fine.

If I was going to draft a LB, I would try to focus on a SAM/OTTO LB (OTTO is the term for the SAM LB in the Seattle D) who is a pass rusher and teach them to play the run and drop. Use the position as a way to stockpile as many pass rushers as possible. But no matter who is there, they are a part time player. We aren't going to start putting Ingram and Bosa anywhere but on the edge, and that means other edge guys are going to be coming off the field.

[Fleet]

Id look at bringing in a guy like Bradham. Hes on the field all the time. And i think he stays on the field for us in all packages. He plays SAM and can slide inside. I understand the part time thing....but how much of that is based on the players we have? Myles Jack was a monster as far as snaps go. And i do believe he is playing SAM in Jacksonville.

I wouldn't have suggested drafting LB high in the other thread if it wasn't a guy that would play over 80% of the time.

So yeah i agree if we are just going to rotate 300 snap a piece guys it makes sense to use a later round pick. Or bring in someone. I really like Bradham despite the off the field issues. I think he would be a monster in this defense. And worth the coin considering the amount of time hes on the field. My God he is an active player.

But as was suggested....i doubt the org sees past the red flags.

[Sgt Schultz]

Steve who do you propose to cover for Denzel Perryman if he gets hurt again next year?

[Steve]

Some of it is the players we have, but the trend is going on even more DB more the time (league-wide that is). Plus, for the last 20 years or so, it is has been nickel and dime (extra DB sub packages) for like 2/3 to 3/4 of our downs (again league-wide). The NFL defense is really a 425 regardless of what base D a team claims. This year we finally one-upped teams and went dime most of the time, not nickel, but we used to do that under Wade and Fat Teddy too. Pagano and Rivera used mostly nickel. But as long as NFL offenses tend to use 3 WR sets half to 2/3 of the time, we are going to be forced into playing either nickel or dime, unless we want our LB running vs WR. Most people probably missed it, but on Boston's int, Toomer was the guy in coverage against Cooper. Offenses are always going to be able to catch our LB in athletic mismatches against WR, but more DB make that harder and harder.

Assuming we get a new SAM, then Perryman/Toomer at MIKE and Toomer/Brown at WILL.... one of them is only going to play a small fraction of the time, and maybe two. I would kinda like to see how Toomer and Brown do. Both were disappointments this season, but both still showed flashes of the ability that got our attention last year. We have other holes to fill that are pressing (NT, OT....). LB tend to be the ones hit hardest by converting to the 43 from the 34. I think the some of the answers at LB might be on the roster, and that may work it's way out, if given the chance.

Plenty of teams use a SAM LB as the nickel coverage player, so it is not necessarily the SAM position I am against, but the fact that it pushes someone else off the field ... Jags use Jack as their top coverage guy, but their other LB are not on the field nearly as much...... We seem to have LB who can cover, at least well enough if we have enough DB to avoid the really horrible mismatches.

One offseason is not going to answer every personnel question we have. There are a limited number of draft picks, and money to sign top FA. We aren't going to fill every need, no matter how we prioritize it. Giving the LB, who have made plays in the past, and may develop in their still relatively new D, a chance just means we need to address other holes. The LB thing can be addressed next season.

The big knock on our D seems to be whenever we play, if the Chargers tackle well, we play good D. When they don't, it is going to be a long game defensively. For all the hype Bradley gets, that is the one thing I would like to see us do much better in. He was part of the Seattle D that missed so few tackles, and that is one thing that we need to do, regardless of scheme and personnel groups. You have to get the ball carriers to the ground. Our run D got a lot better when we stopped playing the LB as much and started to play more dime. That seems like a step in the right direction to me, even though I wouldn't mind seeing Phillips and Addae with somewhat reduced roles in the future when we can develop better replacements.

[Charged4Life]

Steve, what would be your preference for our top three draft picks? Assuming we go defense in rounds one through three...for the sake of exploration more than anything else. Not specific players - unless you want - but what positions and characteristics do you think would fit best in our defense?

And thanks for your in depth answers.

[Steve]

Steve who do you propose to cover for Denzel Perryman if he gets hurt again next year?

Based on the current roster, a combination of Brown, Pullard and Toomer. There is always going to be a step down from the starter whenever he gets hurt. You need depth, but adding players who never get on the field is going to be foolish. I know everyone likes the story of how much the D improved with Perryman returning, but if you look at the stats, it really happened when Phillips got in the lineup in the Giants game.

We played mostly nickel in 1st Denver, Mia, KC and Philly then again in the 1st Oakland game. After that, we play more dime than nickel. Often, looking at the snap counts, it is pretty clear that one LB has almost the same number of snaps as Phillips. The biggest exception was when Phillips went out last week, but Jenkins got 10 snaps and we did play a lot of base D because they were in it to the end (and couldn't throw).

Jacksonville and the Jets kept us in a lot more base package because they dictated it to us by personnel. They are running teams that played a lot of extra TE, and use a FB. Even then, the dime package was still on the field about half the time (Phillips was in on 42 of 84 for Jags). The 1st Oakland did as well.

If I was going to draft someone to really help our back 7 (LB and DB), it would be another SS type of player. Let the player compete against Addae and/or Phillips. Then you could play them at LB or SS depending on the guy and/or the way the competition works out. Someone like Landon Collins or Mark Barron. Then just use them like an extra LB. We already do it most of the time, why not just acknowledge it.

The problem people seem to be having is they think we play a 43 D and we don't. Every team in the NFL plays a 42 or 41 D as their main D, and they play the base personnel package only a small fraction of the time. Why lie to ourselves and say that is more important than it is? Phillips and King both play "LB", even if we call them "DB". They have run responsibilities, even though they are in there to match up in coverage. And most of the time we have an 8 man front, so it is still hard to block everyone. In fact it may be even harder, because most WR are such crappy blockers, compared to TE and RB.

PFF noted we were the worst tackling defense in football. That has a much bigger deal to do with our defensive problems than any other issue. The LB are not helping matters, but the DB aren't hurting it that much either.

The graphic below is a summary of the snap counts and defensive performance. yellow highlights are the games that the snap counts seem to indicate that we played mostly nickel, green are mostly dime. In the nickel games there are 2 LB with many more snaps, and only 5 DB with many. In the dime games, you can match the Dime MIKE LB to Phillips snap counts, you see that they are usually very close. The other LB seem to be playing the base package, which also seems to indicate that we don't use a true every down LB.

LB are on the left, DB in the middle and overall performance on the right (pts allow but includes ST, total yds, pass yds, rushing yds and takeaways by our D). It only goes up through the jets game since the last game is not going to be posted for several days. Blanks indicate games where a player didn't play, the zeros for Toomer are games he played ST, but got no snaps on D. The blue like is just the total, and I use it to check to see that my total match the web page I get the snap counts.
snap counts 2017.png

[Steve]

Steve, what would be your preference for our top three draft picks? Assuming we go defense in rounds one through three...for the sake of exploration more than anything else. Not specific players - unless you want - but what positions and characteristics do you think would fit best in our defense?

And thanks for your in depth answers.

Maybe think more about personnel priorities, rather than draft picks. If you go for a top FA, you probably don't go after the same spot in the draft and vice versa.

NT and SS are big ones in my thought. Personally, I would wait on the LB thing. I think we may have the bodies to fill out a strong LB corp, but it is definitely not a finished group.

I like the job Phillips did, and I love how Addae played, but I still think there is some room for improvement at S. A true FS would be OK too, since I think Boston is sometimes late in coverage and slow to come up in run support.

NT would be a good spot to add some inside stoutness. Mebane is older, a bit undersized and old, undersized NT tend to fade quickly when they go. If he can still play, he still has a year on his contract, and we can use him. But if not, it would be nice to have someone to split time. Maybe someone else can remember, but it seems like a lot of the big runs against us come on combinations of missed tackles and downs when Squares is playing, so OL can get out on the LB and DB. I think Phillon might be a good 3 tech, because he certainly penetrates well. He blew up a bunch of runs vs Oakland and killed some drives. Squares shows some movement, so he might be a decent 3 tech as well. I also think Rochelle has shown a bit of inside push, plus he could sub in at DE and LEO to play obvious run downs.

We might be able to move Liuget to NT, where his lack of big plays would be less of an issue. I think there would need to be a paycut there, since $10 million is pricy for a run stuffer type.

We also need help at OL, so I am not sure I would spend all 3 of our top picks on D.

[Charged4Life]

Okay, a very good tackling SS would be ideal. thanks.