Kaepernick is gonna get an earful...Gameday Thread

[chargerkdb]

I thought of something that might enhance or diminish my argument that we shouldn't blame Pagano for defensive woes.

People keep blaming him for his players not getting better.

Let me ask this. Have any of Pagano's players who have left the Chargers got any better?

Other than Perryman and Verrett, everyone else on Defense is underwhelming, uncluding the coach. Mebane, Bosa and Haywood are "projected" to be good. Luiget and Ingram don't perform up to their talent. Teo is meh, and the rest would struggle to start anywhere else.

[Lightningwill_420]

Other than Perryman and Verrett, everyone else on Defense is underwhelming, uncluding the coach. Mebane, Bosa and Haywood are "projected" to be good. Luiget and Ingram don't perform up to their talent. Teo is meh, and the rest would struggle to start anywhere else.

That didn't answer the question.

[chargerkdb]

That didn't answer the question.

Oh sorry didn't realise there was a question. Our Defense lacks depth. The backend of our roster is filled with turds. He could be the 2nd coming of Lombardi and our cast offs would still suck. Now the Starters, who do have talent, still underwhelm so that is the coach. Every year, we don't get to the quarterback, we get gouged in the run and we look sloppy to start the year before finishing well. I haven't seen anything this preseason to suggest that will change this year. While I appreciate that our Defense isn't stocked with probowlers, I would say that Pagano was very fortunate to be retained when McCoy came on board and has been lucky to still be here based on our defensive play of the past few seasons.

[Formula 21]

San Francisco 49ers 31, San Diego Chargers 21

Here are the top-graded players and biggest takeaways from San Francisco’s 31-21 preseason win in San Diego.

San Francisco 49ers

Quarterback grades: Christian Ponder, 77.5; QB Colin Kaepernick, 74.9; Jeff Driskel 42.5

Colin Kaepernick proves to be threat on ground

Colin Kaepernick started the game for San Francisco, and was more effective as a runner than a passer. Kaepernick was just two for eight for 25 yards on passes thrown 10+ yards downfield, but added 38 rushing yards (two attempts for 15 yards on option runs and two attempts for 23 yards on scrambles). Rookie Jeff Driskel was the next man up, but was quickly benched after two of his three pass attempts were intercepted. Driskel was replaced by Christian Ponder, who finished with a passer rating of 99.7 with a clean pocket, compared to 59.8 when pressured. Ponder added a pair of rushing touchdowns.

Colin Kaepernick passing under pressure versus Chargers

Colin Kaepernick passing under pressure

Top offensive grades

QB Christian Ponder, 77.5

QB Colin Kaepernick, 74.9

TE Je’Ron Hamm, 74.2

WR Jeremy Kerley, 72.7

TE Bruce Miller, 72.5

Rookie LG Joshua Garnett struggles

San Francisco’s offensive line was ineffective throughout the game, and LG Joshua Garnett (40.6) and C Marcus Martin (36.9) were the team’s lowest-graded players on offense. Each player allowed just a pair of hurries in pass protection, but struggled in the run game. LT Colin Kelly earned the team’s best run-blocking grade (91.5), but allowed two hits and four hurries for a team-worst 33.3 pass-blocking grade.

Top defensive grades

LB Shayne Skov, 91.4

CB Rashard Robinson, 86.9

OLB Marcus Rush, 84.8

DE Garrison Smith, 83.6

DE B.J. McBryde, 82.9

Marcus Rush earns top preseason pass-rush grade among all NFL edge defenders

OLB Marcus Rush recorded two sacks, two hurries, and a forced fumble on just 12 pass-rush attempts, and finishes the preseason with the best pass-rush grade of any NFL edge defender. LB Shayne Skov had seven tackles (five defensive stops), and CB Rashard Robinson led the team with a 90.2 coverage grade after allowing two of four passes into his coverage to be caught for 12 yards, and added a pass defense and interception.

San Diego Chargers

Quarterback grades: Kellen Clemens, 65.3; Mike Bercovici, 40.8

Conservative night for backup QB Kellen Clemens

Kellen Clemens was very conservative in this game, attempting just two passes more than 10 yards in the air (both incomplete). Backup Mike Bercovici was slightly more aggressive, completing a 26-yard pass to WR Dominique Williams between the corner and safety against a cover-2 coverage look for the longest Chargers’ completion of the game.

Top offensive grades

WR Isaiah Burse, 79.4

C Spencer Pulley, 74.0

TE Asante Cleveland, 68.4

HB Gus Johnson, 66.6

WR Dominique Williams, 66.1

Poor run-blocking leads to limited rushing yardage

San Diego had a tough time moving the ball on the ground. Outside of a Kenneth Farrow 44-yard run, the Chargers gained just 55 yards on 23 attempts, and 54 yards came after contact. Tackle Marcel Jones, guards Vi Teofilo and Kenny Wiggins, center Max Tuerk, and FB Chris Swain all earned negative run-blocking grades, and San Diego running backs forced just three missed tackles on 24 total attempts.

Top defensive grades

S Adrian Phillips, 85.7

NT Ryan Carrethers, 84.1

OLB Chris Landrum, 79.2

LB Jatavis Brown, 79.0

CB Trevor Williams, 78.6

Safety Adrian Phillips earns a clean sheet in coverage

NT Ryan Carrethers concluded a solid preseason by earning a team-best 82.1 run-defense grade, adding three hurries on 21 pass-rush attempts. OLBs Ben Gardner (one sack, one hit, four hurries) and Chris Landrum (three hits, two hurries) were the team’s most productive pass-rushers, and LB James Vaughters added four hurries on just 12 rushes. S Adrian Phillips did not allow any of the three passes into his coverage to be completed, and added a pass defense.

Pulley continues to produce, Burse looks like he can really play, and Carrethers continues to be the forgotten man. When he's cut, he'll be picked up immediately.Wiggins disappoints.

[Lightningwill_420]

Oh sorry didn't realise there was a question. Our Defense lacks depth. The backend of our roster is filled with turds. He could be the 2nd coming of Lombardi and our cast offs would still suck. Now the Starters, who do have talent, still underwhelm so that is the coach. Every year, we don't get to the quarterback, we get gouged in the run and we look sloppy to start the year before finishing well. I haven't seen anything this preseason to suggest that will change this year. While I appreciate that our Defense isn't stocked with probowlers, I would say that Pagano was very fortunate to be retained when McCoy came on board and has been lucky to still be here based on our defensive play of the past few seasons.

The question was: do any ex Chargers go on to be better without Pagano?

[Lightningwill_420]

Pulley continues to produce, Burse looks like he can really play, and Carrethers continues to be the forgotten man. When he's cut, he'll be picked up immediately.Wiggins disappoints.

Good to hear about Pulley.

[chargerkdb]

The question was: do any ex Chargers go on to be better without Pagano?

No Pagano ruins their careers HaHa. Seriously though, I can't recall any players leaving our D that didn't suck. Who have we cut loose that was any good? Gregory, Butler, Cox, English. I'm struggling to think of anyone good

[Lightningwill_420]

No Pagano ruins their careers HaHa. Seriously though, I can't recall any players leaving our D that didn't suck. Who have we cut loose that was any good? Gregory, Butler, Cox, English. I'm struggling to think of anyone good

Yea. They sucked because they sucked. Same goes for the players still on our team. For most of Pagano's Chargers defensive coordinator career, he had only one player who was even average - Weddle. The rest of the defense was anywhere from less than mediocre to just downright shitty. Now we've got Verrett, who is good when he plays and does nothing for us when he's injured. And we've got Perryman, who is good at certain things and not so good at others. Everybody else? They wouldn't start on many teams.

With the exception of the first half of last year, Pagano took a defense that was full of shitty players and made the unit average.
The last defensive coordinator who did that for us was Ron Rivera. Fans wanted him canned too. When Rivera left, we got a whole lot worse and didn't recover until we got Pagano.

The people who are calling for Pagano to be fired are calling for our D to be the worst in the league. I mean - what exactly are you expecting from a team that has an inside linebacker, a part-time corner, and nothing else. I'm hoping my men, Bosa and Mebane, make a huge difference, but, reading Steve's stuff, it's sounding like I shouldn't expect much this year. The only reason I'm expecting this unit to keep us in games is because Pagano has made shittier defenses decent in the past.

[KNSD]

Steve Gregory. That's pretty much it then... (?)

Which defensive players have gotten better after coming to San Diego?

[Lightningwill_420]

Steve Gregory. That's pretty much it then... (?)

Which defensive players have gotten better after coming to San Diego?

That's hard for me to say because I don't pay attention to players on other teams.

But I'll try some guesses:

Brandon Flowers. He had 3 interceptions his first year with us - only 1 the year before.

Damion Square. He was a part-time starter for us last year. The year before, he didn't play football.

Sean Lissemore. He made two sacks and 18 tackles and even had an interception for a touchdown for us his first year. The year before that he had one sack and 15 tackles.

We really don't have a lot of defensive players who played for other teams. I'm guessing most of the depth wouldn't make it on another team's roster and almost all the starters wouldn't start for another team.

In 2012, the entire defense got better under Pagano - his first year in charge of the defense. If we fire him, I almost guarantee the entire defense will get worse.

[KNSD]

Pretty sad lists going both ways. Anyways, I still miss Joe Pascale.

[Lightningwill_420]

Pascale had Seau, Harrison, and Jamal - a football god. a maybe Hall of Famer, and a should-be Hall of Famer. The closest to any of those guys Pagano has had has been Weddle, and the only Hall Weddle will get close to is the Hall of Beards.

Despite the awesome players, Pascale's defenses were really only good on paper. Whenever our offense was decent enough to have a lead near the end of the game, Pascale's defenses would fold. They only played well when it really didn't matter.