Chargers Week 1 Recap: Butt Hurt Herbert

Intro Chargers week one versus the Raiders we knew this was going to be a highly contested defensive battle with the Raiders we knew it was going to be difficult to move the ball difficult to score and they didn't have one of their better players in CS that needs to be considered and kept in mind I think initially they were swim moving us which is a great counter move to the power Raiders Defense Stout to Begin game you can see here on this play Crosby does a swim move 69 does a swim move and 94 at the top does a swim move and 95 does a does a good job pushing 44 back and making attack Le I think initially it seemed like we were trying to force feed the run a little bit too much I mean when you have three defensive tackles on the field and you have 44 go up against the the thickest nose tackle I've ever seen in my life I me you can just tell like he's looks like twice his size and then they have a blitz coming off the edge I guess I appreciate commitment to the Run game but it almost looks like they're trying to fit a round peg in a square hole I think the Run game worked towards the end of the game when we needed it most to put the game away just like here on this play Crosby swim move moves the end again dle to make a tackle I mean we still got a decent amount of yardage on that play but so that was we got three yards on that play which is pretty good I think and then the second and seven very obvious run looks like we get one two which pretty good I think actually that was only one yard but at least it wasn't a negative play so we're in a very manageable third and six we go spread and we hit makoni on this Chargers Offensive Line Crosser on this play the Chargers face a six-man rush and Herbert has 3 seconds time to throw which is really good good I think you have takeing consideration that there are two tight ends blocking shipping at the edge so that definitely helps joal looked fantastic he's not only helping pipkins with Wilkins at the edge here he's also maintaining the outside and it seemed like when we threw under sender it worked decently well some of the passes weren't able to be completed one was to metlock that he wasn't able to bring down but Herbert is lasering those throws in there stick and Herbert Post Presser I kind of talked about you know where we've been the past couple of years where there's times where hey we go three and out and we punt things go different way and the guys that we've brought in the guys that have been here all we're doing is is our best and to have a guy leading the charge like that and the locker room that buys in follows him you know it's a day for him as well to get his first win I mean we believe in our offensive line we believe in those running backs that we're giving the ball to and I'm not one to really judge you know what they do offensively whether it's punting her I'm just sitting on the on the sideline watching the defense rooting for the badge I I'm not I'm not qualified to make that decision Herbert's presser sounded like he was kind of butt hurt talks about stick and himself and where they've been the past couple years what he needs to be talking about is himself and his wide receiver you kind of look at the relationship that Cooper cup has with Matt Stafford amount of time that they spend watching film he needs to have that relationship with his wide receivers he doesn't play with e stick he plays with the ride receivers that he has on the field and there seems to be a disconnect between those two rooms they need to come together and start thinking like one another and build that Synergy Herbert's leadership is sometimes been called into question and you can kind of under I kind of can see it now in this press conference the way he's speaking about his o line he's speaking about his running backs but he doesn't mention his wide receivers and it's as a quarterback they should be your best friends right I mean oline should be good with you too he seems to have really good relationship with JK Dobbins there seemed to be some good Synergy with mon coni the way he spoke in his press conference makes you wonder why is he but hurt is he getting some criticism from his offensive coordinator getting criticism from the head coach what I will say is the calls were questionable the spread offer at the goal line was questionable I mean the stats tell you that the Run game is even more important in the goal line because you can't stretch the field so for them to go spread in the red zone and fail to to get points I I put that more on the head coach and offensive coordinator than I do the quarterback however Herbert needs to take some ownership some of the throws he makes I mean there's some wide receivers that are very much open there's some throws that he throws behind the receiver or they're too wide so it's not all on the wide receivers he can be better too I have never played Cooper Kupp praise for Stafford with someone with the depth of knowledge and the ability to process as quickly as he does like Matthew say I've seen this before because I've played in this league so long and I have snapshots of this picture I know what's coming we played them in 20 we hit him on a set or go for a [Music] touchdown opener 2019 mhm being pull up plays on the spot and say I've seen this before this is how we beat it this was the time on the clock the weather this was what the um wind was coming left to right here you know I threw it to this guy he played football in a small town in Texas he's a really good high school player it's unbelievable the depth of knowledge he's able to pull from these things Herbert on this blitz on this There's a disconnect play there seems to be a miscommunication because you see QJ at the top blocking Hayden is blocking mononi is looking for a pass Herbert's trying to throw to Hayden ultimately gets sacked fumbles the ball luckily it was an offsides call the o line this is a great pass block by the running back Zion fails to pick up this block to pick up the rush on this play Boseman is not doing a whole lot there I mean he probably could have helped on that doesn't see him either this pass to QJ Back shoulder throw was a little out of Bounce my opinion maybe he should have done a back shoulder throw not sure but this pass was definitely off Target Herbert does seem to make some Herbert Audible good audible calls see him here changing the play up and then he's trying to go to JK doesn't throw it he's got dle open McConkey Contested Catch right in front of him Boseman kind of is not able to hold up in the interior coni on this play is not able to catch this contested catch and that's not really his game he's not known for being a contested catch guy he's known for his ability to get open so here he has aony open right right to his left he dumps it off to JK who barely gets back to the line of scrimmage it's a questionable throw he's not under pressure maybe a little bit probably could have S side stepped that here tier doesn't hold up looks Interior O line still sus like pipkins failed to see the stunt underneath seems like sometimes these guys they lose awareness sometimes seems like it's good block by QJ Andi no that's a will disly hayen Hurst I don't know how many times I've seen this throw where he throws it high back of the end zone and it just sells out of bounds he's not really Under Pressure he probably could have scrambled this play here Tony R will Slide Protection by Tony Romo talk about it watch him watch the center right here Jim you got to decide what Five Guys you got 4 left that means they're going here that means Crosby's going to come free it's a poor decision but that's the disguise they Slide the protection to the left but I think which was boseman's decision but as a quarterback I would think if you're sliding your line to the left maybe keep your running back in to help block give you time maybe Herbert thought he can get this ball off in time and just throw it to the corner it's a decently thrown Ball but again makoni is not like a jump ball type guy so and this is where I I feel like this is some responsibility falls on the office coordinator or maybe whoever creates route the routes you know having makoni run to the Post Corner for a jump ball is just not good schematic construction you know that should be QJ maybe this was normally DJ Char who's more that guy but to slide protection to the left not keep your running back to help block to the right then throw a quick pass a jump ball to makoni who's a speed guy running to Post Corner just it seems lack of thought in in the P game and so don't know where the disconnect is if it's between Herbert and his wide receivers or quarterback room and the wide receiver room again Herbert doesn't play with EA stick he plays with his wide receiver so maybe get a little bit out of your comfort zone and start you know make connections with some other people that's where you need to be take responsibility for your play and your leadership and and not be so comfortable with e stick this an ageable from X Missed Throw by Herbert Crosby but I want you to right over the look standing right there it's third and four here Herbert misses a guy right right in front of him throws it behind Palmer and so that's to me that's on Herbert I mean that's a belly that's a belly thrown ball that's a poor choice on who to throw to he's double covered ball is poorly placed behind him I mean if anything throw it to the sideline you know cuz he's running that way and then you miss a wide receiver you miss a guy that's open right in front of you on Bozeman this run play Boseman points back why is he pointing back that makes no sense you know as a lineman you never see them go back they're always going forward even if they miss a block not only does do Boseman tell alt to go make a block behind him but he misses his block and so neither of them makes a block and it's like bro what are you doing here is Great Play another ball thrown behind the guy this is kind of an interesting play because Run and Pass Game Disconnect he's looking at Darius but Darius is not looking at him it brings Defenders down and then that opens up Hayden Hurst at the the top which ends up being a great play but things like that like there needs to be more thought into the route the route construction the schematic construction I know they probably had their hands full with the lineman and have an effective Run game but who's connecting the pass game to the Run game and where does that all connect I'm fell in to see that there seem to be a disconnect somewhere doesn't seem like there's talking going on doesn't seem to be like hey we're going to construct this run play and then off of this run play we're going to construct this pass play this is how we're going to affect all levels of the field and it's all going to tie in together like a beautifully sewn garment right now it just looks like the crotch is sewn together and that's about it and where cheeks are are exposed so I don't know if that's more on Herbert to have more communication with his wide receivers or Greg Roman to have more communication with tresman or sanj LA or Jim Harbaugh needs to have better oversight of that whole interconnectedness but there's definitely seems to be a lack of creativity when it comes to the pass game and how it relates to the Run game Run game look great don't get me wrong but hey man connect the pieces that's been the construct constructive criticism of Greg Roman and Greg Roman is ultimately employed by Jim Harbaugh so I'm looking at Jim Harbaugh and saying you know make it happen right now it looks like a hot mess like this play these nothing but curl routes and I don't know if their intention is to keep it vanilla so that they can bring out the good stuff when they face Chiefs week four but I mean just running curl routes flat across the board and expecting your quarterback to make something happen is just is not very intelligent in my opinion you can see the frustration with Justin Herbert see Jim Harbaugh being like what is going on what are we doing and maybe Jim made an executive decision to make this call thrown out to Palmer which worked beautifully you could you can hear Tony Romo talking about it the change to go from the power Run game to combo blocking is like Zone seemed to work far better with Herbert in the pistol formation so they couldn't do the swim move on on us because they don't know exactly where the run is going to go so they kind of have to play it straight up can't use a swim move in that instance and that helps the Run game Foster here Herbert makes another audible this is why you have a running back like JK who can break tackles and get in the touchdown here Herbert throws a laser to Matt lock looks like it might have been tipped but maybe put a little bit touch on it you know Defender not having looking at the quarterbacks here Herbert has to throw it wide you hear Tony Romo talking about it but again knowing that he's going to jump this route why isn't he doing or an out and up Pump faked that he's going to jump the route look Herbert's not even releasing it yet he's already jumping the route then have QJ just turn up and that's where I'm like you're not helping your wide receivers you're not helping your quarterback pie of sexf in this situation here again we do Zone com block Works speedly JK reads it well finds the open hole and breaks it off for a long run great blocking by voko on the on the outside there and honestly I don't care that JK can't finish this off I'm just happy that you know he can get a 5 yard gain when we need him to a one yard gain and then this is why you have a two back committee because JK tenderize the meat and then Gus is just going to cook it use that power back when you need a tough one yard and not have a tackle for loss good blocking we're still struggling with the swim move on the outside Max Crosby versus will disly then here not only are you getting non- negative yards but you're also keeping the clock running killing the time burning the clock and this is what we've needed all along and ultimately we were able to finish the game off like we've never had been like we've never been able to before so for the most part I think things look great we just need to connect that passing game to the Run game and be a little bit more creative to help put our quarterback and wide receivers in better positions and so Jim Harbaugh needs to step in and make make that happen