How Will Harbaugh’s Bolts Attack Raiders? | LA Chargers

and the lane 1510 touchdown [Music] Chargers what's up guys welcome into a week one edition of chargers weekly as always joined by the voice of the Chargers Matt money Smith and how about this our newest teammate Jalil aai and the thing about Jalil San Diego Charger La charger he's coached these guys he's picked off Gardner mchu who we're you played a lot of these guys it's great to have you here bro hey man I appreciate the opportunity always working with You Chris my guy Matt money Smith it's an honor to be here man I'm excited I'm gonna I'm just going to get this out of the way Straight Out The Gate let's go as the uh as the play-by-play guy I do have a bit of an issue uh you and Trey Boston made life hard on me you both played you know on the back end of the defense you both had hair that covered your numbers and we both and you both like to wear the same color socks sir so it's like if one of you wore yellow and the other one wore powder I'd be good if one of you wore gloves and the other one didn't I'd be good but instead I'm looking out and a lot of you are both of you are making plays in almost the same part of the field a lot of the times and I'm just I got to wait I got to wait can I get is it 3 37 right I was like is it 37 what was he I think he was he was 333 that's what it was defitely couldn't tell so it truly was it truly was a Labor uh you're not the only one you made me earn it you made you and Trey made me earn it did Coach Milo get you all mixed up too uh on film on film he did definitely he always called Trey's name and i''d be like coach that's me I'm down in the Box coach you know tre's a 60 40 safety playing deep he's like yeah I know but your hair it's your hair but he he did get us confused man it was awesome playing with Trey that was my guy that was my guy high energy guy oh yeah yeah brought brought it every single day um one of the reasons why the Jack boys went the way it went that's right I do want to add this too about Trey because it it is one of my favorite moments and I don't know if I'm supposed to do this but whatever so Chargers Christmas party we're out at um where were we we were no pel hill pelic hill so they got it set a beautiful spread Spanos family spared no expense food amazing like I it was I I had expected such great things that the wife and I ubered I was like hey I'm not driving all right I'm going I'm going I'm diving in I'm cannonballing into this pool right uh but they had these golf mats set up do you remember that like at the edge of the pool you could hit balls and and Trays out there and I'm out there and we're just kind of chipping balls and stuff and you can tell Trey doesn't play a lot of golf and stuff so but we're having a great time and talking and siing drinks and this this guy that works I don't know what department he worked in but he comes over and he starts like coaching up Tre like hey you know what you want to do is you want to lock your your front arm and your your weight's a little bit on the back and that's why lessons lessons at Pelican Hill and Trey at at 10 p.m. 10 drinks into the night and instead of like getting angry Trey just looked at him and goes we're really doing this right now we're really doing this right now and the guy just went my bad he just walked away I was like there we go that's how you handle it hey you should see Trey now he's actually a legit golfer man yeah he's that may have been what got him may have been the Trey has no idea that the first five minutes of charges Weekly's going to be about Hima seven years later seven years later seven years later guys let's go back uh December 14th 2023 Chargers lose 6321 of Vegas Everything Changes right yeah uh GM out head coach out a few months later a new era Chargers football begins we've been talking about it for months it's finally here uh in money how appropriate that it's the Raiders yeah look we've had the Raiders start the season before it's julil you'll speak to it it's it's a great rivalry the fans love it and there's going to be a ton of not that there wouldn't be a lot of energy in the stadium for opening week the excitement around Justin Herbert and Jim Harbaugh and everybody on this team but I think it's great I think it's a great way to start it that way you don't have to answer questions you don't have to think about 63 you know 63 to 21 for the rest of the year get it out of the way get this Victory you know send the the Raider folks that decide to come and and support their team home disappointed and thinking about how much money they spent on those tickets and what a waste of money it was and on to Carolina hey look money when you look at this game this is this game is going to be a playoff atmosphere week one Herbert's back Chargers Raiders we know the history of this game obviously I've played in it right fans hate you they're throwing stuff at you on the as you're coming in on the bus right you're on the field there they know your aunt's name your mom's name your brother's name and they're using those to try to get into your head right as a player it's one of the best environments you can be around Chargers Raiders week one in Sofi in La man a lot of stars going to be out there watching it's going to be it's going to be a good event what's week one like for a player right obviously all the anticipation to get the season going but there's a new coach here uh you're playing against your Chief rival and and you know that you want to put on a good show especially against the Raiders knowing what happened last year you hit it on the head you want to put on a good show but then at on the other end of that you don't want to do too much right week one you haven't played many preseason games if you're a starter if you're a vet and then you get out there and you're like I'm trying to push I want to make a play I want to make a splash it's the Raiders right national televised game CBS so you got to go out there and just basically do your oneth do your job right you've had training camp you have a great coach staff here at the bolt who's putting together a great game plan you get out there do your job and let the plays come to you you know it's it it works for both sides here right because you have whole new coaching staff a lot of new players on this charger team I think it's the most unknowns that we've had going into a season since I started doing this in 2017 on this side but as you prepare for the Raiders on the other side as this team's preparing as the defense what are you watching are you watching Luke gy with the Bears are you watching Gardner muu with the Colts to see what his Tendencies are are you obviously you're watching Raiders film from last year because a lot of those players are still there but right how much is goes into preparing for a team that has this much change you know offensive coordinator new quarterback handful of new players running back all that sort of stuff how do you spread your time and what you're watching to prepare for this so obviously you're looking at getsy and what he did last year right cuz it's his offense he whatever he did last year he's going to bring it over different Personnel obviously but then you look at Personnel you say Garner menu we go back and look at his film what does his three-step drops look like his five step drops look like right for a middle post safety linebacker when you're dropping off him in zone coverages right so I think the biggest thing you it's almost like you treat it like a training camp game right you go out there you have your base defense you don't really know what they're going to give you you know you don't really know what angle they're going to come try to attack you in until the second half where you'll be able to make adjustments so I think you'll see in the first two quarters Jesse men on the defensive side probably just playing his shell based defense trying to see how they're going to attack him it's a game of chess out here at the end of the day their offensive coordinator versus Jesse right and Jesse has known to be a great great defensive coordinator so it'll be an exciting matchup guys I don't want to oversimplify things but over the last two years the Chargers have had a Devonte Adams problem and they've had a Max Crosby problem and you know Joe Al's got the the biggest test of all tests right tackle against Max Crosby obviously you're going to have some help with dley and whoever they try to deploy to help him but on the other side Devonte Adams in four games against the Chargers 34 catches 494 yards and four touchdowns I what do you do in terms of slowing Devonte knowing that you have you have Derwin but you also have Brock Boward like what's the game plan for Devonte Adams so Devonte is what we would call a game wrecker right in a in a matter of instance he can wreck the game so as a defense as a coordinator as a defense you go into this week saying hey look there's one player who's not going to beat us today and it's Devonte Adams how do we do that different kind of looks right we Cloud him for people at home to know what cloud is a hard cover two Corner in front of him get his hands on with a safety over top you play two man right C the corners playing twom man loow hip ready to break on any under under under breaking routes with the safety on top you're Shifting the coverage to Devonte Adams Brock's going to have to beat you the other weapons are going to have to beat you they're going to have to rely on the running game but when the Chargers leave this game on Sunday they cannot look at the film and say you know what we lost this game because Devonte Adams wrecked it yeah I I watched um week four the first game and I think he might have got pressed twice yeah they they were giving him so and understandable right give him a ton of respect a lot of cushion and it just looked easy for him it was easy he was the first Hot read typically but he's working in Breakers he's working out and it just how do you you you just said it right the cloud coverage it just seems like it makes more sense especially with these pass rushers to have all four of them available in this first week to be a little more aggressive against him that that likely is a little more effective than giving him that kind of cushion I agree with you man when you look at it the rush and cover works together obviously the pass rush is going to help the secondary so they don't have to cover as long but like you said even on third Downs double 17 Middle High safety the other safety double 17 with the corner we're erasing him off the board and mure you're going to have to look the other way and you don't have a lot of time because you have Tulie Bosa Mack and Bud de PRI huming off the edge and you can add Duren James if you want to bring a fiveman pressure so whatever you do it's two verse one I don't care if we line up like it's a punt coverage and we're vicing him he cannot wreck the game speak speaking of Derwin and money I think a few months ago you were kind of joking but not really that welcome to the NFL Brock Bowers Derwin James this is this is your guy would you put Derwin on Brock Bowers and just say erase him from the game or would you use Derwin in a lot of different ways you see what he does with Kelsey and kelse is one of the best tight end who's ever played the game and Duran week in and week out twice a year erases Kelsey off the board he does the time that Kelsey shakes away it might be a little rub route or it might be a pick to create some space or line him up off the field so durren can get his hands on he's Hall of Fame and he's Hall of Fame right he's probably the best tight end to play the game when it's all said and done right so when you have a rookie obviously you have to respect him but he's a rookie at the end of the day we say durren Brock Bowers is a dog right he's drafted in the first round four reasons and your assignment is to erase him off the board now if you get into the second half and duren's doing the job that we want him to do and Brock is not affecting the game then you can say okay you know what let's try to Blitz Duran let's try to show man on on Brock and then bring him off the edge right so you switch up the looks you know just without leading you to an answer because I I that's what my interpretation was from coach Mentor in the preseason when he talked about Derwin and he said oh yeah we're going to do a lot of different things but you know last year with Coach Staley when Duren was asked to do a lot of different things in game you know six snaps High safety eight snaps slot Corner 12 snaps on the line of SC that's hard man it's a lot it's a lot I felt like what I took away from coach Minor's comments was we're going to identify the way to deploy him game by game it'll be different but inside the game he's going to be doing the same thing we're not going to spread him out like that as you look at the Raiders and I know you you've you've obviously already prepped for this this game what do you think like what do you think they are going to do is it is it putting them on Bowers or mayor is it more line a scrimmage is it a slot corner like what do you think this team needs from Derwin in this game you got to take away the tight ends bow mayor like you said two first round tight ends right and that's what the safety does strong safety what Duren does he plays his best ball in the Box get him in the Box line him up cover three allow him to see the Zone reads allow him to fall back in the a gap B gaps and play downhill while he's in the Box it looks like cover three but he's manto man on the tight ends while he's in the Box it looks like manto man in cover three but now he's blitzing at the snap of the ball off the edge and creating pressure right right so there's so much you could do with him I would love to see durren in the Box a lot more this game obviously two high you want to have two high to keep them honest protect uh Devonte Adams going over the top when you get your chances you have to rotate three down and let them get busy so when you say too high what that then means is we're talking about that third safety so so is that AJ Finley they bring in Elijah molden it feels like that's sort of that little bit of you know incremental upgrade over Tony Jefferson like what does that mean to have those two guys up there and how that affects what you're able to do with well I think the third safety will be AJ being in training camp I've seen what AJ done he's grown as a young guy he's obviously young but he's he's earned it he's earned it to step out there on Sunday as a third safety with him and a Lohi Gilman playing back which allowed him to use Duran down close to the line of scrimmage and be more of the Wild Card almost like they use Kyle Hamilton in in Baltimore right I think they're going to use Duran the exact same way that you see them use Kyle Hamilton and you see the success that he's had in Baltimore Chargers Edge rushers are going to have to outplay uh the Raiders pass rush with Max being Christian Wilkins too frankly who's who's new to this organization and you know the Chargers saw Wilkins in week one uh last year when the Dolphins came to town um as as far as Crosby and Wilkins are concerned because these are guys who don't come off the field right and and Crosby's perhaps money one of the best uh run defenders in has a motor do do you do you run at Max like H how do you attack these guys uh on the ground because you know that Chargers going to leave with the run you you just said it you run at him that's the best way to slow a pass rusher down is running at him because a lot of times with pass rushers do they want to get up the field get up the field and when you get up the field on a run you're creating Lanes you're creating seams and that's what you want as an offense so the best way to slow Max down isn't blocking him isn't chipping him it's running at him right so he's thinking every play as it a run is a pass I can't just run off the ball and get up the field to try to do a fancy spin move I have to sit down I have to Anchor and create a and create a edge on the defense so I think that's the way that you attack him and then obviously in passing Downs you slide the protection and then you chip him and then you look to get the ball out of your hands quickly I like the way you said fancy spin move because look what he does he power he is incredible I'm I'm so happy that the the Darius Davis play happened in Dallas and that it was successful and that you can plant that seed because I'm assuming that that Coach Harbaugh and Roman are going to do a lot of that you're going to see a lot and we saw that when they were together at Stanford you would see so much pre-nap motion going into runs and into the game that and that's something Shawn McVey has had great success with where just give them the eye candy and make them pause so you know I I think about Max and I think about that Sweep with 4-3 speed and what Quinton might be able to do I expect to see him involved in in a lot of that and what that's able to do along with just running at him but what all that pre- snap motion and actually giving it and and making them think who does that affect the most is is it the end cuz the end's got to honor it is it the box safety how does you know what we saw in Dallas and what we think Darius is capable of and maybe Q how you can help slow a defense down and that pass rush down by running that sort of pre- snap action so it all depends it depends what defense they're in right so if you're in cover three the down safety who comes in the Box who's the extra eighth man in the box is responsible for anything fast to the flat number two to the flat which was darus right now if they're not and they're in a two shell with durren and lohy back then it will become the edge so basically it's a chess match right so grro is going to have to see what they're playing see when they're doing it their Tendencies to know when to call that play right because you're trying to get the certain matchup the certain look right so I think obviously making them think you made a great Point money you making them think you just don't line up and play ball now we have motion and a lot of times with motion teams are checking checking to a new defense now they're thinking now it's loud now you have to communicate that and they all have to be on the same page right so I think creating confusion a lot of motion a lot of jet sweeps doing a little bit of trickery to keep them off the heels of the Chargers early on I think that's a smart smart way to go about it it's also about the Personnel too like like last year I I go back to week one remember that the Dolphins invited the Chargers to run yeah right they they let the Chargers run the Chargers want to run this year they want to run that's why you bring in a will dley you didn't have a third tight end that could block last year you didn't have a a Hayden Herer at dley you didn't have a Scott Matlock at fullback back so like I I just I wonder how the Chargers are going to come out knowing you're going to leave with the run but you also have the Personnel to do it like you can have dley help with Max Crosby you can have Scott Matlock coming out of the back field how do you think that they're going to use those guys in eff to maybe slow down Crosby or Wilkins or whoever's across the line and and the crazy thing about it dley can go out and make catches he can run routes he can run the route tree obviously HSE is more of your pass catch and tight end right then you have Matlock that comes in 64 300 lb full back but he caught three passes in in college on the goal line right he's an athletic guy so these are guys that they bring into the game and defens think I'm just saying these are guys we had T get a two-point conversion last year there you have it right The Scouting department is doing their job they're they're literally bringing in athletes all over the board so you have guys that come in and defense are thinking it's big Personnel it's time to run it's time to run they're getting nosy at the ball play action Boop over the top so they can get real real fancy with it I can't wait for Fantasy owners to get really mad at Scott mat fing faltering like one one yard receptions around I mean this is and I hate to keep going back to to Stanford because I know we saw it in San Francisco as well but to me like that's that's just what they did at Stanford changed the culture of that organization it changed the perception of what you expected when you went into a game and we heard what Hayden Hurst said when he first you know when he did his first press he's like what are we going to do we're going to make people upset when they see the schedule and they see us on Sunday and they're going to feel it the next week like that's what they did intellectual brutality right and you get the feeling that that's what they're bringing here and that's where the whole Matlock thing comes into play and it makes so much and I think it signals that's what they're going to do like heying why why do we want 235 lb Tucker Fisk at fullback yeah when we can get 305b Scott Matlock why plant a why carry a fourth tight end and Donald parm who were trying to get more acclimated to blocking when I can plant sixth offensive lineman Foster cell out there like that's I think what we're going to see a lot of this year and and the other flip side of is again you know I keep making the the the comparison to to 15 years ago but the Pack 12 wasn't ready for it they were light in the ass you know and so that's what they saw and I think that's what the NFL has become when you look at the linebacker level you know kind of the way teams are always in nickel they're in dime a lot it just feels like you don't believe it cuz Justin Herbert's your quarterback but that's what they're going to do like this is what they're going to do 100% yeah and it's when you look at it the league especially this division has become seven on seven passing Patrick Mahomes you got all the flashy riff ra this that deep balls listen Jim is coming in here saying listen we're going to be a bully he wants to build a bully we're going to punch in the mouth first second third and the fourth quarter and I'm telling you right now pre previous experience you do not want to tackle a back like Gus Edwards in the fourth quarter 25 carries pounding it with Scott with Scott coming down on ISO leading on the middle linebacker you don't want to do it I don't care who it is I don't care if it's Ray Lewis they don't want to do it for fourth quarters and I think that's the message that the Chargers are sending told this story before I called the the SC Stanford game at the Coliseum the 55-point game and and one of the stories that came out of it was that you know Toby didn't say it explicitly but it was conveyed I think through him that the linebacker said why are you still in the game why do we still have to tackle 220lb Toby Gart coming downhill running power when you're up 48 to3 and he's like yeah dude they just quit they were just like we ain't we're not doing it anymore we're we're tired of it we just want this game to end I've been there I didn't quit but I've been there I'm like man again again and yeah this is what you signed up for right and that's what the Chargers are they're coming in Sofi right to take another man's will and that's the culture that's the organization that Jim is building here and I love it and the Ben Herbert effect comes into play early right first game you'll know how much gas you got for the fourth quarter right these fourth quarter finishers and for all the going through something working through something there's two guys on the injury report right now DJ CH and tarhe still everybody else no Joey yeah no ran Slater no Justin Herbert everybody's ready to go so I I do think the the first game of the year and you can speak to this more than anybody but conditioning is going to be something that you'll you'll know about in the fourth quarter who's more conditioned who's ready for for a 17 Game season and that's very key because like I said earlier in the preseason you do not play your starters right and you can practice all you want get all the Reps you want but there's nothing like playing in the game and getting those live actual reps you know thinking while you're tired reacting while you're tired and like you said herb is going to be a big big big part of the success of the Chargers in 2024 there's fourth quarter finishes he does after practice of 80 90 play training camp practices plays and then these guys are going pulling sleds they're they're walking with Med balls they're doing sit-ups they doing push-ups I'll tell you right now everybody in the League's not doing that right he's going to pay off I was going to ask you because you were out on the field with these guys for training camp right in terms of the conditioning aspect how different was this Camp uh compared to other camps you've coached at and been a part of I've never seen anything like it that's a thing like I haven't seen anything like it and what's crazy is it's all thought out right he's just not saying hey guys we're going to go here and pull this we're going to do he's thought about it all week each and every day what time how much time they're going to do it and he has a plan he's been doing it at Wisconsin he's been doing it at Michigan this is what he does he builds a beast and they're doing it early yeah I'll tell you you mentioned starters not playing in the preseason one starter who did and it's understandable cuz he's a rookie is joal and you go back and watch the joal film and and I think there's reason to get excited the way and I don't know exactly how they're going to use if they're going to pull them as much or if they were just kind of planting seeds for for week one and what you got to think about but when when you see 68 300 whatever 25 330 moving the way he moves and how they can utilize that I I think people in the I shouldn't say people like when the draft was here it's a you can't pass on Malik neighbors you can't pass on romad dun say I don't think people quite understood what it means to not just have a guy who can play tackle but someone that big that strong that athletic and what it opens the offense up to do because of how he moves and how they can use him as a puller when you're on the other side of the line of scrimmage and you see that coming how effective is that and how hard is it if if you know knowing how creative Greg Roman is what are the challenges as a defense to try to slow that down when that's coming at you well first of all when you see somebody 68 the size of him as a DB you want to chop him you can't do that no more right you got to take on helmet to helmet right to it's another Advantage right so when you see that you're like okay these guys can get really creative and then with the malite neighbors thing right you have to know your your coaching staff this is a coaching staff that wants to run the ball first and they're building the foundation around the the franchise right Justin Herbert they're building the the foundation around the franchise Justin Herbert and they said you know what rule number one we're going to protect our quarterback and joal is a generational Talent size athletic ability the way he goes about his business and he's a true Pro I've been around him as a young guy he's a true Pro already coming in so I'm really excited to see how they utilize him yeah yeah you know we're 25 30 minutes in probably to this podcast I don't know exactly but we haven't even talked about Justin Herbert no he's healthy CU that's like the one known like there's so many un like we know Justin Herbert's going to be great that we know that's my point it's the the the quarterback matchup in in this game right like you know Justin's going to be okay right we're we're worried about all the kind of outside factors Gardner muu Chargers twice I think he's 0 and2 against the Chargers but he's he's been around right you picked him off as I mentioned at the beginning of the show give me the differences not not the difference we know the difference between Herbert and Gardner Mitch but but Gardner as a player like what do the Chargers need to be prepared for in terms of defending him I think what Gardner does best is when I played him is he he extends plays with his feet people don't give him a lot of credit like he almost has a little bit of Russia wisness to him right he's not going to just drop back and pick you apart where he makes his hey is you know you Blitz off the edge and you lose contain and he spins out okay now he's looking down field and it's a scramble drill and guys are holding down field and he Chucks a deep ball and it's a pi down in the 30 yard line and now they're down in the red zone right now right I think what the Chargers need to do with him obviously is just be Gap sound when you're rushing keep him in the pocket make him beat you with his arm don't let him get outside the pocket start running around doing all this trickery happity running around stuff and guys are just running open now you're chasing Devonte Adams across the field keep him in the pocket and when you do pressure them tight man coverage on the back end with help over number 17 and I think that'll be the formula what can you share because I've watched as much film slide people trying to explain it about the way Jesse Min plays defense and man it's a lot to try to figure out and it see and one thing we hear from the players is it's simple like he's made it simple but it's not and it's simulated pressure is what you hear a lot of it's for the most part you know you kind of have an idea of what the coverages are he's not trying to hide that you know it's some quarters it's quarter half there's a like you there's cover three it's all of what every other team is doing but man when that ball is snapped it's like where did that guy come from and now it's like just when you think you know what it's going to be it's something different so can you help explain to the people watching and listening how he's been so effective CU he's part of this group there's been I think six you know Mike McDonald's a head coach he's comeing in as a DC two Ravens assistants got plucked and were made DCS what is it about this defense that's causing so much trouble in the NFL right now well it's basically what he does first is when he comes in day one and he implements he said we're going to be a physical defense we've all seen the Ravens defense and how the brand of football that they play but the thing about it I like the most about him is it's a lot of vision right he has the pass rush up front and a lot of times when teens Blitz five send five a fire zone or whatever that is you're matching routes you're matching over routes you're matching Corner routes what the secondary is doing it has Vision their body presence on the route they're not taking it over but their eyes are on the ball and that's why you see they're getting a lot of takeaways and then when it comes to the pass R Us he's getting he's getting he's simple but not simple at the same time you have four studs that you can run a lot of te games with the front you got linebackers in safeties that can blitz so week in week out you're going to see different pressures that he draws up and you're going to be like this is the reason why we brought this guy in on location official Hospitality partner of the NFL and the LA Chargers offering lers fans the opportunity to lock in verified Super Bowl tickets and access to exclusive pregame parties with an official VIP ticket package take your pick from the best seats at Caesar super doome including the most coveted seats at the 50 yard line and exclusive access from private pregame parties featuring bigname entertainment Chef inspired food and topshelf bar to postgame field celebrations incredible experiences are coming in hot five-star Hospitality go first class all the way from the moment you arrive in New Orleans enjoy personalized conier Services Excursion planning Reserve parking a VIP gifting suite and many more Premier perks visit on location exp.com or call 877 37350 62 to secure your ticket packages today yeah Jal I think back to to Michigan and Mikey sanr still and and what he was able to do from the nickel and then watching the preseason and tar still getting his hands on ball it seems like that's that's a pivot point like that particular position looks like he's he is happy to send it from there and it's a spot that that quarterback is going to have to be looking at all game long yeah the nickel is important it's basically the Sam linebacker in the in the nickel package right he blitzes he plays man he Zone drops right and he's a lot of times the tell of what the coverage is right so the nickel in this defense is very important pre- snap shown like you're blitzing right showing like you're blitzing but the safety needs to be tied in with you to show over the top of number two receiver like blitzing at the snap pop out and now you giv a different look so they can do a lot of different things with the nickel and I know that Jesse Miner loves that you know J Taylor he he he had that nickel spot kind of locked from the beginning like what what have you seen from him over the last couple of years and how quickly he picked up this Mentor scheme because he's going to be a big big piece to this defense yeah jaw is and and I'm proud of jaw because jaw came in he made his name as a special teamer and now he's developed himself into being a a VI a v a viable asset right to this defense and when I seen and training camp the what I can say about him is that ja is a pro right doesn't say much right listens takes coaching and he's fast he can cover right he's quick and surprisingly he's a really really really really good tackle he's a really really good tackler excuse me right so when you see what jaw has done and how he's grown is very reassuring for this Chargers defense yeah those two late round corners by the way J starting nickel yeah Dean Leonard man he's going to be he's going to be something now I think he's fill in he can fill in when need and get job you know you watch him in the preseason super second best play on the field he was awesome and he told me that he's the fastest guy on the team if anybody wanted to race him let him know is that right he did say that you know Darius Davis on the team yeah he does he said's aware he's aware I said D Davis too he said listen I'm the fastest on the team d Leonard let them know when it's time we can set up that race man I'll say this if if you're forced to wear pads and maybe there's an opponent on the field and like you got to race to to a particular spot I might take Deion Henley I think of all like of all the things I'm excited about see I'm so excited for him man I feel like and and look I know we only got a couple snaps from Junior Coulson but when those two were out there at the same time it was different it right it looked like to that to me is going to be I feel like that's it's the most exciting I think it's got the highest ceiling like what those two guys and look Denzel the vet he sees it all he knows it all you know everything's going to be locked down when he's out there but there the combo of speed smarts athleticism the way those two pieces fit together Junior Coulson and Deion Henley I think it's going to be like that to me is where this defense can really really shine and when you mentioned Junior you mentioned smarts this kid has was grown up was was raised in his defense right with Jesse maner he was raising his defense knows it like the back of his hand obviously he missed some time in training camp but he was a guy that they said you know what let let him get healthy because he knows the defense he gets out there and he's barking it like a five six year sevene and then you look at Deon he's so athletic former wide receiver right turned linebacker he was a special teams Guru in college so he has the mentality of a special teamer he has the athletic ability of a wide receiver but then you see how he runs to the ball and hits he's a special kid it's hard it's hard to put into words but you can feel his presence on the field you can feel deon's presence on the field and I think it's the it's the perfect mix of a room with a guy you've played with in Denzel someone who's a rookie but knows the system probably better than anybody in Junior and then Henley who you know has so much potential a missile he's a missile he's just scratching the surface you know he is man it's exciting to see that's one of the guys we're going to look at on Sunday and be like if he plays well right the Chargers have a good chance of winning we know NE you know like Nan's on IR he and you see what he did in the pre season and he had probably one of the best camps as well so that linebacker room being led by four time all proar nvar Bowman like the sky's a limit for that room yeah I think when I you mentioned you know that that's the X Factor if that level plays well good chance to win the game of all the s like there's a lot of question marks obviously with the health of JK feel like if he's healthy he going to be one of the five best backs in the league just the way how are they going to partial out the the rotation of the running backs is it hot hand do they have a set number of snaps is it three backs are all four active on on you know there's so but to me I think the biggest question mark I have is is the defensive line it's not the edges I'm talking about the D line and I don't know how much I don't know how many snaps tier tart's going to get it felt different when he was on the field like that's a guy that's in the back field snap and he's back there you know we know Morgan Fox is capable of doing that when you look at this dline room and Tito and Puna Morgan Fox Matt lock Coach Harbaugh said yesterday that he's going to you know get still going to get his reps there right what do you see from that group and what question why why why is that the one that that I feel like I'm looking at the most what what has to be answered there because when you look at this defense you see in every position there's Stars right guys who have proven themselves right for the bolts in this organization and then you have guys at the interior D line who are younger right first year second year Third Year guys then you got four that just came over we're not too really familiar with his game but I'll tell you what he's going to be a big big anchor for this defense in the inside had a really good camp so that's why Puna uh Puna Puna yeah Puna really small short but Stout right he's a big anchor down and can play that nose position for the defense and rightfully so there's question marks at that position because it hasn't been done yet by these guys right they're young but they're promising so that'll be a position that we're going to be keeping our eye on on am I right on tier like am I no for sure he's he's just him taking advantage of backups when he's out there it doesn't matter who you're playing right at the end of the day you have a job to do and he went out there and he did his job said it was setting a new line of scrimmage each and every play was in their back field right yeah so and credit to hortiz man that's just one of I mean listen over the over the last week it's been nuts the turn over the back half of the roster and you think the 53 is safe no not so fast right Taylor hinei comes in is probably going to be the number two now good pick up you know and we don't need to talk about hinei really now anymore hopefully never but just real quickly I mean this is a guy who can can keep you afloat you know he was 12 11 and one in Washington he started a playoff game and he he's somebody who uh can kind of galvanize a team for a short period of time if you need it yes but again don't have to worry about that but just go back to hortiz and and just what he's been able to do this off season not being satisfied with um being stagnant you know bringing in a guy like tier tart who who actually will make a difference this year kind of continue to churn the back half of this roster in an effort to to have the requisite depth you need for a 17 Game season I we haven't seen that uh around here in a long time yeah depth and depth is key right because we all know injuries happen 100% injury rate this game obviously violent game but then when you look at Ortiz you say well he's had a Super Bowl he's won a Super Bowl right obviously wasn't the hgm but he was part of the staff so he knows what it looks like to win he knows what it takes to win right he knows what it's supposed to be like what's the what's the culture what's the atmosphere what's what how important depth is on a roster so he's done a really good job and I'm pretty sure he's not done and when I you know just kind of going back to what we're talking about with the the interior of the line um when I when I think about how the Raiders are going to do this and and how you know I think we forget what kind of Coach Antonio Pierce is he's you know they're they're similar he and Jim Harbaugh he wants to beat you up he wants to pound it he wants to the bully as well so I think they're going to run it I think everyone's thinking about Devonte Adams and Brock Bowers and like to me my guess is they're going to test those Corners they're going to they're going to run it we know what the issue was with this team against the run the last few years like I I think we're I think many people are focused on 17 and they should be I I you know I don't I don't kind of disagree with that but to me I think it's going to be it's not just this team hasn't been able to run the ball this team hasn't been able to stop the run you know the last couple years and I think we're going to see a lot of zamir white we're going to see Alex Madison we're going to like see see and that's a big offensive line like we know what that offensive line is to me that's that's the battle it's it's it this to me is a line of scrimmage game yeah it really is yeah and when you look at that I I agree with you Matt money right when you say that because they're going to try to come out and they're going to try to establish their line of scrimmage take control of the game why because they want to keep the ball out of Ten's hands they don't want Herbert to have the ball so what they're going to try to do eat up a lot of clock right keep our defense honest and now if the defense does what they're supposed to do the front four the the seven in the box or eight depending on if we need to bring durren in then that's where they're going to go to Devonte Adams and start to air it out but they're going to try to keep us honest try to keep us honest play action play run excuse me run run play action draw us up because of the success of the run and now that those voids are opening for Devonte right so I think that would be the game plan I totally agree with you yeah well no more Josh Jacobs right so zamir White's never really been in this spot where he's like the full-time guy so we'll see what happens on Sunday you know as far as the Chargers running game's concerned we think it's going to be JK and Gus we don't know what the split's going to look like maybe viell Gets In the Mix too um I I love week one because you can watch as much training care practic a lot of unknown like what do you think they're going to do offensively like I I also I I talk about the wide receivers too cuz like we haven't mentioned them yet we haven't mention we haven't mentioned any and Justin Herbert's the quarterback Justin Herbert's the quarterback you got lad mcon you got Joshua Palmer you know's on the injury report right now we'll see if he plays on Sunday but like there's there's so much unknown in that room but we do know that the uh The Equalizer is is Justin Herbert he elevates everybody 100% And you seen what it looked like when he came back to practice right it looked different probably one of his best practices we've seen since he's been a charger right so I mean everyone's level picks up when 10's underneath the center and as far as what it's going to look like it's gonna be a heavy dose of Gus and JK right I'm not sure exactly who's coming in after him we don't know that but it's going to be a heavy dose of gust and JK thunder and lightning pound you pound you pound you and when the opportunities present himself we're going to let 10 showcase his arm and do his thing yeah I wonder I I keep you know I I used to do all the fantasy stuff over at NFL Network so I still get a ton of questions about who's the number one receiver and who should I draft and what and with the receivers I don't know I mean it's if Josh Palmer stays healthy it's obviously Josh he can do it all he can play outside can play in the slot he's got great hands he's got plenty of speed but I don't know I there was something about that connection between Herbert and makoni in OTAs you just could kind of see it and it's a PPR situation it could be lad yeah that's it's crazy it's crazy you say that M didn't mean to cut you off but you're fine it's it's fitting that we're playing the Raiders right and what I seen lad doing is a lot of Hunter exactly a lot of motion a lot of stacks a lot of choice routes right allow allow him to create separation without having to release and that's how you do it you create Stacks you give them Choice routes a lot of zigzag routes a lot of combo routes right Diggs digg and goes a lot of double moves because he's so quick and short area spacing I think Sunday you see him featured yeah these Georgia Bulldogs could be the you know you got you got two rookies drafted uh in the first and early second round in makoni and Bowers you got zamir white in the back field these Georgia skill position players could decide Georgia Boys and we haven't mentioned Q like what I I think you know last year just it really wasn't fair to him that's not his skill set was replacing Mike that's not what he did at TC it's not what he does best um I don't quite know how Greg Roman's going to use him we talked about it with some of those sweep some of those quick hitters feels like and I think Justin said it in his presser yesterday like just get the ball in his hands just get the ball in his hands and that's and by the way his hands catching the ball has been kind of the issue so it's trying to figure out the layups and I don't know what those layups are are they quick Slants is it just kind of that little shovel pass on The Suite but it feels like with him early get that just the B quick completion right it's confidence too J right it's all confidence cuz when I when he was here last year in his rookie year in training camp he probably had the best training camp out of all the receivers right and then obviously we went to the season things happen and then go his way right but I'm not writing off Q I think like you said get the ball in his hands quick screens right now drag routes right now let him catch and run right flips to him and Jet sweeps reverses let him get comfortable let him get his confidence back and I think once you see that you'll see him grow as a receiver yeah it's it's where you know everybody wants to stack the receivers like who's the one who's the two who's the I say it's not necessarily one two or three it's who's out there and I'll be honest like I won't be surprised if Simi foko is out there yeah just because he's fast he's big he's comfortable and contested catch situations I will not if ESP I'm you know speaking to DJ being on the you know has not practiced as of when we're recording this so if he's not in the game I could totally see him being that third guy that's playing the outside that's playing in the X and and is out there and if rice is out there I'll tell you this about that kid he wants to block and that's what harbal and them love about him obviously he's a good re good young receiver but they don't want primadana is that wide receiver in this offense they want you to go down there and dig out that safety on run blocks go down there and dig out that linebacker on run on Run play excuse me on Run play so you have to be willing to block you're not just going to line up and SOI for the Los Angeles Chargers and catch passes and not be expected to block you know you know what's funny about that though if you go back and you watch every one of Sim's preseason reps on watch watch Run play he's another one he is a dog he's 20 down the field has been tackled for 2 seconds and he's dusting a safety into the ground extra push after the whistle and all every time every single St I love that you mention that J cuz like buddy for good reason everyone talks about fantasy and oh who's going to catch the most ball it it's it's so much more than that it's so much more than that and that's why you're going to you may see guys out there that have that want to to block and blockers yeah you're talking about a guy that like to block and he was paid a lot to catch the ball exactly and he still L and he still Lov blocking yeah he was good at both y Raider week man it's it's fun for for us to see the fans and kind of Look Back to December and what happened and how like this is like a chance at maybe a little revenge against them but also get back little get back but also just to start fast you know I think it's important when you look at this this you know we we can look ahead after the ray you got Carolina on the road at Pittsburgh then the Chiefs that first quarter of your season before your B like like this is a very important game get one and0 in the division and uh and try to get on a roll yeah and it's important because it's the division game we all know how important division games are right another reason why it's important is because let's just keep it real the Raiders will have a lot of fans in the stadium on Sunday yeah right it is is what it is it's how they travel and the last thing you want them to do is fill any kind of HomeField Advantage any kind of momentum I know playing for the Chargers playing against the Raiders and that black hole gets to rock and you feel the momentum swing right and that's the last thing you want them to have you don't want them to come in here and say that they have any life to live you want to get on jump on them early jump on them fast beat them down from the first quarter all the way to the fourth easier said than done absolutely but that has to be the game plan yeah hit the exits early and I I've said this like you said you're we're not saying anything that people don't know it's certainly changed dramatically I've been this you know been here since day one since this team arrived and I have watched things go from here in 2017 to here and you see all these number 10 jerseys and all these number three jerseys and it's ch and with Jim Harbaugh he is a true Superstar I've seen that push this another level um the one thing that I always say though and and I take it back and I know people you know recency biased they may not believe it because of how good Houston was last year and what demo Ryan has done you played there I have never it it was the worst atmosphere I have been in both of those games that the Chargers played just dead inside no vibe and I said I will take take a 50/50 split 100% packed energy any day although any football player and you can speak to jul will take that any day of the week give me 5050 I kind of like it like bring it on like I like it like you come to our home you think you're going to take over our home like I kind of like it it's almost like being a villain right like when you go on away games I like going to away games and 880,000 people booing you then when you make play I Remember 2018 you didn't you didn't lose a game on the road outside of Los Angeles you lost to to the to the Rams at the Coliseum but that 2018 you're undefeated on the road when you got on an airplane up until New New England never lost on the road yeah and even dating back to my college days I don't know I just like playing away I like people rooting against me and all my brothers and we come in with one common purpose one common goal and then we leave there and we see all the sad faces right so that's what I like so like you said 50/50 who cares but what you can't let them do is gain the momentum and let it feel like 100 to nothing right as far as fan base as far as as far as momentum yeah I mean I'll I'll just finish with this like to me it's I've already said it I'll say it again it's a line of scrimmage game it's khil Joey Tuli but that that quartet gets I don't know let's go 10 presses three sacks and I think it's a JK and Gus remind you that this is Baltimore West and it's you know it's a 150 170 yard rushian game is is how this thing is won it's not Justin Herbert 300 yards you know three touchdowns not not in the opener like to me that's what this thing looks like what's going to decid it for you uh I got to pigy back off of money right leaning on the Run game a lot of Stingy defense you know Jesse getting creative on third Downs with that pass rush first and second down creating a new line of scrimmage forcing them into third and longs to force them to okay we know what they like in this window and third down with Devonte with Brock with Meyers so what plays are we call to combat that right so I think tough tough defense early on pressure Gardner mention keep him in the pocket and on offense you got to pound the ball pound the ball and when opportunities present himself let 10 do his thing yeah what okay let 10 do his thing the only I I have like this much telling me that Herbert May air it out a little bit like like Greg Roman say he's never he's never he's never had a quarterback like Justin right Justin's smart as is all get out and if if they want to continue to honor the run and Justin finds one-on-one opportunities on the outside he finds his guys so like I agree with you I think that that that's the game plan the ball but I wouldn't be surprised if we saw a few deep shots just because they can you'll see a few I just think like the identity of the G like to me that is people saying well you got to take Malik neighbors it's like right do you not know who's here like do you not see the coach and like what done everywhere like what he likes like there's that's what they're going to do like this it's what they're going to do and I I'll say I I'll add this just as a as a little PS as an addendum not an addendum but just as an added value 6321 last year I'm anxious to see you know if if it can go a certain way what that postgame handshake is going to look like between Antonio and Jim harau you know like I'm wondering if they're going to be a little bow up like you know I mean they they're they're both they're both uh respected men in their position obviously Jim uh doing both playing and coaching right Pierce doing both playing and coaching but at the end of the day it's going to come down to those guys on the field with those helmets on and um I know Jim will have them prepared I know they'll be up for it I mean no one needs to get you up for Raiders versus Chargers no one needs to get you up for the first week of the game first week of the Season excuse me right so and another point you said Herbert taking his shots obviously creating the Run eight-man box single high safety Corners pressed on the outside then he has he has the ability to check right how did the how did the Raider game end last year here week four remember yeah deep shot Josh Palmer 50 yards on a third and whatever it was third and eight or something like that he takes play action takes the shot down game over he has the keys to the vehicle right so if he sees a certain look obviously he will check out of it but like you said money establish run first and when those opportunities come and they stack the box that's when you let it fly this was fun guys yeah it was yes sir appreciate you man my guy always money the best money guys we will see at Sofi on Sunday uh week one against the uh Las Vegas Raiders uh it's finally here and we can't wait to be a part of it for money and Jalil I'm Chris this has been charge's week [Music]