Chargers coach

[Phalanx]

I'm trying to figure out why people are calling for Staley's head over this one incident - it seems completely irrational on its face. Williams was going to have to play at some point, and he is injury prone. He didn't even play that many snaps. It makes little difference whether he gets injured in Game 17 or the wild card game, unless the argument is that he was still healing from some other injury. In fact, it might be better to get the injury out of the way. Someone else gets the snaps in playoff practice, and the team isn't demoralized mid-game by losing Williams. I've been saying for awhile that the Chargers need an upgrade to their receiving unit, and this episode will highlight that point heading into the draft.

I can only assume that people don't like Staley for other reasons which are not being articulated here, or that they enjoy blaming people in hindsight and seeing them get fired. Somebody on TV joked that Sean Payton is going to be the head coach for 10 teams next season. It's unrealistic for all these fan bases to always be bringing up his name.

Trying to figure it out? You haven’t watched many chargers games the last couple of years apparently.

...Or maybe I've just done a little more reading than you.

https://clutchpoints.com/chargers-news- ... on-staleys

Anyway, I am certainly open to someone articulating what their issue with Staley is. He can't go on the field and play defense. I wanted him to go for it on 4th and 2 on that last possession, but I can't call for him to be fired for not doing so on his own 40 or wherever it was. The defense blew the game, and Justin had no receivers to throw to. You can fire Staley, or you can field a more talented team. They already fired the last coach, and it didn't seem to help.

[droop10]

It doesn’t matter what the Chargers do. This is who their franchise is. It has transcended coaches and players. This was always the inevitable outcome. Nothing Staley could do about it.

Don’t agree with Staley’s decision to play guys last week or to have Lombardi as an OC, but outside of that, I think people bag on Staley because he dares to be different. He went in heavy with analytics and was very aggressive on 4th downs. It worked a ton, but people only pointed out the instances where it didn’t work out. I can’t really point to one thing he did this game that would make him responsible for the blown lead.

As I said above, it’s the Chargers destiny. Bosa committed multiple stupid penalties to extend drives or set them up for the 2 pt conversion. A kicker that’s been nails all year misses a chip shot. An unnecessary PI on a throw 15 yards short of the stick, where if caught would have lead to a 3rd and 15. This loss was the players, but easy to make the coach a scapegoat.

[Tray Dub]

Trainwreck.

If you can't see the difference between Pederson and Staley I can't help you. The Chargers need to get a smart coach and an aggressive offensive gameplan in place. The roster is not the problem, the franchise is.

[droop10]

Trainwreck.

If you can't see the difference between Pederson and Staley I can't help you. The Chargers need to get a smart coach and an aggressive offensive gameplan in place. The roster is not the problem, the franchise is.

Explain the difference? Can you point at anything in this game that Staley personally did that was the reason for their loss? Are you sure the roster is that good? They have some recognizable names for sure, a number of guys that constantly injured. They have a terrible rushing offense, mediocre line that’s been missing their starting LT all season, receivers that don’t get separation and constantly miss chunks of time, and a so-so defense with a couple big names. Lombardi is a bad OC and they should scrap him, but I think Staley is fine as a head coach. I know they’ll likely overreact and fire him tomorrow, but there’s certainly no guarantee they get an upgrade. I think the roster is vastly overrated, because people see names like Khalil Mack and Keenan Allen and think they are the players they were in their prime. Still decent players, but no longer great.

[TheDrake]

Near end of first half they call a jet sweep on 3rd and less than a yd to a backup WR who seldom plays instead of pretty much guaranteed QB sneak. Jags never would have got the ball again and it's at least 27-0 instead of 27-7. All downhill after that. Horrible coaching horrible franchise. Herb needs to never sign an extension.

[Phalanx]

Near end of first half they call a jet sweep on 3rd and less than a yd to a backup WR who seldom plays instead of pretty much guaranteed QB sneak. Jags never would have got the ball again and it's 27-0 instead of 27-7. All downhill after that.

Don't know who made that call, but I agree, it was a bad one. I also thought Staley throwing the challenge flag was dumb, but it didn't really help the Jags in the end.

How about this? On the last possession, if he goes for it and makes it, they can maybe run out the clock. If he doesn't make it, the Jags are on the Chargers' end of the field and would have a harder time running out the clock, and maybe the Chargers get the ball back. How many of us knew exactly what would happen as soon as Staley ordered the punt? For a guy who likes to go for it on 4th down, it feels like he missed a golden opportunity.

Of course, this is all just hindsight armchair coaching. I really do think it is a roster issue. Justin's leading receiver tonight was Gerald Everett. I think they only had four active receivers on the roster coming into the game, and one of them was that doofus that avoided the handoff on the play you mentioned, rather than taking it. I really hope they get a #1 receiver this offseason.

[OregonFan4Life]

Staley has made many dumb coaching decisions and it’s also funny seeing people defend him and blame Lombardi, know who hired Lombardi? Staley hired Lombardi cause he’s a “mentor”. Staley is an “analytics” guy but if you listen to the most successful coaches and players, they’ll tell you analytics don’t win games. He’s probably an OK DC but he’s just a DC at best pretending to be a head coach like how Mario is an OLine coach pretending to be a head coach.

Sucks to see Hebert take so much heat, people saying Lawrence is better than him and he’s a choker. I hope he gets out of the Chargers organization soon.

[Duck07]

Near end of first half they call a jet sweep on 3rd and less than a yd to a backup WR who seldom plays instead of pretty much guaranteed QB sneak. Jags never would have got the ball again and it's at least 27-0 instead of 27-7. All downhill after that. Horrible coaching horrible franchise. Herb needs to never sign an extension.

Do people not understand what Herbert yelling KILL KILL presnap on that play means?

They wanted to sneak it but the Jaguars had the gaps covered. The problem you want to second guess is that the fall back to that play wasn't a wr screen or off tackle run but the jet sweep.

[Duck07]

Trainwreck.

If you can't see the difference between Pederson and Staley I can't help you. The Chargers need to get a smart coach and an aggressive offensive gameplan in place. The roster is not the problem, the franchise is.

Explain the difference? Can you point at anything in this game that Staley personally did that was the reason for their loss? Are you sure the roster is that good? They have some recognizable names for sure, a number of guys that constantly injured. They have a terrible rushing offense, mediocre line that’s been missing their starting LT all season, receivers that don’t get separation and constantly miss chunks of time, and a so-so defense with a couple big names. Lombardi is a bad OC and they should scrap him, but I think Staley is fine as a head coach. I know they’ll likely overreact and fire him tomorrow, but there’s certainly no guarantee they get an upgrade. I think the roster is vastly overrated, because people see names like Khalil Mack and Keenan Allen and think they are the players they were in their prime. Still decent players, but no longer great.

Staley is the HC and the defensive play caller. You're acting like he's the OLB Coach for his level of responsibility.

He was hired because he had a plan for his the QB. That's the offense that his plan brought to fruition. Run game sucks, better keep running on first down so we can drain the clock instead of focusing on scoring.

[Phalanx]

I don't know, everyone has an opinion. For me, I look at how the defense was unable to stop the run pretty much all season, and last night wasn't any different. Etienne just kept gashing them for first down after first down; every time it looked like they might get a tackle for loss, and then he would turn it into a five yard gain. I saw that kind of thing going on all season. All those picks in the first half were nice, but then they just stopped playing defense with about 2 minutes left in the 2nd quarter, and never got a stop again the whole rest of the game. I see people referencing that play where Justin missed Keenan in the end zone...that has zero to do with blowing a 27-point lead. It happened in the first half when it was still 24-0. To suggest that the game somehow hinged on that play is dumb.

It does feel in retrospect like Staley was playing not to lose on offense. Watching games all season, I am often left wondering why they didn't let Justin throw down the field more, and then I realize it's because there isn't anyone to throw to. They really missed Guyton this season, and if I were running that team, I would make acquiring a couple of top-notch receivers a major priority.

[DuckzRule]

Near end of first half they call a jet sweep on 3rd and less than a yd to a backup WR who seldom plays instead of pretty much guaranteed QB sneak. Jags never would have got the ball again and it's at least 27-0 instead of 27-7. All downhill after that. Horrible coaching horrible franchise. Herb needs to never sign an extension.

I wonder what would have happened if Herbert was chosen before Tua in the 2020 draft, I don't know if Miami is a better franchise than the Chargers but at this rate I'm definitely thinking that the Chargers are getting worse.

[dthomas=ddixon]

Every QB misses throws. A team with a 5-0 turnover advantage shouldn’t need their QB to be absolutely perfect in order to hang on to a 27-0 lead. The worst part is it was so predictable. Everyone I know was expecting the Chargers to lock up and let the Jags back in it.

[Duck07]

Bad loss for Herbert. Bad look. But Staley will get axed within 24 hrs. Hopefully Herbert gets a quality HC, especially a quality OC. I had friends asking at half if I’m comfortable. After the Vik’s mass comeback this year, anything’s possible. But the percentages of being up 27 and losing?

I'm pretty sure Oregon pays its Coaching Staff more than the Chargers do.

Staley makes 4M/year. The Spanos family also pays the NFL 67M/year to "relocate" to LA from SD.

[Duck07]

It does feel in retrospect like Staley was playing not to lose on offense. Watching games all season, I am often left wondering why they didn't let Justin throw down the field more, and then I realize it's because there isn't anyone to throw to. They really missed Guyton this season, and if I were running that team, I would make acquiring a couple of top-notch receivers a major priority.

It isn't the offense that Joe Lombardi runs. That wasn't the type of offense when he worked with Payton in New Orleans and it wasn't the kind of offense when he was in Detroit with a comparable QB to Herbert in Stafford and it was clear when they cut Tyron Johnson last Fall that it was obvious that Staley and Lombardi didn't care about stretching the field.

The team is currently over the Cap in a bad way with 1/6 of the Cap Space tied up in Mike Williams and Keenan Allen. They as a team decided to go "All-In" this year and by resigning Mike Williams, they've put themselves into a spot where unless they trade their best WR Herbert has in Allen, you have to extend him in order to free up Cap Space which means you're relying on Williams/Allen further into the future.

There really aren't a lot of realistic ways to add "top-notch" WRs to the Chargers as the roster is constructed. Until some mass-overhaul occurs, you've got to believe that only minor changes will occur.

[Duck07]

This game is going to be the full Brandon Staley/Chargers Experience.

One hell of a prediction….

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