1
00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:04,000
Speaker 1: You know when we travel, it's something about planning hostile environments.

2
00:00:04,360 --> 00:00:06,520
Speaker 1: You know that they just come together. They keep it tight.

3
00:00:06,680 --> 00:00:10,840
Speaker 1: They have a unique skill set of eliminating distractions staying focus,

4
00:00:10,960 --> 00:00:15,360
Speaker 1: and you know I have to give them credit for that. Hey, everybody,

5
00:00:15,400 --> 00:00:18,079
Speaker 1: Chris Hary with you on a special wildcard edition of

6
00:00:18,160 --> 00:00:20,680
Speaker 1: Chargers Weekly. We have an all star lineup to get

7
00:00:20,680 --> 00:00:23,400
Speaker 1: you ready for Sunday's playoff game against the Baltimore Ravens,

8
00:00:23,640 --> 00:00:27,400
Speaker 1: including CBS sports Is Jim Nance and Phil Simms, NFL

9
00:00:27,480 --> 00:00:31,240
Speaker 1: Network Steve Weish, ESPN's Eric Williams, and the voice of

10
00:00:31,280 --> 00:00:34,120
Speaker 1: the team, Matt money Smith. And we'll start with five

11
00:00:34,200 --> 00:00:40,320
Speaker 1: time National Sportscaster of the Year Jim Nance. All right,

12
00:00:40,360 --> 00:00:42,280
Speaker 1: my first guest will be on the call this Sunday

13
00:00:42,360 --> 00:00:45,879
Speaker 1: for Chargers Ravens on CBS very please be joined by

14
00:00:45,920 --> 00:00:49,040
Speaker 1: Jim Nance and Jim it's hard to believe you and

15
00:00:49,120 --> 00:00:51,800
Speaker 1: your partner Tony Romo, you haven't been on a Chargers

16
00:00:51,840 --> 00:00:54,760
Speaker 1: game since Thanksgiving of last season, and since then the

17
00:00:54,880 --> 00:00:57,800
Speaker 1: Charger seventeen and five. We're in for one heck of

18
00:00:57,840 --> 00:01:01,240
Speaker 1: a game in Baltimore. You know that's almost impossible to explain,

19
00:01:01,360 --> 00:01:04,560
Speaker 1: and I can't you know, I can't. I can't. I

20
00:01:04,880 --> 00:01:07,200
Speaker 1: wish I could, believe me. I've been wanting to do

21
00:01:07,240 --> 00:01:10,480
Speaker 1: a Chargers game. I live in California, I live up

22
00:01:10,520 --> 00:01:14,440
Speaker 1: north of you guys, and I've been pining for the

23
00:01:14,560 --> 00:01:17,480
Speaker 1: chance to have the Chargers in front of us. And

24
00:01:17,520 --> 00:01:20,040
Speaker 1: who knows, maybe we will make up for it here, Chris,

25
00:01:20,040 --> 00:01:23,000
Speaker 1: over the next month for the lost time. You know,

26
00:01:23,080 --> 00:01:24,840
Speaker 1: this team is capable of getting on a run and

27
00:01:25,880 --> 00:01:28,920
Speaker 1: winning in any buildings. So let's see what happens. Well,

28
00:01:29,040 --> 00:01:31,480
Speaker 1: I sure hope so, And let's just start with this.

29
00:01:31,560 --> 00:01:34,680
Speaker 1: What's it like for you personally to transition from regular

30
00:01:34,720 --> 00:01:38,360
Speaker 1: season to postseason games, especially given the fact that you're

31
00:01:38,360 --> 00:01:41,399
Speaker 1: gonna be following this thing all the way through to Atlanta. Well,

32
00:01:41,400 --> 00:01:43,039
Speaker 1: we try to do it exactly the way we do

33
00:01:43,080 --> 00:01:44,920
Speaker 1: it every week. You know, you don't want to suddenly

34
00:01:44,920 --> 00:01:47,360
Speaker 1: say you had something in reserve and you're gonna approach

35
00:01:47,400 --> 00:01:50,160
Speaker 1: this in a different fashion. You're going to prepare harder,

36
00:01:50,320 --> 00:01:53,000
Speaker 1: or you're gonna focus a little bit better. I mean,

37
00:01:53,640 --> 00:01:57,520
Speaker 1: hopefully you've had that kind of regimen down every single week.

38
00:01:58,080 --> 00:02:02,120
Speaker 1: We've been on an incredible run, Chris, in recent weeks

39
00:02:02,800 --> 00:02:05,520
Speaker 1: with close games that have been nail biters. I mean,

40
00:02:05,520 --> 00:02:08,440
Speaker 1: I'll just give you a little example. We had on

41
00:02:08,520 --> 00:02:12,480
Speaker 1: December sixteenth, New England at Pittsburgh. Monster game ended up

42
00:02:12,520 --> 00:02:15,240
Speaker 1: being the most at the time most watched regular season

43
00:02:15,280 --> 00:02:18,280
Speaker 1: game of the year by rating. Came down to Brady

44
00:02:18,760 --> 00:02:21,160
Speaker 1: four throws in the end zone and the Steelers won.

45
00:02:22,600 --> 00:02:26,600
Speaker 1: The following week, we had the Saints hosting the Steelers.

46
00:02:26,880 --> 00:02:29,880
Speaker 1: Came down to the last minute, the Steelers driving to

47
00:02:30,040 --> 00:02:33,200
Speaker 1: win or tie and coughed up the football that you

48
00:02:33,360 --> 00:02:36,280
Speaker 1: served the previous week as the most watched show of

49
00:02:36,360 --> 00:02:40,200
Speaker 1: the year in the NFL. Another nail biter. And then

50
00:02:40,240 --> 00:02:43,280
Speaker 1: just last weekend, we had Cleveland at Baltimore with everything

51
00:02:43,320 --> 00:02:45,600
Speaker 1: on the line for the Ravens, so it was essentially

52
00:02:45,919 --> 00:02:48,760
Speaker 1: a playoff game, just a riveting game that came down

53
00:02:48,800 --> 00:02:52,240
Speaker 1: to a last minute interception by Ravens C. J. Moseley

54
00:02:52,320 --> 00:02:54,960
Speaker 1: to save the day. So they felt like but short

55
00:02:55,000 --> 00:02:57,040
Speaker 1: of it is they have felt like playoff games for

56
00:02:57,120 --> 00:02:59,560
Speaker 1: the past month. We're not going to do it any differently.

57
00:02:59,600 --> 00:03:01,720
Speaker 1: I just wait for it to get here. I'm excited

58
00:03:01,760 --> 00:03:05,680
Speaker 1: on seeing the Chargers. I've watched that entire first games.

59
00:03:05,680 --> 00:03:08,720
Speaker 1: Two weeks ago when its entirety, and I'm anxious to

60
00:03:08,720 --> 00:03:11,600
Speaker 1: see what the rematch looks like. Well, Jim, you mentioned

61
00:03:11,600 --> 00:03:13,400
Speaker 1: that rematch, it was just a couple of weeks ago.

62
00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:17,000
Speaker 1: What in particular stands out to you about which you

63
00:03:17,080 --> 00:03:20,600
Speaker 1: saw in that first matchup. I think the way that

64
00:03:20,600 --> 00:03:24,760
Speaker 1: the Baltimore defense was able to control things that was

65
00:03:25,600 --> 00:03:27,760
Speaker 1: I can't say it was shocking because I've seen the

66
00:03:27,840 --> 00:03:31,280
Speaker 1: Ravens now three times in the last five weeks, including

67
00:03:31,320 --> 00:03:34,240
Speaker 1: the game down in Atlanta. Not that the Falcons, who

68
00:03:34,320 --> 00:03:36,600
Speaker 1: finished seven to nine, were any great shakes, but you

69
00:03:36,680 --> 00:03:39,320
Speaker 1: have Matt Ryan, who's a former MVP of the league,

70
00:03:39,400 --> 00:03:42,960
Speaker 1: Julio Jones, they had their arsenal, they had it at home,

71
00:03:43,400 --> 00:03:45,880
Speaker 1: and the Falcons ended up coming up with ninety seven

72
00:03:45,960 --> 00:03:49,000
Speaker 1: yards passing, thirty four on the ground, one hundred and

73
00:03:49,040 --> 00:03:51,880
Speaker 1: thirty one yards of total offense. And then now watching

74
00:03:51,880 --> 00:03:54,800
Speaker 1: the Chargers game, it was a similar thing. You know,

75
00:03:55,280 --> 00:03:57,920
Speaker 1: he just could not solve the riddle of how to

76
00:03:58,000 --> 00:04:02,640
Speaker 1: move the football on the Ravens, and that was stunning

77
00:04:02,680 --> 00:04:06,760
Speaker 1: to me just to see see what Los Angeles with

78
00:04:07,040 --> 00:04:09,320
Speaker 1: Philip and everybody, were just unable to do. But I've

79
00:04:09,360 --> 00:04:12,320
Speaker 1: seen it now happen multiple times. Well, it starts with

80
00:04:12,360 --> 00:04:15,400
Speaker 1: this dynamic rookie on offense Lamar Jackson. He spear hits

81
00:04:15,440 --> 00:04:19,839
Speaker 1: this unconventional offense Jim and in turn they dominate time

82
00:04:19,839 --> 00:04:24,560
Speaker 1: of possession, and then that leaves that dominating defense just fresh,

83
00:04:24,800 --> 00:04:28,880
Speaker 1: you know. So it's already a high caliber defense, and

84
00:04:28,920 --> 00:04:31,760
Speaker 1: then on top of that, you got an offense that

85
00:04:32,200 --> 00:04:36,159
Speaker 1: keeps the defense off the field. Well schematically, they're winning

86
00:04:36,200 --> 00:04:38,240
Speaker 1: on both sides of the ball, like you said, and

87
00:04:38,279 --> 00:04:40,480
Speaker 1: they're doing things that no one else is doing on

88
00:04:40,520 --> 00:04:44,360
Speaker 1: both sides commutively. The defense, first off, yes, they're well

89
00:04:44,440 --> 00:04:47,520
Speaker 1: rested because the time of possession that has been in

90
00:04:47,560 --> 00:04:50,880
Speaker 1: their favor by a large amount. With that run heavy offense,

91
00:04:50,920 --> 00:04:54,880
Speaker 1: it's working. But that defense always looking like they're going

92
00:04:54,920 --> 00:04:57,640
Speaker 1: to blitz two or three extra guys and they have

93
00:04:57,720 --> 00:05:00,280
Speaker 1: eight on the line, and a quarterback has to try

94
00:05:00,520 --> 00:05:04,919
Speaker 1: figure out who's dropping back and who's coming. And until

95
00:05:05,200 --> 00:05:08,240
Speaker 1: Baker Mayfield through for three hundred and seventy yards last week,

96
00:05:09,040 --> 00:05:12,279
Speaker 1: the defense is pretty much had its way. The offense though,

97
00:05:12,640 --> 00:05:14,840
Speaker 1: to go with a system that you would see in

98
00:05:14,960 --> 00:05:18,560
Speaker 1: curries maybe college of yesteryear, and you keep thinking someone's

99
00:05:18,560 --> 00:05:20,720
Speaker 1: going to figure out how to close this out. Sure

100
00:05:20,839 --> 00:05:23,240
Speaker 1: someone's gonna figure out how to take it away from him,

101
00:05:23,240 --> 00:05:26,600
Speaker 1: but it hasn't happened so far. Jim, what's impressed you

102
00:05:26,720 --> 00:05:30,200
Speaker 1: from afar about this Chargers team? Twelve and four this year?

103
00:05:30,680 --> 00:05:33,240
Speaker 1: There's seven and one on the road, which is tied

104
00:05:33,279 --> 00:05:35,320
Speaker 1: for the Saint with the Saints for the best in

105
00:05:35,360 --> 00:05:37,599
Speaker 1: the league, and there ain't no when they get on

106
00:05:37,600 --> 00:05:41,159
Speaker 1: an airplane this year. Wow, Well that's a good one.

107
00:05:42,360 --> 00:05:44,359
Speaker 1: I hadn't thought about when they get on a plane.

108
00:05:44,440 --> 00:05:47,080
Speaker 1: That's a good one. I'm of course going to steal

109
00:05:47,080 --> 00:05:52,320
Speaker 1: this and this tomorrow on. You should. I will. The

110
00:05:53,160 --> 00:05:57,000
Speaker 1: way that the team has played on the road to

111
00:05:57,040 --> 00:06:02,680
Speaker 1: win in places like Kansas City, to win at Pittsburgh.

112
00:06:02,760 --> 00:06:05,520
Speaker 1: Now we know the Steelers didn't make the playoffs in

113
00:06:05,560 --> 00:06:08,680
Speaker 1: a large part by the way to not beating the Chargers,

114
00:06:09,160 --> 00:06:12,200
Speaker 1: but that is going to sue them. Well, they're going

115
00:06:12,240 --> 00:06:15,479
Speaker 1: to come into a great environment, a real hostile environment

116
00:06:15,560 --> 00:06:18,880
Speaker 1: this weekend in Baltimore, and they're going to be unfazed

117
00:06:18,880 --> 00:06:22,479
Speaker 1: by it. They've been through that. That's going to be

118
00:06:22,520 --> 00:06:25,839
Speaker 1: a great benefit to them. Now, the question is if

119
00:06:25,839 --> 00:06:28,840
Speaker 1: they win the game, where are they going to play

120
00:06:28,839 --> 00:06:33,120
Speaker 1: the next week, will Indianapolis beat Houston, which, the way

121
00:06:33,160 --> 00:06:35,040
Speaker 1: things are going right now, the Colts want in Houston.

122
00:06:35,120 --> 00:06:39,159
Speaker 1: Three weeks ago. Colts had this magnificent second half of

123
00:06:39,200 --> 00:06:42,839
Speaker 1: the year. If the Colts beat Houston and then the

124
00:06:42,880 --> 00:06:45,080
Speaker 1: Chargers win in Baltimore, that means the Chargers will be

125
00:06:45,080 --> 00:06:48,599
Speaker 1: a New England. I gotta sell it. There aren't many

126
00:06:48,640 --> 00:06:50,520
Speaker 1: teams that I believe could go in and win in

127
00:06:50,520 --> 00:06:52,599
Speaker 1: New England. They didn't lose a game there this year.

128
00:06:53,160 --> 00:06:55,680
Speaker 1: This is a team and the Chargers, I believe, is

129
00:06:55,680 --> 00:06:58,200
Speaker 1: ready for that occasion if they're given the chance. I'm

130
00:06:58,240 --> 00:07:00,279
Speaker 1: not saying they will win. I'm just saying I think

131
00:07:00,279 --> 00:07:03,039
Speaker 1: that they are certainly capable of winning, and I don't

132
00:07:03,040 --> 00:07:04,719
Speaker 1: think there are a lot of teams that are capable.

133
00:07:05,080 --> 00:07:07,000
Speaker 1: I don't believe the Chargers would be one of them.

134
00:07:07,440 --> 00:07:09,720
Speaker 1: And then from there and you still would have one

135
00:07:09,720 --> 00:07:13,640
Speaker 1: more game to go, presumably at Kansas City. One never knows.

136
00:07:14,400 --> 00:07:16,120
Speaker 1: But of course they're familiar with how to win there.

137
00:07:16,120 --> 00:07:18,080
Speaker 1: They just did that a month ago. So it's a

138
00:07:19,840 --> 00:07:21,640
Speaker 1: It's going to be a great chase in the AFC.

139
00:07:21,880 --> 00:07:25,320
Speaker 1: I mean, this is a very dangerous team, and everybody

140
00:07:25,360 --> 00:07:27,280
Speaker 1: knows that the first thing they gotta do is they

141
00:07:27,320 --> 00:07:28,840
Speaker 1: got to come out and do things differently than they

142
00:07:28,880 --> 00:07:31,480
Speaker 1: did two weeks ago, you know, Jim, And it starts

143
00:07:31,760 --> 00:07:35,400
Speaker 1: with Philip Rivers and whether it be a regular season

144
00:07:35,480 --> 00:07:38,400
Speaker 1: game or that two thousand and eight AFC Championship game.

145
00:07:38,400 --> 00:07:40,640
Speaker 1: You've called a lot of Philip Rivers games. What do

146
00:07:40,640 --> 00:07:43,920
Speaker 1: you admire most about number seventeen and just the way

147
00:07:43,960 --> 00:07:46,560
Speaker 1: he's playing, the way he's played over the last fifteen years.

148
00:07:47,680 --> 00:07:50,160
Speaker 1: There's a lot there to admire. To be honest, you know,

149
00:07:50,200 --> 00:07:52,760
Speaker 1: it starts with just a man that he is outside

150
00:07:52,760 --> 00:07:57,400
Speaker 1: of football, is a tremendous guy in his community. He's

151
00:07:57,400 --> 00:07:59,800
Speaker 1: a great he's a great family man. I admire phil

152
00:08:00,240 --> 00:08:02,960
Speaker 1: Philip Rivers an awful lot and I I've had a

153
00:08:03,040 --> 00:08:05,800
Speaker 1: lot of the tass to broadcast his games. Wouldn't it

154
00:08:05,840 --> 00:08:07,800
Speaker 1: be something to see him be able to play in

155
00:08:07,880 --> 00:08:10,800
Speaker 1: Atlanta in the big game the way he played his

156
00:08:10,800 --> 00:08:13,480
Speaker 1: whole career. He deserves to have that chance. Kind of

157
00:08:13,520 --> 00:08:15,640
Speaker 1: have this little sleeping suspicion he's going to get a

158
00:08:15,720 --> 00:08:18,480
Speaker 1: chance to do that. But we shall see. As far

159
00:08:18,520 --> 00:08:22,160
Speaker 1: as what he does on the field, He's just look

160
00:08:22,200 --> 00:08:24,880
Speaker 1: what he did in the Lake stages at Arrowhead this year.

161
00:08:25,360 --> 00:08:29,120
Speaker 1: That one fourth down for late in the fourth quarter

162
00:08:29,160 --> 00:08:33,200
Speaker 1: across the middle was as precise past twenty yards down

163
00:08:33,200 --> 00:08:36,080
Speaker 1: the field as I've ever seen. And then there's of course,

164
00:08:37,600 --> 00:08:42,360
Speaker 1: is off the charts. I don't see anything slowing down

165
00:08:42,400 --> 00:08:45,640
Speaker 1: and Philip Rivers game, even though it's thirty seven years

166
00:08:45,640 --> 00:08:50,800
Speaker 1: old than and I could serve them very well here

167
00:08:50,800 --> 00:08:53,120
Speaker 1: in the next few weeks. Jem Well, get you out

168
00:08:53,120 --> 00:08:56,240
Speaker 1: here on this. He saw this Ravens team last week.

169
00:08:56,240 --> 00:08:58,320
Speaker 1: You've seen him a few times towards the back half

170
00:08:58,360 --> 00:09:01,200
Speaker 1: of the year with Lamar Jackson under center. What do

171
00:09:01,240 --> 00:09:04,800
Speaker 1: you think could decide this game on Sunday? I think

172
00:09:04,840 --> 00:09:07,719
Speaker 1: that you hit on an earthily your Chris. They've got

173
00:09:07,720 --> 00:09:11,400
Speaker 1: to figure out how to try to control that run,

174
00:09:11,600 --> 00:09:16,160
Speaker 1: heavy attack by the Ravens. And you know in the

175
00:09:16,240 --> 00:09:19,280
Speaker 1: last game, Jackson beat him up on that long throw

176
00:09:19,360 --> 00:09:22,800
Speaker 1: to Markus Andrews, which basically ran for the last fifty

177
00:09:22,840 --> 00:09:25,000
Speaker 1: yards of its sixty four yards. I believe it was

178
00:09:25,040 --> 00:09:28,760
Speaker 1: the destound he got. He got free in the secondary

179
00:09:28,840 --> 00:09:33,200
Speaker 1: and you know, off he went. But I still in

180
00:09:33,320 --> 00:09:38,240
Speaker 1: my gut feel that somewhere along the line, someone's going

181
00:09:38,280 --> 00:09:41,480
Speaker 1: to figure out a way to contain the run against

182
00:09:41,520 --> 00:09:43,840
Speaker 1: the Ravens. No one has so far interesting In our

183
00:09:43,920 --> 00:09:50,000
Speaker 1: game Sunday against Cleveland, Baltimore against Cleveland, Tony Rumbo, my partner, said,

184
00:09:50,679 --> 00:09:54,480
Speaker 1: this is such a man, and it's just their instincts

185
00:09:54,559 --> 00:09:57,720
Speaker 1: and what their eyes are saying and not fall through

186
00:09:57,760 --> 00:10:00,680
Speaker 1: all the fakes and you know, just they're just not

187
00:10:00,840 --> 00:10:03,000
Speaker 1: ready for it. And he says, I think a team

188
00:10:03,000 --> 00:10:05,360
Speaker 1: that sees him a second time is going to be

189
00:10:05,400 --> 00:10:08,240
Speaker 1: able to figure out a whole lot quicker. Well, that's

190
00:10:08,320 --> 00:10:10,400
Speaker 1: that's the case right here. This is gonna be a

191
00:10:10,400 --> 00:10:12,240
Speaker 1: team that's not only seen him for a second time,

192
00:10:12,280 --> 00:10:14,240
Speaker 1: they're seen him for the second time in fifteen days.

193
00:10:14,960 --> 00:10:17,079
Speaker 1: Um so will that will that means that things go?

194
00:10:17,280 --> 00:10:20,400
Speaker 1: That's only one never knows. But it's good system wall

195
00:10:20,960 --> 00:10:24,959
Speaker 1: and you know it's gonna be again. It's to listen.

196
00:10:25,000 --> 00:10:27,880
Speaker 1: It's a great stadium. They haven't been there before. H

197
00:10:28,240 --> 00:10:31,000
Speaker 1: and and and it was an awesome scene on Saturday

198
00:10:31,120 --> 00:10:32,679
Speaker 1: when when they pulled that that one out on the

199
00:10:32,800 --> 00:10:35,880
Speaker 1: end with the growing staves who live in saving intersection.

200
00:10:36,280 --> 00:10:39,240
Speaker 1: But again, all that hostility inside, I don't think I

201
00:10:39,240 --> 00:10:42,440
Speaker 1: think the charges you're pretty immune to that Um, they've

202
00:10:42,480 --> 00:10:44,400
Speaker 1: they've got to solve. They've got to salve a little

203
00:10:44,440 --> 00:10:46,520
Speaker 1: on both sides. Got to figure out how to bast

204
00:10:46,559 --> 00:10:49,000
Speaker 1: the football against that defense, which they had no luck

205
00:10:49,000 --> 00:10:51,200
Speaker 1: in doing last time. And they got to figure out

206
00:10:51,240 --> 00:10:53,800
Speaker 1: how to go against this offense that no one ever sees.

207
00:10:53,920 --> 00:10:57,400
Speaker 1: You figure out a way to slow accown, I tell you, Jim,

208
00:10:57,679 --> 00:11:01,320
Speaker 1: last point here the Ravens averaging two hundred and thirty

209
00:11:01,360 --> 00:11:05,160
Speaker 1: yards on the ground with Jackson under center. The Chargers

210
00:11:05,160 --> 00:11:07,719
Speaker 1: actually held the Ravens to one hundred and fifty nine

211
00:11:07,760 --> 00:11:10,600
Speaker 1: yards rushing. The first play from scrimmage was a Gus

212
00:11:10,679 --> 00:11:13,679
Speaker 1: Edwards forty three yard rush, So outside of that just

213
00:11:13,760 --> 00:11:17,000
Speaker 1: three point four yards to carry. So they had something going.

214
00:11:17,760 --> 00:11:19,160
Speaker 1: They just couldn't get it done. In the end. It

215
00:11:19,200 --> 00:11:22,400
Speaker 1: was sixteen ten with three minutes left. I think we're

216
00:11:22,440 --> 00:11:25,000
Speaker 1: just we're in for a gem on Sunday. You know.

217
00:11:25,120 --> 00:11:29,280
Speaker 1: In that game, Jackson threw I believe, for two hundred

218
00:11:29,280 --> 00:11:33,559
Speaker 1: and four yards in his seven starts. That's the most.

219
00:11:34,040 --> 00:11:37,640
Speaker 1: Of course, again, a good chunk of it came on

220
00:11:37,679 --> 00:11:40,800
Speaker 1: that one play, which wasn't a sixty yard heave. It

221
00:11:40,880 --> 00:11:42,640
Speaker 1: was it was a tight end getting free in the

222
00:11:42,679 --> 00:11:45,800
Speaker 1: secondary and running the great majority of it. But you're right.

223
00:11:45,920 --> 00:11:47,880
Speaker 1: I mean they were driving at the end of the game,

224
00:11:48,040 --> 00:11:51,440
Speaker 1: Chargers were Antonio cough it up. We all know that

225
00:11:51,840 --> 00:11:55,680
Speaker 1: did not sustain anything from his Hall of Fame career,

226
00:11:55,720 --> 00:11:58,599
Speaker 1: but they they maybe they did as that game was

227
00:11:58,640 --> 00:12:00,920
Speaker 1: going on. Maybe they did figure it out some ways

228
00:12:01,000 --> 00:12:04,800
Speaker 1: to be able to control it. Might be right, Well, Jim,

229
00:12:04,840 --> 00:12:06,920
Speaker 1: like I said, it's I can't believe that we haven't

230
00:12:06,960 --> 00:12:09,240
Speaker 1: had a game with you and Tony this year, but

231
00:12:09,640 --> 00:12:12,240
Speaker 1: now as good a time as any. I can't wait

232
00:12:12,240 --> 00:12:15,040
Speaker 1: to seeing you Baltimore, and we're looking forward to it. Well,

233
00:12:15,120 --> 00:12:17,480
Speaker 1: we're looking forward to it too, And yeah, we've got

234
00:12:17,480 --> 00:12:20,440
Speaker 1: to make up for some lost time. We do. As

235
00:12:20,480 --> 00:12:23,800
Speaker 1: a guy that has been very fond of this of

236
00:12:24,120 --> 00:12:26,000
Speaker 1: this team and many of the players I've known for

237
00:12:26,040 --> 00:12:29,320
Speaker 1: a long time, it's been a very strange thing not

238
00:12:29,400 --> 00:12:31,480
Speaker 1: seeing them. I will give you one little parallel on

239
00:12:31,520 --> 00:12:35,680
Speaker 1: the way out here, Chris, Well, let's say it would

240
00:12:35,720 --> 00:12:40,800
Speaker 1: have been in twenty ten. We did not see Peyton

241
00:12:40,840 --> 00:12:47,240
Speaker 1: Manning and the Indianapolis Colts the entire season until the

242
00:12:47,280 --> 00:12:52,240
Speaker 1: afhip game. Unamountable managing your in your network package is

243
00:12:52,280 --> 00:12:55,000
Speaker 1: the ANFC network carrier. We never saw him until the

244
00:12:55,040 --> 00:12:58,000
Speaker 1: AFC title game, a game that the Colts won and

245
00:12:58,040 --> 00:13:02,040
Speaker 1: they went onto the Super Bowl. So one ever, that's unreal. Jim,

246
00:13:02,080 --> 00:13:04,240
Speaker 1: thank you so much for your time, and we'll see

247
00:13:04,280 --> 00:13:06,680
Speaker 1: you at M ANDT Bank. I look forward to a

248
00:13:06,720 --> 00:13:10,960
Speaker 1: compliance say hello please all right here at the Whole

249
00:13:11,040 --> 00:13:15,800
Speaker 1: Performance Center with Eric Williams of ESPN. Eric but made

250
00:13:15,800 --> 00:13:18,880
Speaker 1: a man playoff time. I know it's here. It's about time.

251
00:13:19,000 --> 00:13:22,800
Speaker 1: It's about time. Weeks seventeen. Strange, it kind of felt

252
00:13:22,800 --> 00:13:25,880
Speaker 1: like a preseason game in some in some ways, twelve

253
00:13:25,920 --> 00:13:29,440
Speaker 1: thousand those shows at Mile High, which is that never happens, No,

254
00:13:29,640 --> 00:13:33,720
Speaker 1: that place is always full. You know, you have kind

255
00:13:33,720 --> 00:13:36,920
Speaker 1: of the Black Monday looming with all the different coaches

256
00:13:36,960 --> 00:13:41,160
Speaker 1: around the league getting fired afterwards. But the game itself, Yeah,

257
00:13:40,720 --> 00:13:43,480
Speaker 1: I do think it kind of felt like a preseason game.

258
00:13:43,600 --> 00:13:46,680
Speaker 1: Just the just flat, not a lot of energy in

259
00:13:46,679 --> 00:13:50,400
Speaker 1: the building, and I think that kind of spilled over

260
00:13:50,440 --> 00:13:52,560
Speaker 1: to the field a little bit. I mean, the guys

261
00:13:52,559 --> 00:13:55,040
Speaker 1: are playing hard, but um, you just didn't see that

262
00:13:55,160 --> 00:13:58,920
Speaker 1: extra energy or juice that he saw at Pittsburgh or

263
00:13:58,920 --> 00:14:01,840
Speaker 1: at Kansas City or Yeah, it was a kind of

264
00:14:01,960 --> 00:14:06,520
Speaker 1: a punt fest in the first quarter. Um, the interception

265
00:14:06,600 --> 00:14:12,040
Speaker 1: at the beginning, But listen the Chargers. They forced four turnovers,

266
00:14:12,200 --> 00:14:15,280
Speaker 1: and I think it's a good a time as any

267
00:14:15,400 --> 00:14:19,040
Speaker 1: to start generating turners as they get into the playoffs. Yeah,

268
00:14:19,040 --> 00:14:21,320
Speaker 1: I mean, this is the time and I asked Anthony

269
00:14:21,320 --> 00:14:25,160
Speaker 1: about it in the in the pressor on Monday. This

270
00:14:25,200 --> 00:14:27,040
Speaker 1: is the time where your defense really needs to be

271
00:14:27,040 --> 00:14:30,360
Speaker 1: playing well. And although the offense is kind of struggling

272
00:14:30,360 --> 00:14:32,280
Speaker 1: a little bit, the defense the last couple of weeks

273
00:14:32,280 --> 00:14:34,440
Speaker 1: they showed up. And if your defense is going to

274
00:14:34,520 --> 00:14:37,080
Speaker 1: give you that kind of consistent performance week in and

275
00:14:37,120 --> 00:14:40,480
Speaker 1: week out, keep games closed, that gives you a chance.

276
00:14:40,480 --> 00:14:42,520
Speaker 1: And that's all you really ask for in the playoffs,

277
00:14:42,720 --> 00:14:46,360
Speaker 1: because really it's about getting stops and then scoring points

278
00:14:46,400 --> 00:14:49,320
Speaker 1: when you're in the red zone, whether it's field goal

279
00:14:49,400 --> 00:14:51,080
Speaker 1: or touchdown, you just want to get points on the

280
00:14:51,120 --> 00:14:55,400
Speaker 1: board to put pressure on the other offense to match um.

281
00:14:55,600 --> 00:14:59,320
Speaker 1: And so if your defense can can keep teams, you know,

282
00:14:59,440 --> 00:15:02,520
Speaker 1: right around twenty points. With the way that this offense

283
00:15:02,920 --> 00:15:04,920
Speaker 1: has played throughout the year, you gotta think at some

284
00:15:04,920 --> 00:15:07,520
Speaker 1: point they're going to figure it out. A million different

285
00:15:07,560 --> 00:15:12,360
Speaker 1: scenarios going into Sunday and the most likely one yep,

286
00:15:12,640 --> 00:15:16,120
Speaker 1: turned out here, Multimore Ravens. It's a rematch your initial

287
00:15:16,160 --> 00:15:18,400
Speaker 1: thoughts here, I think this is the game that you

288
00:15:18,440 --> 00:15:21,440
Speaker 1: wanted to play. I know most of these teams that

289
00:15:21,480 --> 00:15:23,880
Speaker 1: are in the playoffs are happy that Pittsburgh is not

290
00:15:23,960 --> 00:15:27,240
Speaker 1: in the playoffs because that offense is so explosive. But

291
00:15:27,440 --> 00:15:29,480
Speaker 1: I felt like they were a sleeping giantthead they gotten in,

292
00:15:29,480 --> 00:15:30,960
Speaker 1: they would have been like, oh no, we got life.

293
00:15:31,040 --> 00:15:33,240
Speaker 1: I mean, they just have so many playmakers on offense

294
00:15:33,280 --> 00:15:35,520
Speaker 1: that they can hang thirty on anybody if they get

295
00:15:35,520 --> 00:15:37,880
Speaker 1: it going. Now, obviously, they had a lot of distractions

296
00:15:37,920 --> 00:15:40,280
Speaker 1: going on in Pittsburgh and that's one of the reasons

297
00:15:40,280 --> 00:15:42,760
Speaker 1: why they're not in. But if they would have got

298
00:15:42,840 --> 00:15:45,680
Speaker 1: in and kind of figured things out, that is a

299
00:15:45,680 --> 00:15:49,240
Speaker 1: team that could be very explosive and very you know,

300
00:15:49,320 --> 00:15:51,160
Speaker 1: potent in terms of what they can do on offense.

301
00:15:51,200 --> 00:15:55,720
Speaker 1: So to me, you get Baltimore, you get a rookie quarterback. Yeah.

302
00:15:55,760 --> 00:15:57,600
Speaker 1: Their defense is one of the best in the league

303
00:15:57,960 --> 00:16:00,840
Speaker 1: and tough to figure out in terms of what they're

304
00:16:00,880 --> 00:16:03,720
Speaker 1: doing in their front seven, and they're really strong on

305
00:16:03,760 --> 00:16:07,520
Speaker 1: the back end with Eric Wattle leading them. But I

306
00:16:07,640 --> 00:16:12,160
Speaker 1: just feel like from a defensive perspective, in mindset, knowing

307
00:16:12,200 --> 00:16:14,320
Speaker 1: that you have Lamar Jackson there and you know they

308
00:16:14,400 --> 00:16:16,680
Speaker 1: want to run the football, you know that they're not

309
00:16:16,760 --> 00:16:20,680
Speaker 1: going to run a whole lot of different type of offense. Yeah,

310
00:16:20,680 --> 00:16:23,560
Speaker 1: so I think that helps you from a game planning perspective. Plus,

311
00:16:23,640 --> 00:16:25,720
Speaker 1: you just played them two weeks two week I mean

312
00:16:25,720 --> 00:16:27,640
Speaker 1: you got tape on them, and I think that's what's

313
00:16:27,640 --> 00:16:30,160
Speaker 1: the most important, is that you're gonna get to see

314
00:16:30,280 --> 00:16:35,560
Speaker 1: this offense twice make some adjustments. We talked about this.

315
00:16:35,920 --> 00:16:38,760
Speaker 1: You know, after the Ravens game, you know you're down

316
00:16:39,080 --> 00:16:42,840
Speaker 1: sixteen ten first, poorly is everything developed for the Chargers

317
00:16:43,200 --> 00:16:47,320
Speaker 1: three minutes left, head Gates not fumbled, who knows where

318
00:16:47,360 --> 00:16:50,200
Speaker 1: it could have been a seventeen sixteen game, and Chargers are,

319
00:16:50,480 --> 00:16:53,000
Speaker 1: you know, thirteen and three, and you really didn't play

320
00:16:53,040 --> 00:16:55,360
Speaker 1: that well. So you have to feel good about that.

321
00:16:55,640 --> 00:16:57,560
Speaker 1: You didn't play that well and you're still like right

322
00:16:57,600 --> 00:17:00,560
Speaker 1: there ready to kind of take control of the game

323
00:17:01,360 --> 00:17:05,160
Speaker 1: if you don't turn it over. But still you still

324
00:17:05,200 --> 00:17:07,320
Speaker 1: have some things on offense that you have to figure out.

325
00:17:07,600 --> 00:17:09,760
Speaker 1: You have to get Melvin Gordon going. I think that

326
00:17:09,800 --> 00:17:12,840
Speaker 1: really is the key is they can run and create balance.

327
00:17:12,960 --> 00:17:15,360
Speaker 1: I think that would make the game easier for Philip

328
00:17:15,359 --> 00:17:18,480
Speaker 1: and you're not relying on him to make throws on

329
00:17:18,560 --> 00:17:21,199
Speaker 1: third and six, third and seven to keep the chains moving.

330
00:17:21,960 --> 00:17:25,160
Speaker 1: So their ability to get that ground game going against

331
00:17:25,160 --> 00:17:28,399
Speaker 1: that imposing Baltimore or defensive front, I think it is

332
00:17:28,400 --> 00:17:31,200
Speaker 1: going to be important the offensive line in general too,

333
00:17:31,240 --> 00:17:34,440
Speaker 1: and just protecting Philip, giving him time to throw the football.

334
00:17:34,480 --> 00:17:37,840
Speaker 1: That was something that he was hit probably as many

335
00:17:37,920 --> 00:17:40,639
Speaker 1: times as he's ever been hit this season against that

336
00:17:40,760 --> 00:17:44,840
Speaker 1: Ravens defense. And also I think it's important to mention

337
00:17:44,920 --> 00:17:47,160
Speaker 1: the fact that Austin Eckler wasn't in that game and

338
00:17:47,640 --> 00:17:49,760
Speaker 1: to use him as a kind of a security blanket

339
00:17:49,800 --> 00:17:52,879
Speaker 1: to dump the ball off too, and really compliment Melvin.

340
00:17:52,880 --> 00:17:55,480
Speaker 1: I think that'll be important on Sunday, both of those guys.

341
00:17:55,520 --> 00:17:57,640
Speaker 1: I really think that's a key part of the compliment

342
00:17:57,640 --> 00:17:59,760
Speaker 1: each other. So nicely figure out a way to get

343
00:17:59,800 --> 00:18:01,560
Speaker 1: the all to the back out in the flat. When

344
00:18:01,600 --> 00:18:03,520
Speaker 1: they had it going early in the year, that's what

345
00:18:03,560 --> 00:18:05,760
Speaker 1: they were doing. They were making teams defend the running

346
00:18:05,760 --> 00:18:08,320
Speaker 1: back out of the backfield in the flat. They created

347
00:18:08,320 --> 00:18:10,400
Speaker 1: a lot of chunk plays that way and then they

348
00:18:10,440 --> 00:18:12,840
Speaker 1: worked off of that. So I would I would see

349
00:18:12,840 --> 00:18:14,760
Speaker 1: if they could kind of get that going either screen

350
00:18:14,840 --> 00:18:17,760
Speaker 1: game or or or or built in plays where you're

351
00:18:17,800 --> 00:18:19,159
Speaker 1: trying to get the ball to the running back and

352
00:18:19,200 --> 00:18:21,480
Speaker 1: see if they can get some explosive plays out of that.

353
00:18:21,760 --> 00:18:24,919
Speaker 1: Baltimore makes you play their game. You know, we were

354
00:18:24,920 --> 00:18:28,840
Speaker 1: just talking about the dictate two hundred ninety six rushing

355
00:18:28,880 --> 00:18:31,360
Speaker 1: yards against the Browns. They held the ball for over

356
00:18:31,440 --> 00:18:34,200
Speaker 1: thirty eight minutes. They've been dominating time of position during

357
00:18:34,240 --> 00:18:37,200
Speaker 1: this this win streak with Lamar Jackson under center. Is

358
00:18:37,240 --> 00:18:39,240
Speaker 1: this something where you just you just have to play

359
00:18:39,280 --> 00:18:41,760
Speaker 1: their game and beat them at their own game, or

360
00:18:41,960 --> 00:18:43,720
Speaker 1: how do you get them out of that? You got

361
00:18:43,720 --> 00:18:46,120
Speaker 1: to get ahead? Yeah, I mean something that this team

362
00:18:46,119 --> 00:18:48,160
Speaker 1: has not been able to do. You see, even winning games,

363
00:18:48,160 --> 00:18:50,480
Speaker 1: but the numbers were first quarters. They haven't been great

364
00:18:50,560 --> 00:18:52,680
Speaker 1: the last five or six weeks. They haven't been able

365
00:18:52,680 --> 00:18:55,520
Speaker 1: to get ahead and play the way they want to play.

366
00:18:55,640 --> 00:18:57,800
Speaker 1: The way the charges are built is they get ahead

367
00:18:58,200 --> 00:19:00,119
Speaker 1: and then now you have to throw the ball as

368
00:19:00,160 --> 00:19:02,840
Speaker 1: an opposing offense, and now Joey Bosa, Melvin Ingram are

369
00:19:02,840 --> 00:19:05,080
Speaker 1: getting after you. So they have to get a lead,

370
00:19:05,240 --> 00:19:07,919
Speaker 1: even seven nothing, seven nothing's that big lead. That's a

371
00:19:07,920 --> 00:19:11,040
Speaker 1: big deal that for that Baltimore offense because now they

372
00:19:11,080 --> 00:19:13,800
Speaker 1: can't they can't do the things that they want to

373
00:19:13,800 --> 00:19:15,520
Speaker 1: do in terms of controlling clock because they feel like

374
00:19:15,560 --> 00:19:17,760
Speaker 1: they have to get points. So I do think it's

375
00:19:17,760 --> 00:19:20,719
Speaker 1: important that you're able to get a lead. They almost

376
00:19:20,720 --> 00:19:22,920
Speaker 1: did it in that Baltimore game. If Philip had put

377
00:19:22,920 --> 00:19:24,639
Speaker 1: a little bit more on that ball to Mike Williams

378
00:19:24,680 --> 00:19:26,240
Speaker 1: and you get a big play and you're able to

379
00:19:26,280 --> 00:19:29,920
Speaker 1: get going. So I think that it's important. I mean,

380
00:19:29,960 --> 00:19:33,040
Speaker 1: this team obviously can can come back. They've they've shown

381
00:19:33,119 --> 00:19:35,040
Speaker 1: that they have the resiliency to do that. But I

382
00:19:35,080 --> 00:19:39,040
Speaker 1: think ideally they want to get ahead and put pressure

383
00:19:39,080 --> 00:19:42,560
Speaker 1: on Lamar Jackson in that offense. Going into that Denver game,

384
00:19:43,119 --> 00:19:45,760
Speaker 1: five of the Chargers less six wins, the opponent had

385
00:19:45,800 --> 00:19:49,200
Speaker 1: scored first. So you know, I go back to maybe

386
00:19:49,240 --> 00:19:53,000
Speaker 1: Cleveland and Buffalo where they comfortably got ahead and just

387
00:19:53,200 --> 00:19:56,200
Speaker 1: stayed ahead. We haven't seen that towards the back half

388
00:19:56,240 --> 00:19:58,119
Speaker 1: of the year. It's good at time as any to

389
00:19:58,480 --> 00:20:00,919
Speaker 1: get that going against the race, especially. I think that

390
00:20:01,000 --> 00:20:04,120
Speaker 1: first or second possession that first quarter Eric's can be huge, Yeah,

391
00:20:04,200 --> 00:20:06,760
Speaker 1: no doubt. And you're playing on the road, so the

392
00:20:06,760 --> 00:20:10,080
Speaker 1: crowd's gonna have a little bit um. But it's been

393
00:20:10,119 --> 00:20:12,320
Speaker 1: interesting to hear some of the comments from the players

394
00:20:12,440 --> 00:20:16,560
Speaker 1: talking about embracing the hostile environment. I think first Green

395
00:20:17,000 --> 00:20:20,600
Speaker 1: you talk at the bottles, you read read Eric's article

396
00:20:20,960 --> 00:20:23,600
Speaker 1: from from from Sunday, say the guys are talking sexy

397
00:20:23,640 --> 00:20:25,720
Speaker 1: to me when they start bad mouthing him on the field.

398
00:20:25,800 --> 00:20:27,719
Speaker 1: I love it that he liked Quarter of the Year

399
00:20:28,640 --> 00:20:31,600
Speaker 1: beads on that. And then you know, uh, Derwin James,

400
00:20:31,600 --> 00:20:35,280
Speaker 1: you know, uh any squad any time. Yeah, and that

401
00:20:35,480 --> 00:20:38,760
Speaker 1: just kind of goes back to best sap any squad

402
00:20:38,760 --> 00:20:42,040
Speaker 1: any place. Okay, yeah, there you go. Um so yeah,

403
00:20:42,119 --> 00:20:45,000
Speaker 1: just going to somebody else's house and being able to

404
00:20:45,000 --> 00:20:48,280
Speaker 1: to to kind of take their will away, impose your

405
00:20:48,320 --> 00:20:51,280
Speaker 1: will and come out with a victory. It's been impressive

406
00:20:51,359 --> 00:20:53,840
Speaker 1: too in December, the fact that they have been able

407
00:20:53,920 --> 00:20:56,320
Speaker 1: to do that. You know, when you go to Pittsburgh again,

408
00:20:56,720 --> 00:21:00,960
Speaker 1: you're down, you come back. Same thing in Kansas City, Seattle,

409
00:21:01,320 --> 00:21:04,760
Speaker 1: same thing. But those are all hostile environments. So listen.

410
00:21:04,760 --> 00:21:06,800
Speaker 1: I know Baltimore as great fans and it's gonna be

411
00:21:06,880 --> 00:21:11,040
Speaker 1: rocking on Sunday. But this isn't anything new to these Chargers, no,

412
00:21:11,200 --> 00:21:13,800
Speaker 1: And I think that helps, like they can kind of

413
00:21:13,880 --> 00:21:16,560
Speaker 1: lean back on those experiences in those places earlier in

414
00:21:16,560 --> 00:21:19,280
Speaker 1: the year and know that they've had success in those

415
00:21:19,320 --> 00:21:22,719
Speaker 1: type of environments. And like you said, Baltimore isn't going

416
00:21:22,760 --> 00:21:26,040
Speaker 1: to be any worse than Seattle or Pittsburgh or Kansas

417
00:21:26,080 --> 00:21:29,680
Speaker 1: City in terms of noise and fans being riled up

418
00:21:29,680 --> 00:21:32,359
Speaker 1: and that kind of thing. So I think that helps.

419
00:21:33,000 --> 00:21:36,120
Speaker 1: But ultimately it really comes down to execution and can

420
00:21:36,160 --> 00:21:39,200
Speaker 1: you execute better than your opponent. I think another key

421
00:21:39,240 --> 00:21:42,440
Speaker 1: here is going to be turnovers. That was in possession.

422
00:21:42,520 --> 00:21:43,680
Speaker 1: That was the next thing I was going to throw

423
00:21:43,680 --> 00:21:46,720
Speaker 1: a chip because you know, fill Up has thrown interception

424
00:21:46,720 --> 00:21:50,359
Speaker 1: on the first series of the last three games. That's

425
00:21:50,400 --> 00:21:53,680
Speaker 1: something in the playoffs that could bite you right off

426
00:21:53,680 --> 00:21:55,840
Speaker 1: the top if you allow that to happen. He's got

427
00:21:55,880 --> 00:21:59,640
Speaker 1: six turnovers in the last three games. He had six interceptions.

428
00:21:59,640 --> 00:22:03,000
Speaker 1: He had six centercepss in the first thirteen. So it

429
00:22:03,080 --> 00:22:06,600
Speaker 1: has been something that has has been an issue and

430
00:22:06,640 --> 00:22:08,199
Speaker 1: it's something that you know he needs to kind of

431
00:22:08,200 --> 00:22:11,119
Speaker 1: figure out, you know, where whether he's forcing it, or

432
00:22:11,160 --> 00:22:14,120
Speaker 1: maybe he's not seeing things clearly, or he's just trying

433
00:22:14,160 --> 00:22:16,240
Speaker 1: to make a play. He has to be a little

434
00:22:16,280 --> 00:22:19,399
Speaker 1: bit more mindful of taking care of the football. And

435
00:22:19,400 --> 00:22:21,560
Speaker 1: then on the other end, I like the fact that

436
00:22:21,600 --> 00:22:24,760
Speaker 1: they were able to get four turnovers against the Broncos

437
00:22:24,840 --> 00:22:28,320
Speaker 1: last week. That's big turnovers coming spurts, and when you're

438
00:22:28,359 --> 00:22:30,520
Speaker 1: able to do that, I think it can become a

439
00:22:30,520 --> 00:22:34,560
Speaker 1: little contagious and hopefully that spills over to the Baltimore game.

440
00:22:34,760 --> 00:22:37,320
Speaker 1: You gotta pack a pass rush, right and we saw

441
00:22:37,640 --> 00:22:39,600
Speaker 1: Joey get his fifth and a half sack. You gotta

442
00:22:39,600 --> 00:22:42,280
Speaker 1: be careful though, right Yeah, especially against a raven well

443
00:22:42,320 --> 00:22:45,280
Speaker 1: against Lamar, how you're going to rush the passer because

444
00:22:45,680 --> 00:22:47,560
Speaker 1: he's so quick he can just get out of there

445
00:22:47,560 --> 00:22:49,200
Speaker 1: and a blink of an eye and all of a sudden,

446
00:22:49,440 --> 00:22:52,960
Speaker 1: he's he's explaining explain how that's different with Lamar and

447
00:22:53,000 --> 00:22:56,159
Speaker 1: the way they run this offense versus a traditional just

448
00:22:56,240 --> 00:22:59,000
Speaker 1: drop back password. I think with a traditional drop back

449
00:22:59,080 --> 00:23:02,679
Speaker 1: passer's say a Flacco back, their plan. I mean, you

450
00:23:02,680 --> 00:23:04,960
Speaker 1: know where Flacco is gonna be. He's not gonna run

451
00:23:05,000 --> 00:23:07,680
Speaker 1: away from you, and even if you do, he does

452
00:23:07,880 --> 00:23:10,840
Speaker 1: escape a lot of times, a three tech or a

453
00:23:10,880 --> 00:23:13,560
Speaker 1: defense event is going to be able to catch Flacco. Now,

454
00:23:13,640 --> 00:23:17,480
Speaker 1: if you push Lamar, he's, first of all, he's probably

455
00:23:17,480 --> 00:23:20,399
Speaker 1: gonna run. And if he's running, he's not necessarily running

456
00:23:20,440 --> 00:23:23,359
Speaker 1: to throw, he's running to go get yards, And so

457
00:23:23,560 --> 00:23:27,440
Speaker 1: that puts that puts an onus on the back end

458
00:23:27,800 --> 00:23:29,880
Speaker 1: to have to come up and tackle, particularly if you're

459
00:23:29,880 --> 00:23:31,960
Speaker 1: playing man and guys are running away from you and

460
00:23:31,960 --> 00:23:34,439
Speaker 1: you're not in zone and you don't see Lamar. He

461
00:23:34,440 --> 00:23:37,119
Speaker 1: can eat up a lot of yards before somebody catches

462
00:23:37,200 --> 00:23:39,359
Speaker 1: up with him. So when they do rush, they have

463
00:23:39,400 --> 00:23:41,320
Speaker 1: to be cognitive of that and make sure they stay

464
00:23:41,320 --> 00:23:43,840
Speaker 1: in the rush lanes and that they're containing him and

465
00:23:43,920 --> 00:23:46,879
Speaker 1: not let giving him lanes to get out. And maybe

466
00:23:46,880 --> 00:23:49,719
Speaker 1: they'll have a spy there too, an extra person just

467
00:23:49,760 --> 00:23:52,840
Speaker 1: to watch Lamar in case he tries to escape. So

468
00:23:52,880 --> 00:23:56,040
Speaker 1: you really have to from a game plan stan standpoint,

469
00:23:56,080 --> 00:24:00,119
Speaker 1: account for all that. As we take this, there's a

470
00:24:00,200 --> 00:24:04,880
Speaker 1: chance that Hunter Henry will make his debut this year

471
00:24:05,000 --> 00:24:08,159
Speaker 1: in all playoff game against the Ravens. How much of

472
00:24:08,160 --> 00:24:11,879
Speaker 1: an impact do you think Hunter's presence puts on a

473
00:24:11,960 --> 00:24:14,720
Speaker 1: Ravens defense just really in terms of just sheer game playing,

474
00:24:14,760 --> 00:24:17,959
Speaker 1: I guess yeah, I think that's fair because you know

475
00:24:18,080 --> 00:24:19,639
Speaker 1: whether or not he's going to be active, and we

476
00:24:19,640 --> 00:24:21,280
Speaker 1: don't know, we don't know, the fact that they have

477
00:24:21,400 --> 00:24:23,800
Speaker 1: to think about Hunter being out there gives them an

478
00:24:23,800 --> 00:24:26,800
Speaker 1: added thing to to game plan for in terms of

479
00:24:26,800 --> 00:24:29,560
Speaker 1: a defense, what different types of sets they would want

480
00:24:29,600 --> 00:24:31,800
Speaker 1: to use him, and how they're going to use him.

481
00:24:31,800 --> 00:24:33,720
Speaker 1: Because they don't have any film on him from this year,

482
00:24:33,960 --> 00:24:35,880
Speaker 1: they'd have to look at past years. So it maybe

483
00:24:35,880 --> 00:24:39,199
Speaker 1: it adds an added stress. On the flip side of that,

484
00:24:39,359 --> 00:24:41,320
Speaker 1: I don't know if you can really expect Hunter to

485
00:24:41,359 --> 00:24:44,800
Speaker 1: add a lot because he hasn't played, He hasn't done

486
00:24:44,800 --> 00:24:47,280
Speaker 1: anything now season, he didn't have a training camp, he

487
00:24:47,520 --> 00:24:50,280
Speaker 1: won't have participated in a padded practice because they're not

488
00:24:50,320 --> 00:24:53,440
Speaker 1: having any at this time of year. So I mean,

489
00:24:53,480 --> 00:24:56,880
Speaker 1: if he did play, maybe ten twenty plays sure at

490
00:24:56,880 --> 00:25:00,439
Speaker 1: the most. So I think it may he puts a

491
00:25:00,440 --> 00:25:03,119
Speaker 1: lot of pressure on somebody that has n't been going

492
00:25:03,119 --> 00:25:05,960
Speaker 1: through all these all these things in terms of games

493
00:25:05,960 --> 00:25:09,360
Speaker 1: and practices, and maybe isn't up to speed coming off

494
00:25:09,400 --> 00:25:14,520
Speaker 1: of a significant injury major knee surgery. So I don't know,

495
00:25:14,960 --> 00:25:16,840
Speaker 1: I would guess I would say I would limit my

496
00:25:16,880 --> 00:25:20,520
Speaker 1: expectations if Hunter does play. Yeah, but I think you're

497
00:25:20,600 --> 00:25:22,920
Speaker 1: right though it does give the Ravens. He's got to

498
00:25:22,960 --> 00:25:26,000
Speaker 1: think about it. And also maybe because he's a legit player.

499
00:25:26,080 --> 00:25:28,000
Speaker 1: He's a legit player, and he's he's a he's a

500
00:25:28,040 --> 00:25:30,480
Speaker 1: combo player too, and he could help in the running

501
00:25:30,480 --> 00:25:32,960
Speaker 1: game in a game where you need to control the

502
00:25:33,000 --> 00:25:36,520
Speaker 1: clock with Gordon and Eckler, maybe maybe that's just an

503
00:25:36,560 --> 00:25:39,199
Speaker 1: added guy to maybe help you do that. Sure it

504
00:25:39,240 --> 00:25:41,800
Speaker 1: could be because because Hunter when he was healthy, was

505
00:25:41,840 --> 00:25:45,439
Speaker 1: one of the better run blocking tight ends in the league.

506
00:25:45,440 --> 00:25:47,600
Speaker 1: And it was great because you never knew whether they

507
00:25:47,600 --> 00:25:49,640
Speaker 1: were going to run or pass because he was effective

508
00:25:49,680 --> 00:25:51,720
Speaker 1: at both. Yeah, and so I think that kind of

509
00:25:51,720 --> 00:25:54,000
Speaker 1: helped you in terms of game planning for the other team.

510
00:25:54,359 --> 00:25:57,600
Speaker 1: But again, no padded practice. You haven't even really seen

511
00:25:57,680 --> 00:26:00,720
Speaker 1: him run block. What do you what are you gonna

512
00:26:00,760 --> 00:26:04,480
Speaker 1: get exactly exactly? It's but again it's I think at

513
00:26:04,520 --> 00:26:07,000
Speaker 1: this time of year, if you have to have the

514
00:26:07,040 --> 00:26:09,720
Speaker 1: opponent do a little bit of extra prep before looking

515
00:26:09,720 --> 00:26:12,879
Speaker 1: for every little edging can get exactly Eric, We'll get

516
00:26:12,920 --> 00:26:14,800
Speaker 1: you out here on this. What do the Charges need

517
00:26:14,840 --> 00:26:17,280
Speaker 1: to do, Like, what's the most important thing they need

518
00:26:17,320 --> 00:26:20,160
Speaker 1: to do on Sunday to get out of there with

519
00:26:20,280 --> 00:26:23,000
Speaker 1: another roadwin. I think we kind of talked about it.

520
00:26:23,000 --> 00:26:26,199
Speaker 1: I think a fast start is very important, getting up

521
00:26:26,200 --> 00:26:28,600
Speaker 1: early and being able to play from a head, because

522
00:26:28,640 --> 00:26:30,760
Speaker 1: they haven't been able to do that, and it seemed

523
00:26:30,760 --> 00:26:32,959
Speaker 1: like when they were playing their best football, they were

524
00:26:33,000 --> 00:26:37,399
Speaker 1: getting off to fast starts and really controlling tempo. So

525
00:26:37,440 --> 00:26:41,080
Speaker 1: I think that's important. And I think defensively, obviously, you

526
00:26:41,160 --> 00:26:42,879
Speaker 1: have to stop the run. I think they did a

527
00:26:42,880 --> 00:26:44,560
Speaker 1: pretty good job of it the first time they played it.

528
00:26:44,720 --> 00:26:46,680
Speaker 1: We got one hundred and fifty nine yards for an

529
00:26:46,720 --> 00:26:49,560
Speaker 1: offense that they got close to three hundred against Cleveland

530
00:26:49,640 --> 00:26:53,040
Speaker 1: last week. They can really control the clock by their

531
00:26:53,080 --> 00:26:55,399
Speaker 1: ability to just continue to move the sticks with the

532
00:26:55,480 --> 00:26:58,720
Speaker 1: running game, so be able to limit the run game

533
00:26:58,760 --> 00:27:02,440
Speaker 1: a little bit. For Lamar to make plays with his arm,

534
00:27:03,320 --> 00:27:05,720
Speaker 1: third and five, third and six, make him make some

535
00:27:05,840 --> 00:27:08,200
Speaker 1: throws would be important. And I think you gotta take

536
00:27:08,200 --> 00:27:10,040
Speaker 1: the ball with I think anytime you're on the road,

537
00:27:10,359 --> 00:27:12,960
Speaker 1: you have to steal a possession or two to get

538
00:27:13,040 --> 00:27:15,040
Speaker 1: things in your favor, and then you have to take

539
00:27:15,040 --> 00:27:17,639
Speaker 1: care of the football. You can't get the football to

540
00:27:18,040 --> 00:27:20,760
Speaker 1: the other team, so I think the turnover battle is

541
00:27:20,800 --> 00:27:23,480
Speaker 1: going to be huge. I think their ability to limit

542
00:27:23,520 --> 00:27:26,919
Speaker 1: plays in the running game defensively and then on offense,

543
00:27:26,960 --> 00:27:31,480
Speaker 1: I think you need balance. Melvin Gordon, Austin Ekeler, Justin Jackson.

544
00:27:31,520 --> 00:27:34,199
Speaker 1: One of those three guys has to do either get

545
00:27:34,240 --> 00:27:35,760
Speaker 1: to a hundred yards and they need to get to

546
00:27:35,840 --> 00:27:39,359
Speaker 1: one hundred and twenty yards combined as an offense rushing

547
00:27:39,359 --> 00:27:42,720
Speaker 1: the ball, yeah, or even totally these extended runs a

548
00:27:42,760 --> 00:27:44,960
Speaker 1: little dump offs too, just to keep the clock rolling.

549
00:27:45,000 --> 00:27:47,080
Speaker 1: With guys like Eckler, the running backs need to have

550
00:27:47,119 --> 00:27:49,040
Speaker 1: a major impact of the game on offense. Let's just

551
00:27:49,040 --> 00:27:52,880
Speaker 1: say that Eric will get your crabcake at Baltimore. Looking

552
00:27:52,880 --> 00:27:54,840
Speaker 1: forward to it. Man, that sounds good. Thanks for having me.

553
00:27:54,840 --> 00:27:57,480
Speaker 1: I always appreciate it. All right. Chargers fans want to

554
00:27:57,520 --> 00:28:00,879
Speaker 1: remind you that thunder Alley and Louie Gee they're hosting

555
00:28:00,880 --> 00:28:04,960
Speaker 1: a wildcard Chargers viewing party Sunday, January sixth at the

556
00:28:05,000 --> 00:28:09,439
Speaker 1: American Junkie in Hermosa Beach. Early arrival suggested nine am.

557
00:28:09,760 --> 00:28:12,399
Speaker 1: Cheer on the Bolts as they take on the Ravens again.

558
00:28:12,440 --> 00:28:16,880
Speaker 1: American Junkie Hermosa Beach sixty eight, Peer Avenue photo ops

559
00:28:16,960 --> 00:28:20,680
Speaker 1: with the Charger Girls, Playoff Merchandison Moore, and at Pizza Hut,

560
00:28:20,720 --> 00:28:23,000
Speaker 1: they're more than a five dollars lineup of medium one

561
00:28:23,040 --> 00:28:26,679
Speaker 1: topping pizzas, wings and centabon mini roles. They're the easiest

562
00:28:26,720 --> 00:28:29,320
Speaker 1: choice you'll make all week, just five dollars each at

563
00:28:29,320 --> 00:28:34,160
Speaker 1: Pizza Hut when you buy two or more. All right, now,

564
00:28:34,240 --> 00:28:36,760
Speaker 1: joined on the line by Phil Simms of CBS Sports,

565
00:28:37,119 --> 00:28:38,840
Speaker 1: and Phil, I know it's a busy week for you.

566
00:28:38,920 --> 00:28:41,000
Speaker 1: Thanks so much for taking the time to talk about

567
00:28:41,080 --> 00:28:45,040
Speaker 1: this heavyweight fight we got on Sunday on CBS. Well,

568
00:28:45,040 --> 00:28:46,760
Speaker 1: we got a lot of heavyweight fights going on. I

569
00:28:46,800 --> 00:28:49,760
Speaker 1: think this weekend it's pretty cool. It's a very exciting.

570
00:28:50,000 --> 00:28:54,920
Speaker 1: I think wild Card Round of playoffs here in week one,

571
00:28:54,960 --> 00:28:58,120
Speaker 1: all four games. I find them compelling, exciting, and of

572
00:28:58,160 --> 00:29:00,440
Speaker 1: course I know you want to talk about the Argers

573
00:29:00,440 --> 00:29:04,360
Speaker 1: and the Ravens, and it's a fight we've seen before

574
00:29:04,720 --> 00:29:08,320
Speaker 1: and I love rematches. Phil, before we get into the game,

575
00:29:08,800 --> 00:29:12,040
Speaker 1: as a former player, you started ten playoff games, super

576
00:29:12,080 --> 00:29:15,720
Speaker 1: Bowl Winner, super Bowl MVP. What's the most important lesson

577
00:29:15,880 --> 00:29:18,640
Speaker 1: that you learned in the postseason that you wish you

578
00:29:18,680 --> 00:29:22,440
Speaker 1: probably knew before you started your first playoff game. Oh

579
00:29:22,240 --> 00:29:24,960
Speaker 1: you know, Chris, I'll tell you. I think there's a

580
00:29:25,000 --> 00:29:28,160
Speaker 1: couple of things to it. You know. It's not one

581
00:29:28,200 --> 00:29:30,200
Speaker 1: of those things where we played the game. My first

582
00:29:30,200 --> 00:29:33,440
Speaker 1: playoff game, I played out in Los Angeles against the Rams.

583
00:29:33,440 --> 00:29:35,480
Speaker 1: They beat us during the regular season. We played them

584
00:29:35,480 --> 00:29:39,200
Speaker 1: again in the playoffs. We beat them, and I gotta

585
00:29:39,240 --> 00:29:42,240
Speaker 1: tell you, it wasn't where anything where I was nervous

586
00:29:42,280 --> 00:29:44,680
Speaker 1: because it was a playoff game anymore than I would

587
00:29:44,680 --> 00:29:47,680
Speaker 1: be for a regular season game. It was exciting in

588
00:29:47,760 --> 00:29:49,920
Speaker 1: that respect. When you ran out in the field, you

589
00:29:50,000 --> 00:29:53,080
Speaker 1: knew that, wow, this feels different because you could feel

590
00:29:53,680 --> 00:29:56,280
Speaker 1: that excitement or electricity and the crowd. So that was

591
00:29:56,320 --> 00:29:59,560
Speaker 1: pretty cool. And then when I played my first playoff

592
00:30:00,200 --> 00:30:04,720
Speaker 1: game the following year, that was really a great treat.

593
00:30:04,840 --> 00:30:07,120
Speaker 1: And as soon as I ran on the field in

594
00:30:07,240 --> 00:30:10,560
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty five we played in San Francisco forty nine ers,

595
00:30:11,160 --> 00:30:14,640
Speaker 1: I knew we would not lose, and because it was

596
00:30:14,680 --> 00:30:17,800
Speaker 1: like it was incredible the feeling you could feel the

597
00:30:18,280 --> 00:30:20,440
Speaker 1: fans as you come out to warm up, the stadium's

598
00:30:20,440 --> 00:30:23,720
Speaker 1: already half packed, which is never that way. And it

599
00:30:23,760 --> 00:30:29,560
Speaker 1: was really just a great experience and you can't get

600
00:30:29,680 --> 00:30:31,160
Speaker 1: enough of it. That's why you want to keep playing.

601
00:30:31,880 --> 00:30:34,560
Speaker 1: You know, feel this Chargers team, we've talked about it

602
00:30:34,760 --> 00:30:37,720
Speaker 1: really had nausea in the last few weeks. They're eight

603
00:30:37,800 --> 00:30:40,200
Speaker 1: no when they get on a plane. This year, they

604
00:30:40,240 --> 00:30:43,080
Speaker 1: have been fantastic on the road, seven and one. The

605
00:30:43,160 --> 00:30:46,160
Speaker 1: only loss actually came in La County to the Rams.

606
00:30:46,440 --> 00:30:50,480
Speaker 1: They won in London, they won in Seattle, Kansas City, Pittsburgh.

607
00:30:50,880 --> 00:30:52,800
Speaker 1: How much confidence do you think that gives a team

608
00:30:52,920 --> 00:30:56,960
Speaker 1: going into January, knowing that you can win in hostile environments. Yeah,

609
00:30:57,040 --> 00:30:59,760
Speaker 1: well I think that you know, of course, it gives

610
00:30:59,800 --> 00:31:02,320
Speaker 1: them confidence. But what gives them confidence? I think they

611
00:31:02,360 --> 00:31:06,040
Speaker 1: know they're good, They've proven it many times, and I

612
00:31:06,120 --> 00:31:08,720
Speaker 1: think what gives them confidence Even this weekend, even though

613
00:31:08,760 --> 00:31:11,320
Speaker 1: the game is in Baltimore, they go and look at

614
00:31:11,320 --> 00:31:13,960
Speaker 1: the game they played a couple of weeks ago and say,

615
00:31:14,040 --> 00:31:16,960
Speaker 1: except for a couple of mistakes, we slugged it out

616
00:31:17,000 --> 00:31:19,960
Speaker 1: with them and had many chances to win the game.

617
00:31:20,360 --> 00:31:25,000
Speaker 1: So you know, it's it's not like you know, of course,

618
00:31:25,040 --> 00:31:26,880
Speaker 1: fear is not even the word. They would have gone

619
00:31:26,880 --> 00:31:29,080
Speaker 1: in there, but since they've been successful on the road

620
00:31:29,320 --> 00:31:32,239
Speaker 1: tells you a lot just about how talented they are,

621
00:31:32,680 --> 00:31:35,560
Speaker 1: how well coached they are, and really the other thing

622
00:31:35,640 --> 00:31:39,440
Speaker 1: is how diverse they can be. Because nobody's good enough

623
00:31:39,480 --> 00:31:41,920
Speaker 1: to just say we're going to play the game this

624
00:31:41,960 --> 00:31:44,400
Speaker 1: way and beat you. You've got to be versatile in

625
00:31:44,440 --> 00:31:46,400
Speaker 1: the NFL, and you know you always got to be

626
00:31:46,480 --> 00:31:49,800
Speaker 1: able to adjust. And when I watched the Chargers, you know,

627
00:31:49,880 --> 00:31:51,600
Speaker 1: I can't wait to see some of the adjustments they

628
00:31:51,600 --> 00:31:54,400
Speaker 1: make on Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens. Well that's my

629
00:31:54,480 --> 00:31:56,840
Speaker 1: next question, Phil. You know you talked about the fact

630
00:31:56,840 --> 00:31:59,080
Speaker 1: that it's a rematch from just a few weeks ago.

631
00:31:59,480 --> 00:32:02,280
Speaker 1: How do you think it affects game planning really on

632
00:32:02,400 --> 00:32:04,880
Speaker 1: either side, knowing that you just saw these guys a

633
00:32:04,920 --> 00:32:08,400
Speaker 1: few weeks ago. Well, it's great. I think it helped

634
00:32:08,400 --> 00:32:11,160
Speaker 1: you the second time around. You know, both sides are

635
00:32:11,160 --> 00:32:13,680
Speaker 1: going to learn from what they could and couldn't do.

636
00:32:13,720 --> 00:32:15,400
Speaker 1: You know, you could study all you want and watch

637
00:32:15,440 --> 00:32:18,200
Speaker 1: guys on tape, then you line up against them and

638
00:32:18,400 --> 00:32:20,280
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, you go wild. They're a lot better,

639
00:32:20,480 --> 00:32:22,200
Speaker 1: or maybe not as good as I thought. They would

640
00:32:22,200 --> 00:32:24,560
Speaker 1: be from what I saw, you know, study them during

641
00:32:24,560 --> 00:32:26,640
Speaker 1: the week. But you know, just one thing I think

642
00:32:26,640 --> 00:32:29,800
Speaker 1: the Chargers learned in that game, just to my first

643
00:32:29,840 --> 00:32:32,160
Speaker 1: thought would be, when you run the football, doore trying

644
00:32:32,160 --> 00:32:34,280
Speaker 1: to run it up the middle against see Baltimore Ravens.

645
00:32:34,440 --> 00:32:37,480
Speaker 1: They got like seven hundred pounds of pretty good athletes

646
00:32:37,560 --> 00:32:40,640
Speaker 1: right there in front of them, the two guys Brandon

647
00:32:40,640 --> 00:32:45,000
Speaker 1: Williams and Michael Pearis and even other starters. So if

648
00:32:45,000 --> 00:32:46,440
Speaker 1: you want to run on it, I think you gotta

649
00:32:46,520 --> 00:32:49,560
Speaker 1: run on the edges where they're smaller and get into

650
00:32:49,920 --> 00:32:51,600
Speaker 1: you know, I hate to even you use that word,

651
00:32:51,720 --> 00:32:54,680
Speaker 1: but give yourself a little more space and make a

652
00:32:54,880 --> 00:32:59,040
Speaker 1: really really big front seven, especially the front defensive linemen

653
00:32:59,280 --> 00:33:02,560
Speaker 1: and outside linebackers. Make them move around more and just

654
00:33:02,600 --> 00:33:04,840
Speaker 1: don't play straight ahead at them. Is that the most

655
00:33:04,880 --> 00:33:08,000
Speaker 1: difficult thing about this Baltimore defense that a quarterback must

656
00:33:08,000 --> 00:33:11,040
Speaker 1: combat is just that front seven. Because I think the

657
00:33:11,080 --> 00:33:13,000
Speaker 1: thing with Philip, he's gonna have to get the ball

658
00:33:13,040 --> 00:33:15,960
Speaker 1: out of his hands very quickly. Against the Pastors, they

659
00:33:16,080 --> 00:33:18,440
Speaker 1: like to bring pressure, well they do. They're not afraid

660
00:33:18,440 --> 00:33:20,360
Speaker 1: to blitz. I think to think, if I had to

661
00:33:20,360 --> 00:33:22,320
Speaker 1: say one thing, about the game they played the first

662
00:33:22,360 --> 00:33:25,560
Speaker 1: time is that they pushed the pocket so quick and

663
00:33:25,680 --> 00:33:29,160
Speaker 1: so not easy, but with their power and their size,

664
00:33:29,720 --> 00:33:33,960
Speaker 1: and you know quarterbacks, it's one thing, you know, to

665
00:33:34,240 --> 00:33:36,680
Speaker 1: get pressure where you can move, but but it just

666
00:33:36,760 --> 00:33:39,960
Speaker 1: slowly comes right at you and you can't step up

667
00:33:40,000 --> 00:33:43,040
Speaker 1: and there's nowhere to go. Because they're very disciplined when

668
00:33:43,040 --> 00:33:45,720
Speaker 1: they try to rush the passer that it makes it tough.

669
00:33:45,760 --> 00:33:49,280
Speaker 1: And Philip Rivers didn't have the space or the time

670
00:33:49,400 --> 00:33:51,800
Speaker 1: to look down the field and really gather himself to

671
00:33:51,840 --> 00:33:54,280
Speaker 1: make the throws down the field, which the Chargers are

672
00:33:54,320 --> 00:33:57,280
Speaker 1: great at. You know that, Chris, and it'll be interesting

673
00:33:57,320 --> 00:33:59,560
Speaker 1: to see what they do to try to give him

674
00:33:59,560 --> 00:34:02,520
Speaker 1: more time time get rid of the quickest one way,

675
00:34:02,760 --> 00:34:05,240
Speaker 1: of course, you know those type of passes. But two,

676
00:34:05,800 --> 00:34:08,479
Speaker 1: you know, they're a team that's had great success throwing

677
00:34:08,480 --> 00:34:10,320
Speaker 1: the football down the field. So if you got to

678
00:34:10,360 --> 00:34:12,239
Speaker 1: keep the tight end in, or you got to keep

679
00:34:12,239 --> 00:34:14,480
Speaker 1: the running back those type of things to give the

680
00:34:14,560 --> 00:34:17,719
Speaker 1: quarterback more time, then you do it. Because in the

681
00:34:17,840 --> 00:34:20,040
Speaker 1: NFL it's about big plays, and they'll need some big

682
00:34:20,080 --> 00:34:23,000
Speaker 1: plays this weekend to win. No doubt in Philip has

683
00:34:23,200 --> 00:34:25,760
Speaker 1: a ton of weapons on the outside Starry with Keenan Allen,

684
00:34:25,880 --> 00:34:29,520
Speaker 1: Mike Williams go ahead, Oh well, they're loaded loaded. It's

685
00:34:29,520 --> 00:34:31,920
Speaker 1: one of the best receiving cores. The only problem is

686
00:34:31,920 --> 00:34:35,520
Speaker 1: there's just one problem that the one of the Ravens

687
00:34:35,560 --> 00:34:37,480
Speaker 1: have one of the best secondaries in the NFL. So

688
00:34:37,480 --> 00:34:41,120
Speaker 1: it's an unbelievable matchup in that respect, and it was

689
00:34:41,160 --> 00:34:46,480
Speaker 1: fun to watch last time. And the Chargers will have

690
00:34:46,680 --> 00:34:50,840
Speaker 1: chances for big plays because of the blitzinge by the

691
00:34:50,920 --> 00:34:53,399
Speaker 1: Ravens and the fact that they all play a lot

692
00:34:53,440 --> 00:34:55,760
Speaker 1: of man and man coverage, So then it just comes

693
00:34:55,760 --> 00:34:58,480
Speaker 1: down to can you beat the man? And the biggest

694
00:34:58,480 --> 00:35:00,880
Speaker 1: thing will be what can we get up enough time

695
00:35:01,120 --> 00:35:02,920
Speaker 1: to let the receiver get down the field, make a

696
00:35:03,040 --> 00:35:05,719
Speaker 1: move and get open, you know, Phil. Another guy who

697
00:35:05,760 --> 00:35:08,360
Speaker 1: did not play in that game who should be available

698
00:35:08,360 --> 00:35:11,440
Speaker 1: on Sunday is Austin Eckler and just the way that

699
00:35:11,840 --> 00:35:14,040
Speaker 1: this running game has gone this year, not just the

700
00:35:14,400 --> 00:35:17,200
Speaker 1: runs with these extended runs, these these short dump offs.

701
00:35:17,480 --> 00:35:20,239
Speaker 1: Eckler wasn't available in that game against the Ravens and

702
00:35:20,480 --> 00:35:22,600
Speaker 1: he certainly makes a difference. We saw he had fifty

703
00:35:22,600 --> 00:35:26,759
Speaker 1: eight yards rushing against the Broncos week seventeen at a

704
00:35:26,800 --> 00:35:30,080
Speaker 1: forty one yard rush. He makes a big difference. Yeah,

705
00:35:30,080 --> 00:35:32,920
Speaker 1: he does. You know, I don't look at him and say, hey,

706
00:35:32,920 --> 00:35:34,880
Speaker 1: if he can get outside and run, that's great. But

707
00:35:34,920 --> 00:35:37,640
Speaker 1: I look at Austin Ekeler and think that he would

708
00:35:37,680 --> 00:35:40,000
Speaker 1: be more of a for us and catching swing passes,

709
00:35:40,000 --> 00:35:42,919
Speaker 1: getting rid of the football, quick screens, that type of thing.

710
00:35:43,680 --> 00:35:47,400
Speaker 1: You know, there was two things, getting rid of the

711
00:35:47,400 --> 00:35:50,000
Speaker 1: ball on the outlet pass. I guess whatever you want

712
00:35:50,000 --> 00:35:53,480
Speaker 1: to say for Philip rivers that and crossers, those short

713
00:35:53,520 --> 00:35:56,719
Speaker 1: crossers which are great at which make teams to play

714
00:35:56,760 --> 00:35:59,680
Speaker 1: man to man coverage very hard to cover. But the

715
00:35:59,800 --> 00:36:01,680
Speaker 1: ray Evens kind of had the answer for that, and

716
00:36:01,719 --> 00:36:04,520
Speaker 1: they were waiting on them or right with them, chase

717
00:36:04,640 --> 00:36:08,200
Speaker 1: them across the field. So again, that'll be another adjustment.

718
00:36:08,440 --> 00:36:13,000
Speaker 1: And anxious to see that. I think the Cleveland Browns

719
00:36:13,640 --> 00:36:17,640
Speaker 1: watch the Chargers, watch the Chargers play the Ravens and said, oh,

720
00:36:17,760 --> 00:36:20,880
Speaker 1: that was interesting. Let's put another little wrinkle to it.

721
00:36:21,360 --> 00:36:24,840
Speaker 1: And they did, and they made big plays against that defense.

722
00:36:25,080 --> 00:36:27,880
Speaker 1: In fact, Jarvis Landry probably dropped I don't know how

723
00:36:27,880 --> 00:36:30,040
Speaker 1: far it would have been, probably an eighty yard touchdown

724
00:36:30,040 --> 00:36:33,040
Speaker 1: pass that hit him right in the face, just caught

725
00:36:33,080 --> 00:36:36,520
Speaker 1: the defense by a surprise. And I think that, like

726
00:36:36,600 --> 00:36:40,719
Speaker 1: I said, second time around, what did we learn, how

727
00:36:40,760 --> 00:36:43,120
Speaker 1: do we adjust and can we make it work? That's

728
00:36:43,120 --> 00:36:45,160
Speaker 1: what's going to be really cool to watch Phil. I

729
00:36:45,200 --> 00:36:47,880
Speaker 1: want to ask you about Philip Rivers just as a quarterback,

730
00:36:47,920 --> 00:36:50,440
Speaker 1: because he's gonna tie you actually this Sunday with ten

731
00:36:50,520 --> 00:36:54,399
Speaker 1: postseason starts. I imagine as a former quarterback, give great

732
00:36:54,400 --> 00:36:56,840
Speaker 1: appreciation for the way he's played the game over the

733
00:36:56,920 --> 00:36:59,879
Speaker 1: last fifteen years. Well sure, I mean, you know, let's

734
00:37:01,200 --> 00:37:02,880
Speaker 1: when he came out a college that I think he

735
00:37:02,920 --> 00:37:05,239
Speaker 1: would be the quarterback that he is. No, I did not.

736
00:37:05,360 --> 00:37:07,359
Speaker 1: I watched him. Seemed like he was on TV every

737
00:37:07,400 --> 00:37:09,480
Speaker 1: week when he was in North Carolina State, and they

738
00:37:09,480 --> 00:37:11,520
Speaker 1: were a little ahead of their time the way they

739
00:37:11,560 --> 00:37:15,360
Speaker 1: threw the football so much, you know, the short passes, crossers,

740
00:37:15,360 --> 00:37:18,000
Speaker 1: all those things. And man want a good training ground

741
00:37:18,000 --> 00:37:20,080
Speaker 1: to be a pro because he's taken advantage of it.

742
00:37:20,480 --> 00:37:23,160
Speaker 1: And you know, I always say, it just goes to

743
00:37:23,239 --> 00:37:27,040
Speaker 1: show you he has great feel to throw the football.

744
00:37:27,120 --> 00:37:30,200
Speaker 1: He's one of the best back shoulder throwers in the league.

745
00:37:30,320 --> 00:37:31,919
Speaker 1: It's one of the first things I wrote my notes.

746
00:37:31,960 --> 00:37:34,319
Speaker 1: When I wrote about the game, Rivers one of the

747
00:37:34,320 --> 00:37:36,279
Speaker 1: best back shoulder throwers in the NFL, I would say

748
00:37:36,280 --> 00:37:37,839
Speaker 1: it every time. I don't. I don't think I've said

749
00:37:37,880 --> 00:37:40,479
Speaker 1: it on TV to share because so many other things

750
00:37:40,480 --> 00:37:45,400
Speaker 1: come up. And also but also the way he throws,

751
00:37:45,560 --> 00:37:47,759
Speaker 1: people say oh this and that, I go, well, that

752
00:37:47,840 --> 00:37:50,879
Speaker 1: just shows you the the old concept of the high

753
00:37:50,920 --> 00:37:54,600
Speaker 1: release is just a bunch of bull and he but

754
00:37:54,960 --> 00:37:58,360
Speaker 1: he technically just to get into this. Technically his throwing

755
00:37:58,440 --> 00:38:03,000
Speaker 1: motion has about ninety really great things and the only

756
00:38:03,040 --> 00:38:05,120
Speaker 1: thing you could complain about if he does get a

757
00:38:05,160 --> 00:38:09,400
Speaker 1: past tip, which doesn't happen very often. But he's accurate,

758
00:38:09,880 --> 00:38:13,400
Speaker 1: great touch, and great feel on the throws, and you

759
00:38:13,440 --> 00:38:16,080
Speaker 1: know what a career. The toughness too. You know, he

760
00:38:16,120 --> 00:38:19,440
Speaker 1: hasn't missed a game two thousand and six, which really,

761
00:38:19,719 --> 00:38:23,360
Speaker 1: when you think about it and just the physicality of

762
00:38:23,400 --> 00:38:25,960
Speaker 1: this game, it's hard to believe that Philip has been

763
00:38:26,080 --> 00:38:28,719
Speaker 1: the iron man that he's been. Well, it's you know,

764
00:38:28,920 --> 00:38:31,560
Speaker 1: I look at him and Eli both and just Eli Manning,

765
00:38:32,040 --> 00:38:33,880
Speaker 1: you know, I see him all the time a medium

766
00:38:33,960 --> 00:38:35,600
Speaker 1: and just look at him and go, how and the

767
00:38:35,760 --> 00:38:38,279
Speaker 1: heck could you not get hurt. I mean, you know,

768
00:38:38,280 --> 00:38:41,520
Speaker 1: it felt like he's but there's something to it. It's

769
00:38:41,719 --> 00:38:43,720
Speaker 1: it shows you you've got to be a little lucky,

770
00:38:43,800 --> 00:38:47,200
Speaker 1: there's no question. But he knows how to throw get

771
00:38:47,320 --> 00:38:49,879
Speaker 1: rid of it, not take the big hit, and then

772
00:38:49,920 --> 00:38:51,759
Speaker 1: when he just knows how to relax if he knows

773
00:38:51,760 --> 00:38:53,520
Speaker 1: he's going to take the hit as he throws it

774
00:38:53,760 --> 00:38:56,760
Speaker 1: where it doesn't cause as much damage. So it's really

775
00:38:56,760 --> 00:39:00,920
Speaker 1: been tremendous. It's not like he's always had great offensive lines.

776
00:39:01,360 --> 00:39:04,200
Speaker 1: I've seen him play under pressure for a whole year

777
00:39:04,320 --> 00:39:07,120
Speaker 1: because it seemed like they're for many years, the offensive

778
00:39:07,160 --> 00:39:08,640
Speaker 1: line by the time they got to the second game

779
00:39:08,680 --> 00:39:11,520
Speaker 1: of the season was already decimated. So this year it's

780
00:39:11,560 --> 00:39:15,080
Speaker 1: been solid. He's got great experience in front of him,

781
00:39:15,480 --> 00:39:18,239
Speaker 1: and all those things have helped. But the way he

782
00:39:18,280 --> 00:39:21,480
Speaker 1: plays has really been really unique, and it's fun to

783
00:39:21,520 --> 00:39:23,080
Speaker 1: talk tell him when I used to do games, and

784
00:39:23,360 --> 00:39:25,680
Speaker 1: fun to watch him play. Phil we'll get you out

785
00:39:25,719 --> 00:39:27,680
Speaker 1: here on this. I want to talk to you about

786
00:39:27,680 --> 00:39:32,040
Speaker 1: Anthony Lynn because you famously played for Parcels and coach

787
00:39:32,120 --> 00:39:34,959
Speaker 1: Linn comes from that Parcels coaching tree. When you watch

788
00:39:35,040 --> 00:39:38,040
Speaker 1: this Chargers team play, especially over the last two seasons

789
00:39:38,120 --> 00:39:40,719
Speaker 1: with Coach Lynn at the Helm. He has a lot

790
00:39:40,719 --> 00:39:45,120
Speaker 1: of different influences from Parcels the Shanahan to Coach Walsh

791
00:39:45,160 --> 00:39:48,120
Speaker 1: and I think just his authenticity and just being his

792
00:39:48,120 --> 00:39:51,000
Speaker 1: own guys one thing. But do you see any similarities

793
00:39:51,040 --> 00:39:53,040
Speaker 1: in terms of the toughness and the discipline that some

794
00:39:53,040 --> 00:39:55,960
Speaker 1: of your Giants teams had, Well, you know, listen, I

795
00:39:56,040 --> 00:39:58,279
Speaker 1: definitely see the discipline. I think the first thing he

796
00:39:58,320 --> 00:40:01,239
Speaker 1: did was he formed a great co staff. I mean,

797
00:40:01,400 --> 00:40:04,520
Speaker 1: you get Ken wizen Hunt as your offensive coordinator and

798
00:40:04,640 --> 00:40:06,600
Speaker 1: you get Gus Bradley on the other side. I think

799
00:40:06,640 --> 00:40:10,120
Speaker 1: has done a terrific job with a personnel and what

800
00:40:10,239 --> 00:40:13,040
Speaker 1: they've done and kind of created a new defense and

801
00:40:13,080 --> 00:40:16,120
Speaker 1: it's it's really been awesome and it's a great match

802
00:40:16,120 --> 00:40:19,080
Speaker 1: for the Baltimore Ravens. But that's what really impresses me

803
00:40:19,080 --> 00:40:22,360
Speaker 1: about Anthony Lynn, and people wanted to come work for him.

804
00:40:22,520 --> 00:40:24,560
Speaker 1: My son knew him with the New York Jets. He

805
00:40:24,680 --> 00:40:27,200
Speaker 1: played with the Jets under Anthony Lynn and was up

806
00:40:27,200 --> 00:40:30,080
Speaker 1: in Buffalore all the time with him also, and he

807
00:40:30,200 --> 00:40:33,000
Speaker 1: used to say to me, you know, I'd almost argue,

808
00:40:33,040 --> 00:40:34,520
Speaker 1: I said, how could he be a head coach. He

809
00:40:34,680 --> 00:40:36,840
Speaker 1: you know, I think he needs to be a coordinator,

810
00:40:37,280 --> 00:40:39,759
Speaker 1: and my son says, now, no, he doesn't. He just

811
00:40:40,200 --> 00:40:41,680
Speaker 1: I think he's going to be a better head coach,

812
00:40:41,760 --> 00:40:44,080
Speaker 1: Dad than he is an assistant. I just went, wow,

813
00:40:44,120 --> 00:40:48,239
Speaker 1: that's pretty interesting, and I listened to it because my

814
00:40:48,280 --> 00:40:51,560
Speaker 1: son judges people very hard, my youngest son. And it's

815
00:40:51,560 --> 00:40:53,680
Speaker 1: turned out that way, he said, kind of shows you

816
00:40:54,160 --> 00:40:57,120
Speaker 1: you don't have to necessarily be a coordinator before you've

817
00:40:57,160 --> 00:40:59,359
Speaker 1: become a head coach in the NFL. But it takes

818
00:40:59,360 --> 00:41:04,239
Speaker 1: some guts and some great insight to make those decisions.

819
00:41:04,360 --> 00:41:06,719
Speaker 1: The Chargers did it, and look what it's done. I mean,

820
00:41:06,760 --> 00:41:10,200
Speaker 1: it's been really a really good start to NFL coaching

821
00:41:10,239 --> 00:41:12,520
Speaker 1: career by Anthony Lynn, no doubt. And he's got this

822
00:41:12,560 --> 00:41:14,960
Speaker 1: team in a position to potentially make a run here

823
00:41:14,960 --> 00:41:17,680
Speaker 1: in January. And we'll see it on Sunday. We'll see

824
00:41:17,719 --> 00:41:20,279
Speaker 1: you before the game on the NFL Today. Phil, Thank

825
00:41:20,320 --> 00:41:22,080
Speaker 1: you so much for your time. I can't thank you enough.

826
00:41:22,640 --> 00:41:24,560
Speaker 1: All right, Chris, great talking to you and look forward

827
00:41:24,560 --> 00:41:27,920
Speaker 1: to the game on Sunday. Thank you all Right. Here

828
00:41:27,960 --> 00:41:31,080
Speaker 1: at the Hook Performance Center with Matt Money Smith Money

829
00:41:31,120 --> 00:41:33,880
Speaker 1: about to call his first playoff game. Yeah, exciting, It's

830
00:41:33,880 --> 00:41:36,600
Speaker 1: gonna be fun. Excited to be part of the postseason. Unfortunately,

831
00:41:36,880 --> 00:41:38,560
Speaker 1: a team that ends up earning a twelve and four

832
00:41:38,640 --> 00:41:40,359
Speaker 1: record has to go the route of a wild card.

833
00:41:40,440 --> 00:41:43,200
Speaker 1: About debt. We've seen success, you know, from this position

834
00:41:43,280 --> 00:41:45,280
Speaker 1: in the past. I mean something that Anthony Lynn certainly

835
00:41:45,320 --> 00:41:47,239
Speaker 1: knows about, won a Super Bowl with the Broncos as

836
00:41:47,360 --> 00:41:49,960
Speaker 1: a as a wild card team when he was running

837
00:41:50,000 --> 00:41:51,920
Speaker 1: back there. And also you know, the Giants did it

838
00:41:51,920 --> 00:41:54,360
Speaker 1: when they knocked off the perfect record Patriots in the

839
00:41:54,400 --> 00:41:56,640
Speaker 1: Super Bowl. So it can be done. It's just it's

840
00:41:56,680 --> 00:41:58,279
Speaker 1: not ideal. You'd like to think a team could get

841
00:41:58,320 --> 00:42:01,759
Speaker 1: rewarded for putting together twelve fourth season. Listen, I feel

842
00:42:01,760 --> 00:42:03,640
Speaker 1: like I've said this a million times like a broken

843
00:42:03,680 --> 00:42:06,560
Speaker 1: record over the last month, but I still find it

844
00:42:06,640 --> 00:42:08,520
Speaker 1: mind buying. This team is eight no. When they get

845
00:42:08,560 --> 00:42:11,279
Speaker 1: on a plane, it's seven or no or seven or one.

846
00:42:11,360 --> 00:42:14,080
Speaker 1: Rather road record tied with the Saints, but you count

847
00:42:14,080 --> 00:42:15,960
Speaker 1: that lending game, you take the Rams game out of it.

848
00:42:16,200 --> 00:42:18,040
Speaker 1: Eight no. When you get on an airplane, that's hard

849
00:42:18,040 --> 00:42:21,080
Speaker 1: to believe. Yeah, I think there is something to this team,

850
00:42:21,160 --> 00:42:23,880
Speaker 1: and I don't know if it's the constant questions about

851
00:42:23,880 --> 00:42:26,800
Speaker 1: Los Angeles that they don't feel like answering their football players.

852
00:42:26,840 --> 00:42:29,320
Speaker 1: You know, that's not what they're interested in talking about.

853
00:42:29,360 --> 00:42:32,080
Speaker 1: And anytime they, I think, play in LA, that's inevitable

854
00:42:32,080 --> 00:42:34,640
Speaker 1: that the opposing media that comes in or the national

855
00:42:34,719 --> 00:42:37,160
Speaker 1: media is going to want to get the bigger picture

856
00:42:37,160 --> 00:42:39,239
Speaker 1: along with just the football game. And I get the

857
00:42:39,280 --> 00:42:41,680
Speaker 1: sense they're just tired of it. They're tired of those

858
00:42:41,719 --> 00:42:43,440
Speaker 1: talking points. When they go on the road, they do

859
00:42:43,520 --> 00:42:46,480
Speaker 1: feel like they're a team of underdogs with chips on

860
00:42:46,520 --> 00:42:48,120
Speaker 1: their shoulder, and they play well, you know, they just

861
00:42:48,200 --> 00:42:50,560
Speaker 1: they play well with their backs against the wall for

862
00:42:50,640 --> 00:42:52,640
Speaker 1: whatever reason, and the road forces you to do that

863
00:42:52,719 --> 00:42:56,200
Speaker 1: more often than not. Adrian Phillips was on our Backstage

864
00:42:56,200 --> 00:42:59,239
Speaker 1: podcast yesterday and he said, people just don't understand. He's

865
00:42:59,280 --> 00:43:03,319
Speaker 1: like hypes us up like that Seattle game. Before the game,

866
00:43:03,320 --> 00:43:06,120
Speaker 1: they're jumping up and down as if the Seahawks fans

867
00:43:06,160 --> 00:43:09,040
Speaker 1: are cheering for them. You know, when Renegade comes on, Yeah,

868
00:43:09,160 --> 00:43:12,080
Speaker 1: Keburgh dancing. I mean, it's it's just wild. I think.

869
00:43:12,320 --> 00:43:15,839
Speaker 1: I think also there's there's something to teams that come

870
00:43:15,880 --> 00:43:18,080
Speaker 1: into LA, and it's something that I've been doing this

871
00:43:18,120 --> 00:43:20,080
Speaker 1: as long as I have. You know, not just here,

872
00:43:20,160 --> 00:43:25,000
Speaker 1: but teams from cold weather climates feel like they come

873
00:43:25,040 --> 00:43:27,480
Speaker 1: to LA to push a team around, like like teams

874
00:43:27,480 --> 00:43:30,000
Speaker 1: out here just they're not hard enough, They're they're they're

875
00:43:30,040 --> 00:43:32,520
Speaker 1: gonna lose the physical battle, and they come in with

876
00:43:32,560 --> 00:43:34,960
Speaker 1: that mindset. And I'm not saying that the Chargers fall

877
00:43:34,960 --> 00:43:37,560
Speaker 1: into that trap, but I do think teams tend to

878
00:43:37,600 --> 00:43:40,640
Speaker 1: play a little bit harder trying to establish physical dominance

879
00:43:40,680 --> 00:43:43,360
Speaker 1: when they come to the West Coast. And I think conversely,

880
00:43:43,400 --> 00:43:44,839
Speaker 1: when the Chargers go on the road, it's like, oh,

881
00:43:44,840 --> 00:43:47,160
Speaker 1: we're not some soft LA teams. This defense can get

882
00:43:47,200 --> 00:43:49,920
Speaker 1: after it. Are running game's gonna bully you. And I

883
00:43:49,960 --> 00:43:51,759
Speaker 1: do think there is maybe a little bit of that

884
00:43:51,840 --> 00:43:56,520
Speaker 1: psychology at play home versus road. They've avenged losses to

885
00:43:56,920 --> 00:44:01,520
Speaker 1: Kansas City and Denver Baltimore Deck three weeks ago. Would

886
00:44:01,560 --> 00:44:03,759
Speaker 1: you take from that that first matchup that they can

887
00:44:03,800 --> 00:44:06,080
Speaker 1: apply to this one? Well, I think well, what they

888
00:44:06,080 --> 00:44:08,719
Speaker 1: can apply I think is that they played their worst

889
00:44:08,800 --> 00:44:11,560
Speaker 1: game of the year and had a ball at the

890
00:44:11,640 --> 00:44:14,160
Speaker 1: opponent thirty nine down six with three minutes left and

891
00:44:14,200 --> 00:44:15,759
Speaker 1: all three time outs in a two minute warning it'd

892
00:44:15,760 --> 00:44:19,479
Speaker 1: been seventeen sixteen. Yeah, and a play that you know, look,

893
00:44:19,960 --> 00:44:21,840
Speaker 1: I hate playing the what if what if? But again,

894
00:44:21,920 --> 00:44:24,879
Speaker 1: they played their worst game of the season, and that

895
00:44:25,000 --> 00:44:29,200
Speaker 1: was a pretty shaky holding call against o'coon and even

896
00:44:29,200 --> 00:44:31,200
Speaker 1: a worse hole to be honest, because Sucks was coming

897
00:44:31,280 --> 00:44:33,480
Speaker 1: up field was not going to make that tackle as

898
00:44:33,520 --> 00:44:36,000
Speaker 1: Gordon went off left side for eight yards and now

899
00:44:36,040 --> 00:44:39,239
Speaker 1: you really got some momentum. So that's what I take

900
00:44:39,280 --> 00:44:41,879
Speaker 1: away is they played terrible and still had a chance

901
00:44:41,920 --> 00:44:43,799
Speaker 1: to win that game in the final three minutes. The

902
00:44:43,840 --> 00:44:46,000
Speaker 1: other takeaway is they're gonna have to clean up the

903
00:44:46,000 --> 00:44:48,200
Speaker 1: inside of that line. I mean that that is where

904
00:44:48,200 --> 00:44:51,680
Speaker 1: Baltimore won that game. Defensively, they got pressure right up

905
00:44:51,719 --> 00:44:54,200
Speaker 1: the middle, and that's just that's the toughest sort of

906
00:44:54,200 --> 00:44:56,400
Speaker 1: pressure for rivers to deal with. So they're gonna have

907
00:44:56,400 --> 00:44:58,239
Speaker 1: to push that pressure out to the sides, let him

908
00:44:58,239 --> 00:45:00,799
Speaker 1: climb that pocket and be more effective. Philip was hit

909
00:45:00,880 --> 00:45:04,040
Speaker 1: eight times in that game. Who's sacked four times? I

910
00:45:04,080 --> 00:45:07,120
Speaker 1: think Defensively, though, listen, you see one hundred and fifty

911
00:45:07,160 --> 00:45:09,560
Speaker 1: nine rushing yards. That's a lot of rushing yards. It's

912
00:45:09,600 --> 00:45:12,680
Speaker 1: really not when you talk about this Ravens offense, who

913
00:45:12,760 --> 00:45:15,320
Speaker 1: runs it all the time. Forty three of those yards

914
00:45:15,320 --> 00:45:18,279
Speaker 1: came on at Ravens first carry scrimmage, So after that

915
00:45:18,440 --> 00:45:21,280
Speaker 1: three point four yards per carry, they did a pretty

916
00:45:21,280 --> 00:45:23,439
Speaker 1: good job containing the run. I think the bigger number

917
00:45:23,440 --> 00:45:25,520
Speaker 1: there is thirty nine for Lamar Jackson. I mean, you

918
00:45:25,800 --> 00:45:28,120
Speaker 1: tell a team, hey, you're gonna you're gonna hold Lamar

919
00:45:28,200 --> 00:45:30,040
Speaker 1: Jackson a thirty nine rushing yards, They'll say, where do

920
00:45:30,040 --> 00:45:32,200
Speaker 1: we sign? In twenty five yards? Come on like one play. Yeah,

921
00:45:32,200 --> 00:45:34,120
Speaker 1: so it's like, where do we sign? Let's let's do that.

922
00:45:34,640 --> 00:45:37,040
Speaker 1: And then I think also the one thing to come

923
00:45:37,040 --> 00:45:39,279
Speaker 1: out of that defensively is the passing yards. I mean,

924
00:45:39,280 --> 00:45:41,840
Speaker 1: you're talking about a busted coverage and a misplayed angle

925
00:45:41,880 --> 00:45:44,640
Speaker 1: by Jalil on the Andrews touchdown that goes for sixty

926
00:45:44,680 --> 00:45:47,120
Speaker 1: eight yards. So everyone's touting the oh was Lamar's best

927
00:45:47,160 --> 00:45:49,640
Speaker 1: passing game? Two hundred and five passing yards? Okay, well

928
00:45:49,640 --> 00:45:52,680
Speaker 1: it was really one play I killed moment of for

929
00:45:52,680 --> 00:45:55,200
Speaker 1: the chart. They just scored. They just scored with the

930
00:45:55,280 --> 00:45:58,200
Speaker 1: lead and immediately gave it up two plays later. And

931
00:45:58,239 --> 00:46:01,040
Speaker 1: look that's you know, the Baltimore Ravens can play that

932
00:46:01,080 --> 00:46:03,400
Speaker 1: game too, like, well, we had a fumble and it

933
00:46:03,480 --> 00:46:05,680
Speaker 1: was their short field that gave them their score. Outside

934
00:46:05,680 --> 00:46:08,920
Speaker 1: of that, they did nothing against you know, the Ravens offensively,

935
00:46:09,000 --> 00:46:11,480
Speaker 1: so you could you can play that game both ways.

936
00:46:11,840 --> 00:46:14,319
Speaker 1: But I do think, I do think this is a

937
00:46:14,480 --> 00:46:19,919
Speaker 1: defensive battle. This is a sixteen thirteen game, and unfortunately

938
00:46:20,280 --> 00:46:22,440
Speaker 1: for both teams, you're going to be facing a kicker

939
00:46:22,440 --> 00:46:24,440
Speaker 1: that's got a ton of confidence, Michael Badge who's got

940
00:46:24,480 --> 00:46:26,320
Speaker 1: a fifty nine yard on the season, and Justin Tucker,

941
00:46:26,320 --> 00:46:28,520
Speaker 1: who's the best kicker in the game. And it very

942
00:46:28,520 --> 00:46:30,719
Speaker 1: well could come down to a last possession in which

943
00:46:30,719 --> 00:46:32,239
Speaker 1: one of these two kickers is going to be able

944
00:46:32,239 --> 00:46:34,680
Speaker 1: to boot one from fifty five fifty eight yards with

945
00:46:34,719 --> 00:46:36,920
Speaker 1: no time on the clock. Yeah, Tucker's automatic. He's got

946
00:46:36,920 --> 00:46:40,000
Speaker 1: a fifty six yard this year too, and it's inside fifty.

947
00:46:40,040 --> 00:46:43,080
Speaker 1: I think they're both perfect. So there's that's that's just

948
00:46:43,120 --> 00:46:45,759
Speaker 1: what it is. I thought it was encouraging that this

949
00:46:45,920 --> 00:46:49,040
Speaker 1: Chargers team forced four turnovers in Week seventeen. I knows

950
00:46:49,080 --> 00:46:50,839
Speaker 1: against the Broncos. I know it's kind of a weird game,

951
00:46:51,120 --> 00:46:53,279
Speaker 1: but just affect that you need to turn the ball

952
00:46:53,280 --> 00:46:55,120
Speaker 1: over in the playoffs, and you can't turn the ball

953
00:46:55,160 --> 00:46:57,319
Speaker 1: over money. And that's something that we've seen from this

954
00:46:57,400 --> 00:46:59,120
Speaker 1: Chargers team the last three weeks that we had not

955
00:46:59,239 --> 00:47:01,239
Speaker 1: seen earlier in the year. It's been terrible, and it's

956
00:47:01,280 --> 00:47:03,319
Speaker 1: been bad opening drives. I mean, you know, this is

957
00:47:03,320 --> 00:47:04,920
Speaker 1: a team that struggled to get out and look, you

958
00:47:04,920 --> 00:47:06,360
Speaker 1: want to beat the Ravens, you better put them in

959
00:47:06,360 --> 00:47:08,560
Speaker 1: a hole. That's that's if you want to beat them

960
00:47:08,600 --> 00:47:10,400
Speaker 1: and be comfortable. I win in the fourth quarter, you

961
00:47:10,440 --> 00:47:11,880
Speaker 1: gotta win the first quarter. That's the thing. If you

962
00:47:11,880 --> 00:47:13,719
Speaker 1: can win the first quarter against the Ravens, go up

963
00:47:13,800 --> 00:47:16,279
Speaker 1: let's say by ten, and force them to a band.

964
00:47:16,320 --> 00:47:18,680
Speaker 1: I mean, they had a they had an eleven play

965
00:47:19,880 --> 00:47:23,359
Speaker 1: five minute drive on that Saturday on November or whatever

966
00:47:23,360 --> 00:47:26,919
Speaker 1: it was that that that December game that went that

967
00:47:27,040 --> 00:47:30,440
Speaker 1: went to thirty one yards. That's crazy. You can't do

968
00:47:30,480 --> 00:47:33,640
Speaker 1: that down eleven of the first fifteen minutes the Ravens

969
00:47:33,640 --> 00:47:35,960
Speaker 1: had the football. So that's if you go up ten,

970
00:47:36,000 --> 00:47:38,200
Speaker 1: they can't do that. They can't. And that's the one

971
00:47:38,200 --> 00:47:40,200
Speaker 1: thing about that. And look, there's a reason why teams

972
00:47:40,200 --> 00:47:42,480
Speaker 1: don't run the option and run mash regularly or run

973
00:47:42,840 --> 00:47:44,960
Speaker 1: you know what, they're running out their bone. I mean,

974
00:47:45,000 --> 00:47:46,480
Speaker 1: you want to call it, whatever you want to call it.

975
00:47:46,520 --> 00:47:49,640
Speaker 1: They run it all because that's what you end up

976
00:47:49,680 --> 00:47:52,360
Speaker 1: losing games, you know, Like again, the Browns have a

977
00:47:52,440 --> 00:47:54,719
Speaker 1: chance to win a game in the final two minutes

978
00:47:54,760 --> 00:47:56,960
Speaker 1: because the team just doesn't score enough points because they're

979
00:47:56,960 --> 00:47:59,040
Speaker 1: gonna turn the ball over when they keep running mash

980
00:47:59,120 --> 00:48:01,640
Speaker 1: over and over and have that exchange that we saw

981
00:48:01,719 --> 00:48:04,080
Speaker 1: go sideways twice. The Chargers came up with it once.

982
00:48:05,040 --> 00:48:07,440
Speaker 1: And you can't win games by scoring field goals in

983
00:48:07,440 --> 00:48:11,040
Speaker 1: a touchdown league, So that that, to me is kind

984
00:48:11,040 --> 00:48:13,279
Speaker 1: of something that that the Chargers can take advantage of

985
00:48:13,320 --> 00:48:15,120
Speaker 1: if they can get out to a lead and figure

986
00:48:15,160 --> 00:48:17,640
Speaker 1: out why this offense has been so bad on their

987
00:48:17,680 --> 00:48:21,080
Speaker 1: opening possessions these last three weeks. They've scored twenty points

988
00:48:21,239 --> 00:48:24,719
Speaker 1: in every single game except for that Ravens game, and

989
00:48:25,200 --> 00:48:27,239
Speaker 1: one player who did not play in that game as

990
00:48:27,280 --> 00:48:29,319
Speaker 1: Austin Eckler. I think he could be a big X

991
00:48:29,320 --> 00:48:31,319
Speaker 1: factor in this game. Well that's the way, you know,

992
00:48:31,440 --> 00:48:33,360
Speaker 1: I've got to believe you. Look, you want to slow

993
00:48:33,400 --> 00:48:35,800
Speaker 1: down a five man rush there there blitz in almost

994
00:48:35,840 --> 00:48:38,120
Speaker 1: every every snap. If you want to slow that down

995
00:48:38,200 --> 00:48:40,319
Speaker 1: especially because the stunts they're running on the interior, the

996
00:48:40,360 --> 00:48:43,120
Speaker 1: line start attacking the edges, you know, attack the edges

997
00:48:43,120 --> 00:48:45,520
Speaker 1: with those dump off passes or those stretch runs to

998
00:48:45,560 --> 00:48:47,640
Speaker 1: Gordon and Eckler. And we saw what Eckler did for

999
00:48:47,719 --> 00:48:50,799
Speaker 1: an offense that was struggling against the Broncos. He really

1000
00:48:50,880 --> 00:48:53,000
Speaker 1: was kind of the catalyst that got it going. He

1001
00:48:53,160 --> 00:48:54,680
Speaker 1: you know, he hit that edge for I think it

1002
00:48:54,680 --> 00:48:56,400
Speaker 1: was a forty one yard run as longest play from

1003
00:48:56,440 --> 00:48:58,680
Speaker 1: scrimmage in that game, and that's when it's like, oh yeah,

1004
00:48:58,719 --> 00:49:00,960
Speaker 1: that's what they were missing. As good as Justin Jackson was,

1005
00:49:01,000 --> 00:49:02,720
Speaker 1: I think he caught seven balls in that game against

1006
00:49:02,760 --> 00:49:05,640
Speaker 1: the Ravens, and as good as he was when pressed

1007
00:49:05,640 --> 00:49:09,480
Speaker 1: into action, Eckler's just a special player. I mean he

1008
00:49:09,520 --> 00:49:11,640
Speaker 1: really is, because there's just no let up. When Melvin

1009
00:49:11,680 --> 00:49:14,360
Speaker 1: sits down and Eckler comes in, you know, you almost

1010
00:49:14,360 --> 00:49:16,200
Speaker 1: get a little bit of a different style of running,

1011
00:49:16,200 --> 00:49:18,279
Speaker 1: but it's also very physical style of running, and I

1012
00:49:18,320 --> 00:49:20,160
Speaker 1: think that's kind of what happens and grand there's enough

1013
00:49:20,239 --> 00:49:22,239
Speaker 1: film out there that people see Eckler and they're like, oh, yeah,

1014
00:49:22,280 --> 00:49:23,920
Speaker 1: he's not some small third down back. This is a

1015
00:49:24,000 --> 00:49:26,360
Speaker 1: dude that brings it, but they can't stop it. So

1016
00:49:26,400 --> 00:49:29,040
Speaker 1: I think that's a huge upgrade for the Chargers offense,

1017
00:49:29,160 --> 00:49:31,920
Speaker 1: especially if you're can attack those edges and get them

1018
00:49:31,960 --> 00:49:33,880
Speaker 1: to have to slow down a half step on the

1019
00:49:33,920 --> 00:49:37,279
Speaker 1: inside of that rush. He and Melvin compliment each other

1020
00:49:37,360 --> 00:49:38,839
Speaker 1: so nicely too. I even go back to I think

1021
00:49:38,840 --> 00:49:40,839
Speaker 1: it's like Week one against the Chiefs where they had

1022
00:49:40,880 --> 00:49:43,560
Speaker 1: like almost three hundred yards combined between the two of them.

1023
00:49:43,600 --> 00:49:46,839
Speaker 1: So you know, Melvin is had an all Pro year,

1024
00:49:47,120 --> 00:49:49,839
Speaker 1: but when you insert Austin into that mix too, it

1025
00:49:49,840 --> 00:49:51,799
Speaker 1: just makes both guys, I think that much more dangerous. Well,

1026
00:49:51,800 --> 00:49:55,920
Speaker 1: and also it's it's really what added to Phillips Philip

1027
00:49:56,000 --> 00:49:59,120
Speaker 1: Rivers season and his special season was a lot of

1028
00:49:59,160 --> 00:50:01,160
Speaker 1: those yards in the past game came from backs. I

1029
00:50:01,160 --> 00:50:03,400
Speaker 1: think it was eight hundred and they gets little over

1030
00:50:03,400 --> 00:50:06,640
Speaker 1: eight hundred and thirty yards between those two in receiving yards.

1031
00:50:06,840 --> 00:50:08,560
Speaker 1: When you talk about you know, Rivers in his four

1032
00:50:08,600 --> 00:50:11,560
Speaker 1: thousand yards, that's a huge chunk that are going to backs.

1033
00:50:11,880 --> 00:50:15,680
Speaker 1: And that's a way again to get that defensive front

1034
00:50:15,760 --> 00:50:19,279
Speaker 1: to slow down a half stat you know, if they're

1035
00:50:19,320 --> 00:50:21,720
Speaker 1: if they're coming full, you know, full head of steam

1036
00:50:21,800 --> 00:50:23,680
Speaker 1: and he's just dumping it over the top to those

1037
00:50:23,680 --> 00:50:25,799
Speaker 1: backs on the edges and they can take that for

1038
00:50:25,880 --> 00:50:28,200
Speaker 1: eight nine yards a catch like they have been all season.

1039
00:50:28,800 --> 00:50:30,560
Speaker 1: That's how you get that defense to slow down a

1040
00:50:30,600 --> 00:50:32,160
Speaker 1: little bit. And I think Philip he's got to get

1041
00:50:32,160 --> 00:50:33,880
Speaker 1: the ball out of his hands quickly. And you know,

1042
00:50:33,920 --> 00:50:36,200
Speaker 1: in terms of past protection these running backs, that's a

1043
00:50:36,239 --> 00:50:38,640
Speaker 1: big part of this game as well. Sure, you know,

1044
00:50:38,640 --> 00:50:41,960
Speaker 1: when you think about the big plays against the Ravens,

1045
00:50:42,000 --> 00:50:44,360
Speaker 1: and you know, the biggest play, at least one of

1046
00:50:44,400 --> 00:50:48,680
Speaker 1: the biggest plays that Wasso sack. The second one was

1047
00:50:49,360 --> 00:50:52,799
Speaker 1: blue by an interior lineman, Blue by Melvin who was

1048
00:50:52,840 --> 00:50:55,279
Speaker 1: then overwhelmed by three different guys and before you know,

1049
00:50:55,320 --> 00:50:56,960
Speaker 1: if Phillip's got no time, you know, I think that

1050
00:50:57,000 --> 00:50:59,080
Speaker 1: was like the second or the third straight three and out.

1051
00:50:59,600 --> 00:51:02,000
Speaker 1: And you know that's you you're riot, I mean it's

1052
00:51:02,000 --> 00:51:04,480
Speaker 1: and and look, these backs are good at blocking um,

1053
00:51:04,520 --> 00:51:07,840
Speaker 1: but for whatever reason, well not for whatever reason, you

1054
00:51:07,840 --> 00:51:10,120
Speaker 1: can't block three guys. And that's kind of what they

1055
00:51:10,160 --> 00:51:13,040
Speaker 1: were asked to do with with again, just the issues

1056
00:51:13,120 --> 00:51:14,239
Speaker 1: that they had, and I know it was something that

1057
00:51:14,320 --> 00:51:17,279
Speaker 1: Russell o'cona, you know, had had addressed and said, you know,

1058
00:51:17,320 --> 00:51:19,879
Speaker 1: we've seen the film, we get it, we will make

1059
00:51:19,920 --> 00:51:22,719
Speaker 1: the adjustments. But clearly it was you know, it was

1060
00:51:22,719 --> 00:51:25,440
Speaker 1: a pass rush that gave the inside a lot of

1061
00:51:25,480 --> 00:51:28,120
Speaker 1: trouble and they're going to have to clean that up, Bunny.

1062
00:51:28,160 --> 00:51:30,360
Speaker 1: I know there was a stretch in that first half

1063
00:51:30,480 --> 00:51:34,200
Speaker 1: where the Chargers they had something going. They had I

1064
00:51:34,200 --> 00:51:36,960
Speaker 1: think Keenan got called for offensive passive affairs and an

1065
00:51:36,960 --> 00:51:39,640
Speaker 1: illegal shift on a ship played by bad One. Yeah

1066
00:51:39,680 --> 00:51:43,080
Speaker 1: that was but they had some momentum that just got

1067
00:51:43,160 --> 00:51:46,480
Speaker 1: killed by, you know, a couple of penalties. Is it

1068
00:51:46,560 --> 00:51:48,840
Speaker 1: just something as simple as just getting into a groove

1069
00:51:49,200 --> 00:51:52,520
Speaker 1: and and hopefully being able to outscore this team. The

1070
00:51:52,560 --> 00:51:54,239
Speaker 1: thing with this Ravens team, it doesn't matter if it's

1071
00:51:54,239 --> 00:51:57,000
Speaker 1: the Bucks, the Browns, the Chiefs. All these games are

1072
00:51:57,040 --> 00:51:59,399
Speaker 1: three point games. You know. It's it's just like you're

1073
00:51:59,440 --> 00:52:03,359
Speaker 1: you're almost forced played their brand of football. I think

1074
00:52:03,560 --> 00:52:05,399
Speaker 1: I think you kind of answered the question yourself there,

1075
00:52:05,440 --> 00:52:07,880
Speaker 1: which is the penalties break their rhythm. Yeah, you know

1076
00:52:07,920 --> 00:52:10,880
Speaker 1: it's a rhythm based offense. Every offense is. But but

1077
00:52:10,920 --> 00:52:13,279
Speaker 1: when rivers can get into a rhythm, that's when you

1078
00:52:13,320 --> 00:52:16,480
Speaker 1: start seeing twenty five straight completions twenty eight of twenty nine.

1079
00:52:16,560 --> 00:52:19,840
Speaker 1: He's a rhythm passer. Those first two that you mentioned,

1080
00:52:19,840 --> 00:52:22,280
Speaker 1: that was the second drive. I believe you have Keenan

1081
00:52:22,480 --> 00:52:24,279
Speaker 1: that's the first quarter. It was first quarter. Yeah, there's

1082
00:52:24,320 --> 00:52:26,879
Speaker 1: second drive, first quarter, and you have the offensive PI,

1083
00:52:27,000 --> 00:52:29,879
Speaker 1: which was okay, I get it, he extends his arm.

1084
00:52:29,960 --> 00:52:31,719
Speaker 1: But there was some back and forth there. But the

1085
00:52:31,760 --> 00:52:34,080
Speaker 1: worst one was Keenan yelling at Philip and that there's

1086
00:52:34,120 --> 00:52:35,640
Speaker 1: just no excuse for him not to be set there.

1087
00:52:35,640 --> 00:52:38,560
Speaker 1: And that's a pass that gets into Ravens territory. That now,

1088
00:52:38,600 --> 00:52:40,600
Speaker 1: at at the worst, you got a field goal attempt

1089
00:52:40,600 --> 00:52:43,080
Speaker 1: to try to tie the game, and instead you get

1090
00:52:43,080 --> 00:52:45,839
Speaker 1: the flag for the shift and now you're looking at

1091
00:52:45,880 --> 00:52:48,600
Speaker 1: a third and twenty. And look, that Ravens game wasn't

1092
00:52:48,640 --> 00:52:51,280
Speaker 1: an anomaly. It happened against the Broncos and that loss.

1093
00:52:51,360 --> 00:52:53,840
Speaker 1: It happened again this past week in Week seventeen against

1094
00:52:53,840 --> 00:52:58,040
Speaker 1: the Broncos, where big plays were negated by penalties. And

1095
00:52:58,280 --> 00:53:01,239
Speaker 1: that's the easiest way to mess up the rhythm of

1096
00:53:01,239 --> 00:53:03,840
Speaker 1: an offense. And I'm sure it's something that the coaches

1097
00:53:03,840 --> 00:53:06,759
Speaker 1: are addressing about having to clean up in the postseason. Look,

1098
00:53:06,800 --> 00:53:09,760
Speaker 1: you get a positive play against this defense. And instead

1099
00:53:09,760 --> 00:53:12,239
Speaker 1: of going to let's just go to that first and

1100
00:53:12,280 --> 00:53:14,279
Speaker 1: ten from the thirty nine with three minutes left down six,

1101
00:53:14,320 --> 00:53:16,120
Speaker 1: instead of having second and two from the thirty one,

1102
00:53:16,560 --> 00:53:20,160
Speaker 1: you now have first and twenty from your own whatever

1103
00:53:20,200 --> 00:53:22,680
Speaker 1: it was from the fifty year. I think it was

1104
00:53:22,680 --> 00:53:25,719
Speaker 1: from your own forty nine. And it changed everything. So yeah,

1105
00:53:25,719 --> 00:53:27,799
Speaker 1: they got to clean up the penalties, no question about it.

1106
00:53:28,000 --> 00:53:31,719
Speaker 1: For everything we've talked about keys to victory, I just

1107
00:53:31,760 --> 00:53:34,919
Speaker 1: think it's getting ahead on this team. I mean five

1108
00:53:34,960 --> 00:53:36,879
Speaker 1: of the last six wins or six to the last

1109
00:53:36,880 --> 00:53:39,320
Speaker 1: seven wins, something like that, the opponent has scored first.

1110
00:53:39,320 --> 00:53:41,239
Speaker 1: And I go back to the games against and I

1111
00:53:41,280 --> 00:53:44,960
Speaker 1: realize they're inferior opponents, but you know, Buffalo and Cleveland,

1112
00:53:45,000 --> 00:53:47,640
Speaker 1: when you get up on a team early, that offense

1113
00:53:47,760 --> 00:53:51,000
Speaker 1: is rolling. That defense can play from a head for once,

1114
00:53:51,200 --> 00:53:52,719
Speaker 1: and I think that's the way that they can get

1115
00:53:52,719 --> 00:53:55,520
Speaker 1: this job done. Not to mention, you know, and just

1116
00:53:55,560 --> 00:53:57,759
Speaker 1: to use coach Lin's word, hit his ass. You know,

1117
00:53:57,800 --> 00:54:00,560
Speaker 1: you got to get after Lamar early, and they had

1118
00:54:00,640 --> 00:54:02,719
Speaker 1: him in pursuit and they allowed him to escape, and

1119
00:54:02,719 --> 00:54:04,960
Speaker 1: they allowed him to get to the sideline. Can't do that,

1120
00:54:05,160 --> 00:54:06,719
Speaker 1: you have got to get up on him and you

1121
00:54:06,800 --> 00:54:08,879
Speaker 1: got to make him pay when he decides to keep

1122
00:54:08,920 --> 00:54:11,200
Speaker 1: the ball. And I'm not saying, you know, with cheap

1123
00:54:11,239 --> 00:54:13,520
Speaker 1: shots or anything like that. I'm just saying, tackle him.

1124
00:54:13,840 --> 00:54:15,799
Speaker 1: Make sure he feels he's going to run the ball

1125
00:54:15,840 --> 00:54:18,640
Speaker 1: seventeen times like he's average. You want him to be

1126
00:54:18,680 --> 00:54:22,160
Speaker 1: tackled eighteen, you know, or twenty because anytime he runs

1127
00:54:22,200 --> 00:54:24,840
Speaker 1: that mesh, he's no longer a quarterback. He's part of

1128
00:54:24,840 --> 00:54:26,520
Speaker 1: the play and you can hit him, you know, before

1129
00:54:26,520 --> 00:54:29,000
Speaker 1: he hands that ball off. So I think that's probably

1130
00:54:29,040 --> 00:54:31,360
Speaker 1: a big part of the message too, is hey, seventeen

1131
00:54:31,440 --> 00:54:33,799
Speaker 1: runs twenty hits. That's what you need on that guy,

1132
00:54:33,880 --> 00:54:36,279
Speaker 1: so he thinks twice about running it because he's not

1133
00:54:36,320 --> 00:54:38,279
Speaker 1: the thickest guy out there. You know, he has not

1134
00:54:38,360 --> 00:54:41,080
Speaker 1: built like a Josh Allen or you know, a Tim

1135
00:54:41,120 --> 00:54:43,720
Speaker 1: Teboat for that matter. Guys that are really two hundred

1136
00:54:43,719 --> 00:54:45,360
Speaker 1: and thirty pound backs. That's not him. He's more of

1137
00:54:45,400 --> 00:54:47,680
Speaker 1: that getting down. He's smart, getting very good at it.

1138
00:54:47,840 --> 00:54:49,680
Speaker 1: But at the same time, if you get if you

1139
00:54:49,680 --> 00:54:51,680
Speaker 1: get a shot on him, he's exactly he's not. He's

1140
00:54:51,680 --> 00:54:54,520
Speaker 1: not like camera Josh Allen exactly. So that's that I

1141
00:54:54,520 --> 00:54:57,400
Speaker 1: think is the key. To score early, make him feel

1142
00:54:57,400 --> 00:54:59,680
Speaker 1: it early, you know, and try to make up that

1143
00:54:59,719 --> 00:55:02,720
Speaker 1: half second half yard that he got away from Derwin

1144
00:55:02,960 --> 00:55:05,399
Speaker 1: and got away from Bosa and Melvin Ingram on those

1145
00:55:05,480 --> 00:55:08,480
Speaker 1: multiple occasions. You know, make up that half second and

1146
00:55:08,560 --> 00:55:12,680
Speaker 1: that'll dramatically change the game, meaningful football. In January, they'll

1147
00:55:12,680 --> 00:55:14,879
Speaker 1: make fun Baltimore. Have you been in Baltimore? I have, Yeah,

1148
00:55:15,040 --> 00:55:17,839
Speaker 1: been a while, but I've been to MT I've done

1149
00:55:17,840 --> 00:55:19,880
Speaker 1: a game there before, so very much looking forward to

1150
00:55:19,880 --> 00:55:22,319
Speaker 1: getting back. It's a great crowd, it's an awesome atmosphere.

1151
00:55:22,600 --> 00:55:25,359
Speaker 1: And hey, if these players say they like adversity, they're

1152
00:55:25,360 --> 00:55:27,520
Speaker 1: gonna get it. They could definitely get it when it

1153
00:55:27,560 --> 00:55:29,279
Speaker 1: comes to the crowd on Sunday. And if that's what

1154
00:55:29,280 --> 00:55:30,759
Speaker 1: they thrive on, then boy, they got a lot to

1155
00:55:30,800 --> 00:55:32,600
Speaker 1: thrive on. If they get it, they'll be nine and

1156
00:55:32,680 --> 00:55:35,360
Speaker 1: oh on an airplane. Money. Thanks so much, man, anytime.

1157
00:55:35,840 --> 00:55:38,640
Speaker 1: All right, Chargers fans, it's playoff time. And at Pizza Hut,

1158
00:55:38,640 --> 00:55:40,920
Speaker 1: they're more than a five dollars lineup of medium one

1159
00:55:40,960 --> 00:55:44,200
Speaker 1: topping pizzas, wings and cent Ubon mini roles. They're the

1160
00:55:44,200 --> 00:55:47,279
Speaker 1: easiest choice you'll make all week just five dollars each

1161
00:55:47,320 --> 00:55:50,200
Speaker 1: a pizza hut when you buy two or more. All right,

1162
00:55:50,239 --> 00:55:53,280
Speaker 1: welcome back to Chargers Weekly. Very pleased to be joined

1163
00:55:53,280 --> 00:55:55,600
Speaker 1: by NFL Network Steve Weisse. You know it's a big

1164
00:55:55,640 --> 00:55:58,680
Speaker 1: game with Steve is in coast to Mason. What's up man? Well,

1165
00:55:58,680 --> 00:56:00,560
Speaker 1: you know they're all big games, like to say in

1166
00:56:00,920 --> 00:56:03,400
Speaker 1: the journalism cliche, But now this is great. I mean,

1167
00:56:03,400 --> 00:56:05,160
Speaker 1: it's been fun. I've been around this team, you know,

1168
00:56:05,560 --> 00:56:08,520
Speaker 1: a decent amount this season. Great guys to do with,

1169
00:56:08,600 --> 00:56:10,839
Speaker 1: great coaching staff, to do with your pleasant I love

1170
00:56:11,320 --> 00:56:13,239
Speaker 1: just seeing the media crew, and you know it's a

1171
00:56:13,239 --> 00:56:16,640
Speaker 1: big game. The Chargers are deserving of this big game

1172
00:56:17,440 --> 00:56:19,520
Speaker 1: and the opponent. I mean, as we know the Baltimore

1173
00:56:19,600 --> 00:56:22,360
Speaker 1: Ravens a Week sixteen game, even though the score doesn't

1174
00:56:22,400 --> 00:56:25,239
Speaker 1: reflect it, that was a neck and neck game until

1175
00:56:25,239 --> 00:56:28,439
Speaker 1: the late until the late turnover. So I think this

1176
00:56:28,640 --> 00:56:32,440
Speaker 1: is gonna be a fantastic and great wildcard matchups. Styles

1177
00:56:32,480 --> 00:56:35,360
Speaker 1: win fights most of the time. I don't think the

1178
00:56:35,480 --> 00:56:38,320
Speaker 1: Chargers in Week sixteen were able to kind of show

1179
00:56:38,320 --> 00:56:41,080
Speaker 1: with their style so to speak. Got a better opportunity

1180
00:56:41,080 --> 00:56:44,200
Speaker 1: this week. You know, these last seven games for the

1181
00:56:44,360 --> 00:56:47,120
Speaker 1: Ravens just it's been two different teams essentially. You have

1182
00:56:47,200 --> 00:56:49,640
Speaker 1: Flaco Underson get now you get Jackson under center. They're

1183
00:56:49,840 --> 00:56:52,360
Speaker 1: been two hundred and thirty rushing yards on the ground.

1184
00:56:52,480 --> 00:56:54,920
Speaker 1: I thought the Chargers did a pretty good job defensively,

1185
00:56:55,360 --> 00:56:58,560
Speaker 1: but offensively. It was the first game they've been held

1186
00:56:58,640 --> 00:57:01,239
Speaker 1: under twenty points all see, and that offense got to

1187
00:57:01,280 --> 00:57:03,480
Speaker 1: get rolling on Sunday. Yeah, they never got into a flow.

1188
00:57:03,600 --> 00:57:05,160
Speaker 1: I mean. And the one thing the Ravens did a

1189
00:57:05,160 --> 00:57:08,120
Speaker 1: fantastic job of doing besides getting at Philip rivers and

1190
00:57:08,160 --> 00:57:11,840
Speaker 1: passing situations which were often behind the sticks. You know

1191
00:57:11,840 --> 00:57:14,840
Speaker 1: football vernaculate for third and age, third and nine is

1192
00:57:14,880 --> 00:57:18,040
Speaker 1: they denied throws to the wide receivers. There are very

1193
00:57:18,040 --> 00:57:22,440
Speaker 1: few completions outside the hash marks, and that has to change.

1194
00:57:22,480 --> 00:57:24,800
Speaker 1: Even if it's a quick passing game. You get the

1195
00:57:24,840 --> 00:57:27,400
Speaker 1: ball to Keen Allen, you get it to Tyrrell Williams, whatever,

1196
00:57:27,560 --> 00:57:30,160
Speaker 1: Let them get five yards chunky or five yards chunk there,

1197
00:57:30,800 --> 00:57:33,720
Speaker 1: get them on their heels. The Ravens were never on

1198
00:57:33,760 --> 00:57:36,200
Speaker 1: their heels at any point of the game. And when

1199
00:57:36,200 --> 00:57:38,440
Speaker 1: you allow t Sizzle and some of those guys to

1200
00:57:38,480 --> 00:57:40,440
Speaker 1: come after you and let those big corners lock up

1201
00:57:40,440 --> 00:57:43,880
Speaker 1: your receivers. That is the recipe for doom, and that's

1202
00:57:43,920 --> 00:57:46,440
Speaker 1: the one thing the Chargers really have to avoid. I

1203
00:57:46,480 --> 00:57:48,320
Speaker 1: was just talking to Matt money Smith about this too.

1204
00:57:48,360 --> 00:57:50,480
Speaker 1: There was a sequence in the first quarter where they

1205
00:57:50,520 --> 00:57:52,560
Speaker 1: were getting rolling a little bit. There was an offensive

1206
00:57:52,600 --> 00:57:54,920
Speaker 1: pass interference on Keenan, then an illegal shift on a

1207
00:57:54,960 --> 00:57:58,160
Speaker 1: big player, Mike Williams. There were some plays there, some

1208
00:57:58,400 --> 00:58:01,720
Speaker 1: potentially momentum shifting plays they just could not get going.

1209
00:58:01,720 --> 00:58:03,800
Speaker 1: A lot of pre snap penalties just of a sloppy

1210
00:58:03,840 --> 00:58:07,560
Speaker 1: first half. Yeah, real uncharacteristic penalties. It was kind of like, Okay,

1211
00:58:07,560 --> 00:58:09,080
Speaker 1: we know these guys are coming. We know these guys

1212
00:58:09,080 --> 00:58:11,520
Speaker 1: are coming. Let's get in a position. There's there's the

1213
00:58:11,520 --> 00:58:14,800
Speaker 1: false start, there's the Keynan Allen put. You know that, OPI.

1214
00:58:14,960 --> 00:58:17,080
Speaker 1: We can discuss that all day. Care for that one

1215
00:58:17,200 --> 00:58:20,520
Speaker 1: very much, but it's you can't have those things. And

1216
00:58:20,560 --> 00:58:23,600
Speaker 1: they're playing in Baltimore and it's a big stage game.

1217
00:58:23,880 --> 00:58:25,760
Speaker 1: It's gonna be it's gonna be inting to see how

1218
00:58:25,760 --> 00:58:28,640
Speaker 1: it's called, if it's gonna be tight for both teams upfront,

1219
00:58:28,960 --> 00:58:32,560
Speaker 1: how that works out. Um. But the key thing and

1220
00:58:32,680 --> 00:58:35,040
Speaker 1: watching what the Ravens are doing. Two teams, and it's

1221
00:58:35,040 --> 00:58:37,240
Speaker 1: just an odd thing, they say in the NFL is

1222
00:58:37,240 --> 00:58:39,600
Speaker 1: they are physically taking it two teams, they are, and

1223
00:58:39,680 --> 00:58:41,919
Speaker 1: they physically took it to the Chargers the last game

1224
00:58:41,920 --> 00:58:44,720
Speaker 1: on both lines of scrimmage. If that happens again, the

1225
00:58:44,800 --> 00:58:47,400
Speaker 1: Charger season will end Sunday. The Charges really have to

1226
00:58:47,480 --> 00:58:51,640
Speaker 1: bow up and play much tougher football, and which should

1227
00:58:51,680 --> 00:58:55,280
Speaker 1: actually be a good temperature game. They're not going. Let's

1228
00:58:56,000 --> 00:58:57,880
Speaker 1: we have lucked out all season. At first of all,

1229
00:58:57,920 --> 00:59:00,960
Speaker 1: you put you play Buffalo a week two, Cleveland in

1230
00:59:01,000 --> 00:59:04,280
Speaker 1: October's beautiful London. It was very pleasant for that time

1231
00:59:04,280 --> 00:59:07,240
Speaker 1: of year. Seattle, it didn't rain, Kansas City was a

1232
00:59:07,240 --> 00:59:10,480
Speaker 1: little cold. A little cold wasn't too bad, right and

1233
00:59:10,520 --> 00:59:12,480
Speaker 1: then and then Denver, you know, we lucked out. Was

1234
00:59:12,520 --> 00:59:15,440
Speaker 1: probably like in the forties, fifties for the Broncos. Supposed

1235
00:59:15,440 --> 00:59:19,080
Speaker 1: to be fifties some Sunday, Yeah, and have you. I'm

1236
00:59:19,120 --> 00:59:22,000
Speaker 1: trying to think of a team that has had as

1237
00:59:22,080 --> 00:59:25,360
Speaker 1: much success on the road as the Chargers have outside

1238
00:59:25,360 --> 00:59:28,040
Speaker 1: of La County right eight. No, when you get on

1239
00:59:28,040 --> 00:59:31,200
Speaker 1: an airplane this year and these are just the Buffaloes

1240
00:59:31,240 --> 00:59:34,440
Speaker 1: in the Cleveland's. These are at Pittsburgh at night, at

1241
00:59:34,520 --> 00:59:37,600
Speaker 1: k at night, at night, at Seattle. It doesn't matter

1242
00:59:37,640 --> 00:59:40,880
Speaker 1: what time of day. Um, they have embraced being on

1243
00:59:40,920 --> 00:59:44,280
Speaker 1: the road, and you know it's certainly showed the last month. Yeah,

1244
00:59:44,280 --> 00:59:45,960
Speaker 1: you know, it's weird. I used to cover the NBA

1245
00:59:46,040 --> 00:59:48,280
Speaker 1: and you know, during the Miami Heats kind of first

1246
00:59:48,400 --> 00:59:51,080
Speaker 1: run at the Championships in the late nineties, they were

1247
00:59:51,200 --> 00:59:54,760
Speaker 1: dominant on the road. And then the players would always say, look,

1248
00:59:54,800 --> 00:59:57,200
Speaker 1: we're on the road. It's just us. Yeah, you know,

1249
00:59:57,280 --> 00:59:58,960
Speaker 1: we can kind of lock it. And and you see

1250
00:59:59,000 --> 01:00:03,320
Speaker 1: these guys they do that. They understand you because we

1251
01:00:03,360 --> 01:00:04,920
Speaker 1: all know when they play home games, there tends to

1252
01:00:04,920 --> 01:00:07,480
Speaker 1: be a good amount of opposing fans here. So that's

1253
01:00:07,480 --> 01:00:09,520
Speaker 1: going to build a natural chip on your shoulder, Like,

1254
01:00:10,040 --> 01:00:10,960
Speaker 1: you know, why do we have to go on a

1255
01:00:10,960 --> 01:00:13,040
Speaker 1: silent count from time to time because there's fans in

1256
01:00:13,120 --> 01:00:16,280
Speaker 1: our home stadium. Well, that's working for them in terms

1257
01:00:16,360 --> 01:00:19,200
Speaker 1: of okay, this isn't different. We don't necessarily have to

1258
01:00:19,240 --> 01:00:23,439
Speaker 1: overpractice or over prepare. And these are tough minded guys.

1259
01:00:23,480 --> 01:00:27,320
Speaker 1: I mean, people don't understand this relocation and when they

1260
01:00:27,360 --> 01:00:30,840
Speaker 1: had to relocate from San Diego to hear lash. That's tough.

1261
01:00:31,160 --> 01:00:32,720
Speaker 1: I mean it's a lot tougher than you think of.

1262
01:00:32,800 --> 01:00:35,160
Speaker 1: Think of any time you've had to move even the paint,

1263
01:00:35,200 --> 01:00:37,360
Speaker 1: it is moving from one apartment to another. Well then

1264
01:00:37,400 --> 01:00:40,960
Speaker 1: you throw in even up the road. Yeah, it is

1265
01:00:41,000 --> 01:00:43,600
Speaker 1: a tough tough thing, not for the players, but for

1266
01:00:43,680 --> 01:00:46,080
Speaker 1: coaches as an organization. There's a lot of things that

1267
01:00:46,160 --> 01:00:48,560
Speaker 1: go into it. So you factor that in and then

1268
01:00:48,600 --> 01:00:50,080
Speaker 1: you get the comfort then but then you've got a

1269
01:00:50,080 --> 01:00:52,320
Speaker 1: new coach and you've got all this stuff. And that's

1270
01:00:52,320 --> 01:00:54,440
Speaker 1: the last year and they and they almost made it.

1271
01:00:54,480 --> 01:00:56,080
Speaker 1: They had a tough start and they almost got into

1272
01:00:56,120 --> 01:00:59,240
Speaker 1: the playoffs last year. What Anthony Lynn and the fact

1273
01:00:59,280 --> 01:01:01,800
Speaker 1: that they've been able to turn all of this stuff

1274
01:01:02,760 --> 01:01:08,960
Speaker 1: into a positive team building spirit. And also look tom

1275
01:01:08,960 --> 01:01:11,280
Speaker 1: to LESCo the players. But it's not just talent chemistry.

1276
01:01:11,280 --> 01:01:14,000
Speaker 1: He's a mother, I tell you, Steve. It's not just

1277
01:01:14,040 --> 01:01:16,680
Speaker 1: it's incredible. That's just these Blue Chippers. It's not just

1278
01:01:16,760 --> 01:01:20,200
Speaker 1: the bosses and the Durwins and these guys and Keenan's Gordon.

1279
01:01:20,760 --> 01:01:24,120
Speaker 1: It's the undrafted guys. It's the fifth rounders like Desmond King,

1280
01:01:24,440 --> 01:01:27,840
Speaker 1: Austin Eckler, Justin Jackson being a hero in Pittsburgh seventh

1281
01:01:27,880 --> 01:01:29,920
Speaker 1: round pick. I mean you can go from one to

1282
01:01:30,000 --> 01:01:33,560
Speaker 1: fifty three, Michael Badgley coming in late Senior Bowl right nine,

1283
01:01:33,680 --> 01:01:35,919
Speaker 1: ten months ago, a year ago, you know. So it's

1284
01:01:36,000 --> 01:01:38,280
Speaker 1: it's not just the guys that they drafted in the

1285
01:01:38,280 --> 01:01:40,560
Speaker 1: first and second round, but the guys they drafted in

1286
01:01:40,600 --> 01:01:43,120
Speaker 1: the first and second round are not prima donnas. No,

1287
01:01:43,400 --> 01:01:47,240
Speaker 1: they are team guys. They understand what the mission is here,

1288
01:01:47,280 --> 01:01:49,360
Speaker 1: and that's hard. Look what's happening in Pittsburgh right now,

1289
01:01:49,360 --> 01:01:52,240
Speaker 1: that's falling apart because some Eagle has gotten the way. Yeah,

1290
01:01:52,280 --> 01:01:55,080
Speaker 1: you know, and what Tom to LESCo has done and

1291
01:01:55,120 --> 01:01:57,960
Speaker 1: Anthony's done in terms of managing that and you know,

1292
01:01:58,160 --> 01:02:01,000
Speaker 1: blending young players the veteran like Loip Rivers or Antonio,

1293
01:02:01,320 --> 01:02:03,920
Speaker 1: that's not easy. So that's why they can go on

1294
01:02:03,960 --> 01:02:06,000
Speaker 1: the road and saying if you think playing you know,

1295
01:02:06,080 --> 01:02:08,800
Speaker 1: in Pittsburgh is stuff, imagine going with what we've gone

1296
01:02:08,800 --> 01:02:11,120
Speaker 1: through the past two years. Imagine the changes we've had

1297
01:02:11,160 --> 01:02:13,400
Speaker 1: to go through. All we're doing here is playing football.

1298
01:02:14,040 --> 01:02:17,160
Speaker 1: So whatever noise you want to create, that's nothing compared

1299
01:02:17,200 --> 01:02:19,000
Speaker 1: to what we have ventilated in the fifty three man

1300
01:02:19,080 --> 01:02:24,040
Speaker 1: cocoon and it's just amazing, you know, seeing what is

1301
01:02:24,080 --> 01:02:27,040
Speaker 1: being built in terms of this locker room, in terms

1302
01:02:27,040 --> 01:02:31,080
Speaker 1: of attitude with this Chargers team, and I just think

1303
01:02:31,080 --> 01:02:33,840
Speaker 1: it's fantastic. They're built to go on a long term run.

1304
01:02:33,920 --> 01:02:36,200
Speaker 1: But you know what the AFC, there's every team, it's

1305
01:02:36,240 --> 01:02:38,919
Speaker 1: watch conference. I could do that absolutely, It's wide open.

1306
01:02:39,000 --> 01:02:41,320
Speaker 1: And you know a guy that could could have a

1307
01:02:41,320 --> 01:02:44,960
Speaker 1: big say in what happens on Sunday's Drwin James. I

1308
01:02:44,960 --> 01:02:48,640
Speaker 1: had Adrian Phillips on our Backstage Chargers podcast this week,

1309
01:02:48,680 --> 01:02:51,480
Speaker 1: and you know, Adrian's first time pro bowler, but he

1310
01:02:51,600 --> 01:02:54,920
Speaker 1: said it's for him, you know, just the satisfaction of

1311
01:02:54,960 --> 01:02:58,320
Speaker 1: seeing Drwin starting in his first year, and how they've

1312
01:02:58,360 --> 01:03:02,560
Speaker 1: how close they've become watching film together. Just how Darwin

1313
01:03:02,600 --> 01:03:04,920
Speaker 1: will make a play and they'll talk on the sideline

1314
01:03:04,960 --> 01:03:07,240
Speaker 1: say hey we saw that in tape. I mean, it's

1315
01:03:07,280 --> 01:03:09,360
Speaker 1: just your point. These are guys that are selfless. Has

1316
01:03:09,360 --> 01:03:11,960
Speaker 1: just won l football Well, Darwin James loves a game. Yeah,

1317
01:03:12,000 --> 01:03:14,120
Speaker 1: I mean, how did you go to seventeen overall? Steve?

1318
01:03:14,120 --> 01:03:17,320
Speaker 1: That's what There's a whole lot of teams right now

1319
01:03:17,360 --> 01:03:20,240
Speaker 1: because safety has become such a valuable position. It used

1320
01:03:20,240 --> 01:03:23,360
Speaker 1: to be positioned on grata in the NFL, where okay,

1321
01:03:23,400 --> 01:03:26,320
Speaker 1: you can get a safety anywhere. Well, now, because you're

1322
01:03:26,360 --> 01:03:28,840
Speaker 1: having these teams line up in five wide sets a

1323
01:03:28,880 --> 01:03:31,520
Speaker 1: lot of times two tight end among the five, you

1324
01:03:31,640 --> 01:03:36,160
Speaker 1: need a safety like Derwin James who not only can cover,

1325
01:03:36,800 --> 01:03:40,680
Speaker 1: but who can also be kind of that last stop,

1326
01:03:40,760 --> 01:03:43,360
Speaker 1: that last and run support before it gets to the

1327
01:03:43,400 --> 01:03:46,280
Speaker 1: back end. That's a difficult position to play, is a

1328
01:03:46,320 --> 01:03:50,040
Speaker 1: difficult position to scheme. Fortunately, Gus Bradley's defense has is

1329
01:03:50,080 --> 01:03:52,120
Speaker 1: designed for safeties to do. That's why you saw Cam

1330
01:03:52,240 --> 01:03:56,160
Speaker 1: Chancellor and guys like that succeed in Seattle. But Derwin

1331
01:03:56,280 --> 01:04:00,920
Speaker 1: James is such a special prospect the ability to tack

1332
01:04:00,960 --> 01:04:02,720
Speaker 1: on the open field, and that is the hardest thing

1333
01:04:02,720 --> 01:04:06,120
Speaker 1: in today's NFL. Because today's NFL it's not just one

1334
01:04:06,160 --> 01:04:08,920
Speaker 1: hundred yards long, it is also a fifty three yards wide.

1335
01:04:09,280 --> 01:04:12,960
Speaker 1: Teams spread teams out, get them in nickel sets almost

1336
01:04:13,000 --> 01:04:15,600
Speaker 1: all of the time, and make you defend every blade

1337
01:04:15,600 --> 01:04:19,480
Speaker 1: of grass. And Derwin James is a lawnmower, he really is.

1338
01:04:19,480 --> 01:04:22,400
Speaker 1: I mean, he can handle all of that and he's

1339
01:04:22,400 --> 01:04:26,680
Speaker 1: absolutely fantastic. But a talking with him. He just loves

1340
01:04:26,720 --> 01:04:29,200
Speaker 1: the game so much. And you know, guys love to

1341
01:04:29,240 --> 01:04:31,440
Speaker 1: play because being a football player is a fun thing.

1342
01:04:31,920 --> 01:04:35,600
Speaker 1: He loves to play because he enjoys the pain of

1343
01:04:35,680 --> 01:04:39,480
Speaker 1: getting blocked, He enjoys the pain of getting up from

1344
01:04:39,520 --> 01:04:44,000
Speaker 1: a bruise, he enjoys everything about it. That's a hard

1345
01:04:44,080 --> 01:04:45,760
Speaker 1: thing to really bottle and to come out with and

1346
01:04:45,880 --> 01:04:48,480
Speaker 1: deal with every day. He's not a rookie. He just

1347
01:04:48,520 --> 01:04:51,000
Speaker 1: doesn't know. He didn't act like a rookie from the

1348
01:04:51,080 --> 01:04:53,280
Speaker 1: day he stepped into this building. And he's got an

1349
01:04:53,280 --> 01:04:56,480
Speaker 1: alpha mentality and I think you've seen it week in

1350
01:04:56,560 --> 01:04:58,600
Speaker 1: and week out, just him getting more and more comfortable

1351
01:04:58,680 --> 01:05:02,040
Speaker 1: with the role that he has on this defense. So

1352
01:05:02,480 --> 01:05:05,720
Speaker 1: the defense, they have a task because when when you're

1353
01:05:05,800 --> 01:05:08,800
Speaker 1: averaging two hundred and thirty yards on the ground, it's

1354
01:05:08,800 --> 01:05:11,600
Speaker 1: a challenge. I will say this though, one hundred and

1355
01:05:11,640 --> 01:05:14,200
Speaker 1: fifty nine yards the Ravens had against the Chargers. They

1356
01:05:14,240 --> 01:05:16,520
Speaker 1: bottled them up pretty good outside that first play from

1357
01:05:16,520 --> 01:05:19,959
Speaker 1: scrimmage from the Ravens, So maybe they have something there

1358
01:05:20,320 --> 01:05:22,840
Speaker 1: in terms of stopping Gus Edwards Lamar Jackson in this

1359
01:05:22,920 --> 01:05:24,919
Speaker 1: rushing attack. It's the key for this though is gonna

1360
01:05:24,920 --> 01:05:27,000
Speaker 1: be the tight ends. You know, Baltimore's board different tight

1361
01:05:27,080 --> 01:05:29,520
Speaker 1: ends and you saw him with the big play lasted,

1362
01:05:29,560 --> 01:05:32,960
Speaker 1: but they used Baltimore used his tight ends so effectively,

1363
01:05:33,120 --> 01:05:34,840
Speaker 1: and they put so many of them on the field

1364
01:05:34,840 --> 01:05:38,280
Speaker 1: at once, and then you'll see them. Do you know

1365
01:05:38,320 --> 01:05:41,760
Speaker 1: besides the trick or either doing with this option offense

1366
01:05:42,040 --> 01:05:45,000
Speaker 1: with the backs and skill players the offensive line, they're

1367
01:05:45,080 --> 01:05:47,800
Speaker 1: running crossword puzzles in there, and they're really tricking up

1368
01:05:48,200 --> 01:05:51,480
Speaker 1: the defense because defenders read keys. Okay, if the offensive

1369
01:05:51,480 --> 01:05:54,080
Speaker 1: guard steps this way, I'm gonna flow that way. And

1370
01:05:54,120 --> 01:05:57,560
Speaker 1: they're running all this confusion and these tight ends are

1371
01:05:57,720 --> 01:05:59,720
Speaker 1: are part of it, either their lead blockers or their

1372
01:05:59,760 --> 01:06:02,200
Speaker 1: act like lead blockers, and they're sneaking out on pass routes.

1373
01:06:02,600 --> 01:06:05,720
Speaker 1: And that's how this offense is evolving. It's amazing watching

1374
01:06:05,720 --> 01:06:08,520
Speaker 1: it because I was a bad outside linebacker at the

1375
01:06:08,560 --> 01:06:10,440
Speaker 1: University of Missouri a long time ago, and we wore

1376
01:06:10,480 --> 01:06:13,600
Speaker 1: two bar face mask okay, and we played assignment option

1377
01:06:13,640 --> 01:06:15,640
Speaker 1: football and on one place it's like, hey, look, if

1378
01:06:15,640 --> 01:06:17,840
Speaker 1: this guy goes in motion, you've got the quarterback. If

1379
01:06:17,880 --> 01:06:20,600
Speaker 1: this guy goes in motion, you got the pitchman. And

1380
01:06:20,760 --> 01:06:22,760
Speaker 1: that's it. Yeah, and now you know, and you were

1381
01:06:22,800 --> 01:06:24,600
Speaker 1: kind of left out. There's an outside linebacker to be

1382
01:06:24,600 --> 01:06:27,600
Speaker 1: the guy who they're reading, right, the quarterbacks reading, well,

1383
01:06:27,640 --> 01:06:30,120
Speaker 1: you're seeing the ravens do. They're throwing blockers at the

1384
01:06:30,120 --> 01:06:31,800
Speaker 1: guy who's supposed to be read and when he's not

1385
01:06:31,840 --> 01:06:33,720
Speaker 1: expecting it, he's thinking he's gonna have a free kill

1386
01:06:33,720 --> 01:06:36,560
Speaker 1: shot on the dive back or whatever's assignment is. And

1387
01:06:36,640 --> 01:06:38,320
Speaker 1: next thing you know, he's getting his doors blown off,

1388
01:06:39,360 --> 01:06:42,320
Speaker 1: and you're like, where'd that come from? So the trickery

1389
01:06:42,360 --> 01:06:44,560
Speaker 1: that they're doing it is very hard to say just

1390
01:06:44,600 --> 01:06:48,600
Speaker 1: playing assignment football using solid technique. That's where the physicality

1391
01:06:48,640 --> 01:06:50,960
Speaker 1: of this game has to come. As where Joey Bosa

1392
01:06:51,000 --> 01:06:54,160
Speaker 1: and Melvin Ingram and Brandon Meban these tackles. They have

1393
01:06:54,320 --> 01:06:56,840
Speaker 1: got to be line of scrimmage resetters. They've got to

1394
01:06:56,880 --> 01:07:00,360
Speaker 1: push people back, you know, a yard a half yard

1395
01:07:00,480 --> 01:07:03,480
Speaker 1: to create some confusion so this offensive line can't do

1396
01:07:03,520 --> 01:07:06,720
Speaker 1: all this misdirection stuff and throw them off. That's sort

1397
01:07:06,720 --> 01:07:08,800
Speaker 1: of the layer to this because it's a chess match.

1398
01:07:08,880 --> 01:07:10,560
Speaker 1: I mean, they just played three weeks ago, so you

1399
01:07:10,600 --> 01:07:12,880
Speaker 1: best believe they're gonna be watching a film seeing if

1400
01:07:12,920 --> 01:07:16,120
Speaker 1: they can figure out anything on that Ravens offense. You

1401
01:07:16,160 --> 01:07:19,040
Speaker 1: flip it over to the Chargers offense. The fact that

1402
01:07:19,400 --> 01:07:22,680
Speaker 1: Hunter Henry could potentially play, how much do you think

1403
01:07:22,920 --> 01:07:24,680
Speaker 1: that gets in the heads of the Ravens in terms

1404
01:07:24,720 --> 01:07:28,240
Speaker 1: of just sheer game planning. I mean, this is significant

1405
01:07:28,280 --> 01:07:31,600
Speaker 1: because even if Hunter Henry plays fifteen plays, you can

1406
01:07:31,640 --> 01:07:34,600
Speaker 1: flex him out wide. Okay. So let's say you get

1407
01:07:34,600 --> 01:07:36,520
Speaker 1: in the red zone, okay, and you've got Mike Williams

1408
01:07:36,520 --> 01:07:37,840
Speaker 1: as a six four or six five. You have a

1409
01:07:37,920 --> 01:07:40,800
Speaker 1: Hunter Henry with his high he's got the ability to stretch,

1410
01:07:40,880 --> 01:07:43,320
Speaker 1: to do crossing routes, things like this. Oh, let's put

1411
01:07:43,360 --> 01:07:45,480
Speaker 1: Tyrell Williams out there too. Okay. So now we've got

1412
01:07:45,480 --> 01:07:47,400
Speaker 1: a basketball team. You got a hoops team. Yeah, you've

1413
01:07:47,400 --> 01:07:50,160
Speaker 1: got a hoops team. Yeah, you've got big corners, but

1414
01:07:50,240 --> 01:07:52,680
Speaker 1: not like this. So there are different things that they

1415
01:07:52,680 --> 01:07:55,960
Speaker 1: have got to protect themselves. You know, the Ravens have

1416
01:07:56,040 --> 01:07:59,760
Speaker 1: to protect against and facing these big receivers plus Hunter Henry,

1417
01:08:00,040 --> 01:08:01,720
Speaker 1: They're not gonna put him in positions where he's gonna

1418
01:08:01,720 --> 01:08:03,560
Speaker 1: have to anchor or do things like that. I wouldn't think.

1419
01:08:03,960 --> 01:08:06,360
Speaker 1: But just knowing that, Okay, he's out here, we may

1420
01:08:06,440 --> 01:08:09,040
Speaker 1: have to go to a bigger nickel set, or we

1421
01:08:09,080 --> 01:08:11,320
Speaker 1: may have to do something pop bam, you pop Melvin

1422
01:08:11,360 --> 01:08:14,120
Speaker 1: Gordon up the middle. Because you spread them out, they

1423
01:08:14,360 --> 01:08:18,520
Speaker 1: can't they can't pluck. So so it gives the Chargers

1424
01:08:18,640 --> 01:08:22,000
Speaker 1: a lot of options to do some things. Again, even

1425
01:08:22,040 --> 01:08:25,160
Speaker 1: though he may be limited, it is something that Wink

1426
01:08:25,280 --> 01:08:27,920
Speaker 1: Martin's there, He's available from that Wink Martindale that DC

1427
01:08:28,120 --> 01:08:31,880
Speaker 1: up in Baltimore is having to think about. And again,

1428
01:08:32,040 --> 01:08:34,320
Speaker 1: like you said, it's a chess match and how they're

1429
01:08:34,320 --> 01:08:37,680
Speaker 1: going to use these guys on both sides. It's it's

1430
01:08:37,720 --> 01:08:39,720
Speaker 1: gonna be. So that's why playoff football is so great

1431
01:08:39,720 --> 01:08:41,880
Speaker 1: because it's been all offense all season and now we're

1432
01:08:41,920 --> 01:08:45,360
Speaker 1: talking about, you know, styles, make fights, who can match

1433
01:08:45,400 --> 01:08:47,280
Speaker 1: up the Beast scene In December two things have kind

1434
01:08:47,280 --> 01:08:51,040
Speaker 1: of tightened up around the league in December. Another guy

1435
01:08:51,040 --> 01:08:53,320
Speaker 1: who who was not in that first matchup, Austin Ekeler,

1436
01:08:53,720 --> 01:08:57,840
Speaker 1: and just the balance that he provides, especially a team

1437
01:08:57,880 --> 01:08:59,680
Speaker 1: that's gonna press you like the Ravens, if you can

1438
01:08:59,720 --> 01:09:02,320
Speaker 1: get the mountain space, makes some plays that they didn't

1439
01:09:02,320 --> 01:09:04,280
Speaker 1: have that a few weeks ago. Yeah, I remember that's

1440
01:09:04,280 --> 01:09:06,200
Speaker 1: in Melvin Gordon was just coming back and it was

1441
01:09:06,240 --> 01:09:11,120
Speaker 1: Melvin's first game, best game back, so he wasn't correct. So,

1442
01:09:11,439 --> 01:09:15,680
Speaker 1: you know, the Chargers weren't necessarily at full juice. But

1443
01:09:15,840 --> 01:09:18,920
Speaker 1: adding Austin Ekeler and doing some creative things with him.

1444
01:09:19,040 --> 01:09:20,800
Speaker 1: The one thing is the Ravens got linebackers that can

1445
01:09:20,880 --> 01:09:23,400
Speaker 1: really run. Oh yeah, so you know c J. Mosley's

1446
01:09:23,400 --> 01:09:26,680
Speaker 1: a monster. Um So again, that's where matchups, but that's

1447
01:09:26,680 --> 01:09:28,599
Speaker 1: where kenn Wiston Hunt's going to have to be creative.

1448
01:09:28,640 --> 01:09:33,160
Speaker 1: There's a lot of things that the Chargers can do

1449
01:09:33,360 --> 01:09:36,479
Speaker 1: to win some of their matchups that they necessarily weren't

1450
01:09:36,520 --> 01:09:38,280
Speaker 1: able to do because they didn't have an Austin Eckler

1451
01:09:38,320 --> 01:09:40,679
Speaker 1: in there at times. But it's not none of it's

1452
01:09:40,680 --> 01:09:44,839
Speaker 1: gonna matter. If on the offensive line they cannot wrangle

1453
01:09:45,200 --> 01:09:48,000
Speaker 1: with the defensive front with the Baltimore Ravens, they have

1454
01:09:48,160 --> 01:09:51,599
Speaker 1: got to be able to create some some holes. They've

1455
01:09:51,600 --> 01:09:54,240
Speaker 1: got to be able to hold up against that pass rush,

1456
01:09:54,520 --> 01:09:57,240
Speaker 1: hit some quick passes and just kind of get into

1457
01:09:57,280 --> 01:09:59,880
Speaker 1: a rhythm. Because once the Chargers do that, it slights out.

1458
01:10:00,040 --> 01:10:01,960
Speaker 1: I mean, they can do whatever they want, but the

1459
01:10:02,080 --> 01:10:05,320
Speaker 1: Ravens are incredibly disruptive. You know, it's does no matter

1460
01:10:05,360 --> 01:10:07,639
Speaker 1: whatever team they play lately, they are they are really

1461
01:10:07,680 --> 01:10:09,680
Speaker 1: wrecking shop. I was just going to ask you your

1462
01:10:10,080 --> 01:10:12,960
Speaker 1: key to a Charger's victory, it probably starts with that

1463
01:10:13,000 --> 01:10:16,240
Speaker 1: offensive If the offensive line plays i could did last time,

1464
01:10:17,600 --> 01:10:20,160
Speaker 1: then the margin for air for the Chargers is none.

1465
01:10:20,240 --> 01:10:24,639
Speaker 1: They cannot turn the ball over. They've got to find

1466
01:10:24,760 --> 01:10:27,880
Speaker 1: ways to not have short possessions. We talked about the

1467
01:10:28,080 --> 01:10:31,479
Speaker 1: penalties that he raced positive play. They cannot have those

1468
01:10:31,520 --> 01:10:36,200
Speaker 1: types of mistakes. But on both lines of scrimmage is

1469
01:10:36,200 --> 01:10:38,000
Speaker 1: where this game is going to be one or loss

1470
01:10:38,040 --> 01:10:39,880
Speaker 1: for the Chargers. We know the scale position guys can

1471
01:10:39,920 --> 01:10:42,200
Speaker 1: make plays, But if Philip Rivers is having people at

1472
01:10:42,200 --> 01:10:43,960
Speaker 1: his legs like he did last game when he dropped

1473
01:10:43,960 --> 01:10:47,040
Speaker 1: back the pass, if Melvin Gordon can't spring for a

1474
01:10:47,160 --> 01:10:49,160
Speaker 1: first down on a third and four on a nice

1475
01:10:49,240 --> 01:10:53,639
Speaker 1: set up run play because it wasn't blocked well tough sledding, Yeah,

1476
01:10:53,680 --> 01:10:56,920
Speaker 1: Philip Rivers, listen to The Chargers are seven to oz

1477
01:10:57,200 --> 01:11:00,200
Speaker 1: and they win the turnover battle. The last three games,

1478
01:11:00,240 --> 01:11:02,879
Speaker 1: they've turned it over a lot more than they had

1479
01:11:02,920 --> 01:11:05,720
Speaker 1: earlier in the year, So turnovers, and then I was

1480
01:11:05,720 --> 01:11:07,840
Speaker 1: just talking to Matt money Smith about this win in

1481
01:11:07,880 --> 01:11:10,280
Speaker 1: the first quarter, getting up on a team like this.

1482
01:11:10,720 --> 01:11:13,760
Speaker 1: The Ravens possessed the ball for eleven of the first

1483
01:11:13,800 --> 01:11:15,680
Speaker 1: fifteen minutes of the game a few weeks ago. So

1484
01:11:15,800 --> 01:11:18,200
Speaker 1: just trying to flip time of possession. It's easier said

1485
01:11:18,200 --> 01:11:20,000
Speaker 1: than done. What doesn't help any throwing an interception to

1486
01:11:20,000 --> 01:11:21,720
Speaker 1: start the game, No, I mean, and that was Look,

1487
01:11:21,760 --> 01:11:24,040
Speaker 1: the Chargers came in speaking to the players and coaches

1488
01:11:24,080 --> 01:11:25,840
Speaker 1: all that week. We've got to get an early lead

1489
01:11:26,120 --> 01:11:27,680
Speaker 1: and see how they play it from behind. Will you

1490
01:11:27,720 --> 01:11:29,599
Speaker 1: throw a pick? And then the first play they run,

1491
01:11:29,640 --> 01:11:31,720
Speaker 1: they gash you for like a thirty yard run right

1492
01:11:31,760 --> 01:11:34,600
Speaker 1: up the middle. That gets your attention, but not in

1493
01:11:34,600 --> 01:11:37,679
Speaker 1: a good way. When you're on that side of kind

1494
01:11:37,680 --> 01:11:40,760
Speaker 1: of the ball and that side of the momentum, can't

1495
01:11:40,840 --> 01:11:43,360
Speaker 1: let it happen, especially on the road. Just cannot let

1496
01:11:43,360 --> 01:11:45,040
Speaker 1: it happen. I'll tell you. I'll tell you another thing.

1497
01:11:45,080 --> 01:11:48,160
Speaker 1: We talk about takeaways in time of possession. They have

1498
01:11:48,280 --> 01:11:51,919
Speaker 1: got to Lamar Jackson is a fumbling machine. He fumbles

1499
01:11:51,920 --> 01:11:53,599
Speaker 1: the ball a lot and now he recovers it a lot,

1500
01:11:54,200 --> 01:11:57,080
Speaker 1: but he fumbles like crazy. They have got to find ways.

1501
01:11:57,080 --> 01:11:58,960
Speaker 1: If they can't get a good lick on them to

1502
01:11:59,000 --> 01:12:01,639
Speaker 1: get their hands on the ball, it's hard. That's where

1503
01:12:01,640 --> 01:12:03,840
Speaker 1: fifty four ninety nine come into play there, that's where

1504
01:12:03,840 --> 01:12:06,200
Speaker 1: whomever comes into play. Yep. I mean, as long as

1505
01:12:06,240 --> 01:12:08,960
Speaker 1: they can get their hands on the ball. Because he's

1506
01:12:08,960 --> 01:12:11,040
Speaker 1: feeling himself right now. The way he played last week

1507
01:12:11,080 --> 01:12:14,400
Speaker 1: against Cleveland, he was fantastic, and they've got to find

1508
01:12:14,439 --> 01:12:16,080
Speaker 1: something to get into his head a little like, oh

1509
01:12:16,120 --> 01:12:19,799
Speaker 1: my gosh, I fumbled again, because that comes up, especially

1510
01:12:19,840 --> 01:12:21,439
Speaker 1: if you turn it off over on your side of

1511
01:12:21,479 --> 01:12:23,800
Speaker 1: the field and give you know, the opposing team the

1512
01:12:23,800 --> 01:12:27,280
Speaker 1: ball elite and field goal range and you know that.

1513
01:12:27,360 --> 01:12:30,240
Speaker 1: I think if the Chargers can force a takeaway or

1514
01:12:30,320 --> 01:12:33,719
Speaker 1: generate some type of takeaway early on the opposing side

1515
01:12:33,720 --> 01:12:37,040
Speaker 1: of the fifty again, little things like that. Mark Jackson

1516
01:12:37,080 --> 01:12:39,960
Speaker 1: hasn't been in this moment before. Okay, he's years old,

1517
01:12:39,960 --> 01:12:41,479
Speaker 1: twenty one years old. He has not been in this moment.

1518
01:12:42,000 --> 01:12:44,360
Speaker 1: That's something where you can make them feel like, Okay,

1519
01:12:44,400 --> 01:12:46,400
Speaker 1: I'm in this moment. This is a big game. If

1520
01:12:46,439 --> 01:12:48,400
Speaker 1: I mess up, there's a whole lot of people who

1521
01:12:48,439 --> 01:12:50,160
Speaker 1: aren't going to be able to feed their families. That

1522
01:12:50,240 --> 01:12:53,400
Speaker 1: extra playoff revenue that they're expecting. So there's all kinds

1523
01:12:53,400 --> 01:12:55,360
Speaker 1: of ways you have to try to get into his head. Man,

1524
01:12:55,439 --> 01:12:57,640
Speaker 1: the aftermath is going to be good. On Monday, it

1525
01:12:57,720 --> 01:13:00,160
Speaker 1: will be Yes, it will be Steve, which is you're

1526
01:13:00,160 --> 01:13:02,120
Speaker 1: the best man. Thanks so much, thanks for having me man,

1527
01:13:02,720 --> 01:13:04,920
Speaker 1: if that'll do it. A big thanks to Steve Weish,

1528
01:13:05,160 --> 01:13:08,840
Speaker 1: Matt money Smith, Phil Simms, Eric Williams and Jim Nance

1529
01:13:08,880 --> 01:13:10,960
Speaker 1: for joining me, and of course thanks to you all

1530
01:13:10,960 --> 01:13:13,479
Speaker 1: for listening. Don't forget. If you like what you here,

1531
01:13:13,560 --> 01:13:15,200
Speaker 1: be sure to give us a rating and review on

1532
01:13:15,240 --> 01:13:18,720
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts. Please help spread the word. Enjoy the game

1533
01:13:18,720 --> 01:13:20,840
Speaker 1: on Sunday as the Chargers look to advance to the

1534
01:13:20,880 --> 01:13:24,040
Speaker 1: AFC Divisional round of the playoffs. And until next time,

1535
01:13:24,400 --> 01:13:29,560
Speaker 1: I'm Chris Harry