The Chargers Just Put Up A Disasterclass Start To The Mike McDaniel Era (And Spoiled All Your Survivor Pools In The Process)
This game hammered home everything I was worried about in the preseason while also exposing new issues I hadn't even considered.
As far as what I was concerned with, I have blogged non stop about how this interior offensive line is NOT good and, as expected, they got fucked up badly. McDaniel/Harbaugh did weird platoon swap at LG between Awisoka and Pipkins to start the game which blew up in their face when the latter got obliterated on a 4th and goal passing play for a sack. Cole Strange, who Chargers fans seem to have just forgotten about because he was a McDaniel guy, got destroyed on almost every snap. To his credit, I don't think Slaughter performed all that bad for his first start. Something I've also blogged on is how this receiver room is also sub-par. And the second McConkey went down, the passing attack dried up. And this lead to players who should not be getting NFL targets being put into spots to fail.
As far as what I wasn't overly concerned with, this defense has gone from one of the better units in the NFL under Jesse Minter to maybe one of the most incompetent I've seen under Chris O'Leary. The pitch with O'Leary was understandable. As a position coach, he learned under Minter, did great work in the secondary and seemingly did ok as a DC in college. So having him fill Minter's shoes and run the same guys possibly the same way seems like it could work. Well, it didn't. This defense, which has blanketed some of the best QBs in football over the last two years, got carved to pieces by Jacoby Brissett. 27/37, 277 yards and touchdown for, again, Jacoby Brissett. O'Leary's unit seemed totally out of their depth right from the first snap and I saw bullshit plays (dropping 275lbs EDGE Tuli Tulipulotu into coverage multiple times) that I haven't seen since the nightmareish Brandon Staley days. On top of that, this usually competent ST unit had a punt blocked on the goal line.
And to add insult, multiple starters (Ladd McConkey, Jamaree Caldwell, Elijah Molden, Cam Hart) were knocked out of the game by injury. WE ARE IN WEEK 1!
Herbert, who I usually defend in these situations, is not blameless either. There is one point where he threw a deep ball into double coverage to Derius Davis, their WR6/returner who is 5'7. Without a doubt, one of the most bewildering decisions I've seen him make in his career.
Everyone on this team top-to-bottom fucking SUCKED today. And what makes it worse is that this isn't some regular year where you can just move on from week 1 like it's nothing. The Chargers NEED to win these first two matchups because, after that, they are running the gauntlet of the hardest stretch any team will face in the NFL.
As a side note, I warned everyone I knew not to take the Chargers in survivor pools. It felt like the biggest trap in the world but maybe that's just because I'm the ultimate pessimist with this team.