Is Brandon Staley's Defensive Strategy Hurting the Chargers?
Transcript
00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 - Brandon Staley's fighting for his job, I think.
00:05 It's really incredible.
00:07 We all know what Kirk Cousins is and what he can do.
00:10 Justin Herbert, young quarterback, stud quarterback,
00:15 really talented arm.
00:16 What are we doing here with this guy?
00:18 Why are we not able to win games consistently?
00:21 And the issue really sort of plays into
00:23 my thoughts on this game.
00:24 And that is like something is going on
00:27 in the second half of these games, offensively,
00:30 it's causing problems.
00:30 And I don't know what it is and who it's coming from.
00:33 I think the biggest issue with Staley is just his inability
00:36 to construct a great defense.
00:37 And they just paid JC Jackson this past off season,
00:41 or last off season rather, I think like $87 million.
00:44 And he's a healthy scratch today.
00:47 So I don't know, I mean, this is a direct reflection
00:49 of Brandon Staley and things that he is doing
00:51 with his defense.
00:52 But on the offensive side of the ball,
00:55 the Chargers really tail off late in games.
00:57 And that's where the Vikings end up coming on.
00:59 I got some stats here to share with you.
01:01 It's in part because the Vikings start conservatively
01:04 with Kirk Cousins, only 17% of his passes travel
01:08 10 plus yards down the field in the first quarter,
01:10 goes up to the mid 20s in the second quarter.
01:12 By the third and fourth quarter,
01:14 it's up over 30% in each of those quarters.
01:16 He pushes the ball down the field more,
01:18 the EPA per attempt is more efficient later on in the game.
01:22 And this team is not scoring on drives.
01:24 In the first half of games, they've led at halftime
01:27 over the last two years, even though they won 13 games,
01:30 only nine times.
01:31 Five of those nine times came against backup quarterbacks,
01:34 like Nathan Peterman, Mike White, Skyler Thompson,
01:36 Andy Dalton, and Taylor Heineke.
01:38 Then he led against guys like Justin Fields
01:40 and Daniel Jones and Kyler Murray
01:42 and the ghost of Aaron Rodgers.
01:43 So we have not seen this team have success
01:46 in the first half against opponents
01:48 and actually take the lead there.
01:50 And it's in part because their offense
01:51 starts off conservatively.
01:53 Kirk isn't quite as efficient
01:55 and their scoring rate per drives suffers.
01:57 So I think that if you like the Chargers
02:00 or if you're undecided on the game,
02:01 looking to back the Chargers early
02:03 and then play the Vikings late
02:05 might be an interesting strategy.
02:06 But I also think for a couple of props,
02:08 I like the over in Kirk Cousins' longest completion.
02:13 I also think Jordan Addison longest reception
02:16 over a couple of good looks here
02:18 against this Chargers defense.
02:20 (upbeat music)
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