Wow! thanks for these clips and commentary. I don’t think this last one expresses undo amount of “frustration.” It’s more like, “Aw, shouldda had that one.”

@evolz3737 Good to hear from you, Erick!

• Herbert’s PFF Grade has been <60.0 in each of Wk 1 & 2 (which is the first time in his career with consecutive game grades below 60.0). And watching the film, I think those grades have been fair. If you follow Steven Haglund on X, he posted a clip showing that on Herbert’s INT v the Panthers he had McConkey wide ass open on a deep curl (where the play was designed to go), Herbert was staring straight at it, clean pocket, chose not to throw it, bailed and then forced the bad throw for the INT. And it was a 1st & 10. Uncharacteristic of him to make an error upon an error like that. And I also saw two other occasions from the Coach’s film that I didn’t post about, where Herbert turned down open intermediate throws (one was to McConkey again, the other was to a TE on a wheel off play action) and chose a short completion instead. On the podcast this week, we talked about the psychology of Herbert being asked to do less in this Offense, and whether having fewer pass attempts is impacting his rhythm and mindset. Ultimately, it’s too small a sample size to be concerned. He missed some time this offseason; it’s a new playcaller. He’s finding chemistry with some new receivers. I think he’ll be firing on all cylinders before too long. But…if he doesn’t…we can start to explore the role that Greg Roman’s playcalling might be having on Herbert. Roman called the “Hank” concept twice in the first half last week. The exact same playcall with Herbert hitting Dissly on a 6-7 yard sit route. When your playcaller calls plays that have a max. potential yardage of <10 yards, then naturally the QB may start to play more conservatively. But that is the philosophy of this style of Offense. And through two weeks we can’t make any sweeping conclusions, so we simply watch on with bated breath. 
   
• Superb start from Fulton. It begun at training camp, continued into the preseason, and he’s been excellent through two weeks of the regular season. Obviously, the team has faced two below average QBs and he’s also been allowed to play off the line of scrimmage in a scheme that isn’t asking him to play one-on-one against the opposition’s best receiver. But he can only do what he’s being ask to do, and so far, he’s played at a high-level. It really shows the value of short term “prove it” deals during free agency.
• Agree on Derwin. Gilman’s injury impacted his utilisation this week I think. Although Molden was predominantly the deep safety, I thought Derwin also played further away from the LoS than he would have if Gilman was there. Slow(ish) start for Derwin this season. It’s interesting that the team’s two superstars (Herbert & Derwin) are each showing signs of frustration on the field (Herbert yelling at Matlock; Derwin punching the ground twice following missed chances to blow up the ball carrier). They need to start buying into the mindset that they’re no longer being asked to carry this football team. If they focus on doing their job on each snap, the big plays will come.
   
• Kimani Vidal hasn’t been given a shot yet to catch passes out of the backfield. I think he will be good at that. But for now, the team clearly prefers the RB3 to be a Special Teams contributor and Roman is prepared to live with no true pass-catching RB. It’s limiting the passing game but they seem happy enough to hammer the running game instead. Again, it’s too early to be critical of Greg Roman but Herbert not having an outlet dunk the ball off to regularly is noticeable on the broadcast/tape.
• Agree, agree, agree. Interesting that they use Derius Davis on orbits but never really try him on true vertical routes from the X. Chark should bring a fresh element to this Offense when he’s healthy

Thanks mate, had a great break for 4 nights down by the coast. Feeling refreshed and we’re expecting the baby to arrive sometime around mid-November, so not long to go now! 

@gbgh Thank you! We enjoyed this show as much as any we’ve ever recorded. No idea if the content was any better, but we had the jokes rolling (some of them probably only funny to us haha) and a heck of a time talking about a regular season game together as a trio again.

I won’t repeat what I said to Erick about Herbert above, but I basically agree with you. I think it’s less about ‘trying too hard’ and more about what you say. And it’s easy to overlook that with fewer pass attempts throughout a game, the QB isn’t going to be in the same rhythm that he might be if he were throwing the ball every snap and a half. He’ll get used to this new approach eventually (hopefully soon!).

On the 4th downs, I think I’d have a hard time being convinced that the “better” decision each time would not have been to go for it. It’s almost always the right decision to go for it on 4th and short around midfield IMO. But… I don’t think any of these were egregious decisions in the circumstances (ie, when you think you have a good football team and the opposition stinks), so I agree with you. Here were the calls:

• 2x punts on 4th and short (4th & 1 at LAC 49, 6-0, Q1 1:24 remaining; 4th & 5 at CAR 44, 6-0, Q2 12:54 remaining). Not going for these were arguably momentum killers for our Offense and momentum builders for Carolina, staying within one score for longer. That argument works both ways.
• Taking a field goal to go up 23-3 (4th & 2 at CAR 28, 20-3, Q3 9:07 remaining). Keeping a two-score game a two-score game, when converting the 4th & 2 leads to a good chance to make it a three-score game, is not especially clever coaching.

Generally, my view is that if you think your Offense is significantly better than the opposition’s Defense, it would support going for some of these 4th downs. Also, if you think your Defense is a top-ranked Defense, plus you think the opposition Offense is paltry, that would be another reason to go for them IMO. Because if your Defense is elite, giving them a shorter field is something they can probably handle.

All of that said, I appreciate there’s two different schools of thought on this stuff. And I’ve come to believe that these types of decisions, albeit marginally relevant to win %, are probably secondary factors that lead to success, with the primary factor being how well coached overall the team is. I mean, Andy Reid has made dodgy 4th down decisions for years now, and he’s a 3x Super Bowl winner. If the football team knows the plan is to punt and play sound Defense, then it can work, and I’m prepared to accept this and watch how it plays out. I’m just a little nervous about how that approach might play out against Mahomes, Allen, Burrow, Lamar. But if we had a better stable of WRs, I would probably be more aggressive about my take. As the roster is presently constructed, I get the thinking behind punting.

Now, the big, old topic. Brandon Staley. I recognise that on this topic I might be as stubborn as the man himself, but that’s because I think my opinion on it has been gestating for longer, and considers more factors, than most other Charger fans. That doesn’t make me right, of course, but nobody could accuse me of not having thought carefully about it. Here’s my key takeaways on the whole topic:

1. Brandon Staley coaching the Rams Defense to #1 was not some fluke that was based on having Aaron Donald and Jalen Ramsey. Staley got better results from that team than Wade Phillips’ had with equivalent (or better) overall talent in previous years IMO. And, what made that Defense impressive was Staley getting high-level play from previously unknown quantities, like Darious Williams, Morgan Fox, SJD, Leonard Floyd, etc. Fans who say he lucked into a #1 Defense are biased and hate him. I do think Donald and Ramsey obviously help a great deal. But not so much that you can write off any responsibility Staley had for their success.
2. Staley failed the ultimate test as HC. He was too inexperienced, not ably supported, and was too stubborn. There were some glimmers of hope early, but it petered out badly. The decision to fire him for Jim Harbaugh made perfect sense. No qualms with that now.
3. Staley and his defensive staff did a bad, and probably ‘very bad’, job overall across their three years coaching the Chargers Defense. There’s no real denying it. But were there other factors at play?
4. I think “Yes”. Mainly because Tom Telesco is pathetic whereas Joe Hortiz is really good. The difference is in their abilities is, frankly, pretty ridiculous. Yes, Staley was involved in decisions about which players suit his scheme. But, it is the GM’s job to evaluate and manage talent acquisition and it wasn’t done well from 2021-2023. At least not from a depth perspective.
5. Importantly, it is very unfortunate that one of the marquee players for that regime, JC Jackson, suffered what has turned out to be essentially a career-ending injury almost immediately after signing. A big, salary cap draining, nasty injury like that torpedoed a lot of the plans for the team, and people overlook that three years is really not a very big sample size given the vicissitudes of the NFL, and close margins. In that three-year window window, if there is a ‘bust’ signing or two (remember, Austin Johnson also suffered a serious injury that impacted his availability and play), then you can be in a lot of strife as a DC, and quickly. 
6. Where were the signings from Telesco of players like Fulton, Molden and Tart? That is, cheap veteran depth that give a HC/DC the ability to overcome injuries and not be forced to roll out hopeless cases to play starting snaps. Bosa and Mack also were rarely healthy together under Staley. It is what it is.
7. By contrast, Minter right now has almost every defensive player available and I would argue it’s a more talented overall defensive roster, because Hortiz and his staff have drafted very well and made good decisions in free agency. For Eboigbe, Still, Vidal and Rice all to be Inactive speaks volumes and highlights the differences. Day 3 picks under Telesco would see the field earlier in their career than would be ideal in a properly run team.
8. Staley could still be a good DC in the League. He’s learning about a different system at the moment in SF and will patiently have to bide his team for another chance.
    
9. Minter looks to be a much better DC than Staley. It’s been two only two weeks but it certainly seems that way. The heavy rotation of players, simpler system, game planning, unique modular call sheet, and quality assistant coaches have all looked great through two weeks. Maybe if Staley was only a DC (with no HC responsibilities) he’d be pretty good too. But that’s not the comparison here. It’s Staley as HC/DC v Minter as DC. And Minter is off to a dominant start. 

So I’m sorry man, if you were patient enough to read all that, you didn’t get your public confession. But you got a lot of “wind” from the “Windy City Man”.

Thanks for listening!

@tau837 Not really sure what I said on the topic that could have prompted you to start a rebuttal. Kept it pretty balanced and factual.

Today we saw some injuries strike and now we’ll see how this coaching staff responds. The real test has begun. 

Oops…wrong thread. 😆🤣😂