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We’ve just released Episode 86 of the Thunder Down Under Chargers Podcast.
Our synopsis for Episode 86 is below:
GM Joe Hortiz has been a busy boy! Join us today as we talk about his recent activity acquiring Taylor Heinicke, Elijah Molden and Hassan Haskins, and extending Cameron Dicker, before breaking down some more of the Chargers’ 2024 Opponents to finish the show. Don’t miss it!
You can also listen on Spotify below (or download on audio wherever you like to listen to podcasts):
As always, you can support us by doing any or all of the following:
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Hope you enjoy the episode! Thanks so much for listening 
Alister (@TDU_Alister)
Listened to the pod over my morning coffee. Great podcast (as usual).
Congrats to Jack on his daughter’s birthday. All you young fathers need to drink-up the young years. Age one is where their personalities start to come out. Very beautiful watching the person they are going to become develop. My oldest is 14 and started high school this month. Age 1 is much more fun.
I’ve been thinking about Stick a bit. When he first played last year, he looked uncomfortable, turned the ball over a lot and was not very good. I saw an interview with him prior to his second game. He said something like: “It’s football, I’m going to go out there and let it rip.” He then looked much better and was statistically decent down the stretch. For some reason, first-game Stick showed up in 2024. He looked uncomfortable in Roman’s offense. It will be interesting to see if Stick (who is a year younger than Perez) lands on the PS after he’s eventually cut.
RBs:
- Haskins is a special teams player. I seriously doubt that he’s going to get many carries
- I think Vidal is RB3, but I expect him to be inactive early in the year as Haskins needs to be active to play special teams
- Gus and JK are going to get most (or all) of the carries until one of them gets hurt, at which point Vidal will play and P
I watched the Netflix documentary as well – Interesting, not what I expected. I think the summary is that everyone steals signs (which is NOT illegal) & Stallion did it better than anyone else. Its also interesting that Harbaugh was not incriminated. My opinion is that Minter & Harbaugh knew what was going on, thought it was not illegal (which I learned in the documentary) and the NCAA hates Jim with a passion. It was pretty clear that there’s a network of sign stealers working for many (most?) college teams. The fact that ONLY Michigan was punished and Harbaugh was suspended in spite of no proof that he knew anything illegal was going on tells me that the NCAA does not give a shit about sign stealing – they just wanted to punish Jim. Fun that Jim flipped them the bird on the way out of the door.
Cardinals:
- I agree with Andy that there’s a good chance Murray will be out by week 7. I like Murray’s highlights, but he’s Russell-Wilson-short, which limits his down-field visibility.
- Az has a young coaching staff. There are some players on the team, but I like Herbert over Murray and the Chargers have an advantage in coaching. This should be a win
Titans:
- I like Levis – dude is tough. If he wants to play in the league beyond age 27, he needs to stop taking all those hits.
- I was not a fan of the Callahan signing, so I think the Chargers have a coaching advantage
- Ridley was a great signing – Will be interesting to see how Levis looks in a spread offense
- Agree that their draft was not great & do not like their owner, roster, front office or coaching staff. Should be a win
New England:
- Another team with a new, inexperienced coaching staff. Of the three teams, I think Mayo has the highest ceiling and the lowest floor.
- Like the staff, I think Drake Maye has a high ceiling and a low floor. Unfortunately for Drake, I am not sure this staff coaching this roster is going to position Maye to succeed. It’s possible they let Brissett play all year to save Drake from getting is spirit crushed and his body distroyed
- The 2023 Pats had a great defense coached by one of the best coaches in NFL history. The 2024 staff is significantly less experienced. I think the defense takes a step back, while the offense continues to suck. This should be a win
That’s weird because I listened to it over my coffee as well Kev. Congrats Jack, I just moved my middle child across the country to college last week. He was ready to fly on his own and is loving the experience. It goes by fast, trust me.
Thank you mates for the quick updated podcast. Loved it!
@kevdiego I’ve passed on your kind wishes to Jack, Kev. And good luck dealing with a hormonal teenager! :-p You’ve got years of ups and downs to draw on as a Chargers fan, so it should serve you in good stead.
I’m not sure how they’ll manage Easton Stick now. Could they keep him on the 53 all year as an inactive player because they want a QB3 who knows the system and don’t want to risk him to waivers? I think he would clear waivers, so waiving him would make sense to me even if he’s their preferred QB3. But, no movement yet, so…it’s hard to know what their plan is. Why not cut him already?
Regarding Stick, I think Stick will be on the roster as QB2 until Heiniche is up to speed (likely around the bye). They need Stick in the coming few weeks as QB2 while they figure out what they have in Taylor. After Heiniche beats out Stick, it’s either PS or cut for Stick. Again, I think it’s interesting that Stick is younger than Perez (which means that Perez is not a great “developmental” QB), so not sure what happens with the PS.
No way the Charger keep 3 QBs on their roster all year. After the Bye, there will be 2 QBs on the active roster.
@kevdiego Generally agree with Kev on this. I expect they will release Stick as soon as they feel Heinicke is ready, but I think they will sign Stick to the PS. (I don’t see any reason to believe another team would sign him away.) That way, Stick stays in the QB room.
@tau837 That makes a lot of sense, at least for the 2024 season. Heinicke is a FA in 2025. While they MAY re-sign him, I think the Chargers need to find a younger developmental QB. At 28, I think we’re seeing peak Easton Stick. Not sure they want him around at age 29 unless he suddenly figures out how to calm down and fix his footwork/accuracy.
Great pod guys. I hope Jack had a blast. There’s nothing like celebrating the milestones of our little ones.
Hortiz is walking the walk. He’s doing what Telesco might understand conceptually, but doesn’t believe in it or is too stubborn to execute it. We will scratch our heads a little at one move or another, but at least I’m not wearing my nails down to the bone. I’m all for what is being done right now. Keep winning in the margins and good things can happen.
It remains to be seen how that makes a difference in the win/loss column. The three games you guys went over are very winnable to me. You take those games and add them to some others winnable games and there’s your season. I still think that 10+ wins is not to be thought of as far fetched. It is in reach with this schedule. Taking the division from the Chiefs is somewhere I’m not willing go at this point. Give me a sweep of those silver and black pirates and I’ll be smiling my way through the next off season.
@mongotesla Totally on the same page, John. I could see double-digits wins. Supplanting the Chiefs? Maybe one step too far for Yr 1 (but I’m not ruling it out either!)
FTR all day, week, month and year. It’s so close now we can taste it!
@alisterlloyd I can’t wait! Let’s be ready to see Joe Alt be tested early and often. They have to slide help to his side. I think it would be a mistake to leave him on an island until we see how he handles the likes of Crosby and that pass rush.
On PFF NFL Daily, they are smashing the under for win totals by predicting 7 wins. They didn’t scapegoat JH10 while predicting that. In fact they said that if anyone is blaming him for the shortcomings, they are probably not paying attention. They expect that coaching will be plus coaching. They did not mention Special Teams. As if they had to, right?
Since they spoke glowingly about the defense at all 3 levels, the inference would be that the offense is lacking playmakers. I say that because they really didn’t slam the OL either. Now, if the playmakers show out, the ceiling that they described has to be higher and the 8 win over/under now becomes the floor.
@mongotesla I agree that they should limit Alt’s true one-on-one pass sets against Crosby. However, I think strategically it would be better to do that with misdirection, jet sweeps, a heavy dose of the running game, get Crosby moving backwards rather than forwards. I worry about “chipping help” generally as it can throw off the timing of the OL. There were already a couple of examples of this hurting Alt’s timing in the preseason. Also, I think it would be good to see how Alt manages one-on-one v Crosby in limited sets. You want to see what you’ve got! So, I think I’d prefer them ‘slowing down’ Crosby through the types of play calls that precede a true pass set, rather than always adding extra TE/OT support which limits the number of receiving options you have on the play.
For me, the only way this team wins 7 games is if Herbert (or a number of other key players) misses time through the injury. The coaching across all three phases and talent is otherwise too good for this to be a 7-win team!
We have the same general mindset. We know for sure that the pass sets will come. What you said reminded me of Slater telling Ek thanks but no thanks to the help. At the same time, there has to be some measure to how much Alt is allowed to stand alone. In whatever form it may take.
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