Each week I will be reviewing the game in a format I like to call Tale of the Tape. ESPN have a segment with the same title and it has forever been a pet peeve of mine because all they do is list the key statistics and that is by literal definition; not the tale of the tape. I will probably end up tweaking the format for these as it took way too long to write this all up and this community deserves analysis earlier in the week! That said, let’s get to the tape and see how our boys in powder blue did on the offensive side of the ball.

Summary:

I came away from the All-22 feeling better than I did on Sunday night, which was a relief. My biggest fear before turning on the film was that Greg Roman’s concepts were just not effective and we would be in for a long season full of questions over what they can do differently scheme-wise. That was not the case for the most part; this was a matter of player execution, still-developing synergies and missed opportunities.

Overall unit grade: C+

The Quarterback

I think Herbert played pretty well overall, despite facing consistent interior pressure yet he moved the ball quickly enough to negate this. He had to make some really tough throws by standing in the pocket and taking the licks that come with that. His resilience is such an underrated quality in him. There were very few missed throws and in reality he did almost enough to call it a good game but there were some areas of his game where you can tell he isn’t quite comfortable with the offense yet. The first is the checks and changes, he is not the master of GRo’s ship just yet and that is very much expected, it took Lamar years to get to the point of full control. The next one is that he hasn’t got a connection with any of his receivers, he doesn’t trust them to get open and his lack of patience meant chances were missed for a better day. 

Here are my notes on his performance:

• Herbert has to make the most of his passing opportunities, on a play in the 2^nd quarter he saw Cover 2-man (or Cover 5) after the snap and that the running back swing route was left open which he hit but Palmer was winning his slot fade match-up which, granted, would have been clouded by the split field safety however he had a decent chance to hit this with a lot of the boundary space to throw the ball into.
• I’m going to say something here; I am starting to think that Herbert should have less power to check out of pass plays and into run plays going forwards. I don’t think he’s got many right over his career and in this game I think he got zero correct from what I can see on tape although he did change the strength correctly on one of JK’s long run plays. There was one particularly frustrating call where he checked to a run with a few seconds left on the play clock. He did this in max-protect which is never a smart move because your lineman can’t fire off on the ball to take advantage of numbers advantage. It’s about more than what the defense is presenting plus if he read Man coverage (which I think is why he checked to run) then he should have realized that the tight end would have held the safety leaving Ladd was in an isolated match-up in a tonne of space to the wide side of the field.
• I am so mad at Palmer for dropping that beautiful ball which should have been a touchdown, that was a throw very few can make. The timing, positioning and layering on the ball were all incredible but it was the anticipation that the safety would stay wide enough to give him that window, that put this throw into the elite category. It would have changed the whole narrative for this game had it landed.

• Herbert’s tendency to scan one side the field so quickly means he misses late opening routes from his first read side. I think Roman has to find a way to slow him down or have quick hitters to one side and slow breakers to the other. Ladd was getting open on an in-breaking route vs a linebacker when he attempted the back-of-the-end-zone throw to Hurst who wasn’t on the same page. This would have been a touchdown if he had spotted it, he had the time to do so as well.
• The back pylon throw to McConkey (see the video above) was a beauty! I’m mad at Ladd for looking too early as this would have landed in his lap if he carried on running. To do this under pressure from a free rusher is just insane especially as he had about half a second to look that way and read the coverage.
• The “mistake” throw (shown below) from Herbert that was almost a pick is entirely on Palmer in my opinion. Both Palmer and Justin could see the corner climbing from his flats zone and he still wanted Herbert to hit the sideline ball instead of sitting his route down. That was a good pass that maybe could have come a tick earlier but it was plenty good enough for a completion.

Quarterback Grade: B-

The Receivers

• Will Dissly: C-

  • Dissly hasn’t built chemistry with the offensive line yet and to be honest he didn’t exactly show the individual blocking prowess that had been advertised to us by the coaches. Aside from his false starts penalties, he was caught out on an obvious hold and he completely missed the slot blitz on a sift block which led to Herbert being hit. In fact I actually think he was benched early in the second half but he served his time and returned later in the game.
  • He deserves some redemption love for the block he made on Maxx Crosby; took his off ball rush to the chest and stood it up! Not many tight ends could do this.
  • Although he did miss the block the next play that killed the run before it could get going.

• Ladd McConkey: B

  • I think this was about what I was expecting from ‘our Ladd’ (a pun for those with knowledge of the northern English term of endearment). His route running improved with every rep and by the 3rd quarter he was shaking free from everyone however it wasn’t a perfect day out as he got bullied when he wasn’t able to get a free release off the line.
  • I am worried about Ladd’s play-weight though, he gets thrown off routes very easily with slight contact. It will be interesting to see him against pro press defenders as luckily that’s not what he came across on his debut.
  • He also needs to get a better feel for the sticks, twice he came too far back to the ball. You have a cyborg throwing lasers now, not Stetson Bennett, you’ll have the time you need to haul it in.
  • Ladd burned Moehrig with a nasty move to open up a pocket inside, Herbert’s going to trust him very soon if he keeps manipulating coverage like this.

• Quentin Johnston: B

  • QJ’s usage in this game exactly how to get the most out of his unique skill set. Please keep getting him the ball with his long open strides. The flack he caught all of last season appears to have made him more tough-nosed as he was flying into contact which is a quality he didn’t show at TCU.
  • The bullet slant throw he caught was wild considering how much pressure he was under from the trailing defender. QJ’s balance is underrated to catch that and to keep moving at speed is incredible but then to throw in the spin definitely piqued my interest.

• Joshua Palmer: D+

  • For a player of Palmer’s experience he was disappointing when it came to the details. His lack of attention to coverage rolls is not something you want to see in a player who was meant to start the season as the WR1. His injury history may have cost him some time on task with Justin but you would still expect to see a better connection, Herbert put him in the position to have a big impact on this game and he let the side down.

• Hayden Hurst: A-

  • Hayden Hurst is a reliable set of hands (3.9% career drop rate) and Roman used him well but Herbert was very conservative in terms of taking chances in Hurst’s direction so he didn’t connect with him nearly as often as he should have I think this will change very soon but it wasn’t ideal to see such a disconnect. This is why I gave him a lofty grade as it happened FOUR times in this game in critical moments:

    • 1. On a rollout where he just didn’t feel he could make the throw to his tight end who was running up the hash mark line (he definitely could have).
    • 2. Herbert missed a wide open touchdown opportunity to Hurst on the next play after the Palmer drop, he went through his progressions too quickly and skipped over the linebacker who was turning his back to follow the crosser. This left a big window to hit. 
    • 3. He had Hurst on a corner route into the Cover 2 hole which is a route you take a shot on especially with a size advantage to exploit but Justin thought the corner back was too high and checked down to Dobbins for a short gain instead.
    • 4. Hayden was opening on a designed Cover 2 beater, his crossing route paired with QJ sitting in tight to the LB to take him away from the underneath zone, meant this was open if he waited another half second and the protection was perfect so he could have.

Overall Receivers Grade: B-

The Protectors

• Zion Johnson: D

  • I was not a fan of what he put on tape this week. Not at all. Zion was a solid, if not impressive, player whose biggest weakness was that he didn’t see stunts or have the hip speed to adjust to them. Yet now he has seemingly made more problems for himself and shown no growth in the one area he should have. I know he has turned himself into a beast under Duke Manyweather’s guidance however he played under such a mature level of control in college so this drastic change of approach seems to have sent him backwards.
  • When he is forced out of his base stance his footwork isn’t great, he’s got bigger but he looks tighter for it.
  • He got swum time and time again, he really needs to start punishing these open rib shots to curtail their usage in the future.
  • Zion missed a stunt by trying to be a mauler in pass pro a few times, when the ball is in Justin’s hands, winning the rep means keeping the pocket intact, not driving someone backwards.
  • He also needs to drive his feet on zone blocks; he sat still and allowed Adam Butler to peak and shut down the intended gap in an outside zone concept. 

• Bradley Bozeman: D–

  • Bozeman’s pass pro was rough in terms of protection calls and his individual blocking. Justin has always relied on his Center to call the protection but it was a mess in the first half and he was luckily saved even more embarrassment by the Raiders running out of gas in the hot conditions.
  • He called a 5-0 protection against a heavy interior front and it left JK having to choose between two defenders when the Raiders sent an extra linebacker and Justin ended up being hit.
  • I don’t get why Bozeman set up a fan pass pro against a loaded front, a half slide or full side is surely the right call here.
  • Bozeman needs to do better at clearing out on pulls, just had no impact on Crosby despite a full run up.

• Trey Pipkins: C+

  • Summary; Pipkins’ work in pass iso blocks wasn’t too bad but his work on the move and his ability to pick up stunts leaves a lot to improve on. For a Tackle moving inside it wasn’t the worst start but man has it got to improve to be a long term answer next to Alt.
  • He doesn’t generate force on pull blocks as he stoops down and he even got flattened by Spillane who he has about 100 lbs on (leverage wins). He also doesn’t have the leg drive to clear guys out at his size, he gets to the top and gets stuck
  • On down blocks he just buries his head and hopes his size will win, it’s just really poor guard play.
  • Trey also got away multiple false starts, he was moving before the ball on at least three occasions.

• Joe Alt: A-

  • I don’t need to add anything to the Joe Alt Delete folklore at this point. His abilities are unknown to any Chargers fan; We have never seen an OT who can match power, speed and reach for anything he wants to all whilst having incredible recovery skills and the feet/hips of a slot receiver. That said he wasn’t perfect against the run where he learned some important lessons in leverage control.
  • The first rep I saw Joe Alt lose was against Christian Wilkins where he uses his size against him, he leaned too hard and gave his leverage up but he’ll learn from this.
  • He lost another on a Guard lead power concept, he base blocked the B gap instead of reach blocking and sealing the C gap.

• Rayshawn Slater: A-

  • I had no notes with his name on it from my first watch which is always a wonderful sign for a lineman but there were a couple of plays where he lost his leverage. The one that stood out was in the redzone where JK tried to bounce outside and he had lost control over Snowden on the edge and the back’s smart effort was halted.

Overall Protectors Grade: C-

The Backs

• Gus Edwards: C-

  • I am not panicking about his performance however I think he has lost some juice, if he’s still in recovery then okay we’ll look for improvement but he gets very little burst off of his backfoot when cutting upfield. He didn’t seem to be able to vary his tempo to match the line’s blocks either. More time will tell what we can expect from him coming off his still undefined injury.
  • He did all the dirty work against stacked boxes so that JK could shine against lighter ones, this is the type of selflessness Harbaugh covets but I always wonder how long players can keep their pride intact enough to support their team mates in this way.

• JK Dobbins: A

  • What a difference a proper running back can make to your offense. His blend of footwork, balance, vision and burst means he can expose creases like no Charger has been able to since prime Melvin Gordon. His two long runs were simple plays but his efficiency between the gap opening up and him cutting into it makes him a threat defenses will have to account for. His RYOE (rush yards over expected) numbers were elite because of his open field ability too, he erased an angle Moehrig had on him in a way that gets me excited!
  • The fitness clearly isn’t there yet but it was Week 1 with no preseason whilst a heatwave was bearing down on a guy who was used to the chill of a Maryland Fall this time last year. So I’ll hope to see an improvement to take these long runs to the house.
  • JK’s pass protection was immense too, I was way too excited when he stepped up the hole to meet a free running linebacker.

Overall Backs Grade: B+

Scheme Notes

Scheme:

• The two-man route combo out of max-protect that GRo rolled out vs Cover 3 was a nice way to manipulate numbers. Ladd did well to set up the comeback by threatening both the robber and the outside before sinking down and Herbert obliged with a well timed ball. This is the stuff that will keep drives going especially as it was a tendency breaker on 1st down.
• If you go into max-protect too often teams will check to more man coverage calls, this will invite pressure so your routes need to be quick man beaters to act as relievers. Roman had these in place but they rarely came available because of how quickly the line gave up interior pressure even in these heavy looks.
• The pass pro across the line was actually really good when they just had to base block against four lineman. It was not a physical talent deficit that allowed pressure in this game; it was Greg Roman, Bozeman and Herbert failing to adjust to the stunts that meant they got out-schemed.
• On JK’s first big run (see video below) it was wonderful to see Roman use the Raiders’ gap shooting aggression against them. With the Raiders running a wide front they had the perfect call running a simple inside zone concept which allowed a free release for Zion and Bozeman to climb up and seal the two linebackers responsible for the A gap.

  • The Raiders were clearly expecting a pass out of 11 personnel so this tendency breaker paid off very well. 
  • Hayden Hurst’s downfield block got JK another 25 yards too. 
  • Herbert changed the direction of the run at the LOS after seeing Diablo (a former safety) on the weak side knowing the Raiders don’t like to switch their ILBs once they’re set. Spillane has the strength to close a gap but Zion on Divine was not an immortal matchup and Dobbins had plenty of room to cut into and go. Good work all round. 
  • JK’s move on Moehrig deserves some extra love too, his footwork has always been clean but to get his hips square to the sideline and back vertical again in that time frame shows his explosiveness is back.

• The play design on the fake bubble to Derius was very nice, the timing was on point because other than one player, the Raiders’ slow-played it well so this could have gone wrong if it was executed poorly. 
• Passing concept wise the one thing I never like to see is mirror image concepts to both sides of the formation especially out of light personnel . You’re either giving your QB a full field progression read which means the timing is off or a half field read with wasted routes that would never be targeted.

  • Where this will benefit is against teams that like to disguise their coverage from two high shells as Herbert can read the rolling safety and throw away from their motion.  

• Down the stretch the pass protection was really good, the Raiders were too tired to run stunts and in base blocks they gave nothing up.
• The reverse to Derius Davis (see video below) was a very well designed play that was shamefully let down by Bozeman deciding to turn to find someone behind him (for some reason) and slipping over right in DD’s path. If we see that again it’s a house call and I’m very confident in that. This call is staying in touch with the league wide Week 1 trend of wide sweeping plays to counter the deep alignment of corners on early downs, so Roman might not be as out of touch as some fans think he is.