Kickoff: Sunday, 10:00 a.m. PT, Highmark Stadium, Orchard Park
The Chargers are 0-2, road underdogs for the first time this season, and traveling to a $2.2B stadium that has hosted exactly one regular season game. Buffalo scored 41 in it. The Chargers have scored 28 total in two. That is the game in one sentence. The rest of this is about who is actually available to change it.
Injury Report
Chargers
- IRTE David Njoku (fibula). Minimum four games. Eight catches for 67 yards through two weeks.
- OUTTE Charlie Kolar (forearm). Had surgery Monday. Avoided IR on the strength of the prognosis, which means the team expects him back inside four weeks. Not this week.
- IROL Trey Pipkins III (knee). Placed on IR Saturday. Minimum four games.
- OUTOL Kayode Awosika (fibula). Injured against Las Vegas. Harbaugh said he will “miss some time.”
- OUTDT Dalvin Tomlinson (hamstring).
- OUTS Elijah Molden (hamstring). Second straight game.
- OUTWR Brenen Thompson (quad).
- QuestionableQB Trey Lance (groin). Appeared on the report Friday. DJ Uiagalelei was signed to the 53 Saturday as insurance.
- QuestionableCB Rodney Shelley (hamstring).
- ClearedOLB Tuli Tuipulotu (hamstring), S Derwin James (finger), OLB Khalil Mack, WR Ladd McConkey (rib), OT Rashawn Slater (groin), G Cole Strange (pectoral), CB Deane Leonard (abdomen).
Saturday moves: Patrick Herbert (TE) and Caleb Murphy (LB) elevated from the practice squad. Hayden Rucci (TE) and Marquez Valdes-Scantling (WR) were signed to the active roster earlier in the week.
Bills
- OUTDB Jordan Hancock (hamstring). First game missed after appearing on every report this season.
- OUTDL T.J. Sanders. Appendectomy.
- QuestionableWR DJ Moore (shoulder). AC joint sprain against Detroit. Limited Wednesday and Friday. Joe Brady called him a game-time decision. Moore has not missed a start since December 2020.
- QuestionableWR Keon Coleman (ankle). Missed two practices, limited Friday. Game-time decision.
- QuestionableDT Ed Oliver (hip). Scratched from Week 2 in pregame warmups. Full practice Friday. Expect him to play.
- ClearedRB Ty Johnson (first action since Week 18 last year), OLB Bradley Chubb, LB Terrel Bernard, LB Joe Andreessen.
Net effect: Buffalo may be down two starting receivers, which is the only reason this injury report is not a rout. The Chargers are missing their top two tight ends, their top two left guards, a starting safety, a starting defensive tackle, and their rookie deep threat. Buffalo also played Thursday and has had 10 days. The Chargers have had 7.
Tight End: Gadsden Is TE1, and the Room Behind Him Is New
Monday, after the Raiders game, the Chargers had one healthy tight end on the 53-man roster. Oronde Gadsden was it. By Saturday the room was Gadsden, Hayden Rucci, and Patrick Herbert, elevated from the practice squad for his first game action alongside his older brother.
This matters more for this offense than it would for most. The Chargers run 22 personnel at one of the highest rates in the league, and McDaniel’s scheme leans on tight ends as both receivers and lead blockers. Njoku and Kolar were signed for exactly that. Kolar’s three-year, $24.3M deal in March and Njoku’s one-year contract in May were the two largest additions to the position group, and both are gone for at least a month.
Gadsden has been here before. He was inactive to start his rookie year, got the bump to a bigger role in Week 3, and finished with 664 yards and three touchdowns. He caught the 10-yard touchdown against the Raiders. Harbaugh said Monday he has “a lot of confidence” in him, and Gadsden’s own read this week was that this is the same situation that got him on the field last September. The question is not whether he can be a primary receiving tight end. It is whether Rucci and Herbert can hold up in the blocking assignments that Njoku and Kolar were paid to handle, against a Buffalo front that gets Ed Oliver back.
Left Guard: Trevor Penning Gets the Start
Awosika opened the season at left guard. He fractured his fibula in Week 2. Pipkins was the swing option. He missed Week 2 with a knee injury and went on IR Saturday. Trevor Penning, the former Saints first-round tackle who moved inside last year, starts at left guard against Buffalo.
His only Chargers snaps this season came on one drive at right guard against the Raiders while Cole Strange was being evaluated for the pectoral issue he has since been cleared from. Harbaugh’s review was that Penning had “efficient blocks, efficient plays.” That is a one-drive sample.
LT Slater · LG Penning · C Slaughter · RG Strange · RT Alt
Two tackles who have never played a regular season snap next to the guard beside them, a rookie center in his third start, and a right guard coming off a pectoral evaluation. Slaughter’s snap hit Tre’ Harris in motion on third-and-1 last week and killed a drive. That was with Awosika next to him. The interior has not been settled for a single week of this season.
What 0-2 Actually Looks Like
Two losses by the same score, 26-14. Against Las Vegas the Chargers were outgained 307 to 273, threw two interceptions (both to rookie corner Hezekiah Masses), and lost a fumble when Nakobe Dean stripped Omarion Hampton late in the fourth quarter. Add Week 1 and the turnover margin is minus-4 through two games. Khalil Mack’s word for it was “beating ourselves.” Harbaugh’s was “not deterred.”
PFF has the offense 25th in success rate at 44.3%. The number McDaniel was asked about this week was motion: the Chargers have put a player in motion on 91 of 113 snaps, a 74.6% rate that leads the league. Asked whether the offense should be simplified, he said he considers it, and he considers everything. That is not a no.
The bright spots were real but isolated. Harris’s 53-yard catch was the longest of his career. Hampton scored again. Cam Hart intercepted Cousins. Mack got a sack. None of it produced points in the fourth quarter, when the Raiders scored 9 and the Chargers scored 0.
The Bills: What Joe Brady Has Built in Two Weeks
Sean McDermott was fired January 19. Joe Brady, the offensive coordinator for the previous two seasons, was promoted. Pete Carmichael runs the offense as coordinator; Jim Leonhard came in as defensive coordinator after Bobby Babich left for Green Bay. Brady is a first-year head coach who inherited a Josh Allen offense he already ran.
The results so far: 36-31 at Houston, against a defense that held the Bills under 20 in five straight visits, and 41-31 over Detroit in the first regular season game at the new stadium. Seventy-seven points is the fourth-most by a head coach in his first two games in the Super Bowl era. The Houston game ended with Greg Rousseau forcing his second fumble of the day and Terrel Bernard recovering it with nine seconds left. Dalton Kincaid had 130 receiving yards, the most by a Bills tight end since 1967.
Against Detroit, Allen went 20 of 31 for 248 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions and ran 14 times for 69 yards and two more scores. James Cook ran for 135 and a touchdown. Allen’s description of the offense after Houston was chunk plays, four or five snaps to a score rather than 14. That is the opposite of what the Chargers defense wants to face. O’Leary’s unit gave up 393 yards to Arizona and 307 to Las Vegas, and Molden and Tomlinson are out.
If Moore and Coleman both sit, the Bills’ outside receiving corps is Kincaid, Cook, and whoever is next on the depth chart. That would be the first real test of Buffalo’s depth this season. It would also be the best-case scenario for a Chargers secondary that has not had one.
The Stadium
New Highmark Stadium opened September 17 for the Lions game. $2.2B, Orchard Park, open-air. Buffalo is 1-0 in the building. The Chargers are the second visiting team through the doors. The rivalry framing gets pulled out every time these teams play, and it is legitimate: both are AFL charter franchises, and the Bills’ first-ever game in 1960 was against the Chargers. None of that helps at 10 a.m. Pacific in Western New York.
What to Watch, in Order
- Gadsden’s target share. If he is at 6 or more, McDaniel is treating him as a real TE1, not a placeholder.
- Penning at left guard against Oliver and the Bills’ interior. Pressure up the middle has been the story of both losses.
- Turnovers. Minus-4 through two games. Zero giveaways is the only way this stays close.
- Inactives for Moore and Coleman. The Buffalo receiver situation is the swing variable on the other side.
- Allen on the ground. Fourteen carries against Detroit. The Chargers have not tackled well in space through two weeks.
- Third quarter. The Chargers have been outscored 10-7 in third quarters and 19-0 in fourth quarters. Buffalo has been aggressive on first down under Brady.
Follow Along With StormCloud
Kickoff is 10:00 a.m. PT. Early window, so the thread opens early. Drop your reactions, snap count observations, and anything the broadcast misses in the comments below. We’ll be in there with you, and the post-game breakdown will pull from what this community flags during the game.
Nobody expects a win in Buffalo. What the community will be looking for is whether the offense looks like it has a plan. Bolt up.
Maybe Minter can reunite with Bozeman!!!
https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/ravens-crisis-offense-week-4-game-vs-titans/
I didn’t see any of the game (which I feel fortunate about), but saw some highlights and the box score. The offense clearly did not function again. This was a big concern of mine during the preseason where I said numerous times that I guessed the offense would either be amazing if it clicks or otherwise just bad. I didn’t think it would be THIS bad, but I did expect a bifurcated outcome and unfortunately its the the bad side.
Since I didn’t see the game, was this a comedy of errors again like last game? Or is Herbert just bad? I do feel like in the Raiders game his teammates let him down more than it being on Herbert, but was this more of the same or did Herbert just play bad?
I saw the horrible INT in the endzone. I also saw the horrible QJ drop on a crucial 3rd down. I see that he continues to have a horrible catch:target ratio. They need to trade him for a 7th round pick (if they even can) and just move on. Play Ladd, Harris and Thompson as the starters and see what the young guys can do.
What the highlights might not show is the pick he threw in the end zone that was called back for a defensive holding or the other one that was flat put dropped by a Bills CB. Like I said, you watch the Bills yesterday or any of the teams we have played and they are able to get guys open in space for easy catches. The only one I can remember like that yesterday was the busted flea flicker where Ingold was the checkdown and nobody covered him. There was the TD play last week to Gadsden that was a schemed open play, but there are very few. The offense has no flow. There’s no rhythm. Even the running game has no huge holes to run through often. It really looks like a scheme that does not fit the personnel and honestly there is little creativity to it. In Miami they constantly were able to get guys running free in space for YAC off of clever schemes and motions. We only get that here with broken plays. If MM is really a great offensive mind and not someone who has only mastered one form of offense, there’s no reason he shouldn’t be able to coordinate a functioning offense 7 months into his tenure.
So Herbert was even worse than the box score! Sheesh. I was hoping it was the opposite.
Frankly, it looks like MM broke Herbert with his BS footwork change, harping on anticipation, etc. I think he’s a goddamned fraud….McDanIel, that is. Like Erick said, he had time to evaluate and scheme for the players available. Instead he’s determined to stuff a round peg in a square hole.
They shoulda sent him over the falls in a barrel yesterday.
I saw some film breakdown today. I don’t see anything indicating footwork being an issue (and I think frankly this was some stupid thing beat writers over-emphasized in the offseason). What I did see was a combo of bad play designs and bad decisions by Herbert. Herbert also needs to get better at not locking in on his first read (or at least look off the first read to move the defense and then go back). I think that has kind of always been an issue with Herbert, but now it seems exacerbated in this system. Maybe McDaniel had him convinced that these guys would just magically be open all the time because his play designs are so amazing.
I think it’s one more thing that he’s thinking about that was an unnecessary change. Herbert isn’t Tua. We don’t have speedster WR’s or RB’s (well, maybe Mitchell). McDaniel should have built on what we have, not force this system on players ill-suited for it.
Herbert isn’t comfortable with what he’s seeing right now, that much is clear and that much has to get fixed soon and in arguably the worst place to go try and fix something on Offense.
If I’m trying to look at a bright spot for the Offense, if you take the plays that Herbert has missed on for whatever reason (the INT had an open RB Swing route for a conversion) there have been some good play-calls made where someone is open. Of course other times the play-call is a mess such as the goal line play-calling.
There was a 3Q pass to QJ along the sideline in 1v1 coverage that will go down as an incompletion but its a play that Mike Williams would have caught 9/10 and Jamar Chase catches 10/10 by simply jumping in the air for the ball. In the NFL, sometimes that is an open route and the player has to win the 1v1. Watching Davante Adams later in the evening only solidified how often a WR1 makes that a simple catch (and to think we could have signed him 2 years ago…). There was also a 1st half incompletion because QJ didn’t come back to the ball or shield it from the DB who made the easy PBU.
This is not a WR room that’s helping any QB. We’re at “maybe Tyreek would be worth the hassle” territory soon because Sanjay Lal hasn’t made these young WRs better as Ladd is doing what he was already doing at UGA. You can’t say the others have improved under him.
Ladd – As Advertised
Tre – Games 1/2 bad, 3 trended up
QJ – Just not earning his keep, at all
BT – Drops and injured
KLS – Injured
MVS – Not an answer
DD – Please cut him already
Slater gave up a bad sack and also had garbage effort on a screen, Penning completely whiffed on another sack and Strange is playing at such a level I’d rather see Harkey play until Branson Taylor gets back.
The loss of Biadasz has been big even if we can’t see it since we haven’t seen him play but right now Slaughter-Biadasz-Awosika would be our best IOL but 2/3 of them are injured along with the top 2 TE so its pretty comical looking at the offensive injury list.
Starting C, LG, TE1, TE2, WR4 out mean the inside rushing game is struggling and we’re using DD as our deep threat.
It’s the same old stuff we’ve heard before from previous staffs about why things aren’t working ultimately and excuses run stale. My hope now is that by mid-season things click and give us a reason to believe that next year will be better, or at least better than trying to redo the process with a new OC/system again.
At this point we are about to be 0-4. There is no reason to bring Tyreek in. The season is over. I can’t believe it’s week 4 and losses are more important than wins. I am going to see them play in Tampa b/c my wife’s BF lives there and we were planning a visit anyway to get out of NY for a few days in December, so we planned it around the Chargers-Bucs game. By that time both teams will be trying to lose, so who knows what kind of game it is. At least I can get drunk in the sun.
Yeah, I’m not pleased now that I’ve booked the trip out for the Jets game, but at least I’m also going to the Bay area and Seattle to see friends and family.
It’ll be a long time before I sownd another dime on this clownish organization.
Cool. You can give me some tips for going to SoFi.
To watch the Rams? lol
Here’s a fun fact for ya….the last time the Bills had 5 TO’s and won? Versus a Harbaugh QB’d Colts team.
You can’t make this shit up.
CBSSports Grade (which is pretty much aligned with where I’m at):
”With the number one pick in the draft, the Los Angeles Chargers select…”
I doubt they get #1 , but if they don’t do anything stupid they should have a top 5 pick for sure.
It’s sad to say, but I think this is a Harbaugh issue. He was always the hard nosed asshole, who exuded toughness and physicality and accountability from his team. Now, everyone is great, every idea is great, there’s no calling out players for terrible play, and bad players stay around and get smoke blown up their ass. He’s like the grandpa that used to be a tough guy, but now he has hard candy in his sweater pocket for you every time you visit.
Look, the guy has had some serious health issues in the last few years, so maybe he’s not the hard edge he was, but that’s what we bought and I don’t think it’s coming back. The guy preached offensive linemen as weapons when he drafted Alt, but has continued to roll out a below average unit by choice, instead, trying to sell us that a reach 3rd Rd pick from DII Sioux Falls, who was a disaster already, should be resigned as one of our best five linemen.
Hortiz is just as culpable, valuing dart throw comp picks over actual proven players and being deathly afraid to spend cap space properly. IMO, he is to concerned with being DeCosta’s twin, that he’s not forging his own style as GM, unless it is to be a penny pinching miser trying be The Little Giants, winning with bad players.
Unless Harbaugh can find that inner asshole we bought, (or at least hire Conor Stallions) I can’t see light at the tunnel for this regime getting us at least to a deep playoff run.
I think the problem is much simpler. Do I wish Joe would have used more $ to fix the IOL? Sure. Do I want to see more anger from Harbaugh? Absolutely.
The issue with the Chargers is the offense. Receivers do not look comfortable. Herbert definitely does not look comfortable. The skill players do not know how to operate the offense. That is a problem. The Bills defense is not good. The Chargers defense did their bit to win the game. The offense was not ready for the start of the season. That’s on Harbaugh and McDaniel.
The OL is not terrible. Cole Strange’s PFF grade for the season is 35.7. I talked myself into thinking the signing was OK, but clearly not good in the first 3 weeks. However, Jake Slaughter’s PFF grade is 54.8 – not bad for a rookie in his first 3 weeks and Awosika is at 59.6 (and Penning is 51.4). Pair that with two elite tackles, promising rookies, and a very good OL coach and you have a decent OL.
The offense has talent. You can see it in moments. But, Herbert is looking for Ladd on every damn play. Encouraging that Harris had a better game, but for fucks sake, QJ can’t catch. My guess is that this team finds a way to win 1 game and goes into the bye 1-5. They use that time to figure things out, then go on a bit of a run, and finish with 9-10 wins. They will be the team nobody wants to face at the end of the season, but misses the playoffs.
Didn’t think I would feel this way in SEPTEMBER, but here we are. Very disappointing.
I do NOT want to see a 9-10 win team that ends up picking in the 11-18 range. We need an infusion of upper tier draft talent in at least rounds 1-3. Making anyone in this organization feel good by going on a late run does little to improve the talent.
I say let football Darwinism take its course. And at the end of the season (or before if an attractive offer appears), cut bait on QJ, Pipkins, Matlock, DD, etc.
Agree with the sentiment. I would rather pick early. My assumption is that this team is too talented to get a top-3 pick, but I thought they would be 2-1 at this point, so WTF do I know?
If they get a top-3 pick, it will be interesting to see what happens with Harbaugh & staff and Herbert (who has to be super-frustrated).
Can you imagine the Chargers getting the #1 pick and Arch Manning coming out and saying he will not play for the Chargers?
Yes, I can. And I’d 100% support the decision as long as the Spanii own this team.
I may never particularly like Eli but I sure as hell understand that decision.
Don’t have to worry about that. There is zero chance this team is winning 9 – 10 games. What I’d be more concerned about is them winning like 6 or 7 games which could still push them outside the top 10.
That said, unless something just magically “clicks” (and I do mean magically), then this team is not picking up many wins. I see them as a 3 – 5 win team right now. And who knows, maybe they’re even worse than that if they start like 0 – 7 or 0 – 8 and the locker room falls apart.
I don’t have any argument against anything you’ve said here, BUT I will say that it just makes me wonder how much influence is still coming from ownership. I just feel like some of the decision like QJ and Pipkins for example HAVE to have influence from the top. There’s just too many common threads in these types of decisions that are the continuous weave between numerous FO/coaches.
I also think that the Chargers are almost certainly more cash poor than we know (and compared to most other owners) and that has an influence on Hortiz and his spending regardless of the salary cap. We are more like the Tampa Bay Rays of the NFL than the Dodgers, or even the Padres.
I don’t think we really need to wonder. You just listed 2 decisions that tell me nepo baby lil Johnny still has outsized influence in decision making.
This team will never amount to much as long as the slumlord lineage, tenant mindset Spanii own it. They are the common denominator.
Read it and weep.
Just for some added context, the only other teams with three games played as I write this that we have scored more points than is the Dolphins, Titans and Pats. We are among the dregs of the league, with no change in sight.
I thought it would be really difficult to be annoyed with a loss we all expected, yet they somehow did it. 0-6 into the bye seems like a lock, but Houston is just as bad as we are so maybe we pick up a W against them and Tampa is just as hideous, but I can’t find 4 definite wins on the schedule. We might beat the Jets and the Dolphins, but those are probably 50-50 at best. Maybe we get a garbage win in week 18 playing another teams backups because I’m sure Harbaugh will moronically think somehow winning in week 18 will leave a positive feeling going into ’27, which will probably cost us the difference between like pick 4 and 8.
Brother, it’s September, and we’re talking about the draft. Right now I think fire McDaniel, trade for two WRs who can catch, sign two guards who can block… but this should be February talk, not September. So, so frustrating. Three winnable games and three games unwon.
Fuck you Hortiz.
This defense is lights out. The offense is dirty underpants.
Far from lights out, IMO, but 5 fucking TO’s should get the job done. I wouldn’t let McDaniel on the plane home.
Picked up QJ’s option. Didn’t adequately address IOL or CB. Re-signed Pipkins and Penning.
But hey! We’ve got cap space and probably comp picks. Yay.
Maybe Buffalo will beat themselves.
Fucking clown show.
3 TO’s and still just a tied game at halftime. 🙄
Cmon Dicker!!!! 😡
Holy crap rook!!!!
That was a shit 3rd down call.
At least we got 3 outta the pick.
Go rook!!!!
Catch the ball!!!!
Pay that man!!!!!
Unc!!!!
OK. Took advantage of the Bills’ mistake. Good start.
Herbert just does not look comfortable in this to me.
This should be fun. 🙄