Tag: Chargers offense

Chargers’ Max Duggan heaps high praise on Derius Davis

Max Duggan had nothing but good things to say about Derius Davis.

The Chargers loved what they saw out of the TCU Horned Frogs offense last season, and drafted their quarterback Max Duggan and two of his receivers, Quentin Johnston and Derius Davis.

The team rose to prominence as a gritty Big 12 contender that made the College Football Playoff and national championship game in a Cinderella story that fans won’t forget any time soon.

For his part, Duggan seemed thrilled to reunite with his college teammates in Los Angeles during his comments to the media after practice at the Chargers’ rookie minicamp.

Though Johnston was a known commodity by many fans who follow the draft, his counterpart Davis flew under the radar a bit during the scouting process, but Duggan made it clear that he helped make the Horned Frogs’ offense click.

“D.D. was a huge threat for us [at TCU], whether it was in special teams, punt return, kick return,” Duggan explained. “Then, obviously, he was a big threat for us as a receiver, too. He can do a lot of things, obviously. His speed is what he’s known for, but he’s savvy. He knows how to run routes. He knows how to set people up with leverage. He’s a great worker and he’s going to be a good one.”

While he won’t be much of a contributor on offense early on, Davis is the favorite to be the return man, as he was arguably the best in college football in this department.

In his collegiate career, Davis returned five punts for a touchdown in just 44 attempts. He averaged 15.0 yards a return. Davis also has experience in kickoff returns, as he had one touchdown in that department and averaged 29.6 yards a return in 2021.

Chargers’ Tom Telesco says he has no plans to move Keenan Allen

Chargers GM Tom Telesco put all the speculations regarding WR Keenan Allen to bed.

With the Chargers currently $20.39 million over the salary cap, there’s been speculation that Keenan Allen could be moved to clear some up. But general manager Tom Telesco all but put the murmurs to bed.

“Keenan Allen isn’t going anywhere,” Telesco told reporters at the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis, IN, on Wednesday.

Allen is scheduled to earn $15.5 million in 2023, with $21.7 million charged against the salary cap. If he were released before June 1, Los Angeles would save $14.8 million against the cap.

In 2022, Allen missed seven games due to a hamstring issue, finishing with 66 catches for 752 yards and four touchdowns.

The 10-year wideout has been vital to the Bolts’ offense throughout his professional career. During that span, Allen has caught 796 passes for 9,287 yards and 52 touchdowns.

“Keenan Allen, to me, he’s our Andre Reed. He’s our Charlie Joiner,” Telesco said. “He’s an incredible football player. We have a great quarterback, we need weapons around him, there’s never been any thought of that.

While he is getting up in age, set to be 31 this season and coming off an injury-riddled campaign, Allen is productive when healthy. He is still one of the best route runners in the league. He is a safety blanket to third down.

The Chargers need to add speed to their wide receiver room, but letting go of Allen would do more bad than good to the state of the offense.

Telesco will have some wheeling and dealing to do, as the Chargers must comply with the salary cap at the start of the new league year on March 15. But that will likely be without moving their top wide receiver.

“It’s not tempting to me,” Telesco said at his end-of-season press conference. “Good players make money, and I would rather have a lot of good players on our roster than a lot of cap space.”

Chargers OC Kellen Moore says designing his offense will be collaborative effort

Kellen Moore said that he will seek input from other coaches and his players when designing the Chargers’ offense in 2023.

The LChargers filled the most important vacancy on their coaching staff when they hired offensive coordinator Kellen Moore last week, and he gave fans plenty to talk about in his introductory press conference.

When he was asked about how he might utilize his skill position players to give the Chargers an edge, Moore explained that his offense’s design will be a collaborative effort.

“I’m just really excited to get to work with them,” Moore said. “I think the beauty of football and the beauty of the system is that you want to build it around the players. I’m excited to figure out what they do best, how they’re wired, how they work and put them in the best situation to be successful. Whatever that system ultimately looks like, we’ll build it together.”

Moore said that system will feature different offensive styles that have molded him as an offensive coordinator, including the Air Coryell scheme, which originated from former Chargers head coach and Pro Football Hall of Fame finalist Don Coryell. In addition, there will be some elements of the West Coast offense.

Most importantly, Moore is going to keep things that play to quarterback Justin Herbert’s strengths.

Innovation will be key for Los Angeles in 2023 as the Chargers look to break out of a stagnation that has seen the team go winless in the playoffs since 2018. Under Moore, change should be expected, and fans should rest assured knowing that he will be seeking input from his players and fellow coaches on how he might deploy his offensive weapons most effectively.

“From an offensive perspective, you take bits and pieces from everyone, and I think that’s the beauty of it,” Moore said. “We’re going to build a 2023 L.A. Chargers offense.

QB Justin Herbert will have input in Chargers’ next offensive coordinator

The Chargers need to find someone to unlock Justin Herbert’s full potential.

The Chargers will have a new offensive coordinator for the 2023 NFL season, and their star quarterback will have a say in who gets to call the plays.

On Thursday, general manager Tom Telesco spoke with the media at his end-of-season press conference, noting Herbert has earned that responsibility.

When asked what traits the team will be looking for in their next offensive coordinator, Telesco cited leadership, the ability to teach and communicate concepts in a simple manner, backgrounds, and who they’ve learned from.

Additionally, Telesco noted experience is not necessarily as important.

This season, the Chargers ranked near the bottom in every rushing offense category. But most notably, Justin Herbert finished 2022 with career lows in touchdowns and yards per attempt.

That is why it is imperative for Los Angeles to successfully find and bring in someone who will not only improve the run game but unlock Herbert’s full potential.

Instant analysis of Chargers firing offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi

Here’s what led to the firing of Chargers OC Joe Lombardi.

Joe Lombardi is out after two seasons in Los Angeles, leaving Brandon Staley and Tom Telesco to search for a new offensive coordinator in what will likely be a make-or-break season for both head coach and general manager.

Lombardi’s firing is no surprise, and that it was paired with the firing of pass game coordinator/QB coach Shane Day should also not be a shock. The Chargers’ offense took a step back in nearly every meaningful way this season, falling from 4th in DVOA in 2021 to 19th in 2022.

So what went wrong?

For starters, injuries. To get out in front of this: no, that’s not an excuse for Lombardi. The way he handled injuries to key players, however, informed his ability (or lack thereof) to adapt the offense on the fly. When Keenan Allen was injured in Week 1, Lombardi had no way to scheme other receivers open. DeAndre Carter, Josh Palmer, and Michael Bandy ran Allen’s routes like nothing had happened, except those less talented players failed to get open at the same rate Allen did. After Corey Linsley left the game in Week 2, Lombardi continued to run traditional drop-back passing concepts. At the same time, Kansas City’s defensive line took advantage of miscommunications on the offensive line, eventually leading to Justin Herbert’s rib injury. Mike Williams’ injury resulted in Palmer plugging directly in for him. Injuries along the offensive line, namely to right tackle Trey Pipkins, decimated the Chargers’ control of the pocket while Lombardi refused to get Herbert on the move.

That refusal links back to another issue with Lombardi’s offense: it seemed like he never truly figured out what he had in Herbert. The running joke online was that Lombardi was running the late-stage Drew Brees offense with the Chargers’ signal-caller. Brees, in his later years, had a weak arm but a sharp processor, so running a series of quick routes for him to snap through was an effective game plan. Herbert has similar processing ability but also is able to make throws that few other people on Earth are capable of. Downfield throws, no matter how often they worked for the Chargers, were limited to one or two chances a game. Again, getting Herbert on the move was frequently not a consideration, despite it working to perfection nearly every time they called the plays. It often felt like Lombardi had a script after the script; that no matter what his opening script told him about the defense, he was sticking to his pregame notions of how to win the game.

This stickiness, if you want to call it that, was a large part of why the Chargers could not get any offense going in the third quarter this season. (The Stick-iness of the offense was also a problem.) Lombardi would script out the first few drives, LA would get a lead, and then he’d decide his job was done, and they just needed to sit on the ball until the game ended. Defenses would adjust at halftime, Lombardi would not, and the offense would stall. Herbert would either make magic happen to pull the game out, or the Chargers would lose.

Red zone playcalling also proved to be problematic for Lombardi, who consistently could not design run plays to get the ball into the end zone and ran pass plays that were designed short of the goal line. This was despite having the basketball team of Gerald Everett, Donald Parham Jr., and Mike Williams available at his disposal. Granted, all three of those players missed time at one point or another, but even when all three were on the field, Lombardi preferred to run bubble screens to a hamstrung Keenan Allen than draw something up for one of his taller receivers.

All in all, Lombardi’s tenure with the Chargers is emblematic of his refusal or inability to adjust to his circumstances. Press conferences midseason included many quotes from the offensive coordinator about how they didn’t have the speed to attack downfield, despite deep crossing routes to Mike Williams working when Herbert rolled out. Lombardi doesn’t have the final say on the roster construction, and I get that, but part of the job is to turn what you’re given into something functional. Coaches like Brian Daboll in New York are running better offenses, with Daniel Jones throwing the ball to Richie James and Isaiah Hodgins. Lombardi got head coaching interviews recently as a year ago for what he did when everything was perfect: no injuries, only the base version of the offense installed, lower stakes. How he fared when things got messy is why LA let him go on Tuesday.

Chargers fire offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi

The Chargers’ offensive system will undergo reconstruction.

On Tuesday, the team announced that offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi would not return for the 2023 season. Pass game coordinator/QB coach Shane Day was also fired.

It ends a tumultuous tenure for the 51-year-old Lombardi, who joined the Chargers as Staley’s offensive coordinator prior to the 2021 season. After piloting LA to a top 5 offense by DVOA, the talk was much more about how high the ceiling could go rather than how hot Lombardi’s seat was.

2022 was, unfortunately, not the sequel Chargers fans were hoping for. After offseason talk about how much more of the offense LA could install, the Chargers plummeted to 19th in offensive DVOA. Injuries certainly played a part: Keenan Allen, Mike Williams, Rashawn Slater, Corey Linsley, and Trey Pipkins all missed multiple games and Justin Herbert, Gerald Everett, and Josh Palmer spent stretches banged up. But Lombardi showed an inability to adjust when those injuries occurred, which resulted in a midseason stretch of Herbert trying to force throws to DeAndre Carter and Michael Bandy running Allen’s routes without much success. Offensive sequencing consistently felt off, the offense fell flat after the opening script concluded, and Lombardi insisted on running the same concepts even after they were proven to be ineffective. Perhaps the cardinal example of this was the refusal to get Justin Herbert on the move, despite generating highlight play after highlight play when they did and facing immense pressure when they didn’t because of the banged-up offensive line.

All this coalesced into a season-long discourse about Lombardi and his viability as offensive coordinator going forward. With Staley’s job also subject to a number of rumors, sacrificing Lombardi to buy himself one more year always seemed like the likeliest outcome.

The Chargers will now embark on a search for a new coordinator, preferably one who can extract the best out of the ascending Herbert. 

Chargers’ Brandon Staley spotlights Justin Herbert, Trevor Lawrence

This will be must-see television.

As Wild Card Weekend quickly approaches, one matchup, in particular, tells the tale of two young franchise quarterbacks that have already made a name for themselves in the NFL: Chargers’ Justin Herbert and Jacksonville’s Trevor Lawrence.

The youthful signal-callers, who are both under 25, are two of the youngest players at the positions on the AFC playoff field. Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is only 27 years old and is now the veteran quarterback for the AFC teams in the postseason.

This matchup will be an opportunity for Herbert and Lawrence to showcase their abilities in primetime.

Herbert’s level of arm strength is unique and allows him to throw all over the field, though he might be missing star wide receiver Mike Williams, who is dealing with a back issue. Nevertheless, Herbert’s offense has been riddled with injuries throughout the season, so he is no stranger to adversity.

“I think that Justin’s whole life, he has performed well in these types of games, these types of environments,” Brandon Staley said. “His last season at Oregon, he did about all you could do, as a college player. He has always played his best when the stage is the biggest.

That is how his career has been in the NFL. In primetime, the big games he has had for the first three years, he has always risen to the occasion because that is the type of competitor that he is.”

Despite dealing with fractured rib cartilage for most of the season, Herbert finished the regular season second in passing yards (4,739), the third-highest completion percentage (68.2) and 25 touchdowns.

On the other side of the field will be Lawrence, who has the build of a quarterback. He’s athletic, tall, and can make plays out of the pocket. At the ripe age of 23, Lawrence had the huge responsibility of transforming the offense under head coach Doug Pederson’s scheme. As a result, he has evolved into the ultimate playmaker for the Jaguars.

“Just more experience; more time on task, more familiarity with their skill group. Their skill group has been intact the whole season, so he has chemistry with that skill group,” Staley said on how he has seen Lawrence develop for Jacksonville.

“You can tell all of those guys in the skill positions have really improved down the stretch, as well, and featuring what they do well. I think that they have done a good job playing to Trevor’s strengths as a football player. He is the same player that he has been his whole life. Coming out of Cartersville, Georgia, he has always been a really good distributor, a guy that is a play-maker, a guy that can play well in the clutch.”

Lawrence finished the season, completing 66.3% of his passes for 4,113 yards, 25 touchdowns, and eight interceptions.

Wild Card Weekend won’t disappoint, especially as Herbert and Lawrence go head-to-head in this AFC matchup. Get your popcorn ready.

Joe Lombardi speaks on how Chargers can find more offensive consistency

Keeping the unit out of three-and-out situations is crucial.

The Los Angeles Chargers have found a fair amount of success this season in quarterback Justin Herber’s third year under center. Nonetheless, there remains room for improvement, especially relative to the consistency that they are able to muster on offense week to week.

Offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi went in-depth on his unit’s ability to find their groove and stay in it in his comments to the media on Thursday. Keeping his unit out of three-and-out drives, he said, would be crucial to their success moving forward.

“The guys play hard every week,” Lombardi said. “But, you’ve all felt that, there’s just a spirit, sometimes, that gets into a group. There’s a little bit of, I don’t know if the momentum is real, but it sure feels like it’s real sometimes. Sometimes, you just feel like things are going your way. It’s easier to be excited and to bring that energy into the huddle, into the games. I never question our guys’ overall effort, but sometimes there’s just a little bit more hop in their step.

“Sometimes, you’re getting success early, and that helps. One play builds into the next. When you get on an early run and things are going, it feels like you’ve got that energy, and when you’re going three-and-out, it feels like you don’t. I definitely know what [Head Coach] Brandon [Staley] is talking about. Hopefully, we can keep having consistent drives. I think that everyone will feel that way.”

The Chargers are ninth in total yards per game (359.8), fourth in passing yards per game (268.2) and 13th in points per game (22.7). Despite having the third-worst rushing offense, averaging only 91.6 yards per game, they showed signs of improvement with a 192-rushing yard performance against the Rams last Sunday.

With elimination games starting in earnest next week, the Chargers will need to play their best football to make a push for a chance to win a Super Bowl title in February. If they can keep their offense in rhythm and find the consistency Lombardi talked about, they should have no issues being a hard out against the best teams that the AFC has to offer.

Where the Chargers rank statistically after Week 17

Statistically, here is where the Chargers stand on offense, defense and special teams entering the final week of the regular season.

The Chargers are 10-6 following a 31-10 victory over the Rams.

Now that we are nearing the end of the 2022 regular season, let’s see how the Bolts rank statistically compared to the rest of the NFL.

Here here is where L.A. stands.

Offense

Scoring: 22.7 points per game (13th)

Total offense: 359.8 yards per game (10th)

Passing offense: 268.2 yards per game (5th)

Rushing offense: 91.6 yards per game (30th)

Third down offense: 43.21% (8th)

Red zone offense: 52.63% (19th)

Defense

Scoring defense: 22.1 points per game (18th)

Total defense: 338.3 yards per game (19th)

Passing defense: 196.3 yards per game (6th)

Rushing defense: 142.1 yards per game (27th)

Sacks: 38 (T-12th)

Third down defense: 39.04% (16th)

Red zone defense: 52.27% (9th)

Special teams

Kickoff return: 19 yards per return (30th)

Punt return: 11.2 yards per return (4th)

Field goal conversion: 93.6% (3rd)

Punts inside the 20-yard line: 26 (T-7th)

Kickoff coverage: 317 yards allowed (4th)

Punt coverage: 58 yards allowed (1st)

Chargers’ running game gets rolling at right time

The Chargers’ running game showed some life in the victory over the Rams.

As the playoffs inch closer, the Chargers need to be sharp in all three phases of the game, and one area, in particular, is the offense which requires a balanced approach.

It had been the running game that was lackluster for most of the season. However, last Sunday, in the victory over the Rams, the Bolts broke through by running wild.

Los Angeles produced 192 yards on 31 attempts with two scores on Sunday, which was the second-highest rushing total of the season. 

“We knew we were capable. We were just trying to get back to it, which is not easy. Simple, but not easy,” running back Austin Ekeler said. 

“And then, guess what? We’re going to have to do it again. That’s going to start to, I guess, gives us that confidence, ‘OK, we’re starting to run the ball a little bit more.’ Give [Offensive Coordinator] Joe [Lombardi] that confidence in the run game to call more runs if we are able to continue to establish ourselves.”

Ekeler rushed for 122 yards and two touchdowns. Not only was his 72-yard touchdown run the longest of his career, but it was also the boost the ground game needed, as the offense had struggled to get blocking efficiency on the edge from tight ends and receivers.

“I think we have one more game with the Broncos coming up where it’s like, ‘Alright, let’s dominate the run game again.’ Then I think that opens up the playbook for us a lot more and makes us a little bit more of a dynamic offense when we are going into the first round of the playoffs,” Ekeler added. 

“Definitely trying to get that going because we know that Justin [Herbert] is going to come out there and do his thing. It’s like, ‘Okay, is the run game going to show up today or not?’ So, we have to make sure we are out there doing that.”

Even without Ekeler’s big touchdown, the Chargers would have averaged four yards per carry on Sunday. A balanced offense is a winning offense, and the Bolts are looking sharp enough through the air and on the ground to make a legitimate run in the playoffs. 

“I do think that it was the hardest we have played, [Sunday] on offense. I thought we finished our plays, run and pass, but particularly in the run game,” head coach Brandon Staley said.