Detailed Game Review – SD 33, PHI 30

Since I’m behind schedule with this, I’ll limit some of my comments on the offense.

One thing did hit me as I re-watched the game…what would people’s reaction have been if the Eagles lost this game to Peyton Manning and the Broncos? Would everyone rip the Eagles D for being so awful or would they praise the offense for making big plays and keeping it close? Clearly Philip Rivers isn’t Manning and the Chargers aren’t the Broncos, but the Chargers also aren’t the group they were under Norv Turner, annual underachievers that left their fans furious. The Norv Turner Watch took place about every year because of how bad they were at times. The group on Sunday played great. Yes, the Eagles were terrible at times, but to not give the Chargers some credit would be silly. That’s one of the best games I’ve ever seen Rivers play. Maybe that was an aberration, but it sure looks like he, Mike McCoy and Ken Whisenhunt can work well together with their passing attack.

I heard more than a few people talking about the Eagles offense and how it was down from Week 1. Really? They put up 30 points and 511 yards. Those are impressive totals. The big difference is that this week the big plays showed up. There was no need to run the ball over and over. Chip told us in the spring that he’s an equal opportunity coach. He’ll run or throw. The Chargers played the run. So he passed.

The Eagles failed to make a handful of plays that could have won the game. I’m not happy about that, but the fact they did it in the second game under Kelly and not the 10th year of Reid does give me satisfaction. We know that Kelly needs time to fix mistakes. He also needs to see the mistakes to know what to fix.

This loss would discourage me if the Eagles were a veteran team making a run at the postseason, but they’re a young team adjusting to new systems and new coaches. That’s not an excuse for the sloppy play, but I do think it had a lot to do with it. We’ll find out going forward. If Kelly is as good a coach as I think he is, the mistakes will start to go away.   

COACHING

The first thing Chip has to do is look in the mirror. Some rough moments for him.

The challenge on WR’s catch in late 1st Qtr was bad. While watching the game live, I got caught up in the emotion of the moment and wanted a challenge. Seems like Chip did as well. Wasn’t a good decision. Even with the catch, it was still 3rd down. You need to save challenges for more important plays.

Late in the game things got rocky. Chip could have used a timeout to keep Michael Vick in the game. Kelly said in his postgame PC he couldn’t do that, indicating he didn’t know the rules. Whether having Vick in the game for that play would have made a difference is something we’ll never know, but he is the team’s best QB.

Chip also ran a play before the 2-minute warning at the end of the game. He was being aggressive and wanted to attack, but waiting for after the break would have eaten up time or forced the Chargers to use their timeouts. I get his logic, but I’d say he was thinking more like an offensive coordinator than a head coach. He had to think about the defense and whether they could stop the Chargers. Having the clock be more of a factor might have helped.

Some question Chip using timeouts when the Chargers were already in FG range. He was simply extending the game, hoping the Eagles could get the ball back. Sure, it would have taken a miracle at that point, but you can’t get a miracle if you don’t force them to kick the ball back to you. That made total sense to me.

As for the coordinators and gameplans, the offense was terrific. No complaints.

The execution on defense was more of a problem than the plan, as far as I could tell. Davis tried just about everything. Nothing worked with any consistency.

OFFENSE

Good, but could have been great. Mistakes cost the team at least 3 TDs. When you’re in a shootout, you can’t settle for FGs or punt the ball away. You need TDs. The Eagles did put 30 points on the board and they have a lot to be happy about, but Kelly is trying to teach the players to be greedy. “Don’t let good enough be good enough.” Why be happy that you scored 30 when you should have scored 43 or more points?

Plays

* Ran vs 8-man fronts in the RZ on 2nd series. Got yds, but not TD. Liked the fact that Kelly was willing to stick with the run in the RZ even though he didn’t have the numbers advantage. You must run the ball down there.

* Vick lined up under C and ran very similar play as DJax’s TD from last week. This time the deep cross was open and Ertz made the grab.

* They did use the unbalanced line, but not as much.

MISC

* Opened the game throwing. Worked well so they stuck with it.

* Chip Kelly is using other WRs to stretch the D for DeSean. This is great. There were several plays where Riley Cooper ran a deep route and DJax crossed behind him. Cooper stretched the D and gave DJax room to work with over the middle. Reid used to do this with Pinky/TO on some plays. Use the lesser guy as the decoy and feed your star. Later, Reid used DJax as the decoy to open the middle for Celek, Maclin. That wasn’t nearly as much fun.

Players

QB 

VICK – Very good game. Could have been a phenomenal game. 24-37-428. 2 TDs, no INTs or lost fumbles. Vick had a clean pocket for most of the game and took advantage of it. He sat in there and threw lasers all over the field. He was deadly over the middle. He put passes on the money and let his guys pile up the RAC yards.

I loved some of his decision-making. He threw 2 passes away and both were smart. He had no one open. He didn’t force the ball into coverage. He didn’t wait to the last moment. He waited a reasonable amount and when pressured, got rid of the ball safely.

He ran the ball 6 times for 23 yards. Numbers should actually look better, but one fumble skews them down. Vick had a key scramble on the final drive that was smart. Protected  himself by getting out of bounds. Ran a couple of keepers in the 2nd half and got what he could, but avoided big hits. The TD was a simple play, but I’m glad Vick kept it and didn’t try to do anything cute. He had a wide open lane to the endzone. Took it. Smart game, in the air and  on the ground.

As for my complaints…the fumble. I’m not happy that it happened, but I can live with that. QBs will lose the ball when they try to stop their throwing motion. What I didn’t like was his reaction. The ball was headed out, but Vick was way too casual for me. Just last week we saw the defense pick up a ball that no Eagle paid attention to and run it back for a score. Vick should have hustled after that ball. Make sure it goes out.

My biggest complaint is the throw to Casey early on. Should have been an easy TD. The play worked. Vick was late in getting the ball off and the throw was low. Vick must make simple plays like that.

He also threw a poor pass to DeSean on the deep ball down the sideline. I said this on Twitter and several Vick supporters got ticked at me. That was a bad pass. Kelly said it afterward as well. Here’s the deal. DeSean lined up way out wide. He did this to get away from the FS. The Chargers were keeping Eric Weddle in the box a lot so that left a single S to help the CBs. The S played the middle of the field. By getting DeSean wide, that leaves a ton of ground for the S to cover. It basically creates single coverage for the CB. Vick is a veteran QB and knows that if the WR is tight to the sideline, the throw must be closer to the numbers. Put the ball inside, where the WR can adjust to it. Vick put the ball on the sideline. Could DJax still have made the catch? Possible, but the point is that Vick did make a bad throw. Move it inside 2 yards and that’s a great throw. And a TD.

There was another deep  ball to DeSean that was out in front of him. I don’t fault Vick on this. He moved outside the pocket and didn’t have a good angle to work with. He put that ball where DJax could make a play on it. The ball was maybe 6 inches too far in front. Can’t be mad about that.

I loved the TD pass to Cooper. Vick put the ball behind him, away from the DB. He gave Cooper a chance to make a play, but wasn’t forcing the ball into a dangerous situation. I want the QBs to give receivers a chance to make plays, especially in the RZ. I also like getting the ball to the big guy down there.

RB

SHADY – Odd game. Only 11-53 as a runner, but had a big game as a receiver, going 5-114. Numbers weren’t great as a runner, but that can be deceptive. The Chargers loaded the box, often with Eric Weddle. He was unaccounted for by scheme, Shady’s responsibility to get by him. This was true on several plays and Shady made Weddle several times, starting with the first run.

Great game as a receiver. Got away from Weddle on the big play. That was a short pass over the middle. Weddle dove and couldn’t make the stop. Then Shady was off to the races. Had screen play in RZ that got us down to the goal line. Caught pass on final drive and used pivot move to break outside and get out of bounds. Smart move.

Had a good block on Vick’s TD run.

B BROWN – Got carry on opening drive. Went outside. Good speed. Had a couple of RZ carries after Shady’s big pass play got the team down there. Wasn’t able to score, but pushed the pile and secured the ball. Didn’t play much, but there were fewer snaps to go around.

POLK – Didn’t see him on offense.

TE

CELEK – No catches and only had one pass come his way. Solid game as a blocker.

ERTZ – Missed block on early run to outside by Brown. His guy, Weddle, made the tackle. Poor technique. Ertz isn’t lazy. He just gets sloppy when he’s out in space and trying to block. He’ll get better when things slow down for him. Caught 2 passes for 58 yards. The long was 31 yds and that came on the play-action pass where Ertz ran a deep crossing route. Great job on 4th Qtr pass. Lined up behind Celek, but both split out. Had a hitch step at the release, which let Celek get separation and drive the DBs downfield. Zach then released into the flat. Wide open. Made the grab, added RAC yds.

CASEY – Limited snaps, but did have a chance for an impact play. Almost made a terrific TD catch early on. Ran a play-action pass and Casey was wide open to the left side. Vick put the ball low. Casey went down and almost got it. Some think he made the catch, but the ball did come free at one point after initial control. Based on the new rules, that’s not a catch.

IGWENAGU – DNP

WR

D JACKSON – Great game. 9-193-1. Career high in catches. 2nd best game for yards. Lined up very wide on some plays. That got him away from FS and put the CB in single coverage. Got his TD like this and almost had a couple of others. Opened 2nd half with deep ball. A bit out in front, but couldn’t make the grab. Inches away from a TD. I love the fact that Jackson is being used as such a weapon by the coaches. They feed him the ball short, medium and deep. He’s making plays after the catch. He’s so much more than just a field-stretcher. Terrific play on the final drive. Caught shallow cross. Used speed to get by DB, turn upfield. Then tip-toed up sideline to get the 1st down. Great balance and agility on that sideline move. I didn’t think he had a chance to get the 1st down, but he sure did.

Blocked well. Great to see him as such an active part of the offense, whether he’s got the ball or not.

Made one critical mistake. Called for penalty on Vick’s TD run. DB pushed Jackson as the play ended. DJax retaliated and got a flag. That forced the Eagles to kick off from the 20 and turned out to be a crucial play in the game. I’m thrilled with DeSean’s play this year, but he’s got to let go of the knucklehead stuff like this. Let the guy push you. Be smart.

AVANT – Used good move to get open on route in early 2nd half and move the chains on 3rd down. Caught pass over deep middle in the 4th. Nice gain. Had some room to run, but D closed to him in a hurry and all I could think was “Get down, Jason!” He scares me when he tries to do too much. Finished the game 4-39.

COOPER – Blocked pursuing DB on Shady’s long pass play. Love that. Drives me nuts when blockers always look downfield and the runner/receiver is then caught from behind. Riley turned back and picked off a tackler. Smart. 2-23-1 as a receiver. Vick hit him with 3rd Qtr pass up high. Riley used his size to make the catch. Also had the TD. Both catches came when Riley wasn’t “open”. Vick seems to trust throwing the ball to him when he’s covered. Give the big guy a chance.

D JOHNSON – Quiet game.

MAEHL – Quiet game.

OL

The OL did a terrific job in pass protection. Vick had a very clean pocket for most of the game. Kudos to the fellas up front for keeping Vick so clean. The run game was more complicated. The Chargers had more defenders than blockers in the box on a lot of plays. The OL did what they could, but it is tough to win a numbers game like that. There is almost always a free defender.

PETERS – Got beaten to inside by DE on opening drive. Guy hit Vick as he threw. Peters had him blocked for a second, but couldn’t sustain it. Very clean game aside from that play.

MATHIS – Quick off the ball on run plays. Helped get flow going. Couldn’t sustain block on DL on pass play on final drive. That guy hit Vick and forced him out of the game for a play. Generally was very good.

KELCE – Pulled to his left and had terrific block of ILB on run up the middle. Good block late in the half. Came on RB screen. Excellent in pass pro.

HERREMANS – Pretty good game, but the sloppiest of the blockers. Beaten by Wynn for sack. Not able to block NT on run to the left late in the half. Play had big potential. Pulled on power play in 3rd Qtr, but missed block of ILB. Guy took a hard inside slant to shoot a gap and got Shady. That sounds bad, but kept his guy blocked for most of the game. I paid a lot of attention to him in the replay.

JOHNSON – Got driven back to Vick on pass play at the end of the 1st half. That forced an incompletion by Vick on 3rd down. Got moved back by Freeney a couple of times, but wasn’t overly bad on those. Gave ground, but didn’t get pushed back to Vick. Was selling out to protect the edge and left himself vulnerable to power rushes. Freeney didn’t get by him much that I saw. Had a critical penalty that wiped out a TD. Was called for not being on the LOS on a play where DJax caught a long TD. Johnson was warned about lining up too far off the ball, but was slow to adjust. Costly error.

BARBRE – DNP

TOBIN – DNP

VANDERVELDE – DNP

KELLY – DNP

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DEFENSE

The Eagles gave up 539 yards and 33 points. This was an ugly performance. There were multiple reasons for the problems. Right now everyone is focused on the Safety position, but there were issues beyond just that. I think you’re making a mistake if you try to pin this game on one player or position.

Let’s start up front. The pass rush was disappointing. They only sacked Philip Rivers once and didn’t hit him nearly enough. We do have to give some credit to the Chargers. We’re used to Rivers playing in Norv Turner’s offense, which means throwing the ball downfield. Things were very different under Mike McCoy. The top 3 pass catchers were Antonio Gates, Danny Woodhead and Eddie Royal…the TE, RB and slot receiver. Many of those were short, quick throws.

Still, the rush wasn’t good enough. Watching the game, I was mad at Bill Davis for not using enough 4-2-5 looks. Upon re-watching it, Davis did give that look plenty of times. The Chargers blocked well and Rivers got the ball out quickly. Not enough Eagles players were winning the 1-on-1 battles.

Coverage obviously was a major issue. There were blown coverages too often. The Chargers used a lot of bunch sets and Eagles were picked off by each other a few times. This will get cleaned up by the coaching staff, but it was a problem on Sunday. There were some plays where guys just didn’t cover the right player. There were other plays where individuals did a poor job in coverage. There were also a few plays where there was tight coverage, but Rivers put the ball on the money and all you could do was shake your head.

One of the big problems was Mychal Kendricks on Gates. Antonio is a crafty veteran as well as a good athlete. He used good fakes and quick moves to get away from Kendricks. Gates took MK to school in a big way. That will happen to young players when going against veterans. There were a couple of plays where Kendricks was on the ground because Gates got the best of him. And the Eagles did mix things up. Kendricks tried to press/jam Gates. He played off. Gates found a way to get open. The coaches tried other players on Gates, but no one had much success.

The tackling was good in the opener, but a mess on Sunday. The Chargers got plenty of yards due to defenders simply missing the runner/receiver.

There is no question that the Eagles simply lack ideal talent on defense. You could see the physical limitations of the DBs. The frustrating part is that Kendricks and the DL do have talent, but didn’t play well enough.

As far as coaching goes, I do give Davis credit for trying different things. He used the 3-4, 3-3-5 and 4-2-5. There were even a couple of 4-3 looks. The DL stunted at times. Sopoaga would loop outside with the DE slanting inside. It looked like over and under fronts were mixed in. He blitzed up the middle. He blitzed off the edge. He had OLBs line up on slot receivers. Sometimes they would blitz, sometimes they would drop. Nothing worked with any consistency. I’ll share thoughts on solutions in a later post. For now, let’s focus on what did happen.

I haven’t had a chance to check the All-22 yet so it is tough to say much about defensive coverages and adjustments. I thought Davis tried a lot of different things. The problem is that nothing worked well consistently.

One other issue must be discussed. Penalties. There were crushing penalties on Williams and Chung that kept drives going. 3rd down stops were negated by stupidity. I don’t mind a DB being aggressive and grabbing some jersey, but you cannot get a handful of jersey and hold it for 5 seconds. That’s just dumb.

PLAYS

* On the 3rd play of the game, SD had 2 TEs, RB and FB. Only 1 WR. For some reason, the defense stayed in Cover 2. That meant 8 blockers (5 OL + 2 TEs + FB) vs 7 defenders. They ran to the right for 8 yds. Someone has to make an adjustment call on that.

* SD ran play-action pass from simple I-left formation. Looked like ILBs were confused on who had the RB and who had the TE. Woodhead caught a short pass and turned it into a nice gain.

* Opened the 2nd Qtr with a 4-3 look.

* On the first Chargers TD, there were a couple of receivers to the right side. Both DBs played off and then were in each other’s way as they went into coverage. When DBs are to the same side, they normally line up at different depths to avoid pick plays like that. Nate and Hughes were the DBs. Not sure who was at fault. I’m sure most will want to blame Nate, but they would just be guessing.

On a later play, Cary Williams and Earl Wolff had a similar issue, but the pass was incomplete.

* Went with 4-3 look in the 2nd Qtr, but walked Barwin out over slot. 72-97-91-58 was the line.

* TD in the early 3rd Qtr. Looked like the Eagles were in Cover 3. Cary Williams played man coverage and stuck with his WR. That left a zone completely vacated and that’s where Eddie Royal ended up. Nate started to break that way, but Cary was in his way and picked him off. Also, Barwin didn’t have proper depth. He should have gotten deeper to serve as underneath defender for that route. Instead, he was focused on player running a shallow route. Ryans was also on that guy and it was 3rd/10. Barwin should have known to be deeper. These are the kind of coverage mistakes that will happen as players learn a new scheme and each other. Different coaches teach different versions of coverage, even basic zones. The players must be on the same page for them to work.

PLAYERS

DL

COX – Helped on Barwin’s sack by driving the RG back into Rivers. Great hustle on the next play, a screen pass. Got outside and helped tackle Woodhead. Was lined up as the NT on run play late in the half. Held ground vs double team and that enabled Trent to hit Mathews and knock the ball loose. Blew up 3rd Qtr run. Worked to inside of blocker and then grabbed the RB as he tried to go by. Good awareness, good hands. No gain. C tried to reach block him on outside run and Cox just drove him into the backfield. Made the RB stay deep, wide. Drove the C back to Rivers on pass play late in the 3rd Qtr. Beat Fluker with inside move and Rivers got rid of the ball quickly. Looped inside on 3rd/10 play in the 4th Qtr and forced Rivers to throw the ball to underneath receiver. That led to FG.

SOPOAGA – Blah game. Didn’t get push on pass plays. Wasn’t difference maker vs the run. Did make one tackle while hustling down the LOS in pursuit.

THORNTON – Had some good moments. Was disruptive at times, on both run and pass plays. Credited with 2 tackles. Disrupted a 1st Qtr run by driving his OL back and then grabbing the RB as he went wide. Didn’t make the tackle, but slowed the RB and led to TFL. Stuffed a 3rd Qtr run play to right side by sliding over from LDE. Gave up a couple of yds, but made a strong tackle. Shed block of C and stuffed inside run in the mid-4th. Got blocked on late 3rd/1 run. Spun off the block and made the tackle, but gave up 1.5 yds.

CURRY – DNP.

GEATHERS – Backup LDE. Played some at DT. Awkward. Got pushed to inside on 4th Qtr run play. Did not stand out to me at all.

LOGAN – Backup RDE. Played some DT as well. Tackled Woodhead on 4th Qtr run. Got him as Danny started upfield. Still gave up 5 yds. Failed to do much as a pass rusher.

SQUARE – Backup NT. Struggled to get pass rush early. Got moved 3 yds off the ball by double-team on early 2nd Qtr run. Got moved off the ball on the next play and that created a big running lane right up the middle. Uses his hands well. Love his effort. Just doesn’t have the size/athleticism combo that I like.

OLB

COLE – Good game. Better than I expected after watching it live. Coaches lined Trent up over the slot receiver on several plays and had him fly to the backfield at the snap. WR Eddie Royal tried to block Trent on a run play. Trent just pushed him to the ground. After the play Trent was talking to him. I’m sure he was like “Ed, don’t you know big people beat up little people?” Flew off the edge, unblocked, on pass play and dove for Rivers. Philip fired the ball to the flat, but the pass was off target. Made good stop on run play that came to his side. Got off block of OL and tripped up the runner. Drew holding call on Dunlap on the next play. Exploded off the ball and drove King back. Got held as he tried to get the RB. Beat Dunlap late in the half and put Rivers on the ground, but only after the pass was gone. On the next play, Trent got held by King, but fought through that and forced a Mathews fumble. Blew by the LG and was in the backfield instantly, but Rivers dumped the ball to his RB for a short gain. Trent hustled, helped make the tackle. Dunlap had a FS penalty when getting ready to block Trent on pass play. Beat Dunlap cleanly on pass play and hit Rivers as he threw. Pass fell incomplete. Inches away from knocking the ball loose for a strip sack. Fell to ground after using spin move on final drive. Dove for Rivers feet, but couldn’t hang on. Would have been huge play.

BARWIN – Had a tremendous play on the opening drive. Attacked the RT on a pass play. Hit him while he was off balance and knocked the RT to the ground. Barwin then got to Rivers for the sack. Impressive burst, power on the play. Had TFL on run to his side in the late 1st Qtr. Ced blew up the play and Barwin was able to get off TE’s block and make the stop. Blew by Fluker on 2nd Qtr pass play and forced quick throw. Made tackle of Brown after short dump off pass in the late 3rd. Missed tackle of Woodhead in the flat after short pass. Happened on 3rd/4 on final drive and Danny got enough to keep the drive alive. Got pressure in the 4th Qtr on a couple of plays, but was unable to get to Rivers on those critical drives. Credited with 6 solo tackles, sack and TFL.
GRAHAM – Got on the field at ROLB in the 1st Qtr. Played DE and LB. Didn’t get used as much as I wanted, but also didn’t impress when he was on the field. Had pass rush opportunities and just struggled to get into the backfield.

ILB

KENDRICKS – Bad game. Mis-read run play on opening drive. Went to wrong gap (for no reason) and run went where he’d been. Struggled with Antonio Gates. Tried to jam him on 1st Qtr pass play and didn’t get a clean blow. Gates broke hard to the outside and was wide open for easy catch. Made sloppy tackle of Mathews on run that came right at him. Reached for the RB instead of attacking him. Overran run on next play. Came right to him, but had started to flow with the OL. Made tackle, but gave up too many yds. Missed easy tackle of Woodhead that should have been for loss. Only gave up a couple of yds, but still bad. Missed easy tackle of Gates after short catch. That would have left SD in 3rd/long, but instead they got a 1st down. Recovered fumble that Cole knocked loose late in the half. Got to blitz off the edge in the early 3rd, but Rivers was able to move up in the pocket. Tripped up RB in the 3rd Qtr and held him to short gain. Good hustle on an outside run to make that play. Gave up 6-yd completion to Gates on 3rd/4. Coverage wasn’t bad, but needed to be better. Gates got just enough separation to give Rivers a target. Made a good 3rd down tackle of WR Brown after short catch on crossing route. Forced a FG. Tried to cover Gates on 3rd/3. Bit hard inside and Gates gave him a shove. That got MK off balance and Gates was wide open for short catch. Got the 1st down.

RYANS – Good game. Made a nice play on early screen. Read the play and got a hand on Woodhead, but wasn’t able to tackle him. MK cleaned up, but only after Ryans had slowed the RB down. Blew up an early inside run by being partient, reading the play and then making a good tackle. Made physical open field tackle of Woodhead after Kendricks miss. Pulled the helmet off Danny in the process of wrestling him to the ground. No penalty. Had big hit on Floyd after catch of the middle. Knocked him out of the game. Floyd left on stretcher, but luckily turned out to be okay. That was the opening play of the 2nd half. Helped stuff a run in the late 3rd Qtr. Knocked OL out of his way and got in on the tackle. Can be such a physical player at times. Tackled Royal after WR screen in the late 4th. Had a chance to make the tackle on Royal’s WR screen TD late in the game but whiffed. Took a false step on the fake at the beginning of the play and that delayed him getting outside to make the tackle. Credited with 9 total tackles (6 solo).

MATTHEWS – Played some OLB. First saw him late in the 2nd Qtr. RB came to his side, but cut up the field before he got near Casey. Hustled downfield on pass play and recovered the ball that Boykin knocked loose from Gates. Got in on tackle on WR screen in the 4th Qtr. Good motor, but nothing special as edge rusher.

KNOTT – Didn’t see him on defense.

S

ALLEN – Bad game. Got facemask penalty on first play, a run to the outside. Nate didn’t take a great angle on the play and then didn’t explode through the runner. Instead reached for him and got a stiff arm. Responded by grabbing the facemask. Came up and made solid tackle on next play, a pass over the middle. Just looked slow in breaking on the ball so the receiver had time to make the grab. Hurt himself when he tried to hit Gates, but instead got Chung. Only missed a few plays. Had man coverage on Danny Woodhead on 3rd/short at the end of the 1st Qtr. Was slow to get wide and Rivers got the ball to Danny for a short catch and 1st down. Gave up TD in early 2nd Qtr when he and other DB were in each other’s way and Royal was wide open for short pass. Royal then got into the endzone before Nate could get there. Came up and tackled Royal after catch over the middle in mid-4th. King Dunlap got away with holding Nate on Royal’s screen TD late in the game. Gave up completion to Gates for 15 yds to open the final drive. Next play missed easy open field tackle of Gates and gave up 20 yds.

CHUNG – Not a good game. Tried to tackle Gates by diving for his feet, but whiffed and Gates almost scored TD on that play. Flew up the field on run play in the early 3rd Qtr and put Mathews down after short gain. Came up quickly vs 3rd Qtr run play and helped tackle Brown on inside run. Pile still got moved a few yds. Made a critical mistake in the late 3rd. Grabbed jersey of receiver trying to release and was called for holding. D actually stopped the Chargers on that play, making the penalty a back-breaker. Blitzed from the slot on both run and pass plays. Tried to cover Royal in the slot on key 3rd down in the early 4th. Got beat and gave up completion. Then made sloppy tackle attempt and missed. Had good coverage on Royal on next play, a pass into the endzone. Rivers just threw the ball away.

WOLFF – Played quite a bit. Came in late in the 1st Qtr. Helped on TFL on first play. Quick to get involved in a run to his side. Love that. Be active and aggressive. Came up and hit Floyd hard after catch in front of him. Good break on the ball. Sure tackle. Looked like he was slow to get over and cover Floyd on intermediate pass. Williams played off and seemed to expect S help from the inside. Rivers had wide open target for big gain. Looked lost while trying to cover Gates on crossing route. That was the fumble in the RZ play. Flew up on 3rd Qtr run play and hit the RB in the backfield. Slung him to the ground and gave up 3 yds. Flew upfield on the next play, a run, and took on the FB. Earl got knocked on his butt, but helped to disrupt the play. Only minimal gain. Tackled Royal after Chung missed him on pass play. Single-covered Gates on pass play in the 4th Qtr. Helped break up the play. Gates was bobbling the ball anyway, but Earl made sure he didn’t make the catch. Took poor angle to the ball on Royal’s WR screen for TD. Cut under the official and that was too flat an angle. Had chance to tackle Royal but right at the goal line. Missed him. Wolff impressed me overall. Love his tackling.

CB

FLETCHER – DNP

WILLIAMS – Not his best day. Got off to a rough start. On the 2nd drive, Cary missed an easy tackle on RB Ryan Mathews. Did make solid stop vs Mathews on short pass in the flat to open the 2nd Qtr. Made a beautiful leaping PBU on pass in the early 2nd Qtr, but drew flag. Had a handful of jersey for much of the play. Grabbed jersey on other plays. If they’re calling it, you have to stop doing it. Called for 3 PIs. 2 were definitely legit. Didn’t see good replay on the other one. Gave up a lot of completions. Sometimes had good coverage, but other times was a step or two away. Pressed plenty, but didn’t go bump ‘n run. Not sure why he wasn’t jamming receivers more at the line. Made good tackle of Gates on 3rd/4 to keep him short of the sticks, but penalty on Chung wiped out the play.

HUGHES – Lined up in slot vs Floyd and got beat to the outside for good gain late in the 1st half. Coverage wasn’t bad, but Floyd is so much bigger and the throw was terrific.

BOYKIN – Got the start outside. Pretty good game. Had air tight coverage on WR on 1st Qtr pass play, but Rivers still threw the ball and the guy made the catch. Don’t know how Boykin didn’t hit the ball. His arm was in the receiver’s arms. Great play by QB/WR. Blitzed off the right side on 3rd down at the end of the 1st Qtr. Hit Rivers just as the ball left. Could have been a huge play, but the pass got out safely. Had tight man coverage on Brown on deep ball in the mid-2nd. Pass was incomplete. Made a huge play late in the half when he hustled in pursuit of Gates. Instead of just making the tackle, BB saw the ball swinging and knocked it loose from behind. That prevented either a TD or FG since it was in the RZ. Beaten by Royal on 3rd/7 in the early 2nd half. Boykin seemed to be playing the sticks, thinking Royal would go for the 1st down. Royal turned upfield and got cleanly away Boykin. Royal then made a spectacular catch for a gain of 23. Boykin guessed wrong. Ugh. Broke up 3rd/5 pass to Brown that actually a downfield throw. Came from slot and BB had tight coverage. Gave up short catch to Brown in the late 3rd, but once again had tight coverage. Gave up intermediate completion to Allen on 3rd/7 play in the early 4th Qtr. Critical down. Boykin was banged up on the play and went out, but returned quickly.

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ST’s

JONES – 3 punts. 44.7 average. 1 inside the 20.

HENERY – 3 of 4 on FGs. Hit from 48,. 44 and 32. Missed a kick before the half that would have tied the game. Needs to hit that. Had a chance to make a monster play in the game after the odd kickoff. The ball was fumbled and came right to him, but Henery couldn’t get on the ball. Ugh.

– MISC –

KOR – Damaris Johnson returned 7 KOs. Brought the ball out and averaged 26.6 per KOR. Returns were mostly designed to cross the field. Johnson had moments where you thought he might break loose, but always got stopped. Long return was 33.

PR – Only made them punt once. No return. Ugh.

* The Kickoff…had to kick from the 20-yd line due to DeSean’s penalty. Colt hit the returner and knocked the ball loose. It was right there for Henery to get. He tried to fall on the ball, but couldn’t secure it and it kept going. Jake Knott tried to fall on it, but couldn’t get it. The ball rolled more than 20 yards and was finally recovered at the PHI 39-yd line. Great field position for an offense that didn’t exactly need it.

* Colt Anderson had a strong game. Got blocked in the back on early KO. Made tackle on punt in early 2nd Qtr.

* Matthews made tackle on PR late in the 1st half.

* Chung made good tackle on KO in mid-3rd.

* Wolff made tackle on final KO.

GAMEBOOK

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