{"id":146941,"date":"2023-09-18T11:00:55","date_gmt":"2023-09-18T15:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=146941"},"modified":"2023-09-18T00:11:14","modified_gmt":"2023-09-18T04:11:14","slug":"brandon-staley-los-angeles-chargers-trending-in-wrong-direction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2023\/09\/18\/brandon-staley-los-angeles-chargers-trending-in-wrong-direction\/","title":{"rendered":"Brandon Staley, Los Angeles Chargers Trending in Wrong Direction"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Normally an 0-2 start shouldn\u2019t necessarily be cause for panic, but given the circumstances, Chargers fans definitely have reason to be concerned at this point. Losing to a healthy Tua Tagovailoa and the Miami Dolphins in a shootout was one thing, but losing in overtime to the Tennessee Titans despite passing for 300 yards with zero touchdowns? Despite all the attempts to change things this off-season, not enough appears to have changed, and they almost look as if they still haven\u2019t recovered from the Wildcard loss in January. The team is trending in the wrong direction, and unless Brandon Staley turns things around, this will likely be his final season as head coach.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">-Justin Herbert threw for over 300 yards for 2 TDs, 0 INTs<br \/>-The defense sacked Ryan Tannehill 5 times<br \/>-Derrick Henry didn\u2019t break 100 yards rushing<\/p>\n<p>And the Chargers still lose.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Jarrett Bailey (@JBaileyNFL) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JBaileyNFL\/status\/1703501493565796761?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">September 17, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>Brandon Staley, Chargers Trending in Wrong Direction<\/h2>\n<h3>Defensive-Minded?<\/h3>\n<p>This was addressed somewhat <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2023\/09\/11\/los-angeles-chargers-defense-week-1-loss\/\" target=\"_self\">last week, but the Chargers defense<\/a> has been downright inept at times over the first two games. The defensive line has fared a bit better in Week 2, as they got five sacks on Ryan Tannehill on Sunday. But the linebacker corps and secondary have been a mess. They allowed 450+ passing yards from Tagovailoa in Week 1 and then allowed Ryan Tannehill to go 20-for-24 in Week 2 (when he <i>did <\/i>have time to throw) after having thrown three interceptions the previous week.<\/p>\n<p>The issue is that, particularly with regard to Week 1, there are no excuses at this point. The defense was entirely healthy in Week 1, and the only guy they were missing this week was Eric Kendricks. And yet this defense continues to give up <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/arjunmenon100\/status\/1702372754299687341\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">explosive plays<\/a> in particular \u2013 and they have also been more undisciplined and sloppy. Last week there was the hilariously bad J.C. Jackson pass interference that gave the Dolphins an easy three points \u2013 and this week, the Chargers had three penalties on third downs, two of which ruined chances to end drives.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s not forget that Staley is supposed to be a defensive-minded coach. However, outside of some improvements in 2022, we have not really seen the fruits of this very often. And now, with a healthy and supposedly loaded roster, the defense looks worse than ever.<\/p>\n<h3>No Easy Fix<\/h3>\n<p>The offense isn\u2019t entirely blameless in the Week 2 loss, as Kellen Moore kept trying to establish the run when it wasn\u2019t working due to the Titans run defense being much stouter (and also Austin Ekeler being out). There have also been issues with the right side of the offensive line folding on third downs and critical plays. But the offense has done enough in both weeks \u2013 Week 1 more so \u2013 that on paper, they should have won. The defense gets the vast majority of the blame for both losses.<\/p>\n<p>The problem is, aside from J.C. Jackson (who has been in and out of the lineup), there\u2019s not really one single player or issue you can point to easily fix things. Aside from the defensive line, as mentioned before, they just seem lost as a unit. Whether they\u2019re checked out mentally or are trying too hard and being unfocused as a result, something is just critically <i>wrong <\/i>here. And there is no easy fix when it\u2019s a unit issue and not an individual one. Staley \u2013 and defensive coordinator Derrick Ansley \u2013 will have to find a way to get them more disciplined and focused, and\/or tweak the scheme to compensate.<\/p>\n<h3>Staley\u2019s Seat Growing Hotter<\/h3>\n<p>Aside from the failures of defensive players, eyes are going to be looking to Brandon Staley as well as someone to blame \u2013 after all, as mentioned earlier, he is supposed to be a defensive-minded coach. And he was already on the hot seat going into the season. If the Chargers are unable to turn the ship around and miss the playoffs, Staley is gone for sure.<\/p>\n<p>The question is how soon this would happen. There have been some wondering if the Chargers would fire Staley during the bye week to try to make a desperate in-season correction to attempt to save the season. Historically, that has not been Dean Spanos\u2019 M.O., although it did happen with Kevin Gilbride in 1998. Still, matters would have to be pretty bad for that to happen. If they end up starting 0-4 and\/or Staley loses the locker room, it could happen. But if not, the earliest this could happen would be if\/when the Chargers get eliminated from the playoffs.<\/p>\n<h3>In Conclusion<\/h3>\n<p>It seems wild to be talking about such eventualities already after only two games. But with a team that was supposed to be a playoff contender and an upgrade at offensive coordinator, losses of such a nature are going to be prone to make the vultures begin to circle. The Chargers shouldn\u2019t have lost after scoring 34, and they shouldn\u2019t have lost to the Titans, period. The question is what, if anything, Staley will do about this \u2013 and if that fails, how soon he\u2019ll find himself visiting the unemployment office.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Main Photo: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After an 0-2 start defined heavily by very poor pass defense, Brandon Staley could already be in hot water if he doesn&#8217;t right the ship.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2355,"featured_media":146944,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[54,18],"tags":[7430,7642],"class_list":["post-146941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editorials","category-chargers","tag-brandon-staley","tag-chargers-featured"],"modified_by":"Will Noltie, Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2355"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146941"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146941\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}