In most ways, the Los Angeles Chargers haven’t tried to obfuscate who they want to be week in and week out under head coach Jim Harbaugh, from hiring Greg Roman to drafting Joe Alt over Malik Nabers and opting to keep both Khalil Mack and Joey Bosa over either Keenan Allen and Mike Williams.
This team is being built and will play from the trenches outward. Their Week 6 opponent, the Denver Broncos, (and everyone else) already knows this.
Chargers Are A Run First, Run Second Old School Offense
“It’s run first, run second, and quick pass game,” defensive coordinator Vance Joseph said. “It’s an old-school offensive football team.”
The question is can they stop this sort of offensive attack? That has been the difference between the two games the Chargers have won and the two that they have lost.
In the first week, they rushed for 176 yards, then 219 the next week. But when they were faced with better defenses the offense ground to a halt, the Pittsburgh Steelers and Kansas City Chiefs adjusted well in the second halves of their respective games. The Chargers managed a combined 116 yards.
This was done by limiting explosive runs by JK Dobbins. In those early games, he broke runs for over 15 yards four times, including gains of 36, 61, and 43 yards. Since then he has been limited to just two carries of ten yards, 13 and 15 yard carries.
While the Chiefs and the Steelers are both good defenses the Broncos will be the best one they have faced so far. They are third in rushing success rate allowed at 33.9 percent.
The Chargers don’t have a second pitch to throw when their running game is contained. And according to Joseph, they are predictable
“(Herbert is) not seeing shell coverages or simulated pressures on first and second down because it’s a heavy run (offense), so it cleans his reads for him,” Joseph said. “It’s not what we’ve seen from this offense (before).”
This points out a missed opportunity to catch defenses unawares. If they are selling out to the run, Herbert’s passing options open up. This is where they could change up their run first, run second tendency to throw the ball early in the set of downs.
And the numbers have proven this to be a good approach. When throwing the ball on first down the Chargers have been the 8th best team in the league by success rate. When running they are 23rd.
