Chargers’ causes for concern vs. Jaguars in Wild Card round
Los Angeles is heading to Jacksonville to seek revenge and survival after being defeated 38-10 by the Jaguars in Week 3. For the Chargers to remain in the AFC playoff bracket they will need to win.
Here are four reasons to be nervous about the Bolts’ chances heading into Saturday’s contest.
Hurry up
Jamaree Salyer has performed admirably as Rashawn’s replacement. Still, as his rookie season has gone on, we’ve seen why NFL teams let him fall to the sixth round and why many of them, including the Chargers, saw him as a professional guard despite success at tackle for Georgia. Speed is all that’s needed here. Salyer struggles against speedier rushers because of subpar length (his arms measure 33 ⅝” at the combine, ⅜” shorter than Zion Johnson’s). He’s built to be a power player, but the disadvantage of optimizing in such a fashion is that rushers can run around you if you can’t reach out to stop them, and Salyer lacks that ability. On the other side, Jacksonville’s Josh Allen and Travon Walker make up one of the more athletic pass-rusher duos in the league. Salyer has the benefit of having gone up against Walker in practice at Georgia, but it’ll have to be a gem from the rookie if the Chargers are going to keep Justin Herbert clean.
Mike Williams Issue
As of Wednesday, Williams has not practiced after suffering a back contusion in Sunday’s game with the Broncos, which is beginning to cloud his status for Saturday. Brandon Staley stated that Williams was to practice before he plays on Sunday. There’s now one practice left on Thursday, and we’ll see what his participation status is. Williams is expected to be limited on Saturday, regardless. Williams’s ability to play 50- or 60% is more impressive than that of some other veterans, but Williams has failed to make the most of his opportunities earlier in the season. This Chargers offense struggles mightily without Williams at his best because there’s nobody else on the roster who threatens opposing secondaries down the field. Like, at all. Williams’ presence, even if in name only, opens up the offense underneath, where Joe Lombardi wants his offense to do most of its damage. If he can’t go, Jacksonville can congest the shallow areas of the field even more than normal, and Justin Herbert will have to bail LA out.
Boat race
This is the only playoff game this week that pits two 4,000-yard passers against one another – Herbert has 4,739 on the season, while Trevor Lawrence finished the regular season with 4,113. In some ways, Lawrence profiles like the “next” Herbert, a funny concept considering LA’s quarterback is only in his third NFL season. The similarities are there, though: Lawrence is a big-armed signal-caller who has all the tools he needed in his rookie season. He also showed flashes of brilliance as an NFL sophomore. This Jaguars team scored 38 points in Week 3 against the Chargers defense. Yes, LA has changed since then. Still, I think it’s safe to assume that this game will be closer to a shootout than anything else. The Chargers have scored 28 points or less four times against the Broncos, Browns, Rams and Texans this season. If the defense doesn’t show up on Saturday, do we trust this team to keep pace?
Defensive questions
Jacksonville isn’t built to launch the ball downfield, which is where the Chargers have struggled for the most part this season. They are, however, built to expose the holes in LA’s run defense on the second level. Brandon Staley will not change from the lighter boxes at the front. This raises the question about how they stop the run. Drue Tranquill, Kenneth Murray Jr., and even Derwin James have had issues diagnosing the run when they haven’t been kept clean. So, how do you keep them cleaner other than asking the defensive line to…play better?
Deeper in the defense, rotating Ja’Sir Taylor in for Asante Samuel Jr. on run looks hasn’t yielded results despite Taylor being the bigger body. Samuel has been less confident since Taylor began rotating in, which partially contributed to Michael Davis dominating the secondary. Samuel can be kept on the field for full-time, but this may compromise some run defense benefits. You can also try to get his confidence back with a strong first quarter. You could also rotate Taylor in, which will stop the run faster but increase the chance that Doug Pederson plans up the shots at the sixth-round rookie.
There are many questions to answer, and more than usual. How did the Nasir-Alohi Gilman Split go? How much can Kyle Van Noy be moved around while Joey Bosa is still being slowed down by groin surgery. These are all questions that you should not ask during the playoffs. It is best for your team to have an identity now. One they can trust. Right now, it just doesn’t feel like LA has that. Perhaps Brandon Staley will come out with the best strategy of the season. But that might seem like a big ask.