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On Sunday, Jordan Love became the latest quarterback to throw for 300 yards on the Los Angeles Chargers.
Love set a career high with 322 passing yards. It was his first time eclipsing 300 yards in his NFL career. The Chargers have now played 10 games. They have allowed a 300-yard passer in half of those. They have allowed the most passing yards in the league through 11 weeks, including the eight teams that have played one more game than the Chargers. They are allowing the most passing yards per game at 291.6. No other team is above 271 per game. They are 30th in defensive EPA per dropback, according to TruMedia.
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Something must change for the Chargers in pass defense. That much is evident.
The change will not be at play caller, which head coach Brandon Staley made abundantly clear Sunday night after a 23-20 loss at Lambeau Field. Staley added that he has “full confidence in our way of playing,” as well as “the way that we teach and the way that we scheme.”
“I know we give ourselves a chance to win every single week with the game plans that we have,” Staley said Sunday night. And he expanded on that Monday, saying, “I don’t think structurally there needs to be a change.”
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Defensive issues of Brandon Staley era encapsulated in Chargers' loss to Packers
What is left, then, is personnel. And Staley said Monday that the “adjustments” to his pass defense moving forward will be targeted there — who is playing on the back end and where those players are playing.
“Just getting the right combination of players out there that will execute consistently,” Staley said.
The first of those “adjustments” was made Sunday in Green Bay. Safety Derwin James Jr. played the majority of his snaps as the Chargers’ slot defender, which Staley calls the Star position. James was at Star for 39 of his 74 defensive snaps, including penalties, according to TruMedia — the most snaps he has played there since Week 2 of 2021. In that game, Staley’s second game as Chargers head coach, James was forced into the Star role because of an injury to Chris Harris Jr.
This is not injury related. This is, instead, Staley trying to find the best way to deploy James and, in turn, the rest of his defensive backs.
Previously this season, the package with James at Star — which the Chargers call their big nickel package — was a changeup Staley deployed. It allows James to play closer to the line of scrimmage, where he can utilize different aspects of his skill set more effectively. He can blitz off the edge from those alignments, including with better disguise. He can play press coverage on tight ends and receivers from those alignments. It is much more difficult for James to play this way when he is aligned as a safety in a two-high shell.
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And yet it was not a package the Chargers majored in. Staley preferred to use it only in select situations. Opposing offenses still had to prepare for it. And then on game day, opposing quarterbacks had to identify where James was aligning on a snap-to-snap basis. More processing both pre- and post-snap, which is a staple of the stress Staley wants to create.
On Monday, though, Staley indicated that this could be the nickel package the Chargers will use most often moving forward. Over the past 10 weeks, their primary nickel package had included Ja’Sir Taylor as the Star, with Michael Davis and Asante Samuel Jr. on the outside and James and Alohi Gilman at safety. Taylor only played 35 percent of the snaps in Sunday’s loss, his lowest percentage since Week 1, when the Chargers still had J.C. Jackson on the roster and were rotating cornerbacks. When James was at Star, Dean Marlowe came on as the second safety next to Gilman. Samuel and Davis remained on the outside.
“We felt like this really gets Derwin in a position to impact the game more, make our front stronger, especially in three-receiver groupings,” Staley said Monday. “The strength right now of our team is our front seven. Make our front even stronger, and then get Derwin in a position that can unlock even a little more flexibility within some of those five DB groupings. I liked what I saw yesterday with him in that role.”
The adjustments in the secondary could stretch beyond James playing more Star.
Davis had a rough game Sunday. He has been much more inconsistent in coverage this season than he was down the stretch of 2022 when he emerged as the Chargers’ best cornerback and carved out a starting role heading into training camp in 2023.
There were the obvious plays — like the missed tackle Davis had on Dontayvion Wick’s 35-yard catch and run on the final drive, or the coverage he busted that led to Romeo Doubs’ go-ahead touchdown on that same possession.
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There were also more subtle plays, like the check down to AJ Dillon on third-and-8 in the first quarter that went for 20 yards. Davis was a Cover 2 corner on the play. His responsibility was the flat, where Dillon caught the pass. Davis, though, was 12 yards downfield when Dillon received the checkdown and was not in a position to make the tackle short of the sticks.
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Davis allowed six catches on seven targets for 103 yards and a touchdown in the loss, according to Pro Football Focus — a perfect passer rating.
Samuel, too, had down moments, most notably his third-and-20 pass interference that kept the Packers’ winning touchdown drive alive. Samuel also took a bad angle and provided minimal support on receiver Jayden Reed’s 32-yard touchdown run in the second quarter.
Staley made it clear Monday that all the defensive backs are going to have to earn their playing time in practice this week. Second-year cornerback Deane Leonard played well on the outside in relief of Davis in the Chargers’ Week 10 loss to the Detroit Lions. Davis missed pretty much that whole game while he was dealing with a stomach illness.
“It’s fair to say that there’s going to be a lot of competition in the secondary,” Staley said.
Staley has fewer options at safety if he wants to make a change there. JT Woods remains on the non-football illness list. And while Woods’ 21-day activation window was opened Wednesday of last week, Staley said Monday that Woods is still “a ways away” from returning.
The Chargers face Lamar Jackson and the 8-3 Baltimore Ravens this Sunday.
“It’s the entire secondary,” Staley said of where the personnel changes could happen. “Just trying to find the right combination of guys back there. And so we’re working through that, and it will be competitive on the practice field this week.”
(Photo of Christian Watson catching a touchdown against Chargers: Stacy Revere / Getty Images)
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