AFC West Recap - Week 4
A couple of ugly wins for these two squads today, but wins nonetheless. 
(2-2) The Bolts started slow but finally finished strong in their 29-27 win over San Francisco. I expected them to take more advantage of the 49ers suspect defense, but instead it became a come-from-behind effort thanks to some early mistakes on offense and leaky defense.
This right here is fucking embarrassing. The Bolts seemingly had more fans show up vs the Rams last week in the Colosseum. I hope Spanos gets forced to watch non stop slideshows of these at the end of every year. Philip Rivers went an efficient 25/39 for 250 yards, 3 Touchdowns and 1 interception that was taken back for 6. It was reminiscent of early 2010’s Rivers
Just lofting it right into the safeties arms. BAD. He did pass Elway for 8th most passing yards of all time, though. Every receiver had a mediocre day, with Keenan Allen leading the group hauling in 7/10 targets for 63 yards. Melvin Gordon, Antonio Gates, and Austin Ekeler added short yardage touchdowns with the latter’s being particularly impressive.
I have no idea how he threaded that. Gordon was really impressive on the ground, rushing 15 times for 104 yards. Sam Tevi is playing better and better at RT, and even with Russell Okung hugging the sideline with injury, the offensive line only let up a single sack and 3 hits. Caleb Sturgis missed two extra points and a 54-yard field goal. That’s 3 missed PAT’s in the past 2 games. I’m #DONE with him.
I understand kicking is a very mental aspect of football and that it doesn’t help getting mad about it, but god damn you, Sturgis. God. Damn. You. One might think the defense played serviceably, with a sack, 4 TFL, 9 passes defended and an INT. One must also consider they were playing fucking CJ Beat-hard and one of the more depleted offenses in the league. Embarrassing. Trevor Williams redzone pick was very impressive, though.
Credit to Beathard for stopping what looked like a sure score. Lastly, lets talk about he DROY, Derwin James! 7 tackles, a sack, and two passes defended including deflecting a ball for the game sealing interception by Isaac Rochell.
Ilysm and need to see you and Joey Bosa on the field together. GO BUY A SHIRT.
Takeaways: This defense needs more pressure in the worst way if they’re going to succeed. There’s just a general lack of urgency by the linebackers, especially in coverage. They gave up some stupid penalties that gave up critical yardage as well. Caleb Sturgis probably needs to get cut.
Notes: Joey Bosa sat and is staying out for a bit. Joe Barksdale and Kyzir While both sat as well with knee injuries and Travis Benjamin missed the game as well. They take on the Raiders in StubHub on Sunday.
(1-4) What an ugly, ugly game. That’s just Rrrrrrrrraider football, baby! They grinded out a very lucky 45-43 win in OT vs the Browns.
Derek Carr had an up-and-down game, going 35/58 for 437 yards, 4 Touchdowns and 2 ugly interceptions. Going back to what I mentioned all preseason, his velocity just seems off on deep throws. I.E. his second pick of the day.
Yucky, especially since that gave him the lead for most interceptions in the league. Luckily, the receiving core had some great YAC and his intermediate passing was on point. Amari Cooper is all the way back, catching 8 of 12 targets for 128 yards and a TD. Jared Cook also had a day, catching 8 of 13 for 110 yards and 2 touchdowns. Jordy Nelson added a TD as well. They were all impressive, so watch some for yourself.
Jordy added an imperative 2PC that was insane. Hell yea, king. Donald Penn was in and out of the game, and the offensive line on a whole struggled a ton. They gave up 3 sacks and a whopping 10 QB hits on Carr. Not good! Kolton Miller held his own vs Myles Garrett, who only had a half sack on the game.
The defense, as you can imagine from the score, played abysmally. They let a rookie QB come into their house and drop 3 hundo yards on them along with 2 touchdowns. The issue wasn’t even with the regular downs, they just kept giving up big play after big play. It’s almost impossible to win if you let this happen.
Chubb had 3 carries for 105 yards and 2 touchdowns. That’s about halfway as absurd as the Randy Moss stat line.
The secondary looked lost and confused on all those plays, especially the Fells TD in which they looked like they were doing a 3 stooges routine. They did manager to sack Mayfield twice, and more importantly forced AND recovered two fumbles.
Really impressive awareness from Mo Hurst, who I’m convinced is going to be amazing, in that situation. Bruce Irvin also christened Mayfield into the NFL with a roughhhhh sack.
Hell yea. Lastly, Gareon Conley baby!!!! Pick six! It’s all happening!
Takeaways: They need to work more intermediate passing into the game for Carr. Deep throws are too much of a liability for him right now, and he’s shown he can handle it. The secondary needs to get dressed down in a huge way after the game. God damn.
Notes: Penn went out with a right leg injury. They play the Chargers in StubHub on Sunday.
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