The AFC West Is A Dud, Brandon Staley Is A Moron, And Rashawn Slater Is Out For The Year
In case you weren't tuned in to the Chargers-Jaguars game for some reason, it was a wild one. Herbert came in to this game not assured to start with a fractured rib cartilage injury. Chase Daniel was announced on the SoFi jumbotron pre-game but Herbert started anyway. Post-game, Hebert refused to admit if he got a pre-game injection, which would have been from the same Chargers team doctor that punctured Tyrod Taylor's lung 2 years ago and is currently being sued by him. Regardless, he said he was good to play and Staley let him start.
Herbert was also missing his all-pro C Corey Linsley and they were still stuck with a pretty bad RT in Pipkins. He was ALSO missing his #1 receiver, Keenan Allen. Nevertheless, it seemed really important that he start this game.
Cut to the 4th quarter of this game. The score is 31-10 Jaguars. At this point, Herbert's all-pro LT Slater is hurt. All-pro Bosa is hurt. The game is OVER and yet, Herbert remains in the game. With a bad rib injury and missing 2 all-pro lineman, Herbert remains in the game. What could be worse than that? Well, the Chargers ran 21 offensive plays after that point. SEVENTEEN OF THEM WERE PASSES. In a dead game without protection for their injured QB, Staley/Lombardi had Herbert throw 17/21 plays. This is so outrageously irresponsible it makes my head spin.
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What's worse is that his excuse in that press conference is that Herbert wanted to stay in and finish the game. My brother in Christ, YOU are the coach of this football team! Not Herbert or any other player. YOU decide what the right move is and you know that leaving him in was not that. It's like leaving a dog in a hot car and going "Well, he didn't want to come out so I left him there".
It is the first time that I have been outraged at Staley's performance as a coach. He has almost always made the right choice even if the execution was wrong. Coming off the heels of McCoy and Lynn, that is a breath of fresh air I can't even begin to describe. But his performance was unforgivable and his excuses during this presser only made it worse.
Anyway, the Chargers aren't the only team in the division fucking things up. The AFC west was supposed to be the strongest division in football. Look at them now. 5-7 with a winless Raiders, a Broncos team that has 3 touchdowns in as many games and a Chiefs team that blew a lead vs the hospice Matt Ryan. What happened? I think for the Raiders and Broncos, you can chalk it up to Hackett and McDaniels still working out the kinks to a degree. The Chiefs will rebound for sure, but that loss was brutal.
For the Chargers, this is a doomsday scenario. It's the last year of Herbert's rookie contract, they went all-in this offseason and the injury bug decided to show up. Since preseason, they have lost all-pro J.C. Jackson, all-pro Corey Linsley, All-pro Joey Bosa, All-pro Rashawn Slater, WR1 Keenan Allen, and TE1 Donald Parham. Herbert is stuck wit ha lingering injury and it doesn't help that Staley either doesn't have control of his roster or just doesn't give a fuck if Herbert dies.
Football, man. Shit sucks.
P.S. I finished this blog, hopped on twitter and immediately saw this. I'm happy that being a lifelong Chargers fan has made me used to this shit or I would be losing my mind.