Chargers vs Falcons, Recap

The Chargers played the Falcons this past Saturday night and I did watch a fair amount of the game...

No Tomlinson, no Gates, no Jamal Williams...just to name a few of the Chargers 'big guns' that did not see any action...but the Chargers first team, which played much of the first half, looked fairly impressive...it did seem as if the Chargers were able to move the ball fairly effectively against the Falcons, including early in the second half...the Chargers seemed to be in third and long situations all evening and seemed to be able to convert them most of the time..that's the good...the bad...well, that's the obvious, they shouldn't be consistently putting themselves into 3rd and long situations which seemed to be the case. Once the regular season starts, one would have to think that the conversion rate will decrease.

The offensive line for the Chargers continues to worry me...but it is only preseason...but it seems as if the line is unable to give Rivers adequate protection and their run blocking is very suspect. I will give some credit to Turner in the play calling because it did seem as if the Falcons were going to 'stack the line' and to counter that, the Chargers ran screen passes that oftentimes went for big gains, including a touchdown score for Micheal Bennett.

My other concern, as of right now, is the defensive pressure...so far this preseason the Chargers have had very little pressure on opponents' quarterbacks...a problem that was prevalent all last season as well. I know some coaches don't like to reveal their blitzes and may not even blitz much at all in the preseason and that might be the case here...but a stout defense is one that can get pressure on the quarterback without having to blitz.

Overall, though, the Chargers didn't look too bad...and what is typically the norm in the NFL, it was likely the last time many of the starters will play this preseason...which is good, let those guys sit and rest up for the following week and then the real games will begin!