Laddie Morse
The Kansas City Chiefs will play against the Baltimore Chargers… er… the Los Angeles Chargers… this coming Sunday afternoon. Some might go as far as to call these Chargers the Ravens of the West and not just because the two Harbaugh brother’s are coaching each team. Either way, you get the idea that the Chargers are going to run the ball on offense and play a physical style on defense. Why? Well, because that’s what new Head Coach Jim Harbaugh likes to do. So, who did he hire to run his offense? The ex-Ravens OC –> Greg Roman.
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Greg Roman
Greg Roman had been with the Baltimore Ravens from 2017 to 2022. He served specifically as thier offensive coordinator from 2019-to-2022. In Roman’s first year as OC in Baltimore, his QB, Lamar Jackson won the league MVP award and was the NFL passing touchdown leader. However, the year prior to that, Patrick Mahomes was the passing leader with 50 TDs … then… Jackson had just 36 passing TDs in his MVP season, a downturn of 14 TD passes.
Although it’s not the passing game that Roman’s offense excel at. It is the running game. In 2019, the Ravens (3,296 rushing yard) won the rushing title as a team, they also had more than 900 yards more than the number two team, the San Francisco 49ers ( 2,305) . The Chiefs had 1,639 yards rushing that year (23rd overall), the same year they won the Super Bowl (LIV).
Greg Roman’s Ravens rushing attack won it again in 2020 with 3,071 yards rushing and came in 3rd in 2021 behind the Colts (#2) and the 49ers (#1). After three games this season, Greg Roman’s offense of the Chargers ranks #3 overall, but averages 5,87 YPC (Yard Per Carry), the best in the league.
Although the Chiefs allow the 25th best average yards rushing per game, they are 5th against the pass. Consequently, if the K.C. Defense can hold the Chargers rushing offense to a minimum, and force them into a passing game, they would be much better off. So far this season the Chiefs Defense has faced Derrick Henry of the Ravens, Zack Moss of the Bengals, and Bijan Robinson of the Falcons.
So far this season, the Chiefs defense has done an admirable job against the running game of their three opponents main RBs. They’ve only allowed 3.5 yards per carry (YPC) against Derrick Henry, 2.8 YPC against Zack Moss, and 1.9 YPC against Bijan Robinson. The problem with bragging too loud about those stats is that Lamar Jackson had 7.6 YPC and gained 122 yards in the process.
Still, the main objectice in this game will be to limit the running game of the Chargers. Greg Roman will want to run the ball no matter t=who their QB is and he’ll want to run the ball no matter who they have lined up on the Offensive line.
The reason for making that last statement is that both of their star OL are projected to not be available those being: Joe Alt and Rashawn Slater.
No matter who is starting for the Chargers, the Chiefs defense will have their work cut out for them. J.K. Dobbins is the Chargers #1 RB and had 130+ yards rushing in each of his first two games (vs the Raiders and the Panthers). However, the Steelers keyed on him and he only had 44 yards rushing against them. Right now, Dobbins is the league’s third leading rusher, but he is #1 in YPC with 7.4.
At 5-foot-10 and 215 lbs. Dobbins has good size, the kind of size the Chief have side they prefer in their RBs. Dobbins had a visit with the Chiefs during this past offseason but K.C. didn’t sign him. In 2023 Dobbins had an Achilles injury and in 2022, he had an ACL tear. However, it looks like — so far — the Chiefs have made a mistake in not signing Dobbins (8:20):
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Last February, a couple of weeks after Roman was hired, he said:
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“We’re right now entrenched the past couple of
weeks with our staff room, really starting from scratch
and really putting a system together and trying to do
it the best it’s ever been done, the best we’ve ever done
it. So we’re really collaborating on that, it’s a big time
collaboration.”
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From the sounds of it, Roman and Harbaugh are on the same page. It’s likely why he was hired.
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Justin Herhert
Herbert has a High Ankle Sprain and as NBC reports, “Justin Herbert [is] limited for second consecutive day” so his practice on Thursday was not great. Not when you consider that the Chargers are coming up to a Divisional game with the World Champion Chiefs. Here’s a picture of Justin Herbert in a foot-boot:
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He [Justin Herbert] said he thinks the injury
is a reaggravation of the high ankle sprain and
nothing more serious. He’s hoping to play against KC
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I’ve had a high ankle sprain before and it’s not something you can wish your way through. If his Head Coach doesn’t keep him out of this game, it’s not going to end well for him. If Justin Herbert does play, the Chiefs Defense can t-off on him and set their sites for a non-mobile QB. Running the Chargers offense will be the opposite of running the Ravens offense which K.C. did decently against… and… won that game despite the Ravens mobile QB.
I’ve made my position known previously that I don’t like mobile QBs whose first inkling, once a play breaks down, is to run with the ball… even if they can pick up loads of yardage. While that doesn’t normally describe Justin Herbert, his lack of mobility in this game will make him a sitting duck… a lame duck if you will. The Chargers would be better off starting their back-up QB: Taylor Heinicke. While Heinicke is no where near the QB that Herbert is, he would at least give them a fighting chance and not be a millstone around the Chargers neck.
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“Expect him to play but there’s definitely some
mobility & re-injury concerns with the ankle.”
– Sebastian Fearon DPT, CSCS, OCS
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If the Chargers were listening to their doctors, they’d think twice about putting Justin Herbert on the field (in harms way). Here’s Rich Eisen talking about whether or not the Chargers should start Justin Herbert and if Travis Kelce can have a breakout game this week (8:44).
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If L.A. starts Herbert it runs absolutely counter to the way Andy Reid and the Chiefs do business. They’d never put a player at risk the way the Chargers are planning on doing with Herbert.
What do you think?
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Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne
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