From Danial Popper (Chargers beat writer) at The Athletic. Well worth
the price of a subscription, and I think their Black Friday sale runs
through today.

--Robin

Chargers’ lack of depth gets exposed: Takeaways from the 28-13 loss to
the Broncos

By Daniel Popper
Nov 29, 2021

DENVER — The Chargers wilted down the stretch in a 28-13 loss to the
Broncos on Sunday at Mile High Stadium. They fall in 6-5 on the season
and are 2-4 in their past six games. The Broncos, Chargers and Raiders
all sit at 6-5, trailing the Chiefs (7-4) in the AFC West.

Here are my takeaways from the Chargers’ first divisional loss of the
season.

Depth exposed

Since taking over as Chargers head coach in January, Brandon Staley has
often referenced the idea of “illusions” when assessing his football team.

“There are a lot of illusions in the NFL,” Staley said in September.
“You could have an illusion of winning where you’re not playing very
well, and you could have an illusion of losing where you’re losing, but,
hey, you’re getting better, you’re getting closer.”

At a later news conference, Staley said, “You’re always trying to tell
yourself the truth and not be lulled into an illusion. Results sometimes
do that to you.”

After Sunday’s loss to the Broncos, these words have never rung truer.

The Chargers’ 4-1 start to the season created an illusion — primarily,
an illusion that this roster was ready for Super Bowl contention.

To use another Staley term, the truth is a very different movie.

The Chargers, as currently constructed by general manager Tom Telesco,
are not ready to contend for a title, and that is because their roster
is not deep enough. That was laid bare Sunday.

They do not have enough offensive line depth. They do not have enough
cornerback depth. They do not have enough defensive line depth or safety
depth. They do not have enough speed at wide receiver. They do not have
productive running back depth behind Austin Ekeler. They do not have
enough experience on special teams.

That falls on Telesco.

And the failures in key moments against the Broncos can all be traced
back to that lack of depth.

Let’s start with the offensive line. All things considered, the Chargers
have actually stayed relatively healthy up front. The only people who
believed starting right tackle Bryan Bulaga could be relied on this
season were in the Chargers’ building. Bulaga’s 32-year-old body is
breaking down. His injury this season was inevitable. That it happened
in Week 1 was not a surprise. The Chargers were forced to turn to Storm
Norton, and he has struggled. Telesco whiffed on a third-round pick in
Trey Pipkins, who was inactive for four consecutive games before Sunday.

Starting right guard Oday Aboushi’s torn ACL was unfortunate and
impossible to predict. But it is, again, an indictment of Telesco that
the Chargers did not have a viable replacement on the roster when they
started the season. They signed Michael Schofield off the street in
mid-September, and he has been Aboushi’s replacement. He has played like
a player that no other team wanted on its roster.

On Sunday, the Chargers were without a third offensive line starter in
left guard Matt Feiler, who was inactive with an ankle injury. Again,
the Chargers turned to a midseason acquisition, Senio Kelemete, whom
they signed off the 49ers practice squad in October. Kelemete was a
liability in the loss to the Broncos. He did not hold up in pass
protection. He allowed at least one sack — on a crucial third-and-6 in
the third quarter that led to a missed field goal — and also was called
for two penalties.

Waiting on the sideline was Brenden Jaimes, a rookie fifth-round pick
who Staley said is not yet ready to play.

“Right now, it’s just experience,” Staley said of starting Kelemete over
Jaimes. “Nothing more, nothing less. We want to make sure that when we
put Brenden out there, he’s ready, and we’ll put him out there when he’s
ready to play.”

Jaimes was supposed to provide depth. He is not doing that. If the
Chargers had suffered a litany of injuries on their offensive line, I
could understand turning to veteran retreads. But Schofield and Kelemete
represent the Chargers’ primary depth pieces on the interior. Norton, a
former XFL player, is their primary depth at tackle.

Justin Herbert took 10 hits against the Broncos. He was sacked three
times. Two of those sacks derailed drives. The pass protection was an
abject disaster, and it did not hold up against mostly four-man pass
rushes from the Broncos. Herbert was pressured on one of his two
fourth-quarter interceptions.

The depth was exposed.

“We just had far too much pressure on him,” Staley said.

At cornerback, the Chargers are down Asante Samuel Jr., who is dealing
with his second concussion of the season. Aside from him, the Chargers
are healthy. Tevaughn Campbell is starting on the outside opposite
Michael Davis, and he is struggling. Telesco signed Chris Harris Jr. to
a two-year deal before the 2020 season. Harris was supposed to offer
outside and slot flexibility. But right now, he is only playing in the
slot. Campbell is playing over him on the outside in all packages.

Before picking Samuel in the second round in April, the Chargers had not
drafted an outside corner since Craig Mager in 2015. Davis has developed
nicely as an undrafted free agent, but even he suffers through bouts of
inconsistency. Harris, who is 32, is not providing depth. And that is
forcing Campbell onto the field. Campbell had another poor performance
Sunday.

Campbell could have made a tackle on Teddy Bridgewater’s first-quarter
touchdown run. For whatever reason, he held up and let the Broncos
quarterback dive for the pylon.

On a third-and-7 in early the fourth quarter, Campbell was beaten on an
out route by wide receiver Courtland Sutton.

Four plays later, Bridgewater checked down to running back Javonte
Williams on a swing pass on first-and-10 from just past midfield.
Campbell, a former CFL player, was in perfect position to tackle
Williams. He missed. Williams escaped down the sideline for a 42-yard
gain. The Broncos scored a backbreaking touchdown three plays later.

The Chargers are down only one corner. One injury does not excuse the
lack of depth. This is not on coaching. This is on roster construction.

Ekeler is the only reliable running back on the roster right now. Darius
Bradwell got the call-up from the practice squad for Sunday’s game. He
dropped a pass on his first rep and did not record a yard from
scrimmage. Over 11 games, Chargers running backs not named Ekeler have
totaled 275 yards from scrimmage on 72 touches — a 3.8-yards-per-touch
average. The league average is 7.4. Of those 275 yards, 75 came on one
run from Justin Jackson against the Patriots. If you take out that run,
the average drops to 2.8 yards per touch.

The Chargers’ blazing start to the season was the illusion. The truth is
harder to stomach: The Chargers are at least a year away because they
are not deep enough.

Offensive roller coaster continues

The Chargers offense has not strung together two consecutive quality
performances since the 4-1 start, and that inconsistency is a glaring
fault for Staley’s team.

Here is a look at the Chargers’ EPA/drive in the six games since Week 6,
according to TruMedia:

Week 6 vs. Ravens: -1.85
Week 8 vs. Patriots: -0.27
Week 9 vs. Eagles: 1.55
Week 10 vs. Vikings: -0.18
Week 11 vs. Steelers: 1.70
Week 12 vs. Broncos: -0.92

The variability here is jarring. Every step forward is followed by an
emphatic step back. And the same problems keep popping up.

Against the Broncos, the protection was the primary issue. Herbert had
few clean pockets to throw from, and although he was able to engineer
offense with his playmaking ability, the pressure too often led to
unproductive or negative plays.

There were drops, too. One from Ekeler led to a game-sealing pick-six
from Pat Surtain II. And some poor throws and decisions from Herbert,
like when he underthrew a ball to Cook in the end zone early in the
fourth quarter that Surtain intercepted.

The common thread here is that the Chargers’ poor offensive performances
are coming against qualified and established defensive coaches — Ravens
defensive coordinator Wink Martindale, the Patriots’ Bill Belichick, the
Vikings’ Mike Zimmer and the Broncos’ Vic Fangio. The Chargers had an
excellent game against Mike Tomlin’s Steelers defense, but they were
without three of their best defensive players in edge rusher T.J. Watt,
safety Minkah Fitzpatrick and cornerback Joe Haden.

Offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi has to find a way to produce more
consistency from his group. The buck stops with the play caller. But
it’s not as easy as saying the Chargers are being outcoached. The
execution has not been there, either. On a failed fourth-down attempt
early in the second quarter, Herbert forced a throw to Keenan Allen on
an in-breaker. Ekeler was wide open in the flat, and Herbert missed him.
That is on the quarterback, not the play caller. And is it Lombardi’s
fault that he is trotting out Kelemete at left guard?