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https://twitter.com/danielrpopper/status/1704206819135213571

https://theathletic.com/4876688/2023/09/19/chargers-mistakes-overtime-titans/

By Daniel Popper

Sep 19, 2023

After an up-and-down 60 minutes of regulation Sunday against the
Tennessee Titans, the Los Angeles Chargers won the overtime coin toss
and got possession first. Justin Herbert and the offense started at
their own 25-yard line. Score a touchdown, and the Chargers win the
game. An NFL team cannot ask for much more: The ball in the hands of its
best player with a chance to close it out.

And yet it all unraveled for the Chargers in less than five minutes of
game action, as the Titans pulled out a 27-24 win on Nick Folk’s
sudden-death field goal.

What happened?

The margin for error in late-game situations is razor-thin in the NFL.
And the Chargers made far too many errors in this overtime period — on
offense, on defense, on special teams, in play calling and in game
management.

Let’s dive into the weeds.

On the opening play of overtime, Herbert had time to throw, albeit with
some slight pressure from Titans defensive lineman Jeffery Simmons on
the interior. Herbert attempted a pass to Mike Williams down the right
sideline into double coverage that fell incomplete. Receiver Joshua
Palmer was uncovered on a comeback route to the same side as Williams,
about 20 yards closer to the line of scrimmage. Herbert missed him.

On second down, the pocket was collapsing on Herbert. He threw the pass
away to the right side instead of escaping and trying to create.

That brought up a third-and-10. Offensive coordinator Kellen Moore
called a play out of a shotgun formation with a quick-snap cadence. As
the Chargers broke the huddle, Williams lined up to the wrong side —
left instead of right. Williams realized his mistake as center Corey
Linsley got to the ball. Williams tried to run from the left side of the
formation to the right. He crossed in front of Herbert, who realized the
mistake. He tried to tell Williams to stop. But at that point, Linsley
was preparing to quick-snap the ball. Williams continued on. The ball
was snapped before Williams was set. Williams did not run a route.
Herbert had time, but the play was a mess without Williams in the
concept. He threw it away.

“We were going on a quick cadence,” Staley said. “And so when (Williams)
was lined up incorrectly, we didn’t allow him to get over there because
of the type of cadence that we were on. And so because of the crowd
noise, just kind of that stars aligning where we had a tough play there.
So we have to do better.”

Staley added that Herbert was not in a position to communicate the
mishap with Linsley because he was in shotgun.

On fourth down, the Chargers punted. JK Scott got off a decent kick. I
clocked the hang time at 5.06 seconds. It traveled 47 yards. But the
Chargers punt coverage was late getting down the field. Returner Kearis
Jackson made a clean catch and surged straight ahead for 11 yards before
long snapper Josh Harris made the tackle. The 36-yard net punt set the
Titans up with good field position at their own 39. Folk’s season-long
field goal in 2022 with the New England Patriots was 54 yards. Tennessee
needed to gain just 25 yards to give Folk a 54-yard attempt to win it.

Staley’s defense then took its turn. On first down, the Titans called a
crack toss run play to the left to running back Tyjae Spears. The crack
refers to a player, usually a receiver, blocking from outside to inside
on the defensive end. If executed, that block prevents the defensive end
from setting the edge, giving the running back a lane to attack the
outside of the defense.

Tennessee executed this concept. Receiver Nick Westbrook-Ikhine
crack-blocked on Khalil Mack, getting enough of the Chargers edge rusher
to spring Spears to the outside. Chargers cornerback Ja’Sir Taylor was
defending Westbrook-Ikhine in the slot. Once Westbrook-Ikhine blocked,
it was up to Taylor to re-set the edge. But Taylor hesitated slightly
before attacking downhill. That gave Spears a path to the sideline
behind left tackle Andre Dillard, who pulled on the play. And it
prevented linebacker Nick Niemann, who was unblocked, from getting to
Spears.

Spears gained 14 yards on the play to move the Titans into Chargers
territory.

“We could have handled it better,” Staley said Monday.

Quarterback Ryan Tannehill completed a swing pass to running back
Derrick Henry for a 6-yard gain on first down. On second down, safety
Derwin James Jr. and Mack got penetration to stuff a Henry run for a
1-yard gain.

That set up a third-and-2. Spears replaced Henry, who went to the
sideline. Henry appeared winded on the television broadcast. The Titans
came out for the third down in a three-receiver personnel package. The
Chargers matched with their penny package, a variation of their nickel
grouping with three interior defensive linemen, two edge rushers, one
inside linebacker and five defensive backs.

Staley did not like the personnel grouping once the Titans approached
the line in a tight formation. He called timeout to make a substitution,
bringing on an extra defensive lineman in place of Taylor. However, this
timeout allowed the Titans to bring Henry back into the game for Spears.
Tannehill handed to Henry, who bulldozed through multiple Chargers
defenders for a first down.

Staley said Monday he had “no reconsideration” on the timeout call
despite the stoppage allowing for Henry to return to the game.

“That was a high-leverage situation,” Staley said. “We wanted to get the
right grouping in defensively to give us a chance to knock out that run.
That’s why we made the substitution. That’s the grouping that we felt
like would give us the best chance to knock out that run. It had done so
earlier in the game.”

A stop in that situation would have left Titans coach Mike Vrabel with a
tough decision, facing a fourth down from around the plus-39-yard line.
Attempt a 57-yard field goal? Go for it? Punt it away? We will never
know what Vrabel would have done.

On the ensuing first down, the Titans needed just three yards to set up
that 54-yard attempt. (For what it’s worth, Folk’s career long is 56,
which he hit with the New York Jets in 2010.)

Staley decided to bring a blitz to try and, as he said Monday, “get them
out of range and hopefully create a negative play.”

He brought seven rushers — three interior defensive linemen, two edge
rushers and both inside linebackers. The Titans had the perfect counter
called. Not only did they keep seven players in protection, they also
moved Tannehill away from the pressure on a sprint right. The Titans had
two receivers to that side of the field, with DeAndre Hopkins matched up
one-on-one with safety Alohi Gilman. Hopkins won on an out route, and
Tannehill delivered a pinpoint strike on the run to move the Titans
firmly into field goal range.

“We had pressure in his face,” Staley said. “But give credit to Ryan for
throwing a good pass there.”

This five minutes of game time had it all: a misread from the
quarterback, a protection breakdown, a procedural error on offense, poor
special teams coverage, poor defensive execution, a bad timeout and a
losing play call.

And that is how you give away an overtime game in the NFL.

Final thoughts

• The Asante Samuel Jr. experiment at Star — Staley’s nickel/slot
position — is evidently over after only one game. Staley said Monday
that Taylor will be filling the Star role for the foreseeable future.
Samuel led the Chargers with 22 defensive snaps in the slot in the Week
1 loss to the Miami Dolphins, according to TruMedia. The Chargers gave
up 466 passing yards to the Dolphins. On Sunday, Samuel played all 63 of
his defensive snaps at outside corner, according to TruMedia. Taylor led
the Chargers with 26 defensive snaps in the slot.

• The Chargers had a rotation going at outside corner against the
Titans. Staley said this was because J.C. Jackson is still in a
“ramp-up” from his return from knee surgery. Michael Davis replaced
Jackson for 24 snaps. Davis told me after the game in Nashville that he
struggled to find a rhythm amid the rotation. Staley said Samuel,
Jackson and Davis will continue to compete for playing time at outside
corner. “As we continue to play these games and perform, then the
competition is going to express itself, and then two guys will emerge
and we’ll be able to settle on our starting two,” Staley said. “But
right now it kind of is where it is and we need to keep moving forward.”

• The Chargers gave up two deep-field explosive passes that flipped this
game in regulation — a 70-yard completion to Treylon Burks in the second
quarter, and a 49-yard completion to Chris Moore in the fourth quarter.
Both receptions led to touchdowns.

The most concerning aspect of these two completions is they came in the
same coverage: quarter-quarter-half, or Cover 6. This is a staple
coverage in Staley’s scheme. He has called it on almost 16 percent of
his defensive plays since taking over as head coach in 2021, according
to TruMedia. I did a thorough breakdown of the responsibilities in this
coverage in last week’s film breakdown — because Jackson gave up a
35-yard touchdown to Tyreek Hill in the coverage. So head there for more
details.