The Chargers do not put many points on the scoreboard, but they wear down opposing defenses throughout the game and force them to match physicality. Will the Bucs’ defense be prepared for a heavyweight boxing match?
It’s a challenge unlike any the unit has had recently and throughout the season.
Outside of some early-season matchups against offensive juggernauts like the Commanders, Lions, and Eagles, this will be a different style of matchup co-defensive coordinator Kacy Rodgers took the time to break down extensively this week.
Bucs Co-DC Kacy Rodgers: “It’s No Secret What You’re Getting”
Throughout his NFL coaching career, Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh has built his teams with an identity to pound the rock. During his time with the 49ers from 2011-2014, his teams finished in the top ten in both rushing attempts and rushing yards. During those four years, he relied on Frank Gore heavily, trusting him to run the ball an average of 268 times a season.
Although the league has trended more pass-heavy in the ten years that Harbaugh largely spent leading the Michigan Wolverines, the Los Angeles offense has turned back the clock to relying on a ground-and-pound mentality. Anchored by offensive tackles Rashawn Slater and Joe Alt along with 285-pound blocking tight end Tucker Fisk and 296-pound fullback/defensive tackle Scott Matlock, they are all about beating teams by establishing the run and controlling the time of possession.
Chargers RB Gus Edwards – Photo by: USA Today
“Well, you know they’re going to want to run the ball and they’re hard-headed about running the ball and it’s going to be tough, hard nose, and they [aren’t] going to turn it over,” Bucs co-defensive Kacy Rodgers said. “It’s no secret what you’re getting because they have a 290-pound fullback so that’s kind of telling you what you’re about to get. That’s where you battle it right there.”
For most of the season, they battled with the elusive J.K. Dobbins leading the Chargers’ backfield. Dobbins put up impressive numbers with 158 carries for 766 rushing yards and eight touchdowns. After he went down with a knee injury which has put him on injured reserve, veteran Gus Edwards has taken over the reins.
While Edwards has yet to experience the same success, Rodgers is not expecting them to deviate from a gameplan that has “carried” them through the year.
“The thing is, what they do offensively is they kind of pull and trap and do all that stuff,” Rodgers said of how the Chargers set up their run game. “They want to get downhill, so it poses some problems because it creates some matchup disadvantages for us. That’ll be the chess match right there.”
What About Chargers QB Justin Herbert?
Chargers QB Justin Herbert and WR Ladd McConkey – Photo by: USA Today
Since the last time the Bucs and Chargers faced each other in 2020, Justin Herbert has evolved as an NFL quarterback. While Herbert has the prototypical size (6-foot-6, 236 pounds) and strong arm to be a gunslinger, he is no longer asked to be on a weekly basis. He has thrown just half of the touchdown passes Baker Mayfield has (28 to 14) while averaging just 212.6 passing yards per game.
That is a far cry from when Herbert threw for 5,014 passing yards and 38 touchdowns in 2021. He has since become an efficient quarterback, throwing just one interception. Still, he is someone who can beat a team with his arm when he needs to.
“You’re still talking about arguably a top-ten quarterback across anybody’s board in the league,” Kacy Rodgers said. “[He] has all [the] arm strength, athletic, can run, can make all the throws, but the way they utilize him in their system – they’re buying into the culture change [of] running the ball, then when everybody cuts off the run, they’re throwing over their head. That’s exactly what they’re doing.
“[Ladd] McConkey is having a heck of a year, but you know, if you watch the routes he’s getting, everybody is getting sucked up trying to stop [the run] and he’s fast and elusive and making a lot of plays. It’s all what you see, from the way they’re utilizing the quarterback is kind of into the culture that they want. We all know he can throw it 40 times a game if need be but that’s just not the way they play.”
Bucs HC Todd Bowles and co-DC Kacy Rodgers – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR
For the Bucs’ defense, that means that they will have to be patient and play disciplined football. They cannot send the house and expect Herbert to not throw it over the top to one of his wide receivers, nor can they sit back in coverage and allow the Chargers to string together long offensive drives. It will mean finding a balance and making adjustments as the game goes on.
It will be a challenge attempting to do this missing some key personnel, especially in the secondary without safeties Antoine Winfield Jr. and Jordan Whitehead. The unit knows the recipe for success, and that will mean overcoming the challenges and taking over the game by winning the takeover battle against an efficient offense.
“[It’s] like more pressure because if you look at them as a team as a whole, if we run the ball, play good defense, and don’t turn it over – well that’s a recipe for winning games and that’s what they do,” Rodgers said. “So our deal is No. 1 try to disrupt them, [No.] 2. try to create turnovers from a team that doesn’t turn it over. You have a multitude of challenges right there.”
