NFL
By: Chris Disney
Beware of High Boltage
The preseason hoopla is over! It’s time for Chargers football! Can you taste that sour taste in your mouth, Chargers fans? That playoff loss tasted so nasty! Another season of the Herbert era, having that sour taste of last year in our mouths. Guess what? The revenge tour starts Friday night in São Paul, Brazil against the defending AFC Champs the Kansas City Chiefs. The Chiefs are coming into this season without their best overall wide receiver Rashee Rice, who is suspended for the first six games for off-field conduct. That’s okay, though, they still have Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce, who come into this season hungry to rectify the embarrassing Super Bowl loss at the hands of the Philadelphia Eagles. Let’s get to my three keys to victory. The Chiefs need to be careful, though! They are about to run into some seriously high boltage!
Pound the Rock
The High Boltage will come not from the arm of Justin Herbert but from a hard-nosed running game that will lean heavily on rookie running back Omarion Hampton, the Chargers’ promising first-round pick will be unleashed on a tough Chiefs defense that is anchored by All-Pro Chris Jones. It will be tough to run the ball inside, however, where I believe the Chargers will have sustained success is running at EDGE rusher George Karlaftis if we can move him off the ball we should be able to tire him out to the point where running the rock will set up the deep shot downfield to Tre Harris or Ladd McConkey.
Deeper Than Deepest
The Kansas City Chiefs will be without Rashee Rice on Saturday. That doesn’t mean the Chiefs will abandon their passing game. Xavier Worthy will be one of their primary targets downfield. The Chiefs will be looking to stretch the field with him. Look for them to take a few deep shots early to loosen up the coverage for Travis Kelce and the screen game with their running backs. The Chargers have to be okay with the middle ground. Keep everything in front of you defensively, play the deeper than deepest coverage wise. What does this mean or look like? Playing a lot of Cover 3 Shell or Cover 2 Safety looks. The Chargers have to collapse the inside of the Chiefs’ offensive line and push Mahomes off his spot. Then we have to contain him in the pocket so he doesn’t improvise. It’s this improvisation that gets the Chargers in trouble more often than not. The longer we let Mahomes do his “thing” the more likely someone like Worthy will get open.
Protect the Rock
This may be the most obvious key to victory, but the Chargers have to protect the ball. We can’t afford to turn the ball over. Giving the ball to Mahomes on their own end is asking for bad results. This KC team is too good to give them free opportunities. I know for a fact this is a Jim Harbaugh philosophy, after an ugly playoff loss last year. Protecting the rock is paramount for this offense to be successful. This falls on Justin Herbert as well, he had 4 INTs in that playoff loss. We can’t win games that way, look for the Chargers to run the ball with high efficiency passes with limited deep shots down the field step up by the play action game.
Final Score Prediction
If the Chargers follow my keys to success. I still believe this will be one of those hard-fought AFC West grind-it-out type games. That’s just the brand of football Jim Harbaugh wants, though. If we can keep the game within reach, we will have a chance. Remember, the Refs will be on KC’s side as well. Look for some whack pass interference call late to make the game close. I believe it’s the Chargers’ time, though. We will pull it out late.
Final Score: 28–27 Chargers!
This is all just for fun and I just want to give honor to Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior. He makes all this possible!
#BoltUp
