By: Chris Disney

A bit of home cooking

I’ve been pondering how to attack this preview since Sunday. I still have a sour taste in my mouth after the Los Angeles Chargers’ first loss against the Giants(18-21). That’s okay, though, because I’m sure Commanders Nation feels the same, as the Commanders dropped their 2nd loss against the Falcons (27-34) in a game where they were one turnover away from flipping the game in their favor.

We are onto LA, though. The Chargers will look for a bit of home cooking to get back on track. Their opponent, the Washington Commanders, is a bit banged up heading into Sunday. Their two-star players, Quarterback Jayden Daniels (Knee) and Terry McLaurin (Quad), remain to be seen if both will play come Sunday. As of today (Thursday), Jayden Daniels has been medically cleared to play. There has been no update on Scary Terry’s availability for Sunday; my guess would be that they hold him out one more week.

However, we must not underestimate this Commander’s team, especially on offense; they are very explosive with a good core of weapons. Defensively, they are BEEFED upfront, manned in the middle by Eddie Goldman, whom I feel has always been an underrated defensive tackle in the middle. Do not worry, though! Hater is here with his 3 Keys to a Chargers victory!

Key #1: Ground the Air Raid

It’s my opinion, this is the first and foremost key to this game. We must shut down their offense. The Air Raid isn’t quite what some of you may think it is. You may think of the Air Raid as this bombs away offense. However, I was watching last week’s game against the Falcons, and I noticed what Kliff Kingsberry loves to do offensively. He loves to get defenses moving side to side by using jet motion and screens. Then, once you’ve brought your defenders up to defend the screens and misdirection, they hit you over the top with deep bombs. So, how do we stop this? Easy, stick to what we have been doing for the last 3 weeks. If we stay in our zone, keep everything in front of us, and tackle. With Daniels coming off an injury, I highly doubt he will be as mobile. This will play to our advantage as the Falcons were able to push the middle of the pocket last week and force pressure on Marcus Mariota. The Chargers should have this same success this week as well.

Key #2: Ground Shipping

Secondly, in my opinion, with all the Line injuries, the best course of action for an effective offense will be ground shipping the football. That’s another way of saying run the damn ball! There’s nothing a lineman loves more than run blocking, being physical, and nasty. The Atlanta Falcons had this success with Bijan Robinson and Tyler Allgeier. I don’t see why Hampton and company can’t thrive on Sunday. Throw some screen passes in with that, and the pressure should be off Herbert’s back.

Key #3: Rain Some Bombs

The last key to the game is to rain deep balls (bombs) on Washington. When watching last week’s tape, I noticed Atlanta’s wide receivers were running open all over the place. They even hit on a few of the deep passes they took. I believe if the Chargers stick to key #2 and run play action off of it, Herbert will be more successful than Michael Penix Jr. was. Because Justin Herbert is way better and one of the best deep ball passers in the game. Also, with the emergence of Quentin Johnston as a deep threat. I have no doubt bombs will rain down on Washington, and this will be one of the most used keys on Sunday.

Score Prediction

Los Angeles Chargers-30

Washington Commanders-27

#BoltUp

Shoutout my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, of whom this is all possible!