Reedy: Chargers Still Have Plenty Of Meat On The Bone

Joe, thank you for taking the time. No problem. How you doing?

I'm very well, thank you. Looking at what the Chargers did, no shock. Same amount of pass plays as run plays, 27.

JK Dobbins runs for 135. This is what we expected from Jim Harbaugh. How sustainable is this as they move forward throughout the course of the year? It's a defense and it's a defense, but I think in terms of the offensive game plan, it'll change depending on opponent. I think the run game can be sustainable for the first time since, I think, 2018 when the Chargers made the playoffs. They actually have two good and dependable running backs, so that if the one running back struggles, kind of like what Gus Edwards did yesterday, you can go to a JK Dobbins and get a lift and stuff, and I think that that's really going to help down the line. I think my concerns with the offense is still, you know, this receiver group.

It's inexperienced. Ladd-McConkie had a solid game yesterday, especially that move he put on to get the touchdown in the fourth quarter, but Josh Palmer struggled a little bit. You're going to need a passing game in some of these games down the line in order to, you know, see massive improvement. Defensively, I think this can be sustained the entire year, because stuff that I saw during the preseason, even without Bosa Mack and Derwin James, and carried in with those three coming in. So I think defensive, sustainable, offense is still a work in progress.

Well, Joe, we know if anybody has the largest or biggest adjustment to make, I guess it would be Justin Herbert. Typically, over the past few seasons, he's been tasked with just getting the ball down the field and the rushing game catching up. What type of adjustment should we expect from him this year, especially with these unsettled wide receivers? I think there'll be a little bit more intermediate passing game, where I think in the past, it's been too much of a short passing game, and then a little bit going deep.

I think maybe it'll be an offensive style to his first season in the league in 2020, where there was an emphasis on sticking with the run game, and that helped open up the deep passing game. And I think that can happen here, just with the attention and wanting to come heck or high water, stick with the run game, even when it struggles with the chance of getting a couple big runs and springing stuff like what we saw with Dobbins yesterday. And I think we saw more of the intermediate passing in the second half develop. Hurst with a big reception into Chargers territory, sorry, into Raiders territory during the second half yesterday, which opened things up. I think that the receivers will mature as the season goes on.

I still think they've got to maybe pick up another one or two receivers to see how things go, but I think he'll improve as the season goes along. And I think as we see from a lot of these quarterbacks and skill position players, they don't play in the preseason. So yesterday is kind of a first and second preseason game all into one. And that's why now the improvement between the first and second regular season game is the biggest jumps, because all these starters are getting in and getting their feet beneath them. AP Sports writer Joe Reedy is joining us here on the J.R.

Sport Reshow Coast to Coast. You got to tell me, man, the team, they got the Panthers up next. You want to talk about starting the season?

I get it. You can't look a gift horse in the mouth, but they're fully expected to start the season 2-0 now. Which would be the first time since 2012.

Never happened during Tom Tolesco's ten years as general manager. But you know and I know, the NFL is the biggest roller coaster reaction in the NFL. I mean, nobody expected New England to go in and beat Cincinnati, especially as a nine-point favorite in week one. And Carolina's going to be at home in week two, and Chargers got to be the first of two straight games on the East Coast. Now they're going to stay in Carolina after the Panthers game, not to come back cross-country and then get the Steelers in week three. But in the history of this series, and granted it's only been 30 years and they've played six or seven times, Chargers have only one win over the Panthers.

And it happened in 2004. So the last three or four times they've played, the Panthers have had the upper number, but they're going to be heavily favored on the road in week two. And I also think the mentality of this team, because Harbaugh immediately in the locker room after this game is like the biggest jump everybody makes is between game one and game two. And even the players said there's still plenty of meat on the bum because they felt like they left a lot out there yesterday. Especially in the first half in terms of penalties and offense really didn't get things into gear for two and a half quarters.

So I think there's the good mentality that you have a nice win one and oh, but there's still plenty of improvement to be made. You talk about coach Harbaugh, has he fully been embraced by the team and the Charger fans? We know he can be quite quirky and some of his comments says we haven't reached peak Harbaugh yet, have we? No, we've reached peak Harbaugh in a little bit of it. He had a couple of the enthusiasm unknown to mankind during his press conferences last week, ended things in the locker room. Who has it better than us?

Nobody. But this team fully buys in to what he wants because there's a genuine care that he gives to these players, that he believes in them and he wants what's the best for him. I mean, he's bench pressing with them. He's catching medicine balls with them. He means a lot. The one thing that his brother and him both do in the locker room last week, there were old work shirts in there that he got for each player.

It's time to go to work and this is the blue collar mentality that we have. And really, it was stressed in pre-season workouts and going into the season because when you go into the Chargers locker room, it has the player's name on there, but it also has their hometown, college, and their high school recruiting ranking. And when you see somebody like a Zion Johnson who had zero stars, and granted there are plenty of five star guys in there, but when you see that a Zion Johnson began his road to the NFL as a zero star recruit and went to the University of Virginia and ended up being a first round pick. And you know, there are some two or three star guys in that locker room too that it kind of shows that it's all roads to get to the NFL. None of this team was born on third base. They've had to go out and earn it and I think there's a general belief from everyone in what they're selling and even Derwent James said it yesterday, in his seven years here, this was the first true complimentary football game that he can remember where defense picks up the offense and the offense brought it home.

And you know, all the cylinders were clicking. Having said that, Joe, when you think about the optimism surrounding the team, but then also some of the elements that you mentioned that need some work, like the wide receiver group, what do you expect for the conclusion? What is the most likeliest outcome for this team? It's quite competitive already in the AFC West. We know you got the Chiefs. Are they positioned to battle for a wildcard spot?

Yeah, nine and eight or ten and seven I could see. And I think the one thing that we've got to watch too, and this is when we're watching both divisions in terms of wildcard and the AFC, AFC North faces the AFC West this year. And there's going to be those match-ups that really are going to loom large when we get into tiebreakers and everything because I think everybody looks at the AFC North and kind of thinks, hey, can all three wildcard spots come out of there? Can they get two wildcard teams again out of the North? Those meetings between AFC North and AFC West is going to loom large a lot in terms of how this wildcard race develops where it could help out a couple of AFC East teams too. We look at Buffalo, the Jets, and Miami. That could help them down the line too in terms of wildcard. We'll see what happens. Certainly beating up on the Raiders and smacking around the Broncos from time to time won't hurt. Joe, where can people follow you, your work, all of your writings with the AP?

I'm on Twitter, X, at Joe Reedy, J-O-E-R-E-E-D-Y, and then on AP News, one of the good things about the upgrade that we've had on the site lately is that you can search for writer pages and if you do a keyword search for Joe Reedy, all my stories come up there, not just on the Chargers, but sports media and also Dodgers and what have you, and including a little UCLA having their first Big Ten game this Saturday. Awesome. Well, you're certainly going to be busy. Enjoy all of the other harbotisms that come your way for the next four or five months, Joe, okay? No problem. Thanks again.