1-Man’s Opinion on Sports-Tuesday ‘CHARGERS-COWBOYS–UGLY NIGHT FOOTBALL’
============================
“MONDAY NITE AS UGLY AS SUNDAY”
==============================
It was only fitting the Chargers-Cowboys game on Monday night was as ugly as Sunday games across the NFL.
Actually, it was worse because the Chargers lost to the Cowboys (20-17), and drops their record to (2-3) with the knowledge there’s a trip to Arrowhead Stadium next weekend to meet the Chiefs.
Take any segment of the game, and you can find something black to talk about.
20-penalties in all, wiping out big yardage plays.
Strange play calls all night from both coaches, trying to run the ball when neither team could run the ball.
Failed 4th down play calls down on the goal line for both teams.
Dallas’ defense had 7-flags on its defense. Not to be out done, the Chargers offensive line had 7-penalties too.
CD Lamb, who has done nothing all year, went off on the Bolts secondary for 7-catches for 117 yards. Keenan Allen had a huge start but disappeared as the game wore on.
The Chargers aided a couple of drives, with Derwin James taking a late hit penalty on the quarterback, then got flagged for bad helmet hit, on critical 3rd round plays none the less.
Pay respect to the quarterbacks. The pressure, the hits, the sacks on Justin Herbert and Dak Prescott was enormous. And yet they stayed in the pocket, scrambled to run, and made pass plays on the move. That was the only impressive part of the game, the courage of the QBs.
Prescott took 4-sacks and 6-pressures and 4-hits. Herbert wound up with the critical last minute sack, but faced 12-pressures and took on 10-hits.
The guys on the back end had a tough night. Kenneth Murray checked off alot of boxes, gave up 3-pass plays but recorded 3-tackles for losses.
Michael Davis gave up 4-passes, took a penalty and then failed to make a tackle that became a 60-yard catch and run.
Morgan Fox had 2-sacks and a tackle for loss, but did not get much help from Joey Bosa nor Khalil Mack
Everyone of the OL had either penalties or gave up big hits on the QB.
The heavy arrival of Cowboys fans made it like it was a Dallas home game on the road. It’s just the way life is in LA for the Chargers..
But the setback has far reaching effects on both teams. It improves Dallas’ hope to remain in a playoff race, though Mike McCarthy’s team sure does not look like a playoff team, with the lack of a power run game, not much from their tight ends, and really inconsistent wide receiver production.
For the Chargers, they cannot run the ball and you just don’t get the sense there is a deep passing game on any of Kellen Moore’s playbook pages.
A big setback for the Chargers. A sign of hope in Dallas.
And Monday night, was like the games on Sunday, really ugly football.
Assume we will have good games next weekend. Maybe it was the eclipse that caused all the poor play. I have no explanation how so many games could be so bad.
The sun comes up Tuesday morning…the Chargers not what we thought they might be. The Cowboys still trying to be what they used to be.
===========================================
Brandon Staley at 21-18 is deadman walking. He is obviously a good coach that can’t get out of his way. On paper,the Bolts are one of the most talented teams in the league. But, their record is who they are.
Overall, every NFL team is still trying to find out who they are. The current bargaining agreement makes the offseason a joke. Players have to learn their positions during the season. You can see the biggest difference in play with the lines not being able to handle stunts. So, like Fouts, Rivers, and Brees, it looks like Herbert will be another casualty of Bolts ineptitude.