In their first week, the Los Angeles Chargers quarterbacks took on 14 pressures. And their play reflected the amount of duress they were under. In addition to the three sacks Easton Stick, Max Duggan, and Luis Perez took, they combined for a 45.8 completion percentage for 133 yards and just five first downs through the air. Stick, who saw six pressures on 15 dropbacks posted a 5.5-yard average depth of target, meaning he was forced to rely on check-downs and get the ball out quickly. Stick’s ADOT would have ranked 73rd of all 77 quarterbacks that played last season.
Chargers QBs out of the Frying Pan and Into the Fire
Now the Chargers host Week 1’s leading pressure defense, the Los Angeles Rams. Last week, Rams defenders complied 20 total pressures, 18 of which were inflicted upon Trey Lance during his league-leading 47 dropbacks. The other two came on Cooper Rush‘s three dropbacks.
The Rams had their biggest successes from some surprising depth pieces. Their leading pass rusher was from 2022 undrafted free agent Zach VanVulkenburg. Before last week, he had logged seven pressures over 109 preseason snaps. He got six on 59 snaps last week. Following him was Nick Hampton‘s five pressures. Those came on just 21 snaps.
While the outcomes of preseason games don’t matter, plenty of good information can be gathered from them. But that is impossible if your offense can’t muster more than 133 total passing yards.
The Chargers’ offensive weapons could not be properly assessed with Stick and Co. under so much pressure. And after moving on from their top three offensive weapons this is detrimental to the Chargers season. They have to identify the six or seven best receivers from a crop of new faces, a free agent, and three rookies. They will also need to sus out who they should keep to round out their running back room. They currently have six backs and will need to get down to 4 by August 27th.
Save for signing a free agent, like Ryan Tannehill, or trading for a more seasoned backup the Chargers aren’t left with a lot of options. They could opt to keep their starting offensive line for more drives. They played just two against the Seattle Seahawks. They kept Joe Alt in for the first half.
Some have suggested that Luis Perez has entered the converastion to replace Stick. A change at the starter for Week 2 should be considered. While Perez did push the ball down the field more he only completed 41.7 percent of his passes.
They could also lean more into the running game to take the figurative and literal pressure off their quarterbacks.
