Saunders shouldn't be criticized for play calling against Bolts
 

Went back through the game from last week and noticed poor execution and too many mistakes from everyone and chronic indecisiveness/happy feet in the running game by Holmes is what slowed the offense down and not bad play calling. In fact I'd say the play calling was good and very balanced especially given the lack of pass protection. You wanna talk about bad play calling just watch a game with Brian Billick at the helm.

Two out of the first 3 possessions should've ended up in SD territory were it not for bad officiating and flukes.

On the 2nd possession KC should've been inside the SD 30 on a long 3rd down completion to Kennison but the call got overturned.

On the 3rd possession Gonzales had a potential long gainer right in his hands on 1st down off a play action pass but he dropped the ball.

In fact here's what all the first half possessions look like

1st possession

-Holmes run L off tackle +1
-Drop back pass Trent Green sacked (Richardson went to the left, delayed blitzer came from his right)
- Screen Holmes R (good call against the blitz but Holmes ran the wrong way or he might've had a first down)
punt

2nd possession

- Holmes Run outside left + 15 (tack on another 15 for a facemask)
- Holmes run 1 inside
- Draw to holmes (good call - better defense)
- Complete pass + 25 to Kennsion (catch over-ruled)
punt

3rd possession

- PA pass dropped by Gonzales
- LJ run offtackle left + 4
- dropback bass Green sacked (shields and black were doubleteaming one man and nobody picked up the OLB)
punt

Thus far theres been 3 dropback passes called and 2 of those have ended up in sacks.

4th possession

-Screen right to holmes + 10 first down
- Run holmes r offguard + 5
- Pass complete left to Kennison + 3
- Incomplete pass intended for Dunn
punt

5th possession

- Holmes run offtackle L + 6
- Holmes run offtackle l + 2
- Holmes run off guard r + 0
punt

6th possession
- Pass complete to Holmes L + 5
- LJ sweep L + 46
- Holmes run R + 3
- Holmes run L + 3
- Holmes pitch L + 5 (first down nullified by penalty)
- Pass complete L to Hall + 4
Field Goal

7th possession
- screen LJ left + 3
- screen right LJ + 7

Totals:

25 offensive snaps

13 runs
12 pass

The problem was they didn't call enough downfield passing plays. Everything was short.

True, but it's extremely difficult to throw the ball down field when your QB is being smothered by guys wearing blue jerseys with lightning bolts on them.

3rd and 2 on the Chargers 3 yard line.

You run the ball two times, regardless of any other factors.

We passed twice. Thanks Al.

1 long pass attempt for a catch and over turned. Perhaps the defense would have losened up a bit had Saunders tried to stretch the field a bit. Even if incomplete, he should have tried to keep the D honest. The defense continued to move up on the LOS for the entire 1st half. In the second, when we started going downfield, SD already well known weakness was exploited.

I expected with the 2nd best run game in the league and one of the worst pass defenses we might try to spread them out then try to run. But then, I am no coach in the NFL.

But you dont see many people playing KC trying to run the ball down our throat, they pass the football. They should teach that in coaching 101 as far as I'm concerned.

Still, there were times when Green dropped back to pass and had time to fire it downfield. It looked to me like he was looking at a bunch of short routes the whole time and naturally they didn't come open.

The second half was a testament to the fact that we COULD have been going downfield with the ball in the first half.

It depends on how much you buy into DV's explination of why we didn't go deep. He wouldn't blame the personel. Instead, he blamed the pass covergaes when we allegedly had the down filed pass plays called.

It's a good question. I'll be interested to see what kind of routes we're running when I get to see them live in Houston.

Of course he gets blame. Either for the lack of success early, or the inability to gameplan. I'll credit him with decent adjustments in this game, but I am more concerned with the fact the first half was so pathetic.

Did you prepare all week to come out and lay that egg? What did you study? An elite Chargers pass defense, hense why we didn't test them? Come on. I don't think so. What the hell did you watch in the film studies? I'm no student, but I know they can't cover shit deep but they do shut you down on the ground. Apparently Al discovered neither of these things until the 2nd half.

Why does it take him an entire half to start calling plays that get our PLAYMAKERS involved? Does he think he's smart by not utilizing Gonzalez for 30 minutes, and then suddenly unleashing him in the 2nd half? I don't think the Chargers forgot about him thanks to us not using him. I just think they can't cover him, hense why we should be going to him 10-12 times per game, with 2 or 3 deep, and 3 or 4 shots at 6 points. Not one.

I was at the game and I have to say a majority of the problems came from poor pass protection. The pocket collapsed on Green a few times and he was also pressured a couple times when a LB came totally unblocked off the edge. That was something I had seen the Chargers do against the Steelers in the MNF game a few weeks back and figured the Chiefs would recognize it, but they didn't. Also when the Chiefs got in the red zone, it was just run run run. Then when we finally did attempt a pass on 3rd down, it was predictable and Green got pressured and nearly threw a pick. Some of the mistakes in the pass protection weren't made by Jordan Black either. Shields and Gonzo made a fair share.

One thing I DID see against SD was we kept Dunn in to help the RT and let Gonzalez go out and run a pass pattern.

FINALLY.

Q: Why didn't Saunders throw the ball down the field more in the first half?

A: If you guys would look at the play by play that question would be answered. Two out of the first three dropback passes resulted in sacks! Even a Mike Martz would be hard pressed to call multipled 30 yard throws downfield on 7 step drops after his quarterback had been sacked on 2 out of 3 plays requiring that length of protection.

Both of those were coverage sacks if I remember correctly.

I thought Priest was showing happy feet until they at one point showed a camera angle from the end zone. He was facing a collapsing offensive line on that particular play, and it became apparent that it wasn't happy feet, it was sad offensive line. I bet that was the case most of the time.

The reason we didn't do that earlier in the season was because Dunn was injured.