Your assessment of Brandon Staley

[Deberg_1990]

Says he’s sticking with his 4th down approach……..good for him.



Chargers coach Brandon Staley isn't changing his ways: He says he will continue to go for it on fourth down, even after three out of Los Angeles' five attempts Thursday night failed in a 34-28 overtime defeat to the Kansas City Chiefs.

"I felt really comfortable with all those decisions," Staley said after the loss, which dropped the Chargers two games behind the Chiefs in the AFC West standings with three to play. "That's the way we're going to play around here. That's the way we're going to play. When we have a quarterback like ours, and we have an offense like ours, that's the way we're going to play because that's how you need to play against Kansas City, for sure. That's how we're going to become the team that we're ultimately capable of being, by playing that way."

The Chargers entered the game 13 for 21 on fourth downs this season, giving them the fourth-most conversions in the league. Their conversion percentage (61.9) was tied for eighth best in the NFL.

Two of Los Angeles' failed attempts to convert came inside the Kansas City 5, and another was on the edge of field goal range. The Chargers became the first team to fail twice on fourth-and-goal in a first half since the 1984 Chargers did the same -- also against the Chiefs -- 37 years ago to the day (Dec. 16, 1984).

Quarterback Justin Herbert said he stands by his coach and his decisions on fourth down.

"It's always tough and you'd love to be able to convert those," Herbert said. "I think we need to be better on third downs so that we're not in those situations, but we believe in each other. We believe in the guys in that locker room and that huddle, and we believe in the defense. I think that's a statement of trusting everyone on the field and off the field, as well. We love to be put in those situations. Unfortunately, we didn't convert as many as we would've liked to have today, but we're going to ride with each other and we're going to be right back."

With Patrick Mahomes and Tyreek Hill on the other sideline, Staley and his coaching staff realized no lead would be safe until the clock ran out. That's why they never stopped trying to score in all situations: Only the very last of the Chargers' 10 drives ended in a punt.

"It's life in the NFL, in decision-making like that. ... I know that the quickest way to win a game like that is to score touchdowns, not field goals, especially considering who's on the other side," Staley said. "When you don't feel like it's a gamble, when you feel like this is an advantage for you, then that's going to be our mindset. And I don't think that any decision that we made tonight, that I made tonight, was a gamble. We felt like it was an advantage situation for us, and that's why we did it.''

Herbert and his teammates came agonizingly close to proving Staley correct.

Donald Parham seriously injured himself while coming down just out of bounds with a catch in the back of the end zone on the Chargers' failed fourth down from the Kansas City 5 on the game's opening drive.

Four drives later on the final snap of the first half, Herbert was in the shotgun on fourth down from the Kansas City 1 -- but Daniel Sorensen got his hand on a quick out to Keenan Allen, wiping out a potential TD pass and leaving the Chargers' halftime lead at only 14-10 despite 208 yards of offense on five solid drives.

The Chargers' only drive of the third quarter ended at the Kansas City 28 when Herbert and Jared Cook couldn't connect on a fourth-and-2 pass. Cook also dropped a probable touchdown pass on second down during that final drive before halftime.

After Thursday's game, the Chargers have now gone for it on fourth down 29.9% of the time this season. That's the highest rate for any team since the 2007 Jacksonville Jaguars (30.0%).

"We felt like it was an advantage situation for us," Staley explained. "That's why we did it. If we didn't feel like that was the case, then we would have kicked a field goal or we would have punted. That's the way that we're going to do things around here. I know that our team embraces that mindset. We're going to continue to do it every game we play moving forward."

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/...way-going-play

"The quickest way to win a game like that is to score touchdowns not field goals, especially considering who's on the other side."

Chargers coach Brandon Staley on being aggressive on 4th down against the Chiefs. pic.twitter.com/4mskizFo2J

— CBS Sports HQ (@CBSSportsHQ) December 17, 2021

[Hoover]

I like the kid, I think he is a good coach. But damn, these teams are playing the 2019 Chiefs in their heads. I get the need to go for it on 4th down, but man sometimes you just need to take the points.

For instance, I'm still pissed off that the Chiefs went for it on 4th and goal. Not only do you take the lead if you kick it there, but you go up two points which late in the game is pretty damn important. It means you you don't have to make that two point conversion, probably forces the chargers to attempt one.

I love analytics, but sometimes you just have to have a feel for the game. The Chargers left a ton of points on the field last night.

[DJJasonp]

it was funny to watch the toungue-bath the media was giving the chargers all night last night (pre and post game).

Since when did the "analytics say you go for it here" start?

Stop defending and propping up a franchise who plays in a stadium/city where half of the audience is the opposing team's fans.

[King_Chief_Fan]

I think his statement is right.
But, at some time you have to kick a FG or 2

[DRM08]

Originally Posted by Bl00dyBizkitz

This basically seals it for me. Staley was scared shit-less of Patrick Mahomes and went for the kill shot every single time.

Except in the 4th quarter when Staley made the strange choice to kick the extra point instead of going for 2 point conversion. A 9 point lead would have been a million times better than the 8 point lead. Sure enough, KC found a way to tie the game with a TD and 2 point conversion.

[O.city]

Originally Posted by Hoover

I like the kid, I think he is a good coach. But damn, these teams are playing the 2019 Chiefs in their heads. I get the need to go for it on 4th down, but man sometimes you just need to take the points.

For instance, I'm still pissed off that the Chiefs went for it on 4th and goal. Not only do you take the lead if you kick it there, but you go up two points which late in the game is pretty damn important. It means you you don't have to make that two point conversion, probably forces the chargers to attempt one.

I love analytics, but sometimes you just have to have a feel for the game. The Chargers left a ton of points on the field last night.

See, I'm fine with the Chiefs doing it too.

With the 3 defenders they had out last night, the defense was hanging in by a thread. Fourth and 1 from the 2, go for it. IF you don't get it, you've got them pinned back for your defense.

[wachashi]

Here's what the computer machines said:

The #Chargers have gone for it on 4th down five times tonight. The NGS Decision Guide has agreed with Brandon Staley on all five decisions ✅

�� GO by 3.3% (5 to go)
�� GO by 4.8% (1)
�� GO by 0.3% (1)
�� GO by 3.9% (2)
�� GO by 5.1% (1)��️#KCvsLAC | Powered by @awscloud pic.twitter.com/J6QwgKoci0

— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) December 17, 2021

[wachashi]

The closest call was the decision to go for it from the 1-yard line right before halftime.

[htismaqe]

You know what? Fine.

The analytics are right. He should have gone for it every time, just like he did.

You know what that means?

If he made the right decision each time and it didn't work, that just means the Chiefs rose to the occasion because they're the better team.

[Wallcrawler]

I guess I'm just an old school of thought guy. These games today are being played like MUT games on Madden now. Video games. Nobody kicks fgs, everyone goes for it, in certain situations, sure.

But to REPEATEDLY leave points off the board, 12 of them, is rough. I say 12, because though they converted the 4th down one time, they fumbled on the goal line. A fg on that 4th down would have been 12 points total, assuming the kicker doesn't choke away 4 easy fgs.

You don't waste a massive kickoff return to open the game by turning it over on downs.

You don't slap your defense across the face after pulling a turnover for you, by squandering it.

This was not a game where the Chiefs offense was looking good. After the script td, it was a fg, then a terrible 3 and out.

You take your points, and allow your defense to continue doing what it's doing with more and more cushion to work with. Moreover, you reward great efforts with POINTS.

Allowing the Chiefs to hang around and get sorted was monumentally stupid. Hopefully Staley never learns the fact that common sense will always be more valuable than book smarts.

[ping2000]

"Let's go for it Brandon" signs for sale now in L.A.

[DaFace]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

You know what? Fine.

The analytics are right. He should have gone for it every time, just like he did.

You know what that means?

If he made the right decision each time and it didn't work, that just means the Chiefs rose to the occasion because they're the better team.

You could argue that the analytics were wrong in this case because the Chiefs are better on 4th downs than the average team. Obviously the sample size is tiny, but it does seem like we've done fairly well against it this year.

[DJ's left nut]

He's the best coach the Chargers have had, by FAR, since Marty.

And he's going to be an unholy pain in the ass for this team for the next decade. With only 1 bye every year going forward, having a soft division is going to be critical to getting the bye week. And unfortunately the West is going to have 2 of the 3/4 best QB/Coach combinations in the NFL going forward.

[ChiTown]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

He's the best coach the Chargers have had, by FAR, since Marty.

And he's going to be an unholy pain in the ass for this team for the next decade. With only 1 bye every year going forward, having a soft division is going to be critical to getting the bye week. And unfortunately the West is going to have 2 of the 3/4 best QB/Coach combinations in the NFL going forward.

That seems a bit much for a guy who is 13 games into his HC'ing career, don't you think?

[Wallcrawler]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

He's the best coach the Chargers have had, by FAR, since Marty.

And he's going to be an unholy pain in the ass for this team for the next decade. With only 1 bye every year going forward, having a soft division is going to be critical to getting the bye week. And unfortunately the West is going to have 2 of the 3/4 best QB/Coach combinations in the NFL going forward.

Not if he's an all or nothing coach that limits his football team's ability to score points.

Imagine a team being penalized somehow with a rule that says you can not kick field goals for a certain period of time.

It would be outrageous.

But this dude willingly does it to himself. I hope he's their coach forever.

[DaFace]

Originally Posted by ChiTown

That seems a bit much for a guy who is 13 games into his HC'ing career, don't you think?

I think we were pretty sure about Andy after 13 games.