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

[wachashi]

Staley seems alright, I guess. I think we'll know more after the season is over.

He's got several things working in his favor in this job. Most importantly, a really talented young QB with some nice offensive weapons. The Chargers roster is in good shape overall.

I'm not ready to crown the guy. His defense really isn't all that great.

But he is young, uses analytics, chews gum on the sideline, and says the right things in press conferences, so maybe he'll be around for a while.

[Wallcrawler]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

I'll just say the same thing I said in the gamethread.

Had he taken every FG available to him on 4th down (and all of them were good) he'd have scored 15 points. As it stood, he scored 7. So a net loss of 8. That said, one of those 'net losses' was actually a conversion and then his idiot RB tried to extend from the 4 and lost a fumble at the 1. I have a hard time putting that one on him. Another required that Parnham scramble his eggs and lose a football that he had caught.

So even WITH the other two stops included, Staley could've/should've been at 21 points vs. 15.

It didn't work out - shit happens and the other guys get paid to play as well. But the logic behind it was extremely strong, IMO. Those are plays that his guys usually make. Tonight they didn't.

I hope he takes every FG he can if we face them again in the post-season and deep down I think the rest of you guys do as well. The last thing I want is a coach that is treating 3rd down like 2nd down every time he gets on our half of the field. The pressure that puts on the defense is immense and over time they WILL crack. Hell, last night ours DID. We just won the coin toss.

When we stop them on 4th down surrendering 0 points, I hope he continues to go for it. It's unfathomably stupid.

This, without 3 of our best defenders.

I will gladly welcome this butt ****ing moron completely ignoring a way to put points on the board and giving us the chance to hold them to zero, and negatively affecting his players by watching all the work they put in, get NOTHING in return.

Do all the calculations you like. The guy left free points on the field to gamble.

In doing these gambles, he lost one of his players, and then he lost the game.

Wins are wins, whether by 1, or by 40.

To see a Chiefs team that outside of the Raider demolitions, was winning games with scores well under 30 points, hell, some under 20 points, and you can see now in the game that your defense is causing some major problems for them, to still think that you need 7 points every time because 3 isn't good enough, that's just dumb football.

Get your nose out of the math book, pay attention to what is happening in front of you, and call the game accordingly, and you're likely in first place in the afc west.

Instead, you're the jackass that wanted to gamble and lost repeatedly, never learning anything. Chasing points rarely ends well.

This is the type of gambler that comes out of the casino wearing a barrel because he didn't have sense enough not to keep gambling.

[BigCatDaddy]

Originally Posted by DaFace

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

Wut?

[Red Dawg]

He's a little weasel. He built his name on defense and his defense sycks.

[RealSNR]

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.

Considering both he and Turner had loaded teams with franchise QBs, I'll only grant you this until I see Staley take the Chargers to an AFC Championship game like Turner did.

Staley is promising, sure, and seems to have great communication skills, but so did Anthony Lynn. The pressures of the head coaching world mount up when you become more and more of an executive, and some guys can handle that. Others can't. It's why so many new coaches get off to fast starts or look great in their first year only to slowly droop back down to mediocrity over time.

[Gary Cooper]

Originally Posted by O.city

Think of these things this way.


As you were sitting there watching your team play against it, what did you want the Chargers to do? I know I was saying "please kick the ****ing fg and don't go for it".

Every fan would unless you're rooting for the 1985 Bears or 2000 Ravens.

[digger]

Can we get him the 10 year ala John Gruden?

[The Bad Guy]

My assessment is that he sucks. He gets praise because he gives solid quotes to the media and seems like a nice guy.

He has a stud QB and for being a defensive guy, his defense sucks and sucks bad. He puts his team in constantly bad position. Doug Pederson once upon a time was viewed as a maverick coach who pushed the envelope. He won a ring and ended up unemployed. Staley's shine will be completely off by the middle of next season.

[scho63]

Your assessment of Brandon Staley?

He ain't no Andy Reid!

[DaFace]

Originally Posted by staylor26

Yea umm Andy wasn’t a first time HC…

Originally Posted by htismaqe

After 13 games in Philly?

Originally Posted by ChiTown

LOL - you can't be serious with that

Originally Posted by BigCatDaddy

Wut?

I was referring to 13 games with the Chiefs. Sure, he had a track record, but it's not hard to recognize when a team is responding to the coaching philosophy.

[BigCatDaddy]

Originally Posted by DaFace

I was referring to 13 games with the Chiefs.

No you are comparing apples to oranges..got it.

[jerryaldini]

Wonder what the conversion rate is on 4th down from the 5. 5 yards at goal line seems pretty low percentage. That's the one I thought was too aggressive, and sorta arrogant.

[ChiTown]

Originally Posted by DaFace

I was referring to 13 games with the Chiefs. Sure, he had a track record, but it's not hard to recognize when a team is responding to the coaching philosophy.

Well, one guy had been to the NFC CG 4x's and been to a SB and the other guy is 8-6 in his career, but ok.....

[staylor26]

Originally Posted by DaFace

I was referring to 13 games with the Chiefs. Sure, he had a track record, but it's not hard to recognize when a team is responding to the coaching philosophy.

It’s still a dumb ****ing comparison…

[DaFace]

Originally Posted by staylor26

It’s still a dumb ****ing comparison…

Are you under the impression that everyone was universally happy when Andy came here? Granted, people here like to bitch about anything, but it was hardly a universally-praised decision.