LA Chargers: 5 things to improve on in Week 5 vs. New Orleans
By Faustino Felix
The LA Chargers lost their third game in a row in an exciting shootout between Justin Herbert and Tom Brady.
The LA Chargers are 1-3 but have been better than their record shows. They will have a chance to prove that in front of everyone on Monday Night Football against the New Orleans Saints. Justin Herbert has been thrown into the fire, and he has delivered spectacular results.
Even though he led a team decimated by injuries, he played toe for toe against Tom Brady on the road and was very close to pulling it off.
Herbert will get no break, as he’ll have to stay on the road and face yet another future Hall of Fame quarterback in Drew Brees. The Saints are a very strong team who will likely get Michael Thomas back.
Even without fans, the Mercedes-Benz Superdome is a tough place to play. The Chargers made a good effort on Sunday, so let’s talk about what they can do to improve on that and get back on the winning track.
1. Be more aggressive on defense
While Brady took a few shots on Sunday, he mostly had all kinds of time to throw and let plays develop. Also, while Michael Davis made a great play by intercepting Brady and taking it to the house, Brady kept finding his players when it mattered most.
While it’s dangerous to be aggressive against quarterbacks like Brady and Drew Brees, it’s very hard to beat their teams if the defense doesn’t make a few game-changing plays. Brady and Brees are in a similar stage of their careers, but it’s evident Brees can’t quite push the ball downfield like Brady is still doing.
Against the Saints, the Chargers will need to blitz more. Since Bradley took over, they’ve been the team with the lowest blitz rate in the league. Last year, they blitzed on only 13.7% of opposing team’s dropbacks per Pro Football Reference, good for lowest in the league. The next team was the Raiders at 17.5%. This year has seen that trend continue.
That will not do against Brees, who will use his chemistry with his receivers and his football intelligence to make plays if the Bolts give him time. The Chargers need to pressure Brees often, and they’ll need to be mindful of where Alvin Kamara is, which brings us to our next thing to improve.