LA Chargers: Why Justin Jones is such a vital piece to the defense
Pass rush and pressure
As stated on the previous slide, Jones unleashing Tillery is one of the big factors that made the LA Chargers pass rush so lethal in the first two weeks.
Extrapolating that further, the Chargers pass rush has seen a serious decline without Jones and a lack of peak pass-rushing Tillery. In the first two games, the Chargers registered 13 quarterback hits with five sacks. In the last three games, the Chargers registered 15 quarterback hits with just four sacks.
Melvin Ingram’s absence has obviously been a factor when it comes to the lack of pressure, but the loss of Jones lowering the Chargers’ interior pass rush is a much bigger problem when defenses can just focus on Bosa and Linval Joseph without having to worry about anyone else.
When everyone is healthy on the defensive line, it’s a well-oiled machine that can produce all of the pressure in the world. When you take Jones out of that equation though, the interior pressure is dependent on what Joseph can do by himself since Tillery can be held in check.
Let Justin Herbert cook on early downs. Next
A lack of interior pressure gets the Chargers to the same point they were at last year-Bosa and Ingram having to do a lot of the pass-rushing work by themselves. Oh, and Bosa hasn’t had Ingram on the other side because he’s also on IR. Enter *audible vomiting* Isaac Rochell and Jessie Lemonier.