One of the most frustrating things about the LA Chargers last season was the way in which the offense operated. Despite having one of the best quarterbacks in the entire sport, previous offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi called played like he had 40-year-old Drew Brees under center.
Granted, there were some external factors that also contributed to this. The receiving corps was extremely banged up and Justin Herbert himself was dealing with multiple injuries that he was playing through. Some of the outrage over Lombardi's offense in 2021 was a bit far-fetched but he proved unable to adjust in 2022. Ultimately, the Chargers gave him the boot.
The search for a new offensive coordinator took longer than expected but the Chargers eventually hired Kellen Moore, who has piloted one of the best offenses in the sport in recent years for the Dallas Cowboys. Moore and Mike McCarthy did not fully see eye-to-eye in regards to offensive philosophy, so the parties mutually decided to move on.
This was as big of an upgrade as the Chargers could have gotten at the offensive coordinator position and the results are already showing early in the process in minicamp. When asked about the Chargers' new-look offensive, defensive end Sebastian Joseph-Day said exactly what Chargers fans wanted to hear.
Chargers DE Sebastian Joseph-Day on Kellen Moore and the #Chargers new offense
— Bridget Condon (@BridgetCondon_) June 13, 2023
"It's night and day right now. Tempo, speed...just the complexity of it."
Sebastian Joseph-Day calls Chargers offense "night and day"
Chargers fans not only want to see the offense perform better than it did last season but they want to see a change in offensive philosophy. There were games in which the Chargers offense looked great last season but it was inconsistent, and quite frankly, easy to adjust to. Too many times last season we saw the other team make second-half adjustments to completely stop Lombardi's gameplan.
This comment from SJD indicates that it will not only be a more efficient offense but is going to be completely different in nature from what fans have had to watch over the last two years. That is exactly what fans want to see and is going to be the key to unlocking Herbert and getting him to take that next step as a quarterback.
Of course, we cannot guarantee that it is going to be a success until we see it on the field in a game that matters. Let's not pretend like the fanbase wasn't hyping up Lombardi and his offense before the team actually played a game in 2021.
But as of right now, it looks like we are going to see a much different Chargers offense that should yield better results if all goes as planned.