Here's a breakdown of the news from the Chargers second week of the season:
On Monday Brandon Staley, Mike Williams and Derwin James talked about their win in Washington after having time to look at the game film. Sunday was a big moment for James as he made his return to the gridiron for the first time in more than a year. The fourth year safety wasted no time getting back to his old ways and talked about what it meant for him to get a game ball from Staley.
"That was an unbelievable moment for me man, you know I'm very thankful for it, man," he said. "It's been a lot of hard work and just dedication put into it so you know, just to see it pay off it in Week 1 you know it's only up from here. So, you know I just wanna keep coming out and get better."
On Wednesday a big focus was on what the atmosphere will be like in Sunday's home opener as fans will be able to witness the Chargers in action for the first time in their new stadium. Bolts’ quarterback Justin Herbert talked about what it will be like for him to have Chargers fans in SoFi Stadium after playing his rookie year in an empty home stadium.
"[I'm expecting] a lot of excitement," Herbert said. "It's been a lot of fun being able to play at that place and last year was awesome but to not have fans and kind of go through that was a little weird, some aspects you miss about football. So having fans there this Sunday, I think it will definitely be a cool experience."
On Thursday Chargers’ OLB Joey Bosa talked about what it means to face his former roommate at Ohio State, Ezekiel Elliott. Bosa said it's been a 'dream come true' to see his and Elliott's career come together like this.
"It'll be awesome," Bosa said. "Last time we played against each other was in practice [at Ohio State] and we didn't take it easy on each other then, so I'm sure we won't this weekend. It'll just be good to see him, I saw him this offseason and it was good to reconnect, and he's obviously done an amazing job."
Also on Thursday the first installment of 'Homecoming' presented by American Airlines, aired on YouTube featuring Chargers' legendary running back, Ladainian Tomlinson. This episode follows LT as he walks the TCU campus with Chargers team reporter Hayley Elwood. Tomlinson relives his record breaking six-touchdown performance and checks in on what the program's facilities look like today.
The week ended with some unfortunate injury news as RT Bryan Bulaga was placed on the injured reserve after not participating in practice this week with a back/groin injury. Staley explained that Storm Norton will start against the Cowboys in Bulaga's place.
On Friday, the Bolts also signed OT Michael Schofield III, who played on the Chargers from 2017-19, to the active roster. Veteran cornerback Chris Harris Jr. was also listed as out for Sunday's game on the injury report after missing practice this week as well with a shoulder injury.
Chargers Prepare for Ezekiel Elliott and Cowboys Offense
The last time the Chargers and Cowboys went head-to-head on the gridiron, it was on Thanksgiving Day back in 2017. The Bolts went into Dallas and walked away with a 28-6 victory over the Cowboys.
Dallas comes to town with a talented list of athletes on their roster in Dak Prescott, Ezekiel Elliott, Amari Cooper and CeeDee Lamb. Although Dallas had a heavy pass attack in their Week 1 game against Tampa Bay, Staley explained he’s fully ready to contain the Cowboy’s top run threat in Elliott.
"He has my full attention," Staley said. "I have full respect for this back. My eyes tell me that this guy is a top two-to-five back in this league. Playing against him last year, what was unique is I could hear everything last year. There was no crowd, so I could hear the sound of every tackle. I remember going home and watching the TV copy with my wife. It was late, but she stayed up and we watched it. You could hear it; you could hear the pads popping. He's a physical guy. I have full respect for him and what he's accomplished in this league. I still think he's a premium back."
Chargers’ defensive coordinator Renaldo Hill talked Thursday about what the Bolts' defense needs to do to slow down both the passing and rushing attack from Dallas.
"We'll expect them to try to get the run game going," Hill said. "That's their guy [Cowboys RB Ezekiel Elliott]. We know once the run game is going for them, everything else opens up. Even though they had a big day passing [against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers], I think it opens up more variables for those guys. We expect them to get the run game going and use their big back, back there.
Hill also talked about his philosophy when it comes to defending elite quarterbacks like Prescott. For Hill, nothing is off the table and on Thursday he talked about the possibility of using someone as a 'spy' on Prescott.
"We want to make these quarterbacks have to search the defense out. Try to search the coverage out. We can do that. We think it'll make our jobs easier in the back end. That's the biggest thing for us, not trying to give up the explosiveness, explosive plays. Keeping the roof over our defense. We're constantly working on that. We know they have the weapons out there and we just have to do a good job this week early on. Continue to move the downs around."
Last time Allen faced the Cowboys he put up 172 yards on 11 catches and scored one touchdown. On Thursday, NFL Network's Daniel Jeremiah joined Chris Hayre to breakdown what's in store for Sunday's showdown between Cooper and Allen.
Other News and Notes
Tweets of the Week
Check out the best shots from the Chargers Week 1, 20-16, victory over the Washington Football Team on the east coast.
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