This week Chargers play-by-play radio commentator Matt "Money" Smith fills in for Chargers radio analyst Daniel Jeremiah to answer mailbag questions. Below is the Week 7 bye week installment:
How can the Chargers improve run defense without accruing other players? -@juantwoothreee
"One, get healthy. Justin Jones will make a huge difference teamed up with Linval Joseph, Joseph's been great I think it's just been a big ask for the other players that are next to him. Jerry Tillery has been great at getting after the passer but has certainly struggled a little bit in run defense. So, I think getting Justin Jones back is number one and he's scheduled to be back after the bye. Number two, you cannot minimize the loss of Kenneth Murray and Drue Tranquill those linebackers have got to get their run fills. So you're missing that and then on top of that I think without Nas Adderley out there you probably had Derwin [James] in the Baltimore game kind of protecting the top of that defense a little bit and that probably added to a lot of the run failures. Also remember that this is a different scheme and not to get too technical, but Coach Staley practices a gap and a half and that's different than what these guys were used to. You've got to remember it's just six games so with 11 to go I think you will expect the guys to get a little bit more comfortable in this new defense that they're learning. So, all three of those things but most importantly health is going to make a big difference."
How do you bounce back from a tough loss like the one on Sunday? -@jesus_3times
"I think Jesús, it's no different than filing away a huge win and not getting too overconfident. This is super cliché, but it's a tough league, everybody's really good and you can't get too high after a blowout win and you can't get too low after a blowout loss. Those things happen, they happen to every team no matter how good they are. Look at the Packers and what their Week 1 looked like compared to what the last few weeks have looked like for them. You chalk it up, you don't forget about it, you take lessons certainly from it, and I think the offense is going to try and figure out what that Baltimore defense was doing to make Justin [Herbert] so uncomfortable and create so much pressure in the backfield. It's important not forget about it to see what went wrong, to diagnose, to improve, but also treat it no different than any other game, whatever the outcome. Because the Patriots, regardless of their 2-4 record, are waiting after the bye and that's going to be another big challenge. But you also want to have confidence, confidence to make the throws, confidence to attack an offense and not play on your heels, so it's a delicate dance. So I think the answer ultimately is you treat just like you would any other game."
What is your favorite jersey combo to see the bolts wear on Sundays? -@joshuandugan
"Love the question Joshua, as I love uniform talk. It was about three years ago that John Spanos and I were out at a sports bar together on a Saturday watching some college football. It was the Cleveland game before we went to London in 2018 and we were talking about the uniform change that was upcoming and I asked him, not saying this was my decision and why they did it, but this is the answer to my question before I even knew what their plan was. I said we've got to get powder blues and we got to get gold pants. You have to have gold pants, that's such a key and a lot of its age based and to me. I even like the royal blues, that might be sacrilegious to say, I like the royal blues better. If you were to give me a royal blue top with gold pants that would be my favorite combo, but as it stands right now, I would go powder blue, gold pants."
How are you and may you please say touchdown Chargers? -@santiago_j15
"I'm doing great Santiago, thank you. It is early in the morning, I just got out of the water, so my day is ahead of me and I feel refreshed and TOUCHDOOOOOOWN CHAARGERRRSSS!!'
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