The voice of the Chargers, Matt "Money" Smith, joined Thursday's episode of Chargers Weekly to break down the team's 2019 schedule.
In addition to schedule talk, Smith shared his thoughts on the Chargers switching their primary home uniforms to the Powder Blues. He also discussed potential options for the team at No. 28 overall in the 2019 NFL Draft.
Excerpts from the conversation are below.
On having two "Sunday Night Football" games from ROKiT Field at Dignity Health Sports Park (3:45 mark):
"As a broadcaster, the first thing that jumped out to me is NBC must have really liked that Saturday night game [last season] against Baltimore. They must have loved the way it looked, the way it felt. … I watched that thing back on TV and it looked great, and it is a cool venue, it's a unique venue. So, that's the first thing that jumped out at me, and you know what? I thought that was the best crowd, best atmosphere. Even with the game being as flat as it was to start, I thought it was electric in that place before kickoff, more than any other game over the two years that we've been calling them there. So, I'm excited to have two huge games against long-time NFL franchises like the Steelers and Vikings on Sunday night."
On opening with the Indianapolis Colts in Week 1 (4:55 mark):
"Well to me, more than anything, this was a matchup that a lot of people thought was going to happen in the AFC Championship Game. As crazy as it sounds now looking back at how it ended for the Chargers in New England, but a lot of people thought the Chargers matched up well [and] thought they were going to be the team to knock off the Pats and end that dynasty, and that the Colts, because of how balanced they were, the defense they played, the running game that they had found, that they were going to be able to knock off the Chiefs. And obviously it didn't happen. … To me, it's to some degree kind of one of those measuring-stick, litmus-test games."
On playing the Green Bay Packers at home in Week 9 (30:20 mark):
"You get Aaron Rodgers and Philip Rivers on the field, you don't know how many more times you're going to get that. … It'll be another one of those special games, and we had a couple of them last year. And I think any time you get something like this, you do want to make sure you pay attention because, again, we don't know if we'll ever get it again: two of the best quarterbacks to have ever played the game."
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