Here's a breakdown of the news from the Chargers' third week of the season:
On Monday the Chargers went over what they can do to tighten up their run defense and learn from their mistakes against Dallas. Head coach Brandon Staley's main focus was eliminating penalties.
"We just have to pay more attention to detail in both our fundamentals and our operation," said Staley. "We had ten penalties on offense and a lot of it was technique-oriented and operation-oriented, guys making sure that we're set from a cadence operation-motion standpoint. Going on a quick cadence, making sure people are set, and then understanding the frame of a play from a technique standpoint."
Chargers' safety Derwin James explained to the media on Monday what the defense has to do to slow down their opponent's run game going forward.
"Just being tougher up-front, man," James said "We gotta be tough, we gotta set edges and we gotta come out ready to play on the outside if the ball does express itself on the outside, we gotta be ready. So, you know, it's a team effort it's not just the guys on the inside, it's everybody. We gotta tackle better…we just gotta be better all the way around."
On Wednesday, the development of two young defensive players for the Chargers in rookie cornerback Asante Samuel Jr. and safety Nasir Adderley was discussed. Adderley talked about how he enjoys playing in this year's defensive scheme and for him, understanding that he's a visual learner has been a big part of the 'jump' in his game this year. Staley also talked about what he's seen so far from Samuel and how he evaluates the rookies Week 2 performance.
"I'm really impressed with Asante Samuel Jr.," Staley said. "He looks like he belongs out there, you know you can really measure him when he's going nose to nose with somebody really good…you can measure Asante less on the interception, which is fantastic, but more on a nose-to-nose play, where it's deny the ball down on a third-down or a fourth-down vs. Amari Cooper, or the red area in the middle part of the endzone. When you're nose to nose with a premium player, with a 100-million-dollar receiver how are you playing?"
On Thursday, Samuel Jr. won the Pepsi Rookie of the Week Award for his Week 2 performance against Dallas. The 21-year-old rookie's first career pick came off of Dak Prescott and made him the youngest Chargers corner to record an interception in the last 25 seasons. Samuel Jr. talked about what the accolade meant to him.
"It's definitely a blessing," Samuel Jr. said. "I want to thank my family, my friends, my fans and Bolt Nation for helping me get the award. I couldn't have done it without them."
Focusing on the weapons that the Chiefs have on offense, Chargers defensive coordinator Renaldo Hill explained what the Bolts’ defense needs to do to limit the Chiefs explosive plays.
"A lot of those jet-orbit motions they do, the timing motions," Hill said. "They try to get you with the eye candy. You have to have keys. That's what they try to do, they try to mess with your lens — try to get your eyes off of things that you shouldn't. We all have a responsibility in our scheme, and guys have to make sure they're not looking at the things they're not supposed to.
To wrap up Thursday, rapper Snoop Dogg, Keenan Allen and Chargers general manager Tom Telesco surprised the Inglewood Chargers with authentic Nike replica jerseys. The full set of uniforms was passed out to roughly 150 youth athletes.
Earlier this week, the Chargers and Nike finalized a donation of brand new custom uniforms for the Inglewood Chargers of the Snoop Youth Football League. Wide receiver Keenan Allen, General Manager Tom Telesco, and Rapper Snoop Dogg were all on hand to present the jerseys. The Chargers also provided funding to underwrite the registration fees of all approximately 150 players for the 2021 season.
On Friday head coach Brandon Staley talked about how OLB Joey Bosa's ankle is feeling after not participating in practice this week. Bosa is listed as questionable for Sunday’s game, but Staley provided some optimism for his game status for Sunday.
"It's responded well," he said. "It is football stuff, it's not anything serious or long term. It's sore, for sure. It's definitely loosed up as the week's gone on. Today he did even more than he did yesterday. We're just trying to be careful."
Last season the Chargers split their games against the Chiefs, losing 23-20 in Week 2 and winning 38-21 in Week 17. Although the Bolts' first matchup against the Chiefs last season resulted in an overtime loss, it marked an important day in the Chargers' quarterback Justin Herbert's career. On Sunday, Herbert has a chance to face off against Patrick Mahomes for the first time in over a year.
Herbert also has another chance to make history on Sunday. If he throws for 300 yards or more against the Chiefs, he will set the all-time record for 300-yard games through the first two seasons of a career with 11 total. Take a look at 10 insights into Sunday's game.
Going into Week 3, the Chiefs defense has allowed over 400 yards per game and just over 32 points allowed per game. The high-powered weapons on both sides of the ball for the Chargers and Chiefs teams have set the stage for a great game this weekend on GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.
Check out the best photos from the Bolts Thursday practice at Hoag Performance Center.
Videos of the Week
This week also brought a collection of videos to Chargers fans, take a look at the top videos released throughout the week.
The highly anticipated third episode of 'All In' aired on Friday night. The series third installment focused on the adversity that safety Derwin James has faced throughout his career and how he's bounced back from injury.
Take a behind the scenes look at the Chargers Week 2 home opener against the Dallas Cowboys with the 'Chargers Vlog' series. The Chargers Vlog shows you what gamedays look like for the Chargers' content team. From a 5:30 a.m. wake up call to filming celebrities like Connor McGregor, this behind-the-scenes look has it all when it comes to game day content.
Chargers team reporter Hayley Elwood and NFL Network's Daniel Jeremiah focus in on the matchup between Derwin James and Travis Kelce this weekend on the latest edition of Film Room. Jeremiah breaks down what allows James to be so talented anywhere on the field and how the Chargers can eliminate Kelce's ability to improvise to make big plays.
Ice Cold Tweets 2021: Episode 1 also aired this week. Take a look as Chargers players read old tweets and try and guess which teammate wrote it. This week's edition featured Keenan Allen trying to make sense of a teammate's old tweet and more.
Name That Baby, presented by Children's Hospital Los Angeles, was another series that aired its debut episode this week. Watch as Chargers players try and guess what teammate is pictured in the photo based of their old baby photos.
Tweets of the Week
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