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View Full Version : Chargers 3-4 D. Hope EJ learned from last year's Steelers Game



ghz in pittsburgh
09-18-2014, 11:43 AM
I know I was there last year. EJ, fresh off the his injury, was confused by Lebeau's 3-4 D and had arguably his worst game as a pro.

Much has been makde about Rivers and gates. But the Chargers' 3-4 D is very under rated. As we all know about 3-4D, the D Line usually don't get a lot of notice. The Chargers' Liuget, Lissemore, and Reyes are pretty solid. NT Lissemore is formidable, though not close to the likes of Jamaal Williams they used to have under Wade. Right away this is the first key of the game in my mind - Eric Wood has been playing OK so far this season, we'd need him to play great this game. If he can handle Lissemore one on one, I'd say we are winning half the battle because it will allow us to spring Chris Williams or Pears up to take out their star run stuffer Jarret Johnson; the run game will then follow. Their other ILB is Donald Butler.

The two outside LBs are primarily Freeney and Ingram; average in general, though each had a sack in the Seattle game.

The backend is where they made major upgrade, that, in my opinion, really beat the Seahawks last week from a strategic viewpoint. The Chargers had a bad secondary last year that teams routinely attacked them there. They made a priority to improve and two games in, looked like they did just that. New comers Verrett, Flowers really solidified corner position which allowed star safety Weddle to roam free and make plays. They looked to be like the Bills in keeping the ball in front of them and limiting big plays.

I want to say that the Bills' WR group have more solid weapons than the Chargers have faced thus far. If we spread them out with Watkins, Woods, Goodwin, and Williams while Freeney and Ingram cannot get to Manuel, we can cause some problems. But it does require Manuel to get the ball to the receivers as the coverage could be tight, and I do have concerns about whether we want to ask Manuel to do that often at this stage. Most important thing is, do not make the same mistake as Seattle made of a total of 13 rushes the whole game (Lynch had 6). If Eric Wood can earn his recent signing bonus money to handle the NT by himself, I think the Bills can really limit the time Rivers is on the field.

trapezeus
09-18-2014, 12:24 PM
great point about 3-4 struggle. hopefully they game plan offensively offsets their d. i would hope short middle of the field tosses, keep the LB from crowding the line. and as that keeps LB's back that we use the running game to make them commit to trying to stop the run.

the bills can still be run oriented, but accurate passing may be the thing that sets up the run to have a good day.

Bunion
09-18-2014, 04:17 PM
There's no way the Bills run the ball as little as Seattle did. This team is dedicated to the run and if anything they've shown that they'll grind for three quarters on 1-4 yard runs in the belief that eventually the other guys will break down and give up a splash play late. So far they've been right.

It's just that 'so far' is a whole 2 games, where they've been behind for about 4:40 in total if Rodak's done his numbers right.

YardRat
09-18-2014, 04:41 PM
Big test for the oline this weekend. Gotta be able to recognize and pick guys up, we'll see how alert they are, and how well they communicate. If Woods and the two guards don't play well, expect to see more than a fair share of between the tackle runs stuffed at the line or behind, and EJ being pushed outside the pocket by middle pressure.

Ed
09-18-2014, 04:50 PM
It looks like the Chargers defense is averaging about 5.6 ypc against. That's not very good, so I would expect the Bills to not shy away from the run.

HAMMER
09-18-2014, 09:24 PM
Pound the rock, crush Rivers.

Scumbag College
09-18-2014, 09:49 PM
It looks like the Chargers defense is averaging about 5.6 ypc against. That's not very good, so I would expect the Bills to not shy away from the run.

That should bode well for the Bills on Sunday. Also, a few big strikes on play action early by EJ will slow down the pass rush and get the Chargers D back on their heels.

streetkings01
09-19-2014, 08:23 AM
Didn't he follow that up with a great game against Rex Ryan's 3-4 defense? I would say over the last years Jets defense was miles better then the Steelers defense.