Returner Derius Davis has a huge ‘stake’ in Chargers’ special teams
Most people look at the player who initiates the new NFL kickoffs as the kicker.
Not Derius Davis.
“That guy looks like a steak dinner to me,” said Davis, slated to return kicks for the Chargers.
That’s because if a returner can slip through a crease, it could leave him in a one-on-one situation with someone who makes his living with his toe, not his tackles.
The new rules put the majority of opposing players much closer together for kickoffs, reducing the likelihood of car-crash collisions and increasing the chance of substantial returns, as opposed to touchbacks.
Meet Sanjay Lal, Chargers receivers coach with hands on the key to an untested offense
It’s too dramatic to suggest Sanjay Lal has to mold a clump of clay into a masterpiece, but as receivers coach for the Chargers, he’s facing a significant challenge.
The team has talent at the position, and certainly has invested draft picks, but in most cases those players are either untested or underperforming. On the other end of those passes is quarterback Justin Herbert, who has elite talent but has yet to achieve elite results, with nary a playoff victory to his name.
“I won’t say it’s been easy to this point,” Lal said recently. “But for the first time I feel like we’re on the right track. In fact, today I said, ‘No one knows who the eff we are.’ If we do things the way we’re coaching, with the juice, the sound technicians we’re becoming, the fight in the run game you’ll see … we don’t look like other teams.”
Jim Harbaugh and his coaching staff are out to make a change, and Lal — whose personal football odyssey is one of stubborn resolve — is an integral part of that effort.
NFL preview 2024: Seven teams that can win the Super Bowl in New Orleans
Maybe this is the year the Detroit Lions finally win the Super Bowl.
Or perhaps the Houston Texans?
Or how about the Cleveland Browns, who last won a division crown in 1989? (Incidentally, since realignment in 2002, every NFL franchise but Cleveland has won its division at least once.)
Part of the NFL’s excitement and appeal is its competitive balance, the notion that so many teams at the beginning of the season feel the Lombardi Trophy is within reach.
Joey Bosa and Khalil Mack out to prove they can be NFL’s best defensive duo
Joey Bosa knew immediately. When he rushed the quarterback on the last rep of a joint practice with the Rams, he realized he broke his left hand. The Chargers’ star defensive end had no idea what would happen next.
“A million” thoughts started racing through Bosa’s mind. “Most of them,” he said three weeks later with a surgically repaired hand, “are negative.”
For the Chargers’ supposed new era, the training camp injury felt like unwelcome deja vu. After two injury-plagued seasons, the four-time Pro Bowl player’s health is one of the key components to orchestrating a turnaround in coach Jim Harbaugh’s return to the NFL, because with Bosa next to Khalil Mack, the Chargers have the most formidable edge-rushing duo in the league to anchor a defense trying to bounce back from a 5-12 season.
From player to coach, Jim Harbaugh imbues his Chargers with a fighting spirit
Mike Riley can laugh about it now — that time his starting quarterback fought his teammate.
As Riley, the then-Chargers head coach recalled it, the team was on its way to its fourth consecutive loss. The Chargers failed to score a touchdown in a road game against the Oakland Raiders. Chargers safety Michael Dumas, who Riley called “one of the toughest guys around,” said something to the team’s quarterback about the offensive struggles.
Jim Harbaugh took offense. The quarterback pressed his facemask against Dumas’ and linebacker Junior Seau pulled them apart. It didn’t end on the field.
“By the time they got to the locker room, they were full-fledged fighting,” Riley said. “Jim would not back down to anything.”
Chargers vs. Las Vegas Raiders: How to watch, start time and prediction
The Chargers start their new era against the opponent that ended their last one.
After an embarrassing 42-point loss to the Oakland Raiders last December resulted in Brandon Staley’s firing, new head coach Jim Harbaugh will make his debut Saturday at SoFi Stadium against the AFC West rival. Outside of Harbaugh’s ever-present khakis, almost nothing seems guaranteed about the new-look Chargers.
Quarterback Justin Herbert is working with new running backs and receivers behind an offensive line that will start rookie Joe Alt at tackle. The former No. 5 pick will be welcomed to the NFL by Raiders star edge rusher Maxx Crosby. The defense is in for a reboot under former Michigan defensive coordinator Jesse Minter.