Bolts From The Blue
The Chargers on a two-game skid and desperately need to find a way to right the ship this week against a 1-4 Dolphins team.
When you look at the remaining schedule, it actually gets a lot more difficult through the second half of the season. Aside from games against the Titans and Raiders, I’m not sure there’s any other game that you could argue the Chargers “should” win given the state of the team and their recent struggles.
As of now, the Bolts need to keep pace with the Broncos who now share the AFC West lead at 3-2. The thing is, the Broncos are healthy for the most part and are not missing any glaring superstars. Their playmakers are all healthy and available.
It’s a taller task for the Chargers in every way to stay atop the division, but if Jim Harbaugh is the coach everyone believes he is, he’ll find a way to tread water until their impact players start to sprinkle back into the lineup.
With that said, let’s take a look at the three biggest things I’ll be watching when these two teams take the field on Sunday.
The Chargers just got an influx of speed and athleticism in their pass rush room by trading for Ravens edge rusher Odafe Oweh this week. The former first-round pick is a 6’5, 265-pound flash off the edge who is, despite being off to a rough start this year, gets an excellent opportunity to find his groove versus a porous Dolphins pass protection.
Per Pro Football Focus, three of the Dolphins’ starting offensive linemen have a pass block grade below 50.0. In particular, offense guard Jonah Savaiinaea has a pass block grade of 0.0 (!!!!). Yes, that is correct. If 60.0 is an average grade, how bad can this one player be? If that tells me anything, it’s that the Chargers need to use a variety of stunts and twists to get a mismatch on him and just cause a bout of confusion as often as possible.
Without using stunts, the edge rushers should be able to still take advantage of offensive tackle Larry Borom who has a pass block grade of 45.8 on the year and has allowed a team-high two sacks (the same as Savaiinaea).
No other player on the team besides Tuli Tuipulotu (27) has more than eight pressures on the year. Oweh, while playing in a decreased role through five weeks for the Ravens, still has 12. I’m looking forward to seeing if he can hit the ground running this weekend.
Entering Week Six, the Dolphins currently rank dead last in rushing defense as they have allowed an average of 174.2 yards per game on the ground. For the team that just lost their starting running back for at least four games, this is...
