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Week 9 GDT: Green Bay Packers (7-1) at Los Angeles Chargers (3-5)


Cakeshoppe

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Excerpt from Q&A at The Athletic

 

So who’s the more dangerous running back at this point, Melvin Gordon or Austin Ekeler?

Popper: It’s got to be Austin Ekeler. Even after mostly disappearing last week in Chicago, he’s still been one of the most productive and efficient pass-catching backs in football this season. With a new offensive coordinator taking over the play-calling duties — the Chargers fired Ken Whisenhunt on Monday and replaced him with 34-year-old Shane Steichen — I expect Ekeler to be much more involved this week. At this point in his career, especially after his start to 2019, Ekeler is a player opposing defenses must account for. If you don’t, he can make you pay in so many different ways. The Chargers line him up all over the formation, including out wide, and he continues to improve as a route-runner. With that being said, Gordon is starting to look more like himself after holding out for all of training camp and the first three regular-season games. He had a 19-yard touchdown last week that was his most impressive carry of the season.
It would be a mistake to overlook him.

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Speaking of the play caller change for the Chargers, what was the main reason Anthony Lynn made the decision and what can we expect from Steichen?

Popper: Lynn has avoided giving an exact reason, which is to be expected. So we’ve had to read between the lines a bit. For me, it came down to the running game. Lynn was an NFL running back. He coached running backs in the league for close to two decades. He wants to establish the run. That’s a principal part of his offensive philosophy. And over the past four games, the Chargers have been historically bad running the football. They’ve failed to reach 40 yards rushing in each of those four games, and they’re the first team since 1946 to do that.
The production just wasn’t there with Whisenhunt at the helm. Steichen is a very well-regarded young coach. The change is really an attempt to find some juice. As I wrote about, he’s only 34 years old. So the Chargers are hoping he’ll do a better job communicating with the players and getting the unit on the same page. I think we will see some more tempo from the offense. Lynn said this week he wants to find “rhythm” and “flow,” and speeding up the pace is one way to do that.

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1 hour ago, Golfman said:

Might be getting a little dose of Sternberger at TE this Sunday! I'm excited to see this kid work. 

Agree....always hopeful, but given the fact the guy's not done squat since...a long time ago, I suspect that dose to be very little.

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 I really like how the GB offense has evolved int he last 4 weeks, since Adams got injured. I hope the offense continues what they have been doing and just count Adams as an improved receiver in the same scheme, instead of changing the offense to try and get him the ball. There is a part of me that is worried that Rodgers will rely too heavily on Adams now that he is back. The offense has grown and I hope it doesn't change.

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8 hours ago, Brad gluckman said:

 I really like how the GB offense has evolved int he last 4 weeks, since Adams got injured. I hope the offense continues what they have been doing and just count Adams as an improved receiver in the same scheme, instead of changing the offense to try and get him the ball. There is a part of me that is worried that Rodgers will rely too heavily on Adams now that he is back. The offense has grown and I hope it doesn't change.

I think this is true for everyone on this board. Someone wrote about how Favre changed when Sharpe was injured and this is very much like that situation we are all hoping the dispersing of passes continues imagine if teams cant just key in on Adams and Rodgers can hook up with him in space, or if teams do key on him imagine if Rodgers is suddenly not keying in Adams only and finds the open receivers running down the field or the back coming out etc. This will be huge if he doesnt just lock in on Adams.

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2 hours ago, Reaper said:

I think this is true for everyone on this board. Someone wrote about how Favre changed when Sharpe was injured and this is very much like that situation we are all hoping the dispersing of passes continues imagine if teams cant just key in on Adams and Rodgers can hook up with him in space, or if teams do key on him imagine if Rodgers is suddenly not keying in Adams only and finds the open receivers running down the field or the back coming out etc. This will be huge if he doesnt just lock in on Adams.

Rodgers might go to Adams often mainly because Davante is the best we have at getting open.  

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Just now, Pugger said:

Rodgers might go to Adams often mainly because Davante is the best we have at getting open.  

He's clearly our best WR by a wide margin. Funny how that works where he gets more looks and if more often the #1 option on a play! 

Rodgers does have to keep feeding his other assets though. He can't get locked in on Davante all the time. 

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31 minutes ago, AlexGreen#20 said:

Give me 27-20 Packers with another game of our defense playing it safe and pissing us all off. 

AS long as it's a W we'll take it in the end. We do need to see the defense start playing better. I think week 2 of Savage being back might give Pettine more confidence to go back to more man to man where we thrive. 

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