NFL Insider Jason La Canfora: Week 1 Regular Season Diary

Week 2 is too early for a crisis; but the Chargers better show something this weekend. Los Angeles Chargers OC Mike McDaniel faces early pressure after defeat to the Arizona Cardinals and a lackluster offensive performance (Image: Getty) They put together arguably the biggest stinker of the opening weekend, and if it continues, the dynamics on that offensive coaching staff are going to be fascinating to watch unfold. Head coach Jim Harbaugh ceded control to the offense to someone outside his coaching family tree – extremely rare – and someone who is the complete opposite of him in pretty much every way, shape and form in new coordinator Mike McDaniel. McDaniel saw this coordinator spot as a cheat code to get back in the head coaching mix quickly working with quarterback Justin Herbert. Harbaugh saw it as a necessary deviation from guys like Greg Roman, option football savants who had run the offense in a very specific manner for a very long time.It always had the feel of an arranged marriage with massive boom or bust potential. It’s only one game, but Sunday’s loss to Arizona went bust. It was ugly. “That’s the odd couple,” is how one longtime NFL GM explained Harbaugh and McDaniel to me this summer. “They better win quickly, otherwise they’re going to drive the other one crazy.” One NFL personnel executive, who kept an eye on the Cardinals upset told me: “That’s a game Jim Harbaugh should never lose. He had the better team, the better roster, the better front office. The other guy (Cardinals rookie coach Mike LaFleur) is coaching for the first time. “They weren’t ready to play. You can say whatever you want, but this week is monumental for Harbaugh. That’s the kind of loss that can (mess) up your season.” I’m going to go ahead and say it – hosting the Raiders on Sunday is a must-win for the Chargers, and it’s a must-produce-on-offense game for the Harbaugh/McDaniel dynamic. After that it’s at Buffalo, at Seattle, vs Denver, at Kansas City and then a Week 7 bye. Gulp. As for this game, we’re going to put the Chargers defensive issues aside (Arizona held the ball for 37:31, because losing coordinator Jesse Minter as Baltimore’s new head coach was always going to be a problem, especially early). The offense needs to be a superpower and McDaniel is being paid to add downfield thrust and explosion to it. Well, in being held to 268 total yards by what will prove to be a bad Cardinals team, Herbert attempted one pass that went over 20 yards in the air. The Cardinals didn’t blitz at all (17%) and still produced a 10% sack rate and LA allowed 15 pressures on 35 dropbacks. That won’t cut it and the interior offensive line threatens to be a major concern. The Chargers have won all four meetings with the Raiders under Harbaugh (who surely watched Roman do great work with Giants QB Jaxson Dart in Harbaugh’s brother’s offense with the Giants on Sunday night), but the teams were 6-6 in the prior six years. We’ll see what McDaniel cooks up. Could Chicago Make Late Move For Maxx Crosby? We expected Ben Johnson to be a prime Head Coach Of The Year candidate this year, and we love Caleb Williams to have one of the most prolific seasons in Bears’ history passing the football (low bar to clear). That said, eviscerating the Panthers for 59 points in the first game of the season resonates as a statement of intent. All of that is great. They will be arguably the most fun team to watch this season for pure entertainment value. We anticipated nothing less. Part of that comes from the fact that none of their leads might be that safe and this defense overachieved last season based on ridiculous production on takeaways and that tends to regress in a major way. Now, elite edge rushers, and three-technique defensive tackles who collapse the pocket from the inside – that’s timeless and they win Lombardi Trophies. That’s where the Bears are lacking. That ownership group never spends like it should in a market of that size, and the drama with their new stadium and a pending move to Indiana have them transfixed. They’d better be willing to throw more money and future draft picks at this defense and not waste what could be a generational offensive season. When you get up 21-7 early in the second quarter and it’s obvious the Panthers can’t stop this attack and will be throwing all day, and Bryce Young lights you up for repeated big plays and 360 passing yards, it’s a red flag. When four pass catchers have gains of 20 yards or more and when Young of all people – not a big and strapping deep thrower – is 13/19 for 213 yards with two touchdowns and a 119 rating throwing to WRs against you, averaging 13.8 air yards/attempt, you have issues getting to the QB and in coverage. “Can they get a stop when they need a stop without getting a turnover?” one NFL offensive play caller wondered to me this offseason. I’ll ask a different question – can this season be as fruitful as it should be without trading for Raiders edge Maxx Crosby and making a move for a defensive back, perhaps, too? Expect To See Penix Sooner Rather Than Later The Falcons are about as bad as we have been suggesting. Starting games with Cooper Rush, who has been a total disaster since he left Dallas and lost his backup gig to Snoop Huntley in Baltimore last season, is folly. Look for them to ramp up the practice work and reps for former first-round pick Michael Penix, coming off surgery and get him in the mix at least for Week 2 if he’s not quite able to start. Tua Tagovailoa is not long for there, we continue to hear. We were bullish on the Cowboys being better and it’s only one game, but not adjusting to the designed runs from Dart had execs shaking their head. “(It) looked like they had an intern calling plays on defense,” one personnel exec told me. People were surprised by Commanders Week 1 game plan too, seemingly forgetting about Jayden Daniels legs until they had to chase the game. New Coaches on the Block Two thirds of the NFL has a new offensive play caller this season, and few were more ready to put on a show than Baltimore’s Declan Doyle, who just turned 30 over the offseason and is barely older than QB Lamar Jackson. Having Jackson is huge, of course, but the Ravens rolled up 500 yards of offense. Jackson threw for 324, Derrick Henry killed the Colts with a move to an old-school, under-center rushing attack Doyle learned from his time under Denver’s Sean Payton and Johnson in Chicago (21 carries for 137 yards and 2 TDs under center). Zay Flowers caught five balls of 12 yards or more and had 150 and a TD at halftime before he sat with a hamstring injury. That injury is decidedly on the minor side, league sources said, but given he had a hammy problem in the summer, there is a chance he perhaps rests this week. With rookie Ja’Kobi Lane out with a wrist injury for quite some time, Baltimore looks thin at WR already. Not every new head coach was going to have success Week 1 (especially Robert Saleh, good luck Titans!), and some faced another new guy (Raiders/Dolphins), so barring a tie, we were getting a loser there. There were some strong initial signals sent in many places where changes were made – none more shocking than LaFleur with the Cardinals. Minter, the guy he replaced, John Harbaugh (Giants), Klint Kubiak (Raiders), Mike McCarthy (Steelers) and Joe Brady, (Bills) have to feel very good about their debut. The post NFL Insider Jason La Canfora: Week 1 Regular Season Diary appeared first on Casino.org.