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The Los Angeles Chargers didn’t come away with the “win” vs the San Francisco 49ers, however the staff got another healthy dosage of tape with a plethora of “teaching moments” that I’m sure Brandon Staley and his staff will be focusing on in meeting rooms today.
Who has the most tape to learn from? Lets take a look.
Offense
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Trey Pipkins was on field for 100% of the offensive snaps, and he probably wishes he wasn’t. He did not have a good night at all and, if Staley’s post game comments are any indication, he’s going to have a rough day today.
Regarding the struggles of OTs Trey Pipkins and Storm Norton today vs. 49ers, #Chargers coach Brandon Staley said, "I think those two guys got a really accurate picture of where they’re at.”
— Jeff Miller (@JeffMillerLAT) August 23, 2021
Some of the bigger names in the battle for WR4/WR5, KJ Hill, Tyron Johnson, and Jalen Guyton, all saw over 50% of the snaps, with Hill and Johnson being targeted heavily as this may be the last “audition” versus 2nd string defensive competition.
Defense
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On Defense, things looked pretty much like you’d expect, other than Kenneth Murray getting a healthy 31% of the defensive snaps, since he missed last week and coach saying he needed some extra reps.
#Chargers coach Brandon Staley says LB Kenneth Murray played because “we wanted to give him some looks,” especially because he would face Jimmy G and Trey Lance. Staley said he liked the way Murray played tonight.
— Fernando Ramirez (@RealFRamirez) August 23, 2021
Jerry Tillery didn’t play yet again. This is slightly concerning, considering his performance in games the last two years haven’t been anything to write home about and the reports from the media of his training camp performance have been nothing special. You’d think that he would need to have some live reps practice vs another team, but I guess we can default to the coaching staff’s experience and knowledge.
#Chargers coach Brandon Staley says that DT Justin Jones and Jerry Tillery “earned the night off” with their performance against the 49ers in the joint practice.
— Fernando Ramirez (@RealFRamirez) August 23, 2021
Mark Webb, who missed the first preseason game, was on the field for half of the defensive snaps and came down with 2 tackles. It looked like there was some rust but it was good to see the 2021 draft pick on the field.
Special Teams
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Ty Long got a lot of work due to the Chargers offense going 2 of 11 on 3rd down and having to perform a free kick after the Chargers gave up a Safety.
The kicking competition got yet another possible swing in momentum. Coming out of last week’s game and spilling into the beginning of this week’s practices it looked like Tristian Vizcaino had the lead in the competition. However Michael Badgley turned in a strong performance in practices at the end of the week followed by a clean extra point and a 50 yard FG, right down the middle with plenty of leg, during the game, Badgley can’t be written off yet.