Your assessment of Brandon Staley

[Deberg_1990]

Says he’s sticking with his 4th down approach……..good for him.



Chargers coach Brandon Staley isn't changing his ways: He says he will continue to go for it on fourth down, even after three out of Los Angeles' five attempts Thursday night failed in a 34-28 overtime defeat to the Kansas City Chiefs.

"I felt really comfortable with all those decisions," Staley said after the loss, which dropped the Chargers two games behind the Chiefs in the AFC West standings with three to play. "That's the way we're going to play around here. That's the way we're going to play. When we have a quarterback like ours, and we have an offense like ours, that's the way we're going to play because that's how you need to play against Kansas City, for sure. That's how we're going to become the team that we're ultimately capable of being, by playing that way."

The Chargers entered the game 13 for 21 on fourth downs this season, giving them the fourth-most conversions in the league. Their conversion percentage (61.9) was tied for eighth best in the NFL.

Two of Los Angeles' failed attempts to convert came inside the Kansas City 5, and another was on the edge of field goal range. The Chargers became the first team to fail twice on fourth-and-goal in a first half since the 1984 Chargers did the same -- also against the Chiefs -- 37 years ago to the day (Dec. 16, 1984).

Quarterback Justin Herbert said he stands by his coach and his decisions on fourth down.

"It's always tough and you'd love to be able to convert those," Herbert said. "I think we need to be better on third downs so that we're not in those situations, but we believe in each other. We believe in the guys in that locker room and that huddle, and we believe in the defense. I think that's a statement of trusting everyone on the field and off the field, as well. We love to be put in those situations. Unfortunately, we didn't convert as many as we would've liked to have today, but we're going to ride with each other and we're going to be right back."

With Patrick Mahomes and Tyreek Hill on the other sideline, Staley and his coaching staff realized no lead would be safe until the clock ran out. That's why they never stopped trying to score in all situations: Only the very last of the Chargers' 10 drives ended in a punt.

"It's life in the NFL, in decision-making like that. ... I know that the quickest way to win a game like that is to score touchdowns, not field goals, especially considering who's on the other side," Staley said. "When you don't feel like it's a gamble, when you feel like this is an advantage for you, then that's going to be our mindset. And I don't think that any decision that we made tonight, that I made tonight, was a gamble. We felt like it was an advantage situation for us, and that's why we did it.''

Herbert and his teammates came agonizingly close to proving Staley correct.

Donald Parham seriously injured himself while coming down just out of bounds with a catch in the back of the end zone on the Chargers' failed fourth down from the Kansas City 5 on the game's opening drive.

Four drives later on the final snap of the first half, Herbert was in the shotgun on fourth down from the Kansas City 1 -- but Daniel Sorensen got his hand on a quick out to Keenan Allen, wiping out a potential TD pass and leaving the Chargers' halftime lead at only 14-10 despite 208 yards of offense on five solid drives.

The Chargers' only drive of the third quarter ended at the Kansas City 28 when Herbert and Jared Cook couldn't connect on a fourth-and-2 pass. Cook also dropped a probable touchdown pass on second down during that final drive before halftime.

After Thursday's game, the Chargers have now gone for it on fourth down 29.9% of the time this season. That's the highest rate for any team since the 2007 Jacksonville Jaguars (30.0%).

"We felt like it was an advantage situation for us," Staley explained. "That's why we did it. If we didn't feel like that was the case, then we would have kicked a field goal or we would have punted. That's the way that we're going to do things around here. I know that our team embraces that mindset. We're going to continue to do it every game we play moving forward."

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/...way-going-play

"The quickest way to win a game like that is to score touchdowns not field goals, especially considering who's on the other side."

Chargers coach Brandon Staley on being aggressive on 4th down against the Chiefs. pic.twitter.com/4mskizFo2J

— CBS Sports HQ (@CBSSportsHQ) December 17, 2021

[MarkDavis'Haircut]

Originally Posted by Chris Meck

A LOT of being a leader is psychology and managing emotion.

Absolutely.

Especially as mental health continues to be an emphasis. It is probably almost as important as strategic planning nowadays.

[cdcox]

I would have not challenged the catch and taken the FG at the end of the half. Otherwise I think he made the right calls. I’m not going to criticize decisions that will pay off over the long term.

At the end of the half you don’t get the benefit of the other teams bad field position if you miss the kick is the reason I would have taken the points then.

[Chris Meck]

Originally Posted by Carr4MVP

Absolutely.

Especially as mental health continues to be an emphasis. It is probably almost as important as strategic planning nowadays.

And it's probably Andy Reid's strongest attribute.

Big Red is always calm, never flustered, always takes responsibility when things go wrong and deflects praise when it goes right.

Mahomes does it too. It makes the entire team want to play their heart out for them.

That's what good leaders do.

[ChiefsCountry]

His going for it on 4th down is better than DeBerg thread

[Chris Meck]

Originally Posted by cdcox

I would have not challenged the catch and taken the FG at the end of the half. Otherwise I think he made the right calls. I’m not going to criticize decisions that will pay off over the long term.

At the end of the half you don’t get the benefit of the other teams bad field position if you miss the kick is the reason I would have taken the points then.

pay off over the long term?

He threw away the division championship and a good shot at the #1 seed.

They'd have to play a whole 'nother game to reach the SB.

When your opponent is shooting themselves in the foot, you take the points.

You stack those 3's.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by Chris Meck

pay off over the long term?

He threw away the division championship and a good shot at the #1 seed.

They'd have to play a whole 'nother game to reach the SB.

When your opponent is shooting themselves in the foot, you take the points.

You stack those 3's.

Yep.

Dumb, dumb, and dumb. Analytics be damned.

[BigCatDaddy]

Originally Posted by Chris Meck

Analytics don't take intangible factors into account. In baseball, I think maybe they're more
dependable. In football, emotion plays such a role, especially as the game wears on and guys are tired.

Stacking 3's when The Chiefs were playing poorly on offense was the smart move and I don't care what the analytics say. To get nothing after driving all the way down inside the 10 multiple times kept The Chiefs in the game and had to demoralize both his offense and his defense.

I agree. I've mentioned before but there are so many variables besides just taking into account how teams did historically every time they went for it on "4th and 3" or whatever.

[Spott]

That first one was probably the worst. It was 4th and 5 after 3 straight incompletions. The first points are often the hardest points to get on the board. All of the other ones were questionable as well.

[MarkDavis'Haircut]

Originally Posted by ChiefsCountry

His going for it on 4th down is better than DeBerg thread

Bisaccia's decision making is better than a DeBerg thread.

[Bl00dyBizkitz]

This basically seals it for me. Staley was scared shit-less of Patrick Mahomes and went for the kill shot every single time.

[MarkDavis'Haircut]

Originally Posted by Chris Meck

pay off over the long term?

He threw away the division championship and a good shot at the #1 seed.

They'd have to play a whole 'nother game to reach the SB.

When your opponent is shooting themselves in the foot, you take the points.

You stack those 3's.

If the Chiefs or Pats make the Super Bowl, their achievement was likely aided by this game. Every team needs a little good fortune and enemy mistakes to make the big game. That is no shame in it. It is the nature of competition.

[Rainbarrel]

What would Harbaugh do... probably kick with pimplebert

[WilliamTheIrish]

**** him.

Just another guy who gets beat by a real big head coach in a real big game.

Just like the Browns head coach. Prepped his team for 7 months for opening day 2021 and was all but anointed a genius.

[FloridaMan88]

Think back to the Chiefs’ regular season game vs Tampa last year.

Andy kicks a 19 yard FG, instead of going for it on 4th down on their opening offensive drive.

It was a conservative decision, but Andy explained that after watching his team struggle to execute on the earlier downs near the goal line, it seemed like the right decision based on the game flow, etc.

As it turns out the Chiefs win the game by 3 points.

Great HC’s have that gut feeling/pulse of their team/intangible instincts that analytics can’t help you with.

That’s the difference between a HOF HC such as Andy Reid and an analytics whore such as Staley.

[Hydrae]

The Chargers became the first team to fail twice on fourth-and-goal in a first half since the 1984 Chargers did the same -- also against the Chiefs -- 37 years ago to the day (Dec. 16, 1984).

That is simply amazing.