Iloka is listed as "questionable" for Sunday's game. They seem to think he will play, but he will obviously be somewhat limited. That could be a really big problem against Rivers. According to ProFootballFocus.com, 32 of his 41 passes last week were thrown behind or within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage and his wide receivers, Keenan Allen and Stevie Johnson, are tied for the league lead with 80 yards after catch (YAC). His running backs, rookie Melvin Gordon and veteran Danny Woodhead are tied for 14th in the league in YAC.

Our LBs and Safeties are going to have to be in top form both in coverage and tackling.

Our CBs have been excellent against short throws but I am definitely concerned with our LBs in coverage this weekend. I'm not sold that we have LBs that can cover very well and this week should help to show that one way or the other.

This definitely isn't the time for Iloka to be banged up, hopefully he's back to form by Sunday.

I didn't realize that Iloka was that bad hurt... That's not good.

(09-18-2015, 04:06 PM)djs7685 Wrote: Our CBs have been excellent against short throws but I am definitely concerned with our LBs in coverage this weekend. I'm not sold that we have LBs that can cover very well and this week should help to show that one way or the other.

This definitely isn't the time for Iloka to be banged up, hopefully he's back to form by Sunday.

I really hope that Burfict will be back by the time we play the Steelers. We need him bad right now lol.

(09-18-2015, 04:06 PM)djs7685 Wrote: Our CBs have been excellent against short throws but I am definitely concerned with our LBs in coverage this weekend. I'm not sold that we have LBs that can cover very well and this week should help to show that one way or the other.

This definitely isn't the time for Iloka to be banged up, hopefully he's back to form by Sunday.

They CBs tackled really well last week.  Jones and Hall in particular.  

(09-18-2015, 04:04 PM)fredtoast Wrote: Iloka is listed as "questionable" for Sunday's game.  They seem to think he will play, but he will obviously be somewhat limited.  That could be a really big problem against Rivers.  According to ProFootballFocus.com, 32 of his 41 passes last week were thrown behind or within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage and his wide receivers, Keenan Allen and Stevie Johnson, are tied for the league lead with 80 yards after catch (YAC). His running backs, rookie Melvin Gordon and veteran Danny Woodhead are tied for 14th in the league in YAC.

Our LBs and Safeties are going to have to be in top form both in coverage and tackling.

If Geno and the boys can put heat on the Chargers' offense, the secondary won't need to be great. Just servicable.

(09-18-2015, 04:07 PM)Brownshoe Wrote: I didn't realize that Iloka was that bad hurt... That's not good.

Well so far hes missed 1 day of practice... so i dont know how bad he is.

(09-18-2015, 04:09 PM)Brownshoe Wrote: I really hope that Burfict will be back by the time we play the Steelers. We need him bad right now lol.

I hope so too. I could be overreacting but I'm not comfortable at all with our LBs in coverage. Seeing Lamur get burned on a couple short passes last week and then Maualuga miss some really awful tackles was brutal. More of the same that we saw in previous years. I don't think Maualuga is as bad as some people do, but you'd think he'd learn how to wrap guys up more consistently by now. I don't think Lamur is as good in coverage as he gets credit for. He's okay, but a couple of good games (both against Baltimore I believe) really skewed the perception of him.

(09-18-2015, 04:09 PM)WhoDeyWho Wrote: They CBs tackled really well last week.  Jones and Hall in particular.  

They were unreal week 1. Leon has always been great sniffing out the screens and short passes, I've always loved his instincts and I'm glad to see that he is likely improved from last year. I'd say we could have some of the better tackling CBs in the league this year.

I was going to post a thread about this too. Cincy Jungle posted something earlier about Williams maybe getting his first start. However he practised today and by all accounts (from more respectable sources than Cincyjungle) should be ok for Sunday. I think he will start but may see less snaps than normal.

(09-18-2015, 04:12 PM)PlayerFormerlyKnownAsMousecop Wrote: If Geno and the boys can put heat on the Chargers' offense, the secondary won't need to be great. Just servicable.

Yeah but as fred noted, almost all their passes were very short which means Rivers wasn't holding onto the ball long enough for a rush to get there.  It's what the Bengals do, too.  Dalton is one of the best at getting the ball out quickly which is why we tend not to give up a ton of sacks.  Shedding blocks and sure tackling is what will win this game for us, not our pass rush. 

(09-18-2015, 04:22 PM)InTheJungleNow9 Wrote: Shedding blocks and sure tackling is what will win this game for us

(09-18-2015, 04:22 PM)InTheJungleNow9 Wrote: Yeah but as fred noted, almost all their passes were very short which means Rivers wasn't holding onto the ball long enough for a rush to get there.  It's what the Bengals do, too.  Dalton is one of the best at getting the ball out quickly which is why we tend not to give up a ton of sacks.  Shedding blocks and sure tackling is what will win this game for us, not our pass rush. 

Then those DL have to get their hands up. And we have to stop playing 10 yards off the WR...

(09-18-2015, 04:23 PM)XenoMorph Wrote: Then those DL have to get their hands up.  And we have to stop playing 10 yards off the WR...

Yep we are going to have to press on Sunday.

(09-18-2015, 04:12 PM)PlayerFormerlyKnownAsMousecop Wrote: If Geno and the boys can put heat on the Chargers' offense, the secondary won't need to be great. Just servicable.

The D-line does not even have time to get pressure when all the throws are within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage.

(09-18-2015, 04:39 PM)fredtoast Wrote: The D-line does not even have time to get pressure when all the throws are within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage.

Our offense opperates with a lot of quick throws as well so at least we have plenty of practice against it.

2 pretty fairly matched teams it comes down to who makes the least mistakes... forced or otherwise.

(09-18-2015, 04:14 PM)XenoMorph Wrote: Well so far hes missed 1 day of practice... so i dont know how bad he is.

From the way they talked earlier in the week he was not hurt that bad.  That is why I was surprised to see him listed as "questionable", but that could really be meaningless.

Cincy Jungle only goes off what we tweet.

The difference in the Iloka I saw yesterday to the guy I saw today was night and day. Moved so much better off on the side in warmups, and then he took part in team install in the open portion of practice. Now, that's just install -- but if they were really concerned about him not being able to go at the outset Williams would have gotten that work and they would've put Iloka off to the side. Not saying he won't be limited, or maybe have to come out if he dings it again, but he did improve just in the 24 hours we saw between him. And, he was in the locker room and ready to talk if needed - usually really injured guys are in the training room the entire time. Small thing to notice, but it happens.

As for the Chargers - you're right. The safeties will have to have a bigger presence in the run game actually -- so the fact that Williams got some looks at OLB (yes, OLB) in training camp hints at the fact that he's ready to get down in the box on run plays if need be. San Diego ran out of the shotgun 25 times v. Detroit's nickel defense. But Nelson is also really good against the run as well.

As for tackling - you guys are right on. They were very sure-handed last week, and it'll be a key this week. The linebackers will matter, but expect to see Jones & Kirkpatrick running with those guys vs. just passing them off into zones (unless that particular defense is called). Should be fun.

Can't wait till Sunday....

Maybe they'll put Leon at Safety and move Dennard to the Nickle.

Cheers for the insider slant Jim, always appreciated and clears things up a lot!