(Editor’s note: This is excerpted from Mike Sando’s Pick Six of Oct. 14, 2024.)
The Chargers’ defense has dominated every offense in the AFC West, and it’s only Week 6. The offense perked up Sunday. Is this the start of something?
Last week, we highlighted the job Denver Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph has done in helping his high-profile boss, Sean Payton, compete while fielding a bottom-five offense.
Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter, who briefly took over head-coaching duties when Jim Harbaugh fell ill during a victory over Denver on Sunday, has done similar work for his boss.
The Chargers are 3-2 while playing offense so conservatively for much of the season that an opposing coach joked of Harbaugh, “Jimmy approaches every game like he’s starting for the Bears.”
The offense came to life against Joseph’s defense Sunday after failing to surpass even 180 yards passing in any of the first four games, a first since 2002 for the franchise that brought us Dan Fouts and Philip Rivers.
The defense did what it has done all season.
The Chargers’ jump from 28th in defensive EPA per play last season to No. 1 through Sunday reflects a schedule featuring terrible opposing offenses (Raiders, Panthers, Steelers, Broncos). But the way Minter’s defense performed against Kansas City in Week 4 counts for quite a bit. That was the Chargers’ 11th matchup against Patrick Mahomes and the first in which Los Angeles’ defense finished with positive EPA.
The chart above shows what a Chargers optimist might call the Minter effect in these games against Mahomes.
The team has now posted positive defensive EPA in all five games to start the season, matching the 2006 Wade Phillips-coordinated defense for the Chargers’ longest streak to start a season since 2000. Next up: games against the Arizona Cardinals, New Orleans Saints, Cleveland Browns and Tennessee Titans.
(Photo of Jim Harbaugh: Matthew Stockman / Getty Images)
