With Keenan Allen out for the third straight week, the Chargers may be utilizing the same short game-focused offense we’ve seen from Joe Lombardi, especially as Justin Herbert recovers from his rib injury.
Here are four keys on the offensive side of the ball against the Texans.
Get the run game going
Please, please, please get Austin Ekeler more involved on Sunday. Houston is giving up the most rushing yards per game of anyone through three games, allowing an average of 202.3 yards per contest. The defensive line has consistently been pushed off the line and safety Jonathan Owens leads the team in tackles. But the Chargers are also last in the league in rushing yards per game at just 59. Part of that has been getting away from it too early, part of it has been ineffectiveness, and part of it has, in my opinion, been about personnel. Isaiah Spiller is reportedly fully healthy, and if you want to inject some juice into the rushing attack, the rookie is the obvious choice. But Brandon Staley has said that Spiller needs to earn his spot on the gameday roster over Joshua Kelley and Sony Michel, citing special teams as their main area of concern. Speaking of Kelley, he’s looked like the best pure runner this season but was relegated to garbage time only against Jacksonville. Sunday’s matchup with Houston should give Los Angeles plenty of opportunity to get their rotation hammered out.
Exploit the size advantage
Mike Williams is one of the best jump ball receivers in the entire league, as evidenced by the toe-tap touchdowns he’s put together against the Chiefs and Jaguars. Against Houston, Williams should have a favorable matchup against rookie corner Derek Stingley, who has struggled with bigger receivers in his young career so far. Courtland Sutton, in particular, seemed to garner a target on every play he was matched up with Stingley, converting his eleven targets into seven receptions for 122 yards. Stingley has improved every week so far, but this early in his career, he’s still exploitable. Put Williams on him one-on-one and trust your guy to come down with it.
Make things easy for Jamaree Salyer
Salyer will make his first career start on Sunday, filling in for Rashawn Slater at left tackle. Before this week, Salyer hadn’t played left tackle since being drafted by the Chargers in April, which could make this week one full of growing pains if L.A. cannot provide him some help. Matt Feiler has struggled to start this year, but I think you have to have faith in him to hedge to his left to keep Salyer afloat. Keeping an extra tight end in to block in-line to the outside of the rookie is also a viable option: Richard Rodgers was signed to the active roster this week as a fourth tight end and profiles primarily as a blocking option at this stage in his career.
Limit the big play
Usually, this is a defensive key, but Houston’s defense has been pretty awful outside of a few big plays. We talked about how they’re the worst run defense in the league already, but the Texans have also created five turnovers and ten sacks, tied for fourth in the league in both respects. Part of that certainly has to do with aggressiveness: edge rusher Jonathan Greenard said this week that “we preach a lot of knocking the ball out when sometimes you just have to get the man down.” This is a porous defense that will give up yards and points if you stay mistake-free. Hold onto the ball, protect Justin Herbert, and it shouldn’t take too much else to keep the chains moving.
