This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.
The original was posted on /r/nfl by /u/Charrgerrr on 2023-10-23 16:50:39.
Original Title: [Popper] “We played zone,” CB Michael Davis said of the first-half game plan. “(Kelce) just goes to the spot and turns around. It has nothing to do with Travis. It’s us. We got to get on their ass. When you come down and you play the Chiefs, you got to come out and play man and get on their ass."
And other postgame quotes from the Chargers:
“We played plenty of man in the first half, too. I feel like no matter what scheme we were in in the first half from a coverage standpoint — man, pattern match, zone — (Mahomes) was able to create plays post-snap outside the pocket.” -Staley
“We played a little bit too much zone in the first half,” James said. “He was just getting behind our linebackers. He was getting open. In the second half, we switched it up.”
“We ran a little bit more zone the first half, and (Kelce) was able to just find some small, little pockets to extend plays, feel the zone out,” Marlowe said. “He’s probably one of the best tight ends at doing that."
“Their routes that they had just kind of beat our zone type of style that we were playing,” Marlowe said. “With a team like that, it’s hard to win in zone.”
“There’s certain times we do have to play zone and live with that,” said cornerback Ja’Sir Taylor, who mentioned needing to play zone behind certain blitzes and when the Chiefs went into empty sets. “But once we realized he was eating up the zone like he usually does, we just said, ‘We’re going to win or lose with man.’ "
Bonus qute from Staley at the 2022 Combine: “If you guys have seen anything the last five years with these quarterbacks, it’s if there’s a bunch of air in the coverage, they’re going to find it,” Staley said then. “You put a bunch of air in the coverage, you’ll wake up and they’ll have 80 percent, 85 percent completion for like 300, 400 (yards). And with their mobility, playing zone is the worst thing to play because you’re not connected, and then they’re going to find it.”