Quote Originally Posted by undermysac:
Interesting dynamic for the 1H of Chargers/Cardinals game. Kyler Murray is the best 1H QB, by cpoe+epa composite rating. Herbert is #14. Offensive epa per play, AZ #5, LAC #16 Defensive epa per play, AZ #29, LAC #1 The Chargers are #1 in dropback epa, and rush epa. And going up against the best 1H QB so far this year. But, the Cardinals have been #19 in rush epa offensively, and 25th in rush success rate. So will the Cards be one dimensional tonight? Probably. Unless Murray can do it on his own in both departments. I wrote my initial thoughts on this game in the newsletter short n sweet. "I respect the Chargers defense, but want to know how they've done against mobile qb's" I'm seeing 3 mobile qb's that they've played in Fields, Mahomes, and Nix. 1-2, giving up 17.66 ppg. Still pretty good on the defensive side. Fields got sacked twice, 6 rushes for 6 yards, 1 rush td. Mahomes got sacked 3 times, 5 rushes for 12 yards, no td's. Nix got sacked twice, 6 rushes for 61 yards, no td's. Kyler Murray this year is averaging 8.7 yards per rush attempt, the highest in his career. Anyone have a good angle in this game?
The Chargers last faced the Murray-led Cardinals on 11/27/2022. Against a much worse run defense, he rushed for 56 yards and 1 TD. His best WRs for the game were Hollywood Brown, DeAndre Hopkins, and Robbie Anderson. The Chargers were without Mike Williams, but Keenan Allen had a decent game (5/49/1). The Chargers Defense got to Murray once, with a sack. On the other hand, Herbert was sacked 4 times in that game. But the Chargers O-line has been much improved with a healthy Rashawn Slater and now Joe Alt securing the other bookend to the line.
It's a hard game to predict an outcome for because the Chargers secondary is banged up, but they have a much improved run defense. MHJ will be active for this game too. Interestingly, the Chargers my have to start Cam Hart, who locked up MHJ when he faced him in college (MHJ's stats for the game were 3 rec, 32 yards, 0 TD).
The last time both teams faced each other was a wild game, though. Here's a highlight reel of it.
https://x.com/NFL/status/1848439442094108822
I think I'm just going to sit back and enjoy this game.