Nobody did 4th down better than Brandon Staley and the Los Angeles Chargers in 2021.
They had the most 4th down conversions in the NFL last season with 22 total on 34 attempts. They were the complete opposite of conservative when it came to trying to move the sticks forward in the most desperate of situations.
Of course, that makes perfect sense. When you’ve got a signal caller like Justin Herbert who has defied all expectations and simply become one of the league’s best quarterbacks, why would you ever be conservative? If anything, you open the playbook up more.
That’s why it was so confusing to see Staley’s 4th down antics completely disappear in the Chargers’ Thursday night football game against the Chiefs.
LA had 7 fourth-and-short opportunities to go for it on Thursday night. They only made an attempt to go for it on two of them. One came when the Chargers were down 27-17 without much left to play for.
This throw by Justin Herbert makes no sense if you're watching this game and know what's going on right now. pic.twitter.com/7x8PMRYKxb
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) September 16, 2022
It didn’t make any sense at all when considering what we’ve seen out of the Chargers through Staley’s short tenure so far.
He explained his decision by saying he wanted to give the Chargers’ defense a chance to compete.
“Just wanted to give our defense a chance to compete…I really loved the way we were playing. I felt like that was the formula to flip the field. I felt like we were aggressive when we needed to be tonight — we converted all four of our fourth downs. I just felt like, with who is over there and the way our defense is playing, I felt like the field position would be a big edge for our defense to be able to put them back there. I like the way our defense competed tonight.”
That makes sense if you’re a team without Justin Herbert. But the Chargers have Justin Herbert. They have room to be aggressive and, obviously, they know that. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have the reputation they built last season.
That’s why fans were so confused by the decision making here.
ok seriously what have they done with the real Brandon Staley
— Mike Golic Jr (@mikegolicjr) September 16, 2022
“How I fell out of love with 4th down”
A Brandon Staley autobiography #Chargers
— Pat Leonard (@PLeonardNYDN) September 16, 2022
According to the ESPN model, Brandon Staley cost the Chargers a cumulative 7.3 percentage points of win probability via 4th down errors in the first half.
— Seth Walder (@SethWalder) September 16, 2022
Was Brandon Staley cyber bullied into giving up going for it on 4th down?
— Matt Harmon (@MattHarmon_BYB) September 16, 2022
Brandon Staley last year when he went for it on 4th down and reasonable nearly all the time pic.twitter.com/UFBOZfrRpZ
— Super Bowl 52 MVP (@vj_v_) September 16, 2022
Someone in Chargers front office clearly sat down with Brandon Staley in the off-season to explain to him that he doesn’t have to go for it on every single 4th and short.
— ChuckModi (@ChuckModi1) September 16, 2022
Brandon Staley becoming so conservative on 4th down is the switch up of the century
— Nico (@elitetakes_) September 16, 2022
It'll be pretty disappointing if Brandon Staley has gone back into his shell when it comes to 4th down aggression.
Last week he passed up plays he'd have gone for last year too.
— Sam Monson (@PFF_Sam) September 16, 2022
Man we really got Bizarro Brandon Staley tonight. Last year he was aggressive on 4th down, was quick to sit and protect players with injuries, and then had answers for it all post game. Literally all the opposite tonight.
— NFL Philosophy (@NFLosophy) September 16, 2022
Brandon Staley went to the same 4th down reprogramming center that Doug Pederson went to after the super bowl where they teach you to stop doing the one thing you’re doing right. All the professors are sports talk radio hosts over age 55.
— Matt Carey (@RealMattCarey) September 16, 2022
Bring back the old Staley. For Justin Herbert’s sake.
