I wanted to scout the Not-The-San Diego-LA Chargers prior to the upcoming game in Pittsburgh to see what the team would be up against in the home opener. It was an easier watch than most of my film study, as the Chargers are an easy team to root for when they are not playing the Steelers. I was stationed in San Diego while in the Navy, and it is a great town. The team is in that lovable loser category…an organization that has had some fantastic years but never able to find the magic to take them to a Lombardi trophy. The Dan Fouts era was highly entertaining to watch, the Natrone Means years gave football fans a brutal ground attack that fans of the Black and Gold can always appreciate, and as weird as it seems, they did Steeler Nation a favor by winning the AFC championship game back in 1994.

Just hear me out on that. Whoever won that game was doomed to be steamrolled by the 800 lb. gorilla that was the San Francisco 49ers. People won’t hold anything against a team that lost a close, hard fought conference championship game, but the embarrassment of getting blown out in a Super Bowl lives on forever. As sad as I was when that game was over, I was also relieved that the Chargers had saved us the agony of a beatdown on the biggest of football stages. I’m betting most of you have only watched the Packers-Steelers super bowl once, and that was a close game, so hopefully you see the point.

I only watched the Chargers first game against the Raiders, because let’s face it…I’m not going to learn anything from the Carolina game. The Panthers are the NFL’s version of a power four college team scheduling a non-conference game against The Welding and Plumbers Vo-Tech Academy of Toledo. If I have to watch their game film for an article, then that’s an article that is not getting written.

What did I learn from the Chargers-Raiders game? First, as you would expect from the addition of offensive coordinator Greg Roman along with running backs J.K. Dobbings and Gus Edwards, they are bringing the Baltimore playbook with them. Picture the Ravens in much better uniforms, and you will get the idea. Most of their successful plays were downhill runs in the A gap, while they struggled on outside zone plays. Paging Elandon Roberts and Patrick Queen…this is your game to win. Stopping the inside run will be paramount to having any success.

On offense, the Raiders had the most success in 13 personnel throwing to tight ends. Hummm…why does that sound familiar? Oh yeah, it’s exactly what the Steelers have been promising us would be their philosophy all off-season. To date, they haven’t exactly thrown a ton of balls to the tight ends yet. Will this be the game that changes that fact? I’m not exactly holding my breath.

The Chargers have a dangerous defensive front with Joey Bosa and Khalil Mack. Mack looked like he had discovered the fountain of youth in the Raiders game. The Chargers also have a familiar face in Bud Dupree, who had some good plays on the game film. They will be a handful for our tackles to deal with, as they were wrecking plays all over the field on opening day. Dan Moore Jr and Troy Fautanu have delivered solid performances in this young season but giving them help with schemes and big personnel packages should be the order of the day, if the Steelers want to keep the QB on two feet most of the day.

Watching the Chargers run defense, it was the exact opposite of their offense. They shut down the outside zone runs but gave up big plays straight up the middle in the A gaps. Harris and Warren need to be hitting the hole full speed straight ahead to give them the best chance of success.

The Steelers have had the Ravens number the last few years, so it would seem like this would be a good matchup. The key difference is the Chargers run game is working because of scheme and design, and not the raw running ability of the signal caller. Selling out on the run works against the Ravens, but that will not work in this game. Justin Herbert can run, but he probably doesn’t want to with his foot injury. He does have the arm talent to take advantage of any open spots in the secondary, even if his receivers core isn’t exactly anything to write home about. That will change the approach typically used in a Ravens match-up. Roberts and Queen will have to blow up the run game without the safeties crashing down in the box, or Herbert will be slinging it downfield for big gains.

The matchup between Jim Harbaugh and Mike Tomlin could result in the most conservative play calling in the second half of the game since Vince Lombardi matched up against George Halas. Neither one of these guys seems to like a pass play one bit once they get up by 6 points. This is a weird game to predict. It feels like the Chargers will either put up a ton of points through the air early and win going away, or the Steelers will get enough of a lead to just hang on at the end. You know, the way Tomlin wants to win every game.

If the Herbert led Chargers do manage to put up points against this defense, will the Steelers offense get to take off the handcuffs and see what it can do? It might be a game where that is required. So far they haven’t had to do that, which is fine, but they also haven’t been granted the experience to build confidence that they can perform in those situations if needed. There have been a few flashes of it, like going for scores at the end of a half where the team would have just taken a knee in past years, but that isn’t enough for the team to know about itself. Having Bosa and Mack breathing down your neck isn’t a great time to be discovering how you do in a come-from-behind scenario.

I will be traveling this Sunday and won’t be able to watch the game live. I have a good friend that’s a Chargers fan, so I’m using this article to make sure I don’t get any spoilers texted to me…Ron. This will be a game where both 2-0 teams will find out where they really stand at this early stage of the season. Whoever can break their own tendencies and surprise the other will probably be the one walking away with the win. Considering the head coaches in this one, that favors neither of them.