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Only the third offensive coordinator in organization history to have real Super Bowl talent. Justin Herbert has matched Patrick Mahomes talent, and this team is loaded, so there is no excuses on not letting his horses run and win his grandfathers trophy.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers had a pretty special 2020. Made some great memories and created some interesting history. Tom Brady playing in his 54th Super Bowl (only nine but seems like it’s every year) and playing in their home stadium. That was a first for any Super Bowl-era team in the National Football League.
Makes for great nostalgia.
It’s like eating fried bologna sandwiches. The first one is wonderful but too many of them make you sick.
However, two sentimental firsts are sitting there waiting for the LA Chargers. Something that has never been done and can only happen to one man and then of course doing what the Bucs did last year.
A Lombardi holding the Lombardi on his home field. Joe holding Grandpa Vince.
I know it’s the LA Chargers we are talking about and most know what has happened when hopes are extremely high for this organization, but it is in the realm of a real possibility.
When it comes to the Lombardi holding the Lombardi, in Los Angeles, and for the first world championship in team history to be plausible, we must take the side of whimsical and the fantastical. The Charger fan base right now has to live off those two adjectives.
Here is where the dreaming can come true and why it can happen for the Chargers.
The LA Chargers have been drafted, traded and signed to be built to win the Super Bowl.
In football terms – they have experience, depth, and a unique brand of coaching talent.
General manager Tom Telesco has done a surprisingly good job in player acquisition thus far, but he’s not a Bobby Beathard yet. He has used his first-round draft picks better than any GM the Chargers have ever had.
Telesco has been able to keep a majority of those first picks and they have been in the position to contribute at pro bowl levels. This defense seems like it has been prepared for head coach Brandon Staley to finally arrive. This defense is ready and waiting for what some have called the ‘rain man’ of defensive coaches.
Barring injuries, which have been an M.O. for the Chargers for the last 20-plus years, this defensive skill set is capable of winning deep in the playoffs.
With the drafting of the best offensive tackle in the 2021 draft, the best guard in 2022, and signing of the best center defensive player and best center in the NFL in Khalil Mack and Corey Linsley. Staley has done what he has needed to to protect Herbert, stop the run, and put pressure on the quarterback.
Justin Herbert has done what no other Charger QB has ever done.
Heck, he’s done what no other rookie and second year quarterback, ever, has done in the league, period. The most touchdowns and completions, second in yardage and completion percentage.
The second year of a rookie quarterback is always the tell-tell of any NFL quarterback. His rookie-record-setting predecessor, Baker Mayfield of the Cleveland Browns, surpassed the sophomore jinx with a highly productive second-year campaign. Although he hasn’t won the big one really hasn’t come close.
Justin Herbert has done that. The NFL world is now in the hands of offensive coordinator, Joe Lombardi.
He needs to keep at par with Kansas City and what they are doing with Patrick Mahomes. What Lombardi needs to do is get the same results the Chiefs got with their QB in the first few years.
Joe Lombardi was the quarterback coach of a record-breaking and of one of the greatest QB’s to ever play the game in former Charger Drew Brees. To run an offense with Brees in it, is to run an offense with Herbert in it. He will coach at minimum two of the best players to ever play the game.
Lombardi already has the recipe that has all the ingredients plus the water when he arrived in LA. He now a 5-star restaurant to cook it all in.
Former QB coach of the LA Chargers, Pep Hamilton, is the best quarterback coach in the league and gets the credit for what Herbert has done besides his natural talent. Lombardi has reaped the rewards of that.
If Justin Herbert is able to surpass Mahomes as the class QB of the AFC West, Lombardi will get a chance to play Buffalo and hold his grandfathers trophy.