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Los Angeles Chargers
And that starts with having torchbearers like Derwin James on the roster.
I was at the first day of Chargers camp this summer and heard, from more than a few people, this running joke that Harbaugh wanted everyone to do as James would do. The serious part of it: In James, the new coach had found a kindred spirit, the same way he did with guys such as Patrick Willis and Frank Gore in San Francisco 13 years ago.
So where Willis and Gore set the foundation for Harbaugh’s San Francisco 49ers, James is doing the same for the Harbaugh’s Chargers. Oh, and as for that joke? James laughed when I asked.
“He’s like a father away from home—he’s that role model, that big uncle, everything I need,” James told me from the postgame locker room Sunday in Cleveland. “Having a coach like that who’s experienced, that’s been to a Super Bowl, knows what it takes, won a national championship, he’s serious about winning. Every day, you see it in his message and how his other coaches coach.
“When you got a leader like that leading, you see the team that we have, with the guys we have. You can see the team we’re forming over here. Coach Harbaugh’s around us to give us that chance.”
It’s what Harbaugh’s done everywhere he’s been—and is doing again in Los Angeles.
Sunday’s 27–10 rout of the Cleveland Browns was just more evidence of what’s been quietly developing along over the past few months. The Chargers didn’t run all over Cleveland, but J.K. Dobbins was effective when he needed to be, churning out 85 yards, and scoring on runs of 16 and seven yards. Justin Herbert only threw 27 times, but was incredibly efficient with his opportunities. And as long been the case, Harbaugh also has a kickass defense.
At Stanford and San Francisco, he delegated that phase to Vic Fangio. At Michigan, it was D.J. Durkin, Don Brown, Mike Macdonald and Jesse Minter. Minter came with Harbaugh this time around and has shown, again, how good Harbaugh is at finding the right people to handle that side of the ball, and fit it to his overarching vision for the team.
“Jesse Minter is the GOAT. Jesse Minter has been one of the best coaches I’ve had,” James says. “Since OTAs, we’ve been training the way we train as DBs. We don’t just play one position. Everybody can play everywhere in our secondary. That’s what’s helping us communicate. We’re making it tough on the opposing team because they don’t know where everybody’s going to be at.”
Nor do they know what’s coming. As James explains it, the opponent’s offense, has to react later than it wants to. “When you can make everything look the same and make the quarterback play quarterback postsnap,” James says, “I feel like it’s hard, with the rush we have coming.”
It was hard for Jameis Winston this week (235 yards, 1 TD, 3 INTs, 50.5 passer rating) versus how he looked last week (334 yards, 3 TDs, 0 INTs. 115.3 rating).
It showed up in a big way, too, on Winston’s final pick of the day, one that essentially locked up the Chargers’ win in the fourth quarter. The Chargers gave the quarterback a presnap look that they’d only played zone out of all day. Postsnap, they went to man coverage, with double teams underneath. The switch led to Winston throwing into coverage. The double team gave rookie Tarheeb Still the freedom to undercut the route.
It was Still’s first career pick. It showed, too, how the defense could work for a rookie, the same as it does for a seasoned vet such as James or Khalil Mack, giving the players a shot to play fast and physical while the offense tries to figure out what’s happening. Which, of course, is a big reason why no team has given up fewer points per game than the Chargers.
And it all fits into this big picture Harbaugh is painting once again, with a rock-solid defense complementing a physical, run-game-driven offense, with a smart, efficient quarterback at the controls.
That’s the vision, and genius of Harbaugh, even if you might see it a different way.
“They don’t understand the quirkiness—the weirdness is in the details,” James says. “That’s how he’s so successful. You may look at him as quirky, but he really loves football. I’ve never met a coach that loves football as much as coach Harbaugh. He would die for football. He loves it that much.”
It shows in how his 5–3 team is playing now.
“We’re having fun,” James says. “We have a camaraderie. We can play tough if we need to play tough. We can match up guys and play finesse, too. We can play whatever type of game, and I feel like that will allow us to be who we are. As long as we keep finding our identity, the tough team will win out.”
And it looks like the tougher team most weeks, once again, is the one coached by Harbaugh.
