The Chargers are in the midst of a six game

[panxing18]

winning streak and contending for a playoff berth for the first time since 2013. While that story grabs all the headlines , soon all eyes will turn toward the NFL Draft. When the offseason officially begins, The Chargers will be looking reload their roster at several positions. College bowl games and playoffs are just over the horizon and there are countless players that The Chargers should be monitoring over the next few months. One of the most intriguing players whose name is on the rise is Notre Dame defensive tackle, Jerry Tillery. At 6’6, 306 pounds, Tillery was originally recruited as an offensive lineman out of Evangel Christian Academy. But he was given a chance to contribute on Notre Dame’s defense as a freshman and quickly adjusted to his new position at nose guard. However it took some time for the young defensive lineman to reach his potential both on and off the field.Tillery’s production was up and down during the first two years of his college career. His character was also a point of controversy. At the conclusion of his freshman year Tillery was suspended for the Fiesta Bowl game due to violation of team rules. The following year during Notre Dame’s season finale loss to USC, he kicked one player in the head and stepped on the leg of another. Tillery publicly owned up to his mistakes and acknowledged that his maturity and accountability needed to improve. Time has passed since his incidents of unsportsmanlike conduct and Tillery has grown to be a force on the defensive line of the Fighting Irish. Through 13 games in 2017, Tillery outplayed his numbers from the previous two years combined registering 56 tackles, nine tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks and one fumble. The young defensive lineman has continued build on the momentum from his junior year. At the start of the 2018 season, he was once again moved from the nose guard position to three-technique defensive tackle and the results have yielded huge returns. Tillery delivered solid performances against Michigan, Vanderbilt and Virginia Tech. But his standout game came against Stanford, where he registered six total tackles, four sacks , two quarterback hits and was a constant disruption to the Stanford offense. NFLDraftScout.com Senior Analyst Rob Rang, labeled Tillery as one of his biggest risers following his performance against Stanford.“This was the type of breakthrough performance that talent evaluators had been waiting for from the undeniably gifted (but previously inconsistent) defender.”As part of one of the best pass rushing defensive lines in college football, Tillery possesses all the attributes that translate to the NFL. His size, length and power give him the ability to play with good leverage off the snap. He has displayed the versatility to perform in both a 3-4 and 4-3 defensive front. But his speed is the true X-Factor to his game. Tillery is deceptively light on his feet for a player of his size. He shows quick feet off the line of scrimmage that commands double teams from offensive lineman. That speed and ability to create pressure have resulted in Tillery leading Notre Dame’s defense with seven sacks. The 20-year-old defensive lineman toyed with the notion of entering the NFL last year, but opted to return for his senior season. While his skills have considerably improved over the past two years, consistency has been the big knock against Tillery throughout his college career. Many draft analysts have been just as inconsistent when it comes to determining his player ranking as Tillery has been ranked anywhere from the low teens to the high 20’s The Chargers will have decisions to make when free agency begins in March. Brandon Mebane is 33 years old and his contract expires following the 2018 season. Darius Philon and Damion Square are both unrestricted free agents and could sign with other teams should the Bolts decide to let them walk. If the team does not sign a big name free agent, they could look toward the draft to fill the void. The Chargers have needed a dominant force along the interior of their defense for some time. The good news? The upcoming NFL Draft is stacked with multiple play makers on the defensive line. It would be in the team’s best interest to invest an early round pick on a player such as Tillery to solidify the middle of their front four. For what feels like the third game in a row, the Chargers didn’t seem to have the ball all that much in this game, although the final box score says the time of possession was split pretty much down the middle with Oakland having the 31:10 to 28:50 edge.Obviously the Chargers’ sluggish start didn’t help anything as they started the ball game with two three-and-outs. In fact, Philip Rivers didn’t even complete a single pass until almost five minutes into the second quarter.And although the Chargers held the Raiders to just a pair of field goals, I still felt this game could have been put away much earlier than it was. The 20 points scored does not seem like a lot by this team’s standards. In reality, if it wasn’t for an unnecessary hold by left tackle Russell Okung, Austin Ekeler would have scored a 44-yard touchdown run and the team would have kept up with their streak of scoring three touchdowns in every game this year.I also can’t forget Michael Badgley. THe rookie out of Miami made both of his field goals and extra points in this game to become the the leading point-scorer among Chargers kickers through their first three starts with the team.Not a bad way to start your time with the team , especially after the kicker carousel that has been present within the team.Although I thought the win was rather lakcluster, there were still a number of comendable performances from Sunday afternoon. After nine weeks, including seven-straight wins, here are this weeks players who SURGED and those who stayed STATIC.SurgeWR Keenan AllenAllen found the end zone for the second time this season, putting to rest a scoreless streak that has plagued him since week 1 against the Chiefs.Allen didn’t amass a huge amount of yards in this one but he didn’t have to. RB Melvin Gordon did most of the dirty work on the ground while also leading the team in receiving yards with 72, thanks in most part to a 66-yard catch and score in the third quarter.Allen has found several different ways to help the offense go in recent weeks. When he isn’t getting the targets that he would like, Allen is still able to take a few hand-offs and churn out of some nifty runs as a ball carrier.On the season, Allen has 53 catches for 687 yards and two touchdowns.DT Corey LiugetThis may selection may come as a surprise to some because, aside from his fumble recovery that set up a touchdown, Liuget only collected a single tackle in this one.However, I felt so bad after leaving him off last week’s article after he had such a spectacular performance that I couldn’t help but stick him in this one.Last week against the Seahawks, Liuget had the highest-graded game of his career, according to Pro Football Focus when he was given an elite grade of 90.7.His three tackles-for-loss were far and away the most on the team and he played a key part in keeping Russell Wilson and the Seahawks out of the endzone.In Sunday’s contest , Liuget may not have stuffed the stat sheet, but he recovered a fumble following a strip sack by Melvin Ingram of Derek Carr that set up the Chargers for their first touchdown of the day.StaticQB Philip RiversIt was an odd game for Philip Rivers as the veteran put out his “worst” performance of the season against the Raiders in a divisional match-up in Oakland.After throwing for 339 yards and a pair of touchdowns in their first contest, Rivers struggled mightily out of the gate as it took him almost 20 whole minutes into the game to complete his first pass. He finished with 223 yards and two touchdowns with a single interception, just his fourth on the season.His interception was questionable when watching live. There were two defenders on Keenan Allen but on my re-watch it showed that Allen did have a step on the defenders but Rivers just didn’t have the arm for this throw. He escaped the pocket and rolled left to allow himself a better throwing angle but, alas, it wasn’t in his cards on the day.Overall, I think this performance can be chalked-up to a hostile environment from the divisional rivalry. I’d expect a bounce-back performance when the Chargers host Denver next week in their first match-up of 2018.WR Mike WilliamsFor the first time this season, Williams was held without a target in the passing game. He logged just one carry for zero yards and failed receive any attention from his quarterback.Over the four games, Williams and seen his production fall off a cliff. In the three games prior to this past Sunday, the wideout had only caught a single pass in each contest. However, two of those three passes went for scores and allowed him to maintain his phenomenal efficiency.It remains to be seen just what is going on with Williams after he started the year on a nice streak of performances, including his two-touchdown performance against the Rams in week 3.

[veranix]

[veranix]

[veranix]

[veranix]