Chargers News: Brandon Staley Confident Defense Has Finally Turned A Corner

The Bolts' unwatchable 6-0 victory over the 2-10 New England Patriots told us a lot about how awful the Pats are, and also flashed some major concerns with the offense – especially the run game. 

But of course, shutting out any NFL team is a great sign, especially for a team that has struggled defensively for the past 3 seasons. 

Even if New England has scored single-digit points in their last 3 games, the idea remains that the defense was disciplined, able to get to the quarterback, and played much better coverage than usual. 

Here's what Brandon Staley had to say about the defense as a whole, per Eric Smith of Chargers.com: 

"We still have work to do for sure... I thought Green Bay for most of the game, Baltimore [and then] this game, I thought those were more close to the performance we're looking for.

"But it's been two weeks back-to-back where I felt like we've given ourselves a really good chance to win the game. I think when you can settle in on some combinations, that allows you to create consistency," Staley added. "We've had good consistency in the front seven and I think that we've been trying to search for that consistency in the secondary. It's been pretty good the last two weeks."

"Just really proud of the guys," Staley said. "To get a shutout in the NFL it's really tough. Really, really tough. And something to build off of."

Contrary to public opinion, I agree with Staley that the defense was good enough against Green Bay and Baltimore, but the offense is what ultimately ended up stalling.

Sure the Bolts didn't have to give up a career day to Jordan Love, but he's been playing at an incredibly high level since that game and is clearly breaking out, making giving up 23 to him and Green Bay a lot less worrisome. 

Staley reinforced the idea that getting a shutout in the NFL is "really tough," making their defensive performance something to be happy about regardless. With Denver on the calendar this Sunday, they'll need to come out at a high level again before Hall-of-Fame Coach Sean Payton and his streaking Broncos end the Chargers' playoff hopes. 

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