Joey Bosa needs some help and needs it fast

Can any other defensive lineman please stand up?

The Chargers are in the midsts of a two-game skid in which they got smoked by the Ravens 34-6 before being bested by the Patriots 27-24 at home this past Sunday. When I began my prep for this week’s post where I highlight the Chargers with the best and worst PFF grades from that game, I was surprised to see a certain name amongst the team’s worst performers: Joey Bosa.

Yeah, that guy.

Bosa left Sunday’s game with a 53.2 over game grade, the fifth-worst mark among all defenders. However, the overall game grade can sometimes be skewed by one really good or bad play by that player, so I like to take a look at the individual grades to get a better idea of how he fared. In this case, I looked at his individual grades for run defense, tackling, pass rush, and coverage.

The results were fairly surprising. Check them out below.

I bet the first thing that jumped out to you were the red-labeled tackling grades from the past two games. Both marks, the 28.3 against the Ravens and the 27.6 this past Sunday, are the two worst grades for tackling he’s had this season.

Then we look at his pass rushing grades in the column to the right. His 58.6 in Baltimore was his third-worst of the year and his 52.6 against the Patriots is his worst this season by a decent margin. Now, I know you may be thinking, “Well that’s what happens when you get double-teamed!” Well, I guarantee you the people at Pro Football Focus aren’t docking him straight up for being triple-teamed and not winning those reps. According PFF’s own Trevor Sikkema, a lot of those plays when he’s being double or triple-teamed actually net a play that’s neither negative or positive. However, being doubled usually does make it harder to net positive while simultaneously making it easier to come out with a “loss” on the play.

However, that still doesn’t make up for the horrendous tackling grades. Per Sikkema, being double and/or triple-teamed should not affect that grade as it should only take into account the moments and plays where Bosa was physically able to make a tackle attempt.

But in general, his marks for all those individual areas have seen quite the drop compared to his first five games. Heck, his performance against the Patriots was his worst across all areas besides coverage, which is nothing close to a silver lining.

Now I don’t necessarily have my own “fix” for his issues, but one or more of the other players along the line needs to step up and give defenses someone else to worry about. Brandon Staley always asserts that players need to win their one-on-one matchups and as of now, not many players are doing that.

Against the Chiefs and Raiders, Bosa combined for 17 total pressures. Since then, he’s managed just four combined against the Browns, Ravens, and Patriots. Those are all good, well-coached units, so I’m not surprised he didn’t set the world on fire, but he’s not getting anywhere near the quarterback at the rate he needs to for this team to hit it’s potential.

Will this change against a 3-5 Eagles team? Maybe, but until then, someone, anyone, please step up and make a play.