The Chargers came out of Sunday’s loss to the Arizona Cardinals with one glaring question hanging over Chris O’Leary’s first game as defensive play-caller: why so little pressure?
O’Leary’s debut came with plenty of attention after he was brought back to Los Angeles from a year at Western Michigan to replace his mentor Jesse Minter. The mandate was clear from the start - evolve the defense and elevate it.
Around the unit this offseason, one word kept surfacing: aggression. That made the opening-game approach stand out even more.
Instead of turning up the heat, O’Leary went the other direction. The Chargers blitzed at just a 20 percent rate, a sharp contrast to Minter’s 43.4 percent blitz rate in Week 1 and far below the level many expected given O’Leary’s background and his Notre Dame ties.
Minter’s Chargers defenses in 2024 and 2025 were known more for disguise and consistency than constant pressure, but they still forced offenses into uncomfortable third downs. Sunday, the formula didn’t hold up cleanly.
Arizona quarterback Jacoby Brissett made sure of that. He got the ball out with lightning speed, finishing with the third-fastest time to throw in the opening week of the NFL season, behind only Patrick Mahomes and Joe Burrow, according to Next Gen stats.
The Cardinals leaned hard on quick throws and worked the middle of the field, where the Chargers repeatedly had trouble staying connected. Brissett’s average depth of target was 8.2 yards, and the Cardinals piled up 23 first downs while the defense struggled to get off the field.
The bigger issue wasn’t just the coverage calls - it was the communication behind them. Los Angeles tried to disguise looks and muddy Brissett’s reads, but the back end seemed to create more confusion than disruption.
That left the pass rush chasing a problem it couldn’t solve. Against a quarterback getting rid of the ball that quickly, the edge rushers never really had a chance.
O’Leary eventually adjusted by blitzing more and putting cornerback Cam Hart and Derwin James into key man-to-man assignments. The defense steadied after that, but by then the game had already tilted. The Chargers offense couldn’t cash in on the stops, and when Arizona blocked a punt and recovered at the three-yard line, the defense was left with little room to work with.
The challenge now is immediate. The Chargers are about to face another quarterback who can attack underneath and operate in the middle of the field in the Las Vegas Raiders’ Kirk Cousins. If Sunday was a rough first draft, this week is the chance to clean it up fast.
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