Last season, Brandon Staley's Los Angeles Chargers lived and died by their aggression. Their penchant for going for it on fourth down was noticed by many fans around the league. Sometimes, it brought them glory and a precious win. Other times, it became the root of their downfall. What remained constant, though, was this unrelenting aggression on offense.

Early into the 2022 season, though, we're seeing a different side of Brandon Staley. After being doomed by the hand of analytics last season, the Chargers have been more conservative this season. This was evident in Week 2 against the Chiefs, where they passed up on multiple 4th-and-short opportunities in favor of punting. When asked about it, Staley said this: (via NFL.com)

“Just wanted to give our defense a chance to compete,” he said, via the official transcript. “I really loved the way we were playing. I felt like that was the formula to flip the field. I felt like we were aggressive when we needed to be tonight — we converted all four of our fourth downs.”

Staley would continue by saying that with the way the defense was playing tonight, he felt confident in their chances. Indeed, much of the Chargers' aggression last season was due to their lackluster defense. With a revamped defense, though, Staley seems to trust his troops on that side of the ball more and more.

In the end, though, a brutal injury to Justin Herbert ended any chance of winning the game. Now, Brandon Staley and the Chargers are hoping for the best with their quarterback. If Herbert goes down for a significant time… LA might start to rely on their defense more and more.