Veteran leadership at forefront of Chargers

Denzel Perryman shortly listed title after title as he dove deep into his mental roster of the 2015 Chargers.

Manti Teʻo, Melvin Ingram, Kavell Conner and Donald Butler took Perryman under their wing, the Chargers linebacker said. The 11-year veteran said he relied on older teammates when he entered the NFL as they helped him modify to the schedule and routine of skilled soccer.

“When I was a young guy,” Perryman said, “my head was all over the place — just trying to get the gist of the NFL. They taught me how to be where my mind is.”

With the Chargers (10-4) getting into the ultimate stretch of the season and on the cusp of clinching a playoff berth heading into Sunday’s recreation against the Dallas Cowboys (6-7-1), veterans have performed an important function in the staff successful six of its last seven video games.

A win over the Cowboys coupled with either a loss or tie by the Houston Texans on Sunday afternoon or an Indianapolis Colts loss or tie on Monday night time would secure a playoff berth for the Chargers.

Perryman, who recorded a season-best 9 tackles in the Chargers’ win over the Kansas City Chiefs last week, credit Philip Rivers and the remaining of the Chargers’ veterans for displaying him “how to be a pro” a decade in the past. Now he’s passing along those classes to youthful gamers in a switch of generational data across the Chargers’ locker room.

“When I came in as a young guy, I thought this happens every year,” security Derwin James Jr. said of successful, beginning his profession on a 12-4 Chargers staff in 2018. “Remember the standard. Remember, whatever we’re doing now, to uphold the standard, so that way, when guys change, coaches change, anything changes, the standard remains.”

Running off the sphere at Arrowhead Stadium, third-year security Daiyan Henley charged at a celebrating Tony Jefferson, a veteran mentor at his place who was ready for teammates after being ejected for an unlawful hit on Chiefs huge receiver Tyquan Thornton.

After the sport Jefferson and Henley hopped around like schoolchildren on the playground. That’s the ambiance the veterans need to create, Jefferson said, one in which youthful gamers in the secondary can flip to him.

“That’s what we’re here for,” Jefferson said. “For them to watch us and follow, follow our lead, and see how we do our thing.”

It’s not just the veteran stars that are making a distinction. Marcus Williams, a 29-year-old security with 109 video games of NFL expertise, changed Jefferson against the Chiefs after being elevated from the apply squad. The 2017 second-round choose performed virtually every snap in Jefferson’s place, gathering 4 tackles.

“That just starts with the culture coach [Jim] Harbaugh creates,” defensive coordinator Jesse Minter said. “It’s really a 70-man roster.”

Harbaugh highlighted defensive lineman/fullback Scott Matlock’s blocking method — a ba-boop, ba-boop, as Harbaugh put it and mimed with his arms — on designed runs as an instance of a veteran bolstering an offensive line making an attempt to overcome the absence of Joe Alt and Rashawn Slater.

Harbaugh said his father, Jack, taught Matlock the ba-boop, ba-boop blocking method during an August apply.

“He’s severely underrated as an athlete,” quarterback Justin Herbert said of the 6-foot-4, 296-pound Matlock, who also catches passes in the flat as a fullback.

With three video games left in the common season, Jefferson said the main target is on replicating the postseason-like efforts they gave in consecutive wins over the Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles.

“It was good that they were able to get a taste of that,” Jefferson said of his youthful teammates taking part in against last season’s Super Bowl groups, “because these games down the stretch are really what’s to come in the playoffs.”