SAN DIEGO _ What's new with Anthony Lynn, who got his job when the ham-handed Spanoses were in the midst of removing the Chargers from San Diego?
As it turns out, there's a lot new.
This year brings Lynn's biggest season yet. This year, if the NFL is able to play its games, we find out if Lynn can _ or can't _ run an NFL team. The curtain has gone up. The stage is his. It's Lynn's time.
You might say, wait, Lynn has led the Chargers for 48 games over three regular seasons and two more games in the playoffs _ shouldn't we know by now if he has the chops for the job?
It's a good point. We're not totally in the dark about Lynn _ but taking into account Philip Rivers was the quarterback for all 50 of those games _ never missing a significant snap, much less a start _ Lynn was something of a second leader.
That's just how the NFL works. A rookie head coach who inherits a star quarterback will have less clout than other coaches, at least for awhile. Rivers was on his fourth head coach, but still maintained high enthusiasm. The two combined for a 26-22 regular-season record and one playoff victory.
"There was always a certain comfort level with him," Lynn said Friday in a media video chat, "because you knew he was going to be prepared and ready to play as well."
Lynn's background was offense; but the Chargers' offense, in effect, still belonged to Rivers.
What this meant is a lot of leeway went to the quarterback former Chargers playcaller Frank Reich often described as the "smartest guy in the building." Depending on what he saw before the ball was snapped, Rivers could deploy one of the plays the coaches had called. More so than most NFL quarterbacks, he directed traffic deep into the play clock.
Lynn was a former NFL running back and running backs coach. But the offense still revolved around a pocket pass game suited to Rivers, and the first option remained Keenan Allen, a Rivers teammate since 2013.
Meantime, a pro-Rivers front office led by Tom Telesco and John Spanos never drafted a potential successor, or brought in another quarterback to challenge him. Endorsing the quarterback further, at some practices Telesco wore Rivers T-shirts bearing the Latin phrase "Nunc Coepi," which Rivers popularized. "He's forever our leader," Telesco said of Rivers in January 2019.
Lynn said nice things, too, telling a writer in 2018 that Rivers wasn't Old Man Rivers but young Philip.
Nevertheless, when the '19 Chargers went 5-11 and Rivers posted a 71.1 passer rating within the division, it was time to part ways. Rivers, 38, went from the AFC West to the Indianapolis Colts, reuniting him with Reich, a former quarterback.
So, now, we'll see what Lynn can do with the Chargers.
His three quarterbacks joined the team after he did, a sign that Lynn endorsed each player. While not one of them is nearly the passer Rivers was, all three can scoot.
"There will be more movement in our offense," Lynn said Friday. "Schemes may change, but I'd rather show you than tell you about those."
The offense, Lynn allowed, may resemble the Bills offenses Tyrod Taylor directed in 2015-16 when Lynn was an offensive coach with the team.
In the 13 games he started with Lynn as the playcaller and coordinator, Taylor recorded an 88.4 passer rating. Lynn had replaced Greg Roman, who went to a Super Bowl with Colin Kaepernick and claimed the AFC's No. 1 seed with Lamar Jackson.
Taylor, the Chargers' presumptive starter, did two things well under Lynn. He averted interceptions, getting picked off only five times against 14 touchdowns passes, and he gained 6.1 yards per carry.
The Chargers have enough firepower on defense that if their offense can avoid turnovers _ a big problem last year, when they were 31st _ they should have a fighting chance with Taylor, a ninth-year player, or perhaps later with Justin Herbert, drafted sixth overall.
Lynn said he seeks a running back from the in-house candidates to form a tandem with Austin Ekeler. He wants a speedy receiver or two to supplement Allen and Mike Williams.
Putting another stamp on the offense, Lynn hired Pep Hamilton as quarterbacks coach last week. "We speak the same language," Lynn said of a longtime friend who coached Andrew Luck with Stanford and the Colts, coordinated under Jim Harbaugh at Michigan and oversaw the XFL's D.C. club before the league folded.
"When you can get as many guys as you can on the same page and pulling in the same direction, that can only help," Lynn said. He added: "I always thought that one day I'd be working for him. One day I might be, I don't know; but right now, he's working for me, and I'm glad to have him on our team."
What can be gleaned of Lynn from his collaboration with Rivers?
Give him an A for their second season together, when Rivers had one of his top-3 seasons. The 12-4 record was the franchise's best since Norv Turner's third team went 13-3 in 2009. Lynn's emphasis on building toughness seemed to pay off in victories at Pittsburgh, Kansas City, then Baltimore in the playoffs.
As a rookie head coach, Lynn showed a lot of poise, helping his team overcome an 0-4 start to finish 9-7.
Yet part of the start reflected offensive-flow issues that weren't evident under Mike McCoy, the previous rookie head coach.
I'm convinced that at the start of the two tenures, McCoy-Rivers meshed much better than Lynn-Rivers.
McCoy was a former quarterback and quarterbacks coach. He, Ken Whisenhunt and Reich installed a quick-pass scheme in which Rivers thrived for most of 2013 and the front half of 2014.
The 2017 team made a nice rally, but meltdowns against the Jaguars in November and the Chiefs in December enabled the gritty Bills to claim the AFC's final playoff spot. The Bills had a rookie head coach, too, in Sean McDermott. The Bills, in comparison, had less talent. With Taylor hobbled, the Bills won a game started by Nathan Peterman and finished by Joe Webb.
Last year, Rivers fell off. He threw too many bad passes in or near the red zone that opponents picked off. A 2-9 record in games decided by seven points or fewer doomed the team, while also giving Lynn ample homework this offseason.
"I have to figure out, and help my coaching staff figure out, how to win with what we have and get more wins out of those one-score games," said Lynn. "That was the most disappointing thing from a coaching standpoint, we have to win more of those games."
My advice to Lynn: Have Hamilton stand next to him during games, assisting him with clock management and other big-picture decisions.
While Lynn can count on some media and fans to make excuses for the Chargers in any season when injuries strike them, it's not his style to suffer any excuse-making, and that applies now to the inability of NFL teams to stage practices because of the coronavirus pandemic.
"Under the circumstances," the coach said, after conducting video chats with several players and coaches, "we have to change things up and coach it up the best we can. One team is gonna do it better than the other 31 and hopefully that team's us."
The Rivers Era is over, with no AFC West titles to show for the final 10 years.
How far can Lynn _ who's under contract through at least 2021 _ take Team Spanos? We'll know a lot more by the end of the next season, whenever that is.
