Jared Odrick weighs in on the challenges of facing the Chargers

Written by Matthew Cannata at 2:00 PM EST | Twitter: @PhinManiacs

We’ve heard from quite a few players this week in regards to the San Diego Chargers and how they plan to approach the game and now, it’s Jared Odrick’s turn to weigh in and give his opinion on the team.

“The Chargers definitely have quite a formidable offense. They have a lot of weapons with the wide receivers. They’ve got a tall wide receiver. They’ve got quick wide receivers, a plethora of running backs. They’ve got four running backs that could start for any team in the NFL. They’ve got a solid offensive line as well. It’s definitely one of the more talent stacked teams, especially at a position like running back and wide receiver.” 

Last season, the Dolphins beat the Chargers in Miami, 20-16 and in that game, Odrick had two tackles and one sack. Does he plan to watch last year’s tape to try to emulate the success he and the rest of the team had against them?

“You look at some of the things that you did well against a team and try to expand on those. You look at what other teams did and some of the mistakes that they’ve made. That’s week in and week out, it’s what you do every week. You take things that you did well against them last year and you expand on that and then you take things that other teams would do and try to expand on that. The thing is that week in and week out it’s the same and from year to year it’s the same.”

The Dolphins will have a tough stretch of games coming up but Odrick, like everyone else on the team has said, is focused on the Chargers and isn’t concerned about anything after that.

“Our focus really doesn’t change week to week. The thing is, if there is a way to get more focus, I’m sure we’re finding ways to do that. Our focus doesn’t really change each week. The principles of football and the principles of defense stay each week. It really doesn’t change. You want to simplify the offense that you’re playing and make them one dimensional and attack.”

“I think we approach it that way, in terms of knowing how important these next couple of games are and how good these opponents are. It’s definitely in our vision. It’s something that we think about. But obviously we still take the games one at a time and you focus on one opponent. As soon as you start stretching yourself out and looking at too many things at one time or looking forward or counting things as wins ahead of time, whether it’s for us or anybody in the league that counts win or looks past games that’s when you put yourself in a tough position.”

Odrick, who is in a contract year, will look to pressure Phillip Rivers throughout the entire game, which will allow the rest of the team behind him to do their job and focus on that only. If he and the rest of the defensive line can make that happen, the Dolphins have a good chance of winning this game.

---