Austin Ekeler hopes OC Kellen Moore helps Chargers find consistency: ‘We’ve got unfinished business’

Running back Austin Eckeler is determined to build a first playoff spot for the Chargers from 2018, and in the process, he hopes to erase the bad taste of Los Angeles’ collapse.

After losing 31-30 to the Jaguars on Super Wild Card Weekend, despite being 27-0 up at one point, the Chargers decided to move away from offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi in favor of a former Cowboys player. Kellen Moore. Eckeler understood this move as a need to stimulate change.

“We’ve had success, but we’re still looking for new chemistry to get more consistency,” Eckeler said Saturday on the NFL Network. Super Bowl Live. “The NFL is so volatile that we brought in Kellen to see if we could do something with him. He had a good track record in Dallas. Top categories in some of these statistics. So all right, let’s see if this new combo can help us stay consistent. Because that’s what it all boils down to at the end of the season. We can’t have these ups and downs.”

Many of the team’s ups last season came from Ekeler, who has yet to make it to the Pro Bowl despite leading the league in scrimmage touchdowns for two consecutive years. The 27-year-old undrafted pro from Western Colorado almost single-handedly powered the Chargers’ 30th-seeded offense in 2022.

He’s a versatile weapon that Moore should be dreaming of, given the work of the Organizing Committee in Dallas with Ezekiel Elliott and Tony Pollard. Moore just finished ninth in the league in offensive yards for the second straight season, using Elliot’s thunder for 876 yards on 231 carries and hitting Pollard at the right time for 1,007 yards on 193 attempts.

Eckeler had a carry monopoly for the Chargers with 204 tries – Joshua Kelly was well behind him in second place with 69 tries – but Moore’s ability to mix runners could help keep Eckeler and others healthy, which RB cited when asked that ” The Chargers demand a deeper offseason.

He had already spoken to his new coordinator about the expectations of improving what Los Angeles had achieved prior to Moore’s arrival.

“We chatted for a bit,” Eckeler said. “I told him, ‘Look, man, you’re joining a hungry team. We are ready to go. I know myself, I’ll be salty while we hit boot camp. And I’m going to make sure I let everyone know and remind everyone that we were at 27-0 and lost. And we have to go back there because we have unfinished business. So I’m very happy that he’s coming and I hope he’s ready too.”