Chargers rally, exit with 19-16 overtime win over Broncos

INGLEWOOD, California – The Los Angeles charger‘the sidelines erupted in jubilation after two exceptional plays by a historically thwarted special squad unit.

With 4:58 left in injury time, Bolts recovered a muffled hit on Dancer broncos’28 yards road. Then, four turns later, kicker Dustin Hopkins – competed with a right hamstring injury – knocked out a target on the 39-yard field to give the Chargers a goal 19-16 victory at SoFi . Stadium.

With the win, the Bolts improve to 4-2 – keeping them dense in the race to the AFC West, while also proving they can advance the clutch.

Last Sunday, the Charger was given a win from Cleveland Browns when kicker Cade York missed a potentially winning goal on 54 yards.

On Monday Night Football, the Chargers have no doubt they can win on their terms.

Los Angeles charger

QB analysis: Justin Herbert and Bolts’ attack struggled to find rhythm against a fast and energetic defence. Herbert completed 37 of 57 238-yard passes with an intercept.

As a rule, Herbert averaged 2.2 yards in the air on his finishes, well below his previous career low of 2.7.

Defender Pat Surtain II effectively remove the wide receiver going to the target Mike Williamswho finished with two catches for 17 yards – including a 9-yard touchdown in stoppage time to establish the winning goal of the game.

Herbert’s only hit came in the first quarter, when he made a seven-way, 84-yard drive that resulted in Austin Ekeler dashed 6 yards to score the Bolts on the board, 10-7.

In the 4th half, on the first court and 10 from his own 17-yard line, Herbert had an intercepted pass on purpose. Gerald Everett – his second intercept of the season when targeting his new tight finish.

Herbert, who has been sacked twice, is continuing to play with a rib fracture, to which he said earlier this week, “I think it’s getting better. I think time is probably helping. the best.”

Trouble Trends: Defender JC Jackson play substandard after signing a 5 year, $82.5 million contract in free company.

Jackson can only watch, in an obvious mission, like tight ending Greg Dulcich sped up for a 39-yard touchdown reception in the first quarter to give the Broncos a 10-0 lead. A fifth-year professional, Jackson played four seasons in New England, where he led the NFL in interceptions (25) since 2018.

Jackson is awaiting his first pick as Charger, and it’s unclear exactly what gave him a slow start to the season, whether it’s learning a new plan or returning from surgery. ankle is done at the end of August.

Buy on Breakthrough Performance: After spending most of the 2021 season on the sidelines following ankle surgery, the runner Khalil Mack is proving in his ninth NFL season that he has plenty left in the tank.

Mack admitted entering Monday night that it was no fun chasing the Broncos quarterback Russell Wilsonbut he kept putting pressure on Wilson, fired him once, and also beat a pass.

Mack is second in the NFL, along with six other players, with six bags. The Chargers fired Wilson four times. – Lindsey Thiry

Underrated statistics to know: Herbert threw without touching 57 passes on Monday. This is the second time this season that a player has thrown at least 57 passes without touching the ball (Kyler Murray).

Next game: versus the Seahawks (4:25 p.m. ET, Sunday)

Dancer broncos

One of Dancer broncos Coach Nathaniel Hackett’s job is to improve the Broncos’ poor performance in the AFC West, especially in the upper leg.

The Broncos stumbled in front of the SoFi Stadium on Monday night 2-11 in their past 13 games since the start of the 2020 season, 0-7 down the road with the loss in Las Vegas already across the board. ratings for this season. So add another to the growing pile when their offense ends in the second half – again – and rookie Montrell Washington strangled a hit at the Broncos’ 28-yard line with 4 minutes and 46 seconds to play overtime to help set up a 19-16 loss in extra time Los Angeles charger.

It all sounded familiar for the Broncos, who led 10-0 in the first quarter before their still-struggling game was essentially called a night. A team that scored all five points in the third quarter of this season – two of which were the safety of the defense earlier this year – were again eliminated in the third half when the Broncos fouled just 19 yards.

The Chargers were simply repelled by a devastating Broncos offensive line for most of the second half – problem solving left Garett Bolles will miss the rest of the season after he fractured his right fibula in the loss Indianapolis Colts — to keep Russell Wilson Asynchronous.

The Denver defense tried hard enough to get overtime, but all the work the Broncos said they did in the 11 days since Thursday night’s losses to the Colts and Monday’s to the Chargers certainly didn’t show.

Trouble Trends: Rookie winger Damarri Mathis Get a preview of what the rest of the season might look like for him. Mathis, who was in the squad due to a knee injury at the end of the season Ronald Darbywas targeted by Chargers quadback Justin Herbert in the game’s first playthrough from the scenario – Mathis was called upon to get through the interference – and the Charger didn’t give up.

Mathis had three intervening penalty passes in the first half alone, taking up 81 yards, four in the game. Whenever Herbert was faced with the slightest tension, he sent the ball the Mathis way. The rookies better get used to it and respond because the moment any future Broncos rival looks at what the Charger did on Monday night, they’ll believe they can make it too. work.

Mathis has shown some resilience with a key break from Wednesday down to usher in the fourth quarter, but the match is another sign it won’t be a relaxing ride for him. it in the coming weeks.

Biggest flaw in the game plan: Hackett has spent a lot of time since taking the job talking about how important the running game will be to team offense.

And then, when the team is having a hard time learning, when it comes to the ball, the running game is best. Okay, season-end injury Javonte Williams Losing to the Raiders would affect the Broncos’ plans, but they only ran the ball seven times in the first half against the Chargers, and one of those was the Wilson scramble.

This sometimes led to brief possession, where the Broncos used just over a minute in a three-game and went out for the wrong time before getting their defense back on the field. And the team’s continued struggles in the first half – Denver faced second and 18th, second and 12th and second and 9 only in the first half – pushed the Broncos away from a running game they needed. must be larger than a fraction of what they are doing.

All you have to see is that in seasons 3 and 1, in their first round, Wilson was in a shotgun position when he threw an incomplete shot under the heavy pressure of a dash. Fast of Chargers with no reason to slow down.

QB analysis: Wilson hit his first 10 passes on Monday night and looked a lot more relaxed overall. But without the benefit of a lot of play action in the Broncos offense and between the constant disconnect from the wide receiver Jerry Jeudy That seems to appear steadily, Wilson completing only three of his next 11 passes.

He completed passes to nine different recipients, including the first touchdown for the rookie’s tight finish Greg Dulcich. However, the first woes continued to disrupt the tempo of things, and so although Wilson was better in the first half of Monday, there was still a lot of work to be done. – Jeff Legwold

Underrated statistics to know: Wilson started the game completing his first nine attempts to nine different pass catchers. According to Elias, no QB dating back to 1978 started a 9 to 9 game with 9 different players.

Next game: versus The Jet (4:05 p.m. ET, Sunday)