In what many Los Angeles Chargers fans saw as a disappointing offseason for the offense with the departures of Keenan Allen and Mike Williams, Jim Harbaugh demonstrated that great wide-out play is not required to win with his offense.
The Bolts handled the Raiders well and did especially well in the run game. With things looking up in LA, let’s review what happened on Sunday.
A Balanced Los Angeles Chargers Attack
Even though Harbaugh is known for his run-heavy scheme, the Chargers had nearly an equal amount of pass and rush attempts. The offense didn’t have to solely rely on Herbert like they have in the past, and most importantly they didn’t turn the ball over.
Rookie Ladd McConkey was the team’s leading receiver and had a solid first game with his first touchdown of his young career.
The young receiver room did all they were asked to and looking forward, it looks like McConkey will be getting more work. Looking ahead to the offense next week against the Panthers, we will likely see much more rushing.
Justin Herbert’s pass chart from Next Gen Stats shows he was relatively conservative in the passing game, with a majority of his throws coming under ten yards. It’s an interesting comparison to last year’s team which was winning games in the exact opposite way.
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Win The Line Of Scrimmage, A Jim Harbaugh Staple
When your offensive focus is running the ball, that only works if you win the line of scrimmage. Rookie Joe Alt had a tremendous debut allowing zero pressures versus Maxx Crosby and proving his worth as a top 5 pick.
The Chargers offensive line manhandled the Raiders in the 2nd half, who added Christian Wilkins in the offseason. The line allowed one sack to Crosby and 5 QB hits in total, 3 from Crosby. The current starters on the line consist of 3 first-round picks, so it’s not a huge surprise that the big boys up front got the job done.
In addition to protecting Herbert in the passing game, you don’t rush for 176 yards with a bad offensive line. The interior of the line did particularly well in opening lanes for J.K. Dobbins, allowing him to average 13.5 yards per carry, 8.2 without his big 61-yard run.
Dobbins even mentioned postgame, “Thank you to my O-line, they blocked really well for me. Thank you to all my teammates for blocking for me and thank you to the defense for having our backs in the first half.”
Their depth at RB is also interesting with another former Raven in Gus Edwards and rookie Kimani Vidal (who was a scratch on Sunday).
They might start giving carries to the other two as the season goes on to keep everyone fresh, as it looked like Dobbins wasn’t 100% in shape yet.
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Fast, Tough, And Smart
Looking forward to next week, the Panthers are coming off an embarrassing loss to the Saints and should be a bit fired up.
The biggest strength the Chargers have going into the matchup is the defense, as the Saints held Bryce Young in check.
If the team can play like they did versus the Raiders the rest of the year, fast, tough, and smart, I could see them squeaking into the playoffs as a 7 seed.