Winners And Losers From The Chargers Week 14 Win Against The Giants
The Los Angeles Chargers Week 14 victory against the Giants was actually not as close as the score would even indicate. The Chargers really took control of the game from the beginning and had maybe their most complete game of the year. Mind you, it came against a middling Giants team with their second-string quarterback, but it’s still nice to string together back-to-back wins especially after an inconsistent season.
This game moves their record to a healthy 8-5 and means they’re only one game back of the Chiefs as they head into the Thursday Night showdown.
The Chargers dominated the football game end to end. The defense came up with a ton of big stops on third down to get off the field. The passing offense was working on all three levels with big plays downfield, and tons of screen passes breaking loose. This was even the Chargers best rushing game of the season, in my opinion. While they’ve had better statistical nights, it really felt like they committed to the run involving so many guys on that first touchdown drive.
With season-long ups and downs, the Chargers really had to have this game, and they did so in convincing fashion. Let’s take a look at their week 14 winners and losers in the victory against the Giants.
Winners
Justin Herbert
Another week, another Herbert sighting in the winner’s column. You don’t really have to force it though when you have someone as spectacular as Justin Herbert. He showed that he can really do everything while under center. He completed nearly 75% of his passes on the day and threw for 275 yards and 3 touchdowns. He completed passes to 9 different receivers on his way to becoming the only quarterback in the history of the game to throw for 30 touchdowns in his first two seasons. Yeah. He’s that special.
Let’s start with the deep ball, as everyone is probably talking about the pass he made at the end of the first half with pressure coming before the heave to Jalen Guyton. What an absolute beauty of a pass, probably the pass of the year. This kid’s cannon is one of the strongest arms I have ever seen; he was on third and long and threw a ball that went 64 yards in the air. Unreal.
He was also consistently working Mike Williams on quick play actions and draw plays. As well as a few screens that burst out for nice gains. He also worked his tight ends along the sidelines just to prove he could make every throw. Soak it all in Chargers fans, quarterbacks this special only come along once in a lifetime.
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Joey Bosa
It’s good to have the Bosa Bear back. After missing the last game he instantly made his impact felt on the football game in his return. Not only was he the highest-rated Chargers player on the day with a whopping 92.9 grade, but you just saw him making an impact on every play. He had a total of five quarterback pressures, three hits, and a strip-sack of Mike Glennon that led to a touchdown and basically ended the game. He did what Joey Bosa does best, which is get after the quarterback. It’s good to have him back, he makes the defense so much more dangerous when he’s out there.
Dustin Hopkins
Now, we won’t get too excited. I know how much PTSD Chargers fans have from the last few years. And rightfully so, as they have had eleven kickers since 2017. I’m also not going to even say Dustin Hopkins has been perfect, he has not changed that trend so far, as he has missed a few extra points. But in week 14, the Chargers called his name early and often, and it paid off. He made three field goals and nailed all of his four extra-point attempts. He totaled a nice thirteen points in the game, and he’s going to hope to keep that momentum moving forward. Again, he hasn’t been perfect and problems aren’t solved. But it’s nice to appreciate when things are working for you.
Losers
Storm Norton
It was honestly hard to pick apart the team after they dominated in such a thorough fashion. But no team can possibly play perfectly, and it’s a winners and losers list. So here he is, Storm Norton. I know I’ve picked on him a few times throughout the season, but in my defense, every time the pocket broke down on Herbert throughout the game it was always Norton being blown past.
Now he was actually decent in the run game, but it felt like Herbert was scrambling more often than he needed to be. Herbert’s four rushes for 19 yards felt like the result of him being chased out of the pocket over and over. It was definitely an improvement from the way they played last week as a whole, but if we had to pick a loser this week it would be the o-line led by Storm Norton. Herbert is near the bottom of the league in average time on all drop-back passes. The offensive line has gotten better, but in week 14 it needed to be better. They’ll need to do more as the season goes on if they want to stay competitive.