Rams at Chargers Game Day Thread | Post Game Reaction (Wk 17)

[Ghost of Quacksaw]

We gave up some chunk plays, forced some punts, allowed 10 to an offense that scored 35 on Denver's statistically very good defense the week before
We got LAR off the field several times. 1 FG, 1 TD, shut Rams out 2nd half is a pretty satisfying result.
We had over half TOP on Chargers offense.
The "bend but don't break" gives opponents majority TOP if that's all we have. This wasn't that.

I think the term "Bend but don't break" specifically harkens back to when Tom Bass was the Chargers' DC in '83 or '84.

I know that there were some specific elements to that strategy (none of which were executed successfully by the Chargers, parenthetically), although my intent was to use the term more generically.

What I saw was that the Bolts got gashed in the run game (they 'bent') but not on the scoreboard (they didn't break).

[Ghost of Quacksaw]

I don’t understand why Rountree is active and not Spiller. Spiller needs reps way more than Rountree. I really hope Spiller is active next week and gets at least 10 carries. Ek should not suite up next week.

We don't talk about Spiller much. He's an elephant in the room, to a degree. Virtually zero production from a 4th round draft pick that bigger things were expected from.

[Ghost of Quacksaw]

That Ekeler rush TD was Sproles-like. Was Jon Runyon in on that TD?

Ekeler is Sproles-like, in general. The whole leg strength combined with a low center of gravity dynamic. Superb balance and shiftiness.

[Ghost of Quacksaw]

Ek did it with power and finesse today. His 10 yard Td run was strength, power and will to get to the end zone.

his 72 yarder was shifty and enough speed.

remarkable that the Chargers did not get him involved in red zone opps until game 4

Feiler and Keenan had the key blocks that created the initial lane for Ek. Props to them.

[Pat_Swindle]

Sir, this is the only season we have held opponents at 17 points or below for a 4-game stretch since the 2006 season, and that 2006 stretch was at the start of the season.

In 2017, Anthony Lynn's first season as head coach with the Chargers, their D averaged just over 17 points per game. 17.3 PPG, I think it was, which was 3rd in the league that year. Vikings and Jags were 1 and 2.

[Xenos]

I don’t understand why Rountree is active and not Spiller. Spiller needs reps way more than Rountree. I really hope Spiller is active next week and gets at least 10 carries. Ek should not suite up next week.

Roundtree is a better ST player and he’s who Ficken wants.

[Xenos]

Love Everett’s response at the end.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Heading into Week 17, the Chargers had one glaring item on their playoff-preparation to-do list.

They had to play better on offense.

The Chargers carried a three-game winning streak into Sunday. The defense during that stretch was playing as well as any unit in the league. The special teams were consistent as they have been all season. The offense, though, was disjointed at best and anemic at worst.

As offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi put it last week: “We are trying to find our rhythm.”

In a breezy 31-10 win over the Rams on Sunday at SoFi Stadium, the Chargers found that offensive rhythm. It was only one game, yes. They crossed off the to-do list item in pencil, and it will take one more complete performance next week against the Broncos to draw that line in sharpie.

But all season, through injuries and attrition, the Chargers have been trying to reclaim their offensive magic from 2021. On Sunday, they succeeded. They looked like the offense everyone — including themselves — expected coming out of training camp.

“That performance is more indicative of the group that we have on offense,” coach Brandon Staley said.

It all started with the running game. The Chargers finished with 192 rushing yards on 31 carries. Austin Ekeler led the way with 122 rushing yards and two touchdowns — his league-leading 17th and 18th scrimmage touchdowns of the season.

Ekeler scored both his touchdowns in the second quarter. His first came from 10 yards out to give the Chargers a 7-3 lead. His second went for 72 yards, the longest run of his career, to extend the lead to two scores. Both runs were blocked up and executed perfectly, from the offensive line to the tight ends to the receivers. Right tackle Trey Pipkins III pulled from right to left on the first touchdown. Left guard Matt Feiler pulled from left to right on the second. Receiver Keenan Allen also had a key seal block to spring Ekeler on the 72-yarder.

The Chargers’ offensive line took over in that second quarter and dominated. It was that group’s best performance in the run game since Week 5 when the Chargers rushed for 238 yards on the Browns.

“I feel like we can run the ball,” Linsley said. “Our running game identity is coming to life, and I felt like we ran it a bunch of different ways today.”

“That’s what we’re much more used to seeing from those guys,” quarterback Justin Herbert said of his offensive line.

The Chargers were efficient in all phases offensively. They converted more than 60 percent of their third downs. They converted all three of their red zone trips into touchdowns — including two touchdown passes from Herbert, his first since Week 14. Herbert was not sacked and only took two hits in the game. Mike Williams was a focal point of the passing offense, leading the Chargers with 10 targets and seven catches, including a mind-blowing one-handed catch down the left sideline late in the first half.

Said Staley of the Williams catch: “As a pro coach, you get to witness a lot, you get to see a lot of special. But then there are some that are just more special than the rest, and that was certainly one of them.”

Nine different players caught passes. The Chargers generated explosive plays in the passing and running games. Three of Williams’ seven receptions went for 18 or more yards. Allen had the longest reception of the day, a 28-yarder, on a beautiful seam ball from Herbert late in the third quarter, which set up the Chargers’ final score. Herbert finished 21-of-28 passing for 212 yards before being pulled in the fourth quarter. It was his fewest passing attempts of the season, and it came in the Chargers’ most efficient offensive showing so far.

They scored 30 points for the first time since Week 5.

They scored on their opening drive of the second half, their first third-quarter touchdown since Week 5, ending the longest such drought in the NFL. Tight end Gerald Everett caught a third-down pass from 6 yards out.

“Our guys came out on a mission in that third quarter,” Staley said. “You just really felt like that group, it was a big lift for them, like, ‘We scored this thing, and that’s kind of off our back now.’”

Staley called Sunday’s offensive performance “almost like a reset for us.” The Chargers have not been at full strength offensively at any point this season. Finally, over these three games, they have gotten closer to that point. Allen returned from his hamstring injury. Williams returned from his high ankle sprain. Tight end Donald Parham Jr., who caught a red zone touchdown in the fourth quarter on a deceptive in-breaking route, returned from his hamstring injury. The Chargers have now started the same offensive line in four straight games.

That continuity means something. And a performance like this was percolating under the surface.

The Chargers just had to sift through the topsoil and find it. Reconnect all these pieces now that they are back on the field together.

This was a confident group last season. Now, that feeling is returning — at just the right time.

“December football is when you got to peak,” Linsley said. “It’s just building that confidence, over and over. … The playoffs are a different animal. But if you’re not confident going into the playoffs, it can wreck you. You start overthinking things. For us to be able to find our identity, moving towards it, in December is huge.”

The Chargers clinched a playoff berth with a Week 16 win over the Colts.

To be truly dangerous in the postseason, though, the offense had to rediscover its explosive, efficient form.

That happened Sunday.

“The difference was us really believing in our new identity,” Everett said.

And what is that identity?

“Dominators,” Everett said. “Instead of being a team that may or may not make the playoffs, we’re starting to establish ourselves as contenders. Super Bowl contenders.”

Defense. Check.

Special teams. Check.

Offense. Check.

The Chargers are ready to make some noise.

[La Costa Boy]

Ekeler is Sproles-like, in general. The whole leg strength combined with a low center of gravity dynamic. Superb balance and shiftiness.

That juke he threw at Ramsey was a thing of beauty, he just left him behind with nothing but 2 yards of air.

[Ghost of Quacksaw]

That juke he threw at Ramsey was a thing of beauty, he just left him behind with nothing but 2 yards of air.

I laughed when that happened. Ramsey got separated from his jock strap!

[La Costa Boy]

I laughed when that happened. Ramsey got separated from his jock strap!

Yeah, there is nothing tougher on a defensive player than to be one on one in the flat against a top offensive player. Ekeler left a pro-bowler and possible HOFer in the dust.

[Topcat]

At the tail end of the 2000 season, that historic Ravens defense went on a 4-game stretch keeping opponents at 7 points or below. At the tail end of the 2002 season, the historic Buccaneers defense went on a 4-game stretch keeping opponents at 20 points or below. Hmm....

And that Ravens team had journeyman Trent Dilfer at QB...we have Herbie...big difference...

[Topcat]

We don't talk about Spiller much. He's an elephant in the room, to a degree. Virtually zero production from a 4th round draft pick that bigger things were expected from.

Hope he doesn't turn into Gartrell 2.0...ugh...