{"id":387757,"date":"2025-09-22T10:38:12","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T10:38:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/387757\/"},"modified":"2025-09-22T10:38:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T10:38:12","slug":"an-impressive-performance-in-many-ways-puts-chargers-at-3-0-orange-county-register","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/387757\/","title":{"rendered":"An impressive performance in many ways puts Chargers at 3-0 \u2013 Orange County Register"},"content":{"rendered":"

INGLEWOOD \u2013 So, what was the most impressive aspect of the Chargers\u2019 23-20 victory<\/a> over Denver Sunday? There were plenty of candidates.<\/p>\n

\u2022 They saved their best for the end, rallying from deficits of 17-10 and 20-13 and winning on Cameron Dicker\u2019s 43-yard field goal as time expired.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Keenan Allen, back with the franchise<\/a> with which he made his NFL reputation, provided the tying score by outdueling Denver\u2019s Riley Moss in the end zone<\/a> on a second-and-6 play with 2:31 left, setting up that game-winning scenario.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Justin Herbert \u2013 who fired that touchdown pass and said he never saw the outcome because he was on the ground \u2013 spent his afternoon either getting hit or throwing on the run and still threw for 300 yards despite being sacked five times.<\/p>\n

\u2022 The Chargers won despite sustaining more hits, with running back Najee Harris helped off the field late<\/a> in the first half with what was later described by coach Jim Harbaugh as an Achilles injury. Also, right guard Mekhi Becton Sr. went off with a concussion, further scrambling an offensive line that lost Pro Bowl left tackle Rashawn Slater to a season-ending patellar tendon injury<\/a> in training camp.<\/p>\n

Then again, there\u2019s the 3-0 start, their first since 2002 in San Diego. Is it that, or the way this particular 3-0 has been achieved?<\/p>\n

Those \u201902 Chargers, in Marty Schottenheimer\u2019s first season as coach, started 4-0 and were 6-1 but ended up 8-8 and out of the playoffs.\u00a0These Chargers have gone 3-0 against Kansas City, Las Vegas and Denver \u2013 which means, for the moment, they\u2019re kings of the AFC West. That doesn\u2019t mean a division championship or even a postseason berth is a lock, not with just three weeks gone in an 18-week grind.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t go 4-0 unless you go 3-0,\u201d Harbaugh said.<\/p>\n

But they have a leg up in the division, and that could be meaningful by season\u2019s end. And the reverberations might be felt most in their own locker room, as a still-developing team processes the lessons it\u2019s learning along the way.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, not all games are going to be easy,\u201d Herbert said. \u201cI think we stuck through it and understood the situation: \u2018You know, we\u2019re losing at the current moment. But this time down is an opportunity for us to get back out there.\u2019 And the offense took the field, and we knew that we have one job \u2013 to go move the ball and go score. And that\u2019s exactly what we did. Defense got the ball back, and they came up with some huge stops all day. And then special teams closed it out.\u201d<\/p>\n

All three phases, right?<\/p>\n

Bottom line: As long as there are ticks left on the clock and a manageable deficit, it\u2019s never too late. Consider: After Denver went ahead 20-13 with 12:21 left in the game on Wil Lutz\u2019s chip-shot field goal, the Chargers\u2019 defense held the Broncos to 19 yards on their last two possessions. Their offense punted on its first possession after the field goal, but drove 76 yards in seven plays to Allen\u2019s touchdown and 43 yards in eight plays and 1:43 to Dicker\u2019s final field goal.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust kept running,\u201d Allen said. \u201cO-line stepped up big time. The young guys, OG (Oronde Gadsden, a tight end who had two of his five catches to start the last drive), Omarion (Hampton,\u00a0 a rookie running back who had 70 rushing yards on the day and two key carries in that drive<\/a>) coming through, Ladd (McConkey) coming through with the catch (a 12-yard gain on second-and-13) at the end.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust keep playing. I think that\u2019s what it came down to. Keep on fighting. Didn\u2019t flinch, didn\u2019t lay down. And, you know, we feel like we still had a chance to win.\u201d<\/p>\n

That was Allen\u2019s personal thought process, as well. Early on Sunday, he said, \u201cI just felt like it just wasn\u2019t happening. He was throwing it to me, (but) for whatever reason, we just wasn\u2019t completing the pass. But I just kept telling myself to stay in the game. You know, don\u2019t get frustrated. Just keep fighting. Keep going. And when it\u2019s time, show up.\u201d<\/p>\n

He did. Six of his seven receptions on the day came in the fourth quarter, three on the touchdown drive and another where he gained nine yards and got out of bounds to stop the clock with 53 seconds left en route to the winning field goal.<\/p>\n

The touchdown play was an indisputable highlight. Herbert was scrambling again, evading defensive end Zach Allen and slinging it right-handed from the 25-yard line while running to his left, just before linebacker Nik Bonitto drove him to the ground. Allen caught it while diving to his right, away from Moss.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d love to go see it on film,\u201d McConkey said. \u201cBut from my angle, I mean, not many people can do that. Great catch, great throw, scrambling. It was an all-around great play.\u201d<\/p>\n

And maybe it\u2019s poetic justice for Allen to again be a hero in Charger blue. He broke in with San Diego in 2013, was one of Philip Rivers\u2019 favorite targets for a long time and then Herbert\u2019s, and after Sunday\u2019s performance, his numbers as a Charger read 923 catches, 10,724 yards and 62 touchdowns in 11 full seasons plus the first three games of this one.<\/p>\n

Allen was traded to Chicago last season in a salary cap-related move. Bringing him back this year on a one-year contract could turn out to be an inspired decision.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s one of the best ever to do it,\u201d Herbert said. \u201cAnd we\u2019re so lucky to have him on our team, as a leader, as a teammate and as a receiver. He finds a way to get open, and you know that\u2019s what he\u2019s done over his career. You know especially (Sunday), it\u2019s tough coverage. They played really well. They have a really good defense. We had to pick our battles, and Keenan just kept making plays when we needed them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Their hope? There\u2019s more where that came from.<\/p>\n

jalexander@scng.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"INGLEWOOD \u2013 So, what was the most impressive aspect of the Chargers\u2019 23-20 victory over Denver Sunday? There…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":387758,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2064],"tags":[241,7,24414,1014,262,2444,2443,6,9],"class_list":{"0":"post-387757","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-chargers","8":"tag-chargers","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-jim-alexander","11":"tag-los-angeles","12":"tag-los-angeles-chargers","13":"tag-losangeles","14":"tag-losangeleschargers","15":"tag-nfl","16":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115247520521969191","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=387757"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387757\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/387758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=387757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=387757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=387757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}