In what was considered the most exciting yet boring game of the week, the Chargers didn’t beat the Broncos with their offense. Their defense? Yes, in the second half. However, their special teams play through all four quarters ultimately pushed them to victory.
Dustin Hopkins battled a hamstring injury to make four field goals, including the tying one in the fourth quarter and the winner in overtime. Hopkins, who missed last week’s win over the Browns with a quad injury, tweaked his hamstring on a PAT attempt in the second quarter.
Instead of being sidelined, Hopkins knew the game’s trajectory, and how Denver was stifling Los Angeles from finding the end zone, so he pushed through the pain to connect his field goals from 37, 31, 35, and 39 yards outs.
To take some of the pressure off of Hopkins’ leg, punter JK Scott handled the kickoff duties. His five kickoffs all went for touchbacks.
But arguably, the play of the game was made by two rookies, sixth-rounders Ja’Sir Taylor and Deane Leonard. Taylor lined up as a gunner on the outside as the Chargers punted the ball with the score tied at 16 apiece with under five minutes left in overtime.
Taylor beat his man on the outside, sprinting toward punt returner Montrell Washington, who was calling for a fair catch. As he got to Washington, safety P.J. Locke stood between himself and Taylor. Taylor pushed Locke into Washington right before he could make the fair catch.
The block knocked Locke into Washington, and he fell to the ground, unable to haul in the hanging punt from Scott. The football deflected off of Washington, and Leonard was there to recover the ball at Denver’s 29. That led to Hopkins, the hurt hero, making the game-winner.
After years of having special teams be the reason for some of their losses, the Bolts finally found a way to flip the script.
This speaks to Brandon Staley’s moves in this department by signing Hopkins halfway through last season, hiring special teams coordinator Ryan Ficken, adding All-Pro long snapper Josh Harris and Scott via free agency, and drafting and developing contributors on coverage units.
As the saying goes, defense wins championships.
However, if the offense stalls, like it did yesterday, special teams play can and will impact the final score of the game.