It was a wild afternoon for the Chargers when they faced the Browns on Sunday afternoon.
Their 30-28 victory almost slipped away after Brandon Staley decided not to punt on fourth down with 1:14 remaining.
Instead, Staley called a timeout, and Justin Herbert threw a slant to Mike Williams on fourth-and-1, which was broken up by rookie cornerback Martin Emerson Jr.
“It just really felt like the slant to (WR) Mike (Williams) was going to be the play call there,” Staley said.” It just didn’t go down for us, but I had a lot of confidence in our defense to go out there and get them stopped.”
Cleveland got the ball back with L.A. hanging on to its two-point lead. The Browns had zero timeouts left and made it to the Bolts’ 35 to set up for a winning field goal.
Chargers fans everywhere held their breaths as Cleveland’s rookie kicker Cade York took the field. The former LSU product missed the 54-yard field goal attempt and Los Angeles escaped with a win.
Despite the win, many questioned Staley’s decision on fourth down. Nevertheless, he explained his aggressive call postgame.
“I just wanted to finish the game with the ball,” Staley said. “I felt like we liked the play and we liked the matchup. We knew what coverage they were going to be in. We wanted to finish the game on our terms on third down. We felt like we had a good run-up against that defense. We had a pass solution. They defended it well.”
Afterward, players of the team defended Staley’s risky call, including Herbert, who admired his coach’s belief in the team’s ability to be successful on a nail-biting play.
“I think it says a lot that he believes in us,” Herbert said. “ Just like I believe in our offensive line, our receivers, and our running backs. I knew that we would go out there and convert. It did not go our way, unfortunately, but we were riding with that play. The defense came with that big stop when we were down.”
Even safety Derwin James supported his coach, which should be a testament to this team’s camaraderie.
“We are with them. We are going for it even though they didn’t get it, so what we have to go out there and get a stop. It’s on us to get the stop, we believe in our offense, we are going to go for it again. We don’t care.”
Although Staley’s call didn’t go as planned, it should be a comforting sight to see that his players stood behind his decision. The Chargers have some polishing up to do; however, the solidarity within a team is a factor that is paramount to a winning franchise.