Chargers Wire’s Gavino Borquez delivers the good, the bad and the ugly from the Chargers’ 23-20 loss to the Broncos.
The Los Angeles Chargers suffered a heartbreaking loss to the Denver Broncos in Week 13.
Here is the good, the bad and the ugly from the game:
The Good
WR Keenan Allen and Mike Williams
Quarterback Philip Rivers wasn’t great, but he wasn’t bad. But one of the biggest reasons why he was able to bounce back after an underwhelming start was because he benefited from Allen and Williams.
Allen got the best of cornerback Chris Harris Jr. and the rest of the secondary, winning with his savvy route running, including a beautiful corner route to get behind the coverage for a touchdown. Allen finished with six catches for 68 yards and a score.
Meanwhile, Williams continued to serve as the big playmaker for the offense, reeling in a couple deep passes, including one on a critical 4th-and-11 when he made an adjustment to come down with a one-handed grab to keep to drive going late in the game. He finished with five catches for 117 yards.
Linebackers
The group came together as one on Sunday, with all members making key plays. Rookie Drue Tranquill was all over the field, finishing with three tackles for loss. Second-year Kyzir White, who finally saw the field for an extended period, was a threat in pass coverage, finishing with a pass defended and was close to an interception. Denzel Perryman made the defensive play of the game when he intercepted a pass late in the game to set his team up for a field goal. Thomas Davis finished with six tackles.
Derwin James and Adrian Phillips
The return of James and Phillips was felt right away. James was utilized all over the field, but he was at his best filling in the alley to stop running back Phillip Lindsay, limiting him to 58 yards rushing. Phillips, on the other hand, was delivering hard hits all evening long and was a key contributor on third-down situations.
The Bad
Special teams
The Chargers let running back Troymaine Pope take over as the team’s punt returner after cornerback Desmond King struggled with fumbling the football. But Pope replicated King’s woes by muffing a punt in the second quarter, which ultimately led to a field goal.
Penalties
Linebacker Drue Tranquill’s roughing the kicker call could fall under the special teams category, but it was just one of many costly penalties committed by Los Angeles. In total, they were hit with seven for 82 yards, including a few false starts by offensive tackle Russell Okung
The Ugly
Defensive pass interference penalty
You never want to blame the officiating, but this is what it came down to. Cornerback Casey Hayward was hit a questionable penalty with seconds remaining in the game to set the Broncos up for the game-winning field goal. In reality, Hayward stayed in his tracks to make a play on the uncatchable ball, while wide receiver Courtland Sutton was the one who initiated the contact. They never reviewed the penalty, thus ending the game in what would’ve likely been an overturned call.
Game planning/Play-calling
You can blame one player, area or the penalty for the Chargers’ loss on Sunday but ultimately, it fell on the lack of execution with the planning, especially coming of a bye week and the play-calling as a whole. On the offensive side of ball, it was all vanilla and the red zone efficiency continues to be a problem, as they were 0-1 in a critical situation. The lone turnover by Rivers killed them, as it resulted in a touchdown. The defense played a great game as a whole, allowing only 219 yards. But the lack of pass rush and a few broken coverages bit them hard for two passing touchdowns.
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