This week in my blog I’m going to talk about the Los Angeles Chargers week 2 win against the Buffalo Bills and who shined throughout the game. Heading into the game the Chargers were favored to win the game by 7.5 points, so it came as no surprise to me when they won the game easily1. The final score was 31-20, but the game wasn’t as close as the score presents. At halftime the Chargers led 28-6, giving the Bills little hope they could comeback. After the half the bolts seemed to slow down, which is not something anyone likes to see. They couldn’t get their offense going again and were only able to score on a field goal in the second half. Luckily their defense stopped a comeback from happening. Aside from the slow second half, nothing looked bad about the team. Defensive rookies shined, Rivers isn’t showing signs of decline, and the Chargers have plenty of weapons on Offense.
DEFENSIVE ROOKIES SHINE
Chargers rookies Derwin James, Uchenna Nwosu and Kyzir White had a huge impact in their win over the Bills. It was their second game, but I think all three have the potential to be stars in the league. Head Coach Anthony Lynn saw all three players growth in the practices leading up to the game; “I thought this week in practice, all three of those guys looked better. They looked faster, and just learning our system is what they’re doing. This is about the time you see those rookies come on. They understand the speed of the NFL game right about now. You saw it in practice and it showed up in the game2.” Nwosu was the first of the three to shine when he had his first career sack on Josh Allen. White’s impact play came in the fourth quarter when he made a diving interception against fellow rookie Josh Allen. Along with the pick, he had three passes defended and four tackles. However, the rookie that gets me fired up the most is safety Derwin James. He has been electric and has already notched a single sack in his first two games. As a safety! Against the bills he recorded a game high 8 tackles (two for a loss and one sack), one pass defended and a hit on Josh Allen2. I can’t wait to see wait to see them play together for the rest of the season!
RIVERS AND HIS MANY WEAPONS
Philip Rivers didn’t put up the biggest numbers this week because he didn’t have too. The talent surrounding him is starting to make teams worry. Rivers threw 27 times for only 256 yards and 3 touchdowns, but he completed 23 of those passes. “Only four times in the history of the NFL has a team lost a game when throwing for more than 250 yards with fewer than five incompletions3.” Even though Rivers didn’t put up any gaudy numbers, he was still brilliant on the field. As for his weapons, Austin Ekeler rushed for 77 yards on 11 carries while being the second-string back, Melvin Gordon had 3 TD’s and six players caught at least 2 passes. Keenan Allen and Gordon were expected to be studs this year, but not many people expected Ekeler to play this well or Mike Williams to be the same after his injury. With all of these threats, the Chargers are a team to be feared.
A BIG TEST AHEAD
Next week the Chargers play the Los Angeles Rams, one of the top teams in the league. This will be the first time the teams will face each other since they were relocated. The Chargers are a 7-point underdog, but I see an upset happening if the Chargers are able to stop Todd Gurley. Rivers isn’t afraid of a challenge and he knows the Rams have one of the best defenses in the League, that’s why he’ll be ready for them. Look out for my next post to keep up with the Chargers and everything they have going for them this season!
References
[1]Staff, A. N. (2018, September 14). Chargers-Bills Betting Preview: Should You Back Josh Allen In His First Start? | The Action Network. Retrieved from https://www.actionnetwork.com/nfl/los-angeles-chargers-buffalo-bills-picks-betting-odds-preview-week-2-2018
2Defensive Rookies Show Out in Win. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.chargers.com/news/defensive-rookies-show-out-in-win
3What we learned from the Chargers’ 31-20 road win over the Bills. (2018, September 17). Retrieved from http://www.latimes.com/sports/chargers/la-sp-chargers-what-we-learned-20180917-story.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed: BoosterShots (Booster Shots)#
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