This was a must-win type of game, which is a bad sign for this team being that we’re so early in the season. A worse sign was how they responded to the situation they were in — with their worst performance of the season by far.
They were held scoreless in the first quarter, adding a field goal early in the second quarter. That score was the only one they would have that mattered. By the half they were down 17-3 and by the end of the third quarter, the game was essentially in the bag for the Chargers.
Ballers
Daryl Worley, Erik Harris
Even Worley had a couple miscues, but overall he had more positive plays. He didn’t get the start, but when he entered the game in place of Gareon Conley for the second drive, he made an impact. Just after the Chargers crossed midfield, they were in third and ten and attempted a screen pass into the left flat. Worley dipped and drove through his blocker to make the tackle in the backfield for a loss to force a Chargers punt.
Early in the second quarter, after the Raiders tied it up at 3-3, he held the edge on a sweep to turn the runner back inside where he was stacked up for a loss of four. Two plays later, in third and 5, Harris made the tackle on Antonio Gates and Worley came up to help stop him short of the sticks for another punt.
The following drive Harris made a tackle for loss on a run out wide to set up a three-and-out. The drive after that began with Worley getting into the backfield to slow up the Melvin Gordon to allow for him to be tackled for no gain. A few plays later, the Chargers would score on a dump pass to Austin Ekeler he took for a 44-yard touchdown. Can’t win ‘em all.
Up 17-3 in the third, the Chargers got the ball at midfield and quickly drove down field. An offsides by PJ Hall took them from third and nine to third and four and Worley made the stop on the catch short of the sticks to force them to settle for a 30-yard field goal.
Worley only real mistake was giving up a 12-yard catch on third and 11 to allow the Chargers to drive for their final touchdown of the game. But by then they were already up 20-3 and would probably added at least a field goal anyway.
Honorable Mention
Gabe Jackson — There wasn’t much doing in the run game, but Jackson had a few gap opening blocking and kept his man out of the backfield.
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