Chargers Recap: Missing 10/22 Starters Is Actually Bad!

Jason Behnken. Shutterstock Images.

The Chargers came into this game with a fucking hospital squad. 10/22 starting players injured. TEN OF TWENTY TWO. They were going into Tampa to play a defense most people consider top-5 in the league on one end, and Tom Brady on the other. They have a Rookie QB coming off a pair of brutally close losses. And you know what?

It turned out to be a lot closer than I thought! 

Brady fucking dissected the defense for a TD on the opening drive, but they rebounded fairly quickly with a pick-6 and a few stunted drives. One of which included one of the most baffling calls I've ever seen gifted to Tom Brady. O.J. howard caught a ball in the air, fell to the ground untouched and dropped it while getting up to run. The chargers recovered the ball, but the refs inexplicably said the play was over, even after review. They admitted Howard wasn't touched, but insisted his intent was "to give himself up". 

What?

Howard sprung up to run and turned around to see he had dropped the ball. He literally sprung to grab it before realizing it was too late. How the fuck can the refs claim to read his intent anyway?

Whatever. In the words of Rasheed Wallace, ball don't lie. Their drive got stunted and they missed the XP. 

The third quarter was just a straight up death sentence. Counting the closing 40 seconds of the second quarter, they went from leading 24-7 and receiving the ball at the half to losing 28-24 in less than a quarter. Great job, Gus Bradley. 

They never got the momentum back, and lost after Herbert threw a bummer of an INT on the final drive trying to make something happen. 

Here is upside: Herbert is extremely good. The Bucs defense is undeniably very good. Using a squad of randos, he put up 290 yards and 3 touchdowns with an 80% completion percentage. His first two touchdowns were to undrafted free agents that were literally just promoted from the practice squad on what was both of their first career receptions. He is the future. There is absolutely no way they can go back to Tyrod at this point unless it is purely to protect him in what already looks like a dead season. 

Here is the downside: This defense is dead. The injures caught up to them bad, and they blatantly lost the game today. Also, we can now add Austin Ekeler to the ranks of the injured after he fucked up his hamstring early in the game. Fucking great! 

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In typical Chargers fashion, they couldn't let the game get to halftime without a devastating fuck up leading to a score for the opposing team.