Charger Report

Justin Herbert, Chargers urged to step up for playoffs in critical power rankings

The Chargers defense has been phenomenal as of late. The offense needs to step up if the Chargers want to be contenders.
Thomas Martinez|
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Los Angeles Chargers

The Los Angeles Chargers are taking a three-game winning streak to Dallas this week as they prepare to face off against the Cowboys. The Chargers have won six of their last seven games but power rankings around the NFL still have several questions about Los Angeles.

Chargers defense

The Chargers' defense is receiving near-universal praise during their current win streak. They have held opposing teams to 15.3 points per game since returning from their Week 12 bye during the current winning streak. The Chargers have faced and defeated both of last year's Super Bowl teams in the past two weeks while giving up 19 points to the Philadelphia Eagles and 13 to the Kansas City Chiefs

The defense is pulling its weight and keeping the Chargers in games and giving the offense a chance to win and close out games. The offense is another story.

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Chargers offense

The Chargers have a season average of 15 yards per point, in the past 3 games, their yards per point have dropped to 13.6. On the surface, the dip in yards per point is positive movement in the metric; they are taking fewer yards to score points. The problem is, they are scoring fewer points and gaining fewer yards.

The Chargers' offensive output has dropped over the past 3 weeks. Los Angeles' season average of yards per game sits at 337.9. Their yards per game has dropped to 303.7 in the past 3 weeks, including a blowout of the Las Vegas Raiders.

Quarterback Justin Herbert is likely the driving force behind this decline in offensive production. Herbert suffered a broken left hand on the opening drive of the game against the Raiders. He returned to game after only missing 8 snaps and the Chargers cruised to victory. Herbert had the broken bone surgically stabilized the following day and played every snap against the Eagles on Monday night football as well as the following week against the Kansas City Chiefs.

The Chargers are doing what they need to win games with Herbert limited by his still-healing broken hand. As the playoffs approach and games get tighter and tougher, the offense needs to find it's rhythm.

The lack of offensive production hardly falls on any one player, instead the unit as a whole needs to step forward. Justin Herbert faced comical levels of pressure against the Eagles due to lapses in communication and protection failures. The operation needs to sharpen up and help Herbert manage his limitations until he is fully healthy.

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Power Rankings

Most NFL power rankings have the Chargers with minimal to no movement in the rankings despite taking the down the Kansas City Chiefs in Arrowhead on a short week.

The Athletic

The writers at the Athletic have the Chargers holding their 11th spot in the rankings. The biggest praise for the Chargers came for third-year edge rusher Tuli Tuipulotu, who is now 5th in the NFL in sacks after dropping Patrick Mahomes twice.

NFL.com

Eric Edholm at NFL.com has the Chargers moving up one spot in the power rankings from 12th to 11th. Edholm notes that the Chargers offense has not been holding up their end and Justin Herbert's 4 game streak of interceptions needs to be cleaned up.

Fox Sports

Ralph Vacchiano at Fox Sports has the Chargers moving up from 11th to 10th on the power rankings and gives credit to Los Angeles for taking down both 2024 Super Bowl teams in back-to-back weeks.

Overall, the Chargers offense needs to find its groove, and offensive coordinator Greg Roman needs to help design ways to mitigate Herbert's broken hand limitations. The offense has been surviving, but surviving alone will not be enough to push into the playoffs.

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Thomas Martinez
THOMAS MARTINEZ

Thomas Martinez has covered the Chargers and the NFL draft since 2022. Born and raised as a Chargers fan, experienced the improbable Super Bowl run in the 94’ season as a child, survived Ryan Leaf, the Marlon McCree fumble and Nate Kaeding in the playoffs. He graduated from UC Riverside with a degree in Political Science and The University of Redlands with an MBA.

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