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- The undefeated Chargers suffered a 21-18 upset loss to the previously winless Giants at MetLife Stadium on Sunday.
- Rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart made his NFL debut, leading New York to victory while Justin Herbert threw two costly interceptions.
- Joe Alt becomes the latest Chargers offensive lineman to sustain injury.
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Before they boarded their airport-bound buses for their 3,000-mile trip across the country Sunday, the physically spent Chargers were a collection of thousand-mile stares.
Not that they were anticipating an undefeated season — they were bound to lose sometime — but did anyone think they would fall to a winless team starting a rookie quarterback who had never thrown an NFL pass?
“It stings,” said coach Jim Harbaugh, trying to wrap his head around a 21-18 defeat to the New York Giants and savvy-beyond-his-years quarterback Jaxson Dart, making his rookie debut in place of the benched Russell Wilson.
Dart, who began his college career at USC before moving on to Mississippi, was both deft and durable, running for a touchdown, scoring a second with a shovel pass, and repeatedly climbing back to his feet after absorbing five sacks, four by linebacker Tuli Tuipulotu.
Keenan Allen’s return to the Chargers has helped rejuvenate the offense and has shown the rest of the NFL he’s still a game-changer at age 33.
Now it’s on the Chargers to climb back onto their own feet after starting the day as one of the NFL’s six undefeated teams, emboldened by three consecutive AFC West victories.
They might have to do so without left tackle Joe Alt, who left Sunday’s game in the first quarter with an ankle injury. He was carted off after Kayvon Thibodeaux collided with him, caving in the tackle’s leg from the side, and wound up watching the second half in street clothes and a protective boot.
It was Alt, remember, who replaced the injured Rashawn Slater as blind-side protector to Justin Herbert. So now the Chargers are on their third left tackle (Austin Deculus), second right tackle and second right guard.
Reshuffling the offensive line is like folding and refolding an old paper map. At some point, it all falls apart in your hands.
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Sam Farmer breaks down what went wrong for the Chargers in their 21-18 loss to the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium on Sunday.
Is it any wonder Herbert is taking such a beating? He was hit a combined 23 times in the past two games, and tough and stoic as he is, that has to give his coaches pause.
“Very concerned,” Harbaugh conceded. “We’ve got to go back and look at it. We’ve got to get better. We’ve got to put him in a better position. Don’t think he’s been in a good position.”
That nearly resulted in a pair of pick-sixes Sunday, with the Giants stopped just short of the goal line on two interception returns. The first came on a batted pass in which 340-pound nose tackle Dexter Lawrence caught his own deflection — the first interception of his seven-year career — and rumbled 37 yards on the runback.
On the second interception, Chargers receiver Ladd McConkey and tight end Tyler Conklin collided and the ball sailed over them. Cornerback Dru Phillips made a sliding pick, popped back to his feet and returned it 56 yards before receiver Keenan Allen made a shoelace tackle.
“You just can’t put the ball in harm’s way like that,” said Herbert, speaking quickly and robotically and looking as if he’d rather be anywhere but at the podium. He had come into the game having thrown 396 consecutive passes in regular-season road games without an interception. Despite his slow starts, he was tremendous in his first three games.
A quarterback can’t expect every game to be a gem, and those interceptions weren’t entirely his fault. But the troubling truth for the Chargers is they’re going to have to get creative to dial back the pressure on Herbert, especially if Alt is going to miss any significant time.
One way to do that is by leaning into the running game, which the Chargers didn’t really do against the Giants — even though the Giants were lousy at stopping the run to this point. The Chargers only ran 13 times, one of which was a 54-yard touchdown by Omarion Hampton.
By comparison, Herbert dropped back 43 times.
Could the Chargers have run more?
“Yeah, in hindsight, you always look at some things you could have done different,” Harbaugh said.
Deep introspection is an unavailable luxury for teams in a fast-moving season, and the Chargers, who play host to the 2-2 Washington Commanders on Sunday, have to fix their leaks quickly. The banged-up offensive line makes that especially difficult.
They weren’t the only ones to lose a key player in the game. The injury cart didn’t stay parked long. Shortly after trainers rolled it out to pick up Alt, they were doing so again for star Giants receiver Malik Nabers, who appeared to suffer a significant knee injury trying to make a catch along the sideline.
“Malik’s one of one,” Dart said. “When you have a guy like that on the field, you have all the confidence in the world that he can be a dominant game changer. It’s really hard seeing one of your best friends go down. But we rallied, and the guys made some good plays. Still, it hurts.”
There’s some weird synchronicity to Dart winning Sunday. According to ESPN, the last time a rookie quarterback started for a winless Giants team against an undefeated opponent was when Phil Simms guided the 0-5 Giants to victory over the 5-0 Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1979.
Justin Herbert worked well with Quentin Johnston, Ladd McConkey and Keenan Allen in the Chargers’ season-opening win. What’s the secret behind the success?
Then came the best Dart game since Ted Lasso.
The rookie called Wilson one of the players “you look up to, emulate them in the backyard playing with your friends.”
In fact, the first pair of cleats Dart had were Russell Wilson cleats.
No problem Sunday filling those shoes.
