The Sports Report: Chargers lose to Jared Goff and Lions on last play
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From Jeff Miller: The Chargers had a prove-it opportunity Sunday at SoFi Stadium and proved their offense can impressively produce but their defense still is not good enough.
Detroit converted a fourth-and-two in the final two minutes, setting up Riley Patterson’s game-winning 41-yard field goal on the final play as the Lions won 41-38 at SoFi Stadium.
The Chargers lost despite their offense scoring touchdowns on five consecutive possessions to close out the game.
Justin Herbert finished 27 of 40 for 323 yards and four touchdowns. Keenan Allen 11 receptions for 175 and two scores.
But the defense yielded 533 total yards in a game the Chargers never led but was tied four times.
Playing for Jacksonville last season, Patterson kicked a 36-yarder on the final play to beat the Chargers in a wild-card playoff game.
The defeat dropped the Chargers to 4-5 in a tight AFC race, while the Lions improved to 7-2.
Chargers’ 41-38 home loss to the Detroit Lions by the numbers
Note: Rams did not have a game this week
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LAKERS
From Dan Woike: Of all the things Lakers coach Darvin Ham could say pregame, “status quo” probably isn’t one Lakers fans would want to hear.
Their team has spent the first three weeks of the NBA season in a total grind, consistently playing uphill with expected contributors either injured or inconsistent. More of that is what no one wants.
Ham, though, used the phrase to describe his lineup — specifically, one piece of it — Cam Reddish starting for Austin Reaves for the second consecutive game.
For now, the Lakers seem committed to it, entrusting the second unit to Reaves while hoping to kick start their defensive intensity from the jump with Reddish.
The Lakers are trying to be different, trying to find some sustainable form of identity as they enter a stretch of winnable games.
And Sunday, when it mattered most, they seemed to rediscover one.
CLIPPERS
From Andrew Greif: It took 12 days for the Clippers to make their first course correction since acquiring James Harden.
It will take at least two more, however, to get their first win of the Harden era.
Since the Clippers acquired the 10-time All-Star from Philadelphia, the team had reiterated that success would hinge on the sacrifices made by its four future Hall of Fame stars, including Paul George, Russell Westbrook and Kawhi Leonard. But during a practice Saturday, coach Tyronn Lue told the assembled roster that Harden was trying too hard to fit in, and that fixing the Clippers’ struggles would start by ensuring the ball would be in his hands.
“We need James to be James,” Lue said, and by that he meant not an off-the-ball, spot-up shooter as he had attempted while getting comfortable in his first three games as a Clipper, but as a bearded vessel through whom the offense would flow, primarily as a pick-and-roll creator, the kind of role that once made him a most valuable player.
Elliott: Clippers want James Harden to lead, but progress has been slow
USC FOOTBALL
From Ryan Kartje: The door technically was still cracked open, his team’s Pac-12 Conference title hopes still intact. Lincoln Riley had spent the past month reminding of that, clinging tightly to the math for comfort, even as USC’s season continued to spiral.
However far-fetched those hopes might have seemed to those who bore witness to the Trojans’ recent tailspin, it was that logic that led Riley to make the move Nov. 5 he’d avoided making for the previous year, a choice the coach hoped could salvage USC’s season. He fired his defensive coordinator, Alex Grinch, with two games remaining.
Maybe, he hoped, letting Grinch go would unlock something in USC’s defense. Or maybe, as would prove the case Saturday, it wouldn’t mean much at all.
It took all of two plays for those last shreds of hope for USC’s season to dissolve into the chilly Oregon night, even if it took a while longer for that door to officially slam shut on the Trojans in a 36-27 loss, their third in four games. The 77-yard touchdown Bo Nix tossed on his first throw Saturday was demoralizing enough before he followed it up with an 84-yard score the next time he dropped back to pass.
“Those were the margins,” Riley said. “That’s the difference.”
Even as USC’s defense stabilized somewhat in the second half, the two deep touchdowns would underscore what has now become an unimpeachable truth about this USC season. The Trojans’ issues ran far deeper than just their defensive coordinator. And now, it’s too late to solve them.
Commentary: For USC and UCLA football fans, misery will find easy company at Coliseum
UCLA FOOTBALL
From Ben Bolch: A hush had fallen over the Rose Bowl in the final minute, the boos that serenaded UCLA players running into the locker room at halftime replaced by indifference among the few remaining fans.
Down to fourth-string quarterback Chase Griffin because of injuries, the Bruins were forced to run one last meaningless play against Arizona State. When Griffin’s pass fell incomplete, a teammate on the sideline threw up his hands in disgust and turned to leave the field.
As chants of “A-S-U!” filled one corner of the stadium near the end of the Bruins’ 17-7 loss, a UCLA fan behind the team’s bench rendered a different verdict.
“Figure it out, Chip!” he yelled.
The words raised two questions: How much longer will Chip Kelly be given? And is he the coach the Bruins really want to bring with them to the Big Ten?
Commentary: For USC and UCLA football fans, misery will find easy company at Coliseum
UCLA BASKETBALL
Gabriela Jaquez had career highs of 30 points and 12 rebounds for her first double-double, Lauren Betts and Charisma Osborne also had double-doubles and No. 4 UCLA rolled to a 113-64 win over Bellarmine on Sunday at Pauley Pavilion.
Betts, a 6-foot-7 sophomore transfer from Stanford, added 22 points, a career high, and 11 rebounds and Osborne had six three-pointers for 24 points plus 10 rebounds. The Bruins (3-0) had a dominating 56-24 rebounding advantage.
Londynn Jones had five threes and 21 points for UCLA. Kiki Rice, the fifth starter, had eight points and 11 assists.
SOCCER
From Kevin Baxter: Megan Rapinoe entered the postgame news conference in the bowels of Snapdragon Stadium on Saturday wearing a walking boot on her right leg and a pained smile on her face.
The boot was to protect the Achilles tendon she had torn three minutes into the NWSL championship game, the final match of an unparalleled career. The unconvincing smile was meant to protect a fragile spirit that shredded when her Achilles did, robbing her of the storybook ending her novel career deserved.
“I mean, I don’t deserve this, I’ll tell you that much,” she said, a chuckle masking the pain. “I’m not a religious person or anything but if there is a God, this is proof that there isn’t.”
Rapinoe has won just about everything there is to win in soccer. Two World Cups. An Olympic gold medal. The Golden Ball and Golden Boot in the World Cup in 2019, the year she won the Ballon d’Or and was chosen the FIFA women’s player of the year. Yet she had never won an NWSL title, something she had a chance to do with the OL Reign on Saturday against NJ/NY Gotham FC.
Instead, her night ended early. In the third minute, she made a feint toward Gotham defender Jenna Nighswonger, then spun quickly the turf. Rapinoe looked behind her to see who had kicked her but there was no one there. She had torn her Achilles, she appeared to say to a teammate.
As several players surrounded her, Rapinoe pulled the top of her jersey over her face in an effort to hide the pain and emotion. A stretcher was brought onto the field, but she waved it off, struggling to her feet and hobbling off the field as the crowd of 25,011, which had fallen silent, rose in applause.
“I really didn’t want to be carried off,” she said.
DUCKS
Frank Vatrano scored twice in the first period and the Ducks beat the San Jose Sharks 4-1 on Sunday.
Mason McTavish and Radko Gudas also scored, John Gibson made 25 saves and the Ducks ended a two-game losing streak and won for the seventh time in nine games.
Vatrano’s goals increased his team lead to 11 and gave him three multigoal games to go along with hat tricks Oct. 15 at home against Carolina and Oct. 28 at Pittsburgh.
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1934 — Ralph Bowman of the St. Louis Eagles scores the first penalty-shot goal in NHL history.
1949 — Chicago’s Bob Nussbaumer intercepts four passes, and the Cardinals set an NFL record for points in a regular-season game with a 65-20 victory over the New York Bulldogs.
1964 — St. Louis Hawks forward Bob Pettit becomes the first NBA player to score 20,000 points, with 29 in a 123-106 loss to the Cincinnati Royals.
1982 — Southern Miss beats Alabama 38-29 for the Tide’s first loss in Tuscaloosa since 1963, breaking a 57-game winning streak in Bryant-Denny Stadium.
1982 — Chicago’s Tony Esposito becomes the fourth NHL goaltender with 400 victories. Esposito makes 34 saves to help the Black Hawks beat the Detroit Red Wings 3-2 at Joe Louis Arena.
1984 — Bernie Nicholls of the Kings becomes the first NHL player to get a goal in all four periods of a game. Nicholls scores once in each period and again at 2:57 of overtime to give the Kings a 5-4 victory over the Quebec Nordiques.
1992 — Riddick Bowe wins the world heavyweight championship with a unanimous decision over Evander Holyfield.
1999 — Lennox Lewis becomes the undisputed heavyweight champion with a unanimous decision over Evander Holyfield in Las Vegas.
2005 — In the longest play in NFL history, Chicago defensive back Nathan Vasher returns a missed field goal 108 yards for a touchdown on the final play of the first half in a 17-9 win against the 49ers.
2009 — McKendree basketball coach Harry Statham wins his 1,000th game with a 79-49 victory over East-West University. The 72-year-old Statham is 1,000-381 at the NAIA school.
2018 — Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer becomes the fifth Division I women’s basketball coach to win 1,000 games when the Scarlet Knights beat Central Connecticut State 73-44. Stringer joins Pat Summitt, Geno Auriemma, Tara VanDerveer and Sylvia Hatchell.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time...
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