What We Saw: Chargers at Jets

Two woeful offenses made this a terrible football game for prime time...again

Benjamin Haller
What We Saw A Year Ago

Chargers @ Jets

Final Score: Chargers 27, Jets 6

Senior Writer: Benjamin Haller (@benjaminhaller1 on Twitter)

 

A night of offensive struggles and defensive dominance for both teams but the Chargers forced three key turnovers and profited from them to seal an important win in a scrappy, frustrating game of football on Monday night. The Jets were equal with this Chargers on offensive yardage with four minutes left in the game but turnovers killed their night alongside terrible play from their quarterback and ineffective play calling from offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett. The game had 14 punts…fourteen!

Justin Herbert couldn’t gel with his receivers and came under a mountain of pressure which he failed to find a way out off through the air but two Austin Ekeler touchdowns proved to be enough to nudge the offense past a stubborn, impressive Jets defense. Zach Wilson, on the other hand, was way short of NFL quality on many of his throws and succumbed to outstanding pressure from the Chargers defense to cough up the ball twice and take a number of big sacks as the Jets season steered towards a dark misery once again.

Big shout out to both defenses and special teams rookie stand out Derius Davis, who provided the only fireworks on the night.

 

Three Up

  • Austin Ekeler – even in the worst of games the Chargers running back can be relied on for fantasy output
  • Keenan Allen – efficient, effective and always productive the veteran was reliable when called upon to kickstart a stuttering passing game for the Chargers in the second half
  • Breece Hall – the only bright spot in the Jets offense, Hall was terrific on the ground and was unlucky to have a couple of nice runs on the outside of the zone pulled back for penalties

Three Down

  • Zach Wilson – this performance is likely the beginning of the end for Wilson in the NFL
  • Garrett Wilson – was outmatched in contested situations and struggled to keep his emotions in check throughout the contest with only volume saving his fantasy day
  • Justin Herbert – an alarmingly ineffective display from the Chargers quarterback, who struggled to connect with his receivers and showed inaccuracy under pressure

 

Los Angeles Chargers

 

Quarterback

 

Justin Herbert: 16/30, 136 Yards, 5 Sacks | 3 Carries, 17 Yards

 

This was a worryingly poor night for Herbert, who really struggled to make anything happen through the air for his team. The offense punted on six of eight drives in the first half and Herbert looked rushed resulting inaccuracy under pressure. Missing Mike Williams and Josh Palmer really showed in this game as the Chargers quarterback failed to gel with his targets on intermediate and deep routes – rookie Quinton Johnson really struggled in contested situations and the returning Jalen Guyton failed to bring in a couple of key third down targets to the sideline.

The second half wasn’t much better and eventually the Chargers played conservatively to protect their lead restricting Herbert to a safe game script and leaning on Ekeler. This was Herbert’s first single-digit fantasy score of the year and it could be a difficult few weeks if Palmer misses more time and the chemistry with the other receivers continues to be middling.

 

Running Back

 

Austin Ekeler: 14 Carries, 47 Yards, 2 TD | 7 Targets, 2 Receptions, 23 Yards

 

The fantasy superstar shrugged off being ruled short on a red zone run early in the game where he showed excellent strength and speed to breeze past the Jets defense to eventually punch the ball in after the initial touchdown was rightly called back.

 

Ekeler didn’t have much luck running on the inside against a brilliant Jets defensive line in first half and also dropped a couple of screen passes which explains his stat line. He actually only averaged 3.4 yards per carry in total and was very much dependant on his touchdowns for fantasy purposes. Late in the game he had a little more joy as the Jets defense was gassed but he really cashed in with a second score after a fumble recovery by the defense for a touchdown was called back after Alohi Gilman stepped out of bounds at the 2-yard line. Ekeler ran the ball in on the next play to ice the game with a few minutes remaining and earned a lot of smiles from his fantasy overlords.

 

Joshua Kelley: 3 Carries, 18 Yards | 1 Target, 1 Reception, 4 Yards

 

One of the better backup running backs in the NFL, Joshua Kelley showed his worth with a couple of big gains when spelling Ekeler on limited touches in this game. However, that is where his role ends right now.

 

Wide Receiver/Tight End

 

Keenan Allen: 9 Targets, 8 Receptions, 77 Yards

 

A nice night for Allen who wasn’t heavily targeted in the first half but caught a couple of deep balls on scoring drives including a 12-yard catch over the middle to setup a field goal attempted which gave the Chargers a 17-3 lead at the half. A forced throw over the middle to Allen was nearly intercepted just prior to half time too but Allen did enough to foil Jordan Whitehead. Allen was peppered on short yardage throws in the second half and this nudged Allen past 10,000 career receiving yards, his quality shown on a sensational grab from a slightly overthrown deep ball from Herbert at the start of the fourth quarter. He continues his streak of high volume fantasy output without being a touchdown-relevant receiver. We would like a few though especially when the options across the receiving corps are so thin.

 

Gerald Everett: 2 Targets, 2 Receptions, 18 Yards

 

Tight end Gerald Everett continues to not really be a thing for fantasy managers despite a positive situation. He fumbled on a catch and run early in game but rookie Davis recovered. Everett then made up for it with a nice catch and run for 17 yards on the following drive in which he made a couple of key Jets defenders miss tackles. He wasn’t targeted after that, however.

 

Quentin Johnston: 3 Targets, 2 Receptions, 14 Yards

 

A desperately disappointing game for rookie Quentin Johnston, who might be the first round bust of this draft if production and eye-test are key factors. Despite the Chargers missing key wideouts Mike Williams and Josh Palmer but he failed to step up at all and looked overmatched on a early deep ball up against Sauce Gardner.

 

Donald Parham Jr.: 2 Targets

 

Those fantasy managers hoping for yet another Donald Parham Jr. touchdown for their team saw their opportunity fall flat as Herbert overthrew him on a red zone target at end of first quarter. His only other target was a miscommunication on a short route to the sideline which he was not on the same page as his quarterback.

 

Jalen Guyton: 2 Targets

Stone Smartt: 1 Target

Derius Davis: 1 Target, 1 Reception, 0 Yards

 

New York Jets

 

Quarterback

 

Zach Wilson: 33/49, 263 Yards, 8 Sacks | 2 Carries, 7 Yards, 2 Fumble (Lost), Fumble (Recovered)

 

A dreadful night for the embattled quarterback, who turned the ball over twice from fumbles and was once again ineffective in the passing game. A first quarter strip sack from Joey Bosa highlighted Wilson’s tendency to hang onto the ball for too long in the pocket. Wilson was under pressure often and failed to read and work around the Chargers’ defense schemes.

 

Wilson’s second fumble came with just four minutes left in the game and it sealed his team’s fate. Technically, the Jets were still in the game but in truth this game was dead long before this fumble. Wilson is a dead fantasy asset also.

 

Notes

  • Looked lost with the playbook being called and even on the first drive of the game two of his throws were far off the mark
  • Hung onto the ball far too often despite constant pressure as his offensive line crumbled before him

 

Running Back

 

Breece Hall: 16 Carries, 50 Yards | 4 Targets, 4 Receptions, 10 Yards

 

The explosive running back is back to full speed and he looked every bit the play maker in this game against a blitzing Chargers defense who used a lot of secondary players to come in an stuff the run inside. He was sharp with his cuts, hit lanes well and showed a burst in space. Undoubtedly the best offensive player on the field for the Jets but the only problem is he was given the ball just 16 times on the ground while Hackett asked Wilson to throw it 49 times, with only four of those going Hall’s way. Just ridiculous. He had a couple of nice runs called back on early downs by penalties including a first half illegal shift and a hold by Allen Lazard in the third quarter. Hall looked disgusted late in the first half when Wilson threw the ball at his feet on first down giving up on the play – maybe it was the realisation that he cannot compete with Wilson as the signal caller.

 

Dalvin Cook: 2 Carries, 7 Yards | 2 Targets, 1 Receptions, 1 Yards

 

A total and utter waste of a talented running back. Hackett is not the answer for this offense.

 

Michael Carter: 6 Targets, 6 Receptions, 24 Yards

 

These were all final drive touches as Hall was pulled to protect his health. Carter just took check downs for short yardage as the Chargers played soft coverage.

 

Wide Receiver/Tight End

 

Garrett Wilson: 13 Targets, 7 Receptions, 80 Yards

 

This was maybe Wilson’s worst game as a professional as he failed to provide any spark for the Jets through the air. Wilson coughed up a costly fumble early in the game that led to a punt returned for a touchdown, the wideout failing to secure the ball before seeing it ripped from him when fighting for extra yardage near sideline. He failed to haul in a deep shot on third down towards the end of the first quarte before being responsible for a penalty that backed the Jets up deep in their own territory in the fourth quarter which allowed the Chargers to blitz and bring down the quarterback once again. He did earn some garbage yards as the Chargers played deep safeties towards the end of the game. The majority of Wilson’s yards came on a broken play at the start of the second half – he went 6 for 12 for 49 yards otherwise. Yikes!

 

Tyler Conklin: 6 Targets, 6 Receptions, 66 Yards

 

Despite being joint second on the team for targets behind Wilson, Conklin saw the bulk of his work on three catches for 40 yards on the final drive of the game. The tight end has acted as a safety blanket for Wilson throughout his time in New York and thus has emerged as a fantasy-passable option at tight end. His output may have sneaked a few across the line in fantasy this week.

 

Xavier Gipson: 2 Targets, 2 Receptions, 32 Yards

Allen Lazard: 6 Targets, 2 Receptions, 18 Yards

 

A shocking night for Aaron Rodgers‘ favorite receiver, who was twice guilty of penalties to wipe out big gains and also dropped two passes that he really should have hauled in. There is little hope that Lazard emerges as anything but a depth receiver option with Wilson under centre.

 

C.J. Uzomah: 5 Targets, 2 Receptions, 11 Yards

 

A poor outing for the backup tight end who let two passes through his hands including a late red zone throw in the end zone which he dropped inexcusably.

 

Nick Bawden: 1 Target, 1 Reception, 7 Yards

Jeremy Ruckert: 1 Target, 1 Reception, 7 Yards

Malik Taylor: 2 Targets, 1 Reception, 7 Yards

 

Photo by Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire | Adapted by Justin Paradis (@justparadesigns on Twitter/X)

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