San Diego Chargers @ Tennessee Titans
Final Score: Chargers 27, Titans 20
Writer: Geoff Ulrich @thefantasygrind (X.com)
The Tennessee Titans got every break in this game. They got a pick-6 on the first throw from Justin Herbert. They got a punt return TD from their stud rookie, Chimere Dike. They even saw the Chargers top offensive tackle Joe Alt go down and have to leave the game. All this and they still lost by a TD (and never really had a shot at winning).
Credit the Chargers and mainly Herbert, who is playing as good as anyone in the league at QB right now for overcoming some bad breaks and a horrid start to take care of business. Not sure what to say about the Titans for fantasy because there is so little value in any of their players. Let’s dive in.
Three Up
- Justin Herbert — Carried his team despite getting hit on what seemed like every dropback.
- Quentin Johnston — Big bounce-back game for him.
- Tyjae Spears — Getting solid usage and looks spry.
Two Down
- Cam Ward — Not a great game, but so hard to judge him on this team.
- Chig Okonkwo — Almost a complete nonfactor at this point.
- Keenan Allen — Starting to lose his role in this offense with the rise of Oronde Gadsden II.
Los Angeles Chargers
Quarterback
Justin Herbert: 19/29, 250 Yards, 2 TDs, INT | 9 Carries, 57 Yards, TD
Justin Herbert had an unbelievable game. He didn’t hit every throw and he did have the one costly error at the start, but he overcame a terrible O-line to put up 27 points and ensure his team picked up the W.
His pick-6 will likely get picked apart on replays, but it was just a poor decision where he threw blindly to his first read and the Titans player read it perfectly and walked it in for the score. I give so much credit to Herbert because it would have been easy for him to flop after that given the Chargers were on the road and everything seemed to be going against them, but he bounced back really fast. He got Quentin Johnston involved early and hit him deep in the end zone for a big TD and then also had a couple of big gainers to Oronde Gadsden II.
A lot of Herbert’s best plays in this game though were with his feet. He’s a massive human being but has better than advertised speed and used it to counteract the Titans’ rush, which was getting home on nearly every play. When the Chargers needed to close out the game, they used Herbert on options and on short yardage. Outside of Jalen Hurts and Josh Allen, he might be the next best thing to have on fourth-and-1.
Overall, just a great game in a tough spot where the Chargers had a ton working against them.
Running Back
Kimani Vidal: 12 Carries, 30 Yards | 1 Target
I give the Titans’ D-line a lot of credit in this game. The Titans were without their best D-lineman in Jeffrey Simmons and still played tough all game. On top of getting to Herbert and just making his life miserable, they also stonewalled Kimani Vidal on nearly every run. Vidal was tasked with taking a lot of carries straight up the gut in this game just to give Herbert a breather.
It’s obviously a very disappointing line he put up if you had him in fantasy, but the Chargers got down early and their O-line was getting beat all game. It wasn’t a Vidal problem and he should continue to maintain his role as the prime ballcarrier and likely get mixed in more in the passing game in future weeks.
Jaret Patterson: 9 Carries, 44 Yards
Jaret Patterson did look good running the ball as the change-of-pace back. He’s pretty clearly won the backup role until Omarion Hampton gets back, so that is something to note if you own Vidal right now. The only thing I’d say is that his line is a little deceiving because he was getting some easier running situations and lanes to work with, as opposed to Vidal, who seemed like he was up against stacked boxes every single carry. The Titans just didn’t defend Patterson with the same vigor and he took advantage.
Solid game, but I wouldn’t worry if I owned Vidal.
Wide Receiver/Tight End
Quentin Johnston: 5 Targets, 4 Receptions, 53 Yards, TD
The Chargers made a pretty clear attempt to get Quentin Johnston involved in this game early. They also weren’t running the ball as well and were behind in the first half, which meant we saw less Tre’ Harris and more Johnston, overall. His best play came on the TD pass from Herbert, who hit him in stride at the back of the end zone from 25 yards out, on a play where he was actually semi-double covered and was able to turn back and catch it between two defenders. He also made a couple of nice downfield catches after that play.
Overall, he seems to be out of his midseason slump and if he’s available on waivers is a name I’d be interested in snagging for the playoff run (either as a depth piece or potential WR3 starter).
Ladd McConkey: 7 Targets, 4 Receptions, 56 Yards
Looked like his usual amazing self. Had a couple of nice gainers in the middle of the field and like he always does got some extra yardage with his ability to make defenders miss after the catch. Cauight a silly 1-yard dump-off from Herbert at one point that he threw out of necessity and turned it into 9 yards (a play most WRs take for a 1-yard gain).
I do think he suffers a bit by not getting deeper targets which seem to be mostly reserved for Gadsden or Johnston, but he’s able to turn his shorter routes into similar yardage, so maybe it’s a wash. If Allen or Johnston ever went down and he got an expended route tree again, it would be back to WR1 Ladd.
Keenan Allen: 5 Targets, 2 Receptions, 41 Yards
As I mentiond above, Keenan Allen is losing out slightly with the rise of Gadsden. You would have expected him to see 7-9 targets in a game like this given the Chargers were behind for big portions of it, but he ended with five looks and only managed two receptions.
He did have one near-long catch that he just missed coming down with and would have boosted him well over 60 yards, but just couldn’t make the play. It’s not that he looked terrible out there and is still playing well for being 30-plus years of age, but every other Chargers WR and even Gadsden just has him beat now for YAC upside. Overall, the days of Allen catching 8-12 passes for the Chargers might be over, which is likely good for the Chargers (but bad for Allen fantasy owners) as Gadsden is just a higher upside receiver at this point in his career.
Oronde Gadsden II: 5 targets, 5 receptions, 68 yards
He didn’t do much in the first quarter of this game and then came down with a great 30-plus-yard catch-and-run where he was left open in the seem underneath and turned upfield for 15-20 yards after the catch and set up a Chargers score.
I don’t think I need to tell people this at this point, but Gadsden isn’t going away. He’s a real difference-maker for the Chargers, who have good speed with McConkey and Johnston but lacked that sort of do-it-all, big-body receiver Herbert could float balls to before Gadsden showed up. At this point, he almost looks like the surest bet of all the Chargers’ receivers for fantasy, which is quite the statement considering he was barely playing five weeks ago.
Tre’ Harris: 2 Targets, 2 Receptions, 18 Yards
Tre’ Harris looks fine and is a great run blocker, so he’ll continue to get snaps. The Chargers didn’t run the ball as well this week but he still managed two catches (again), which does tell you that the Chargers do value him. That said, unless one of the top three WRs gets down he’s unlikely to be remotely important for fantasy.
Tennessee Titans
Quarterback
Cam Ward: 12/21, 145 Yards | 2 Carries, 6 Yards
Cam Ward was under pressure a lot in this game once again. He looked solid to start and had a couple of poor drops and bad routes by his receivers. He also made a couple of errant throws that didn’t help the Titans, including one before half where it looked lik the ball slipped out of his hand where he had Van Jefferson wide open. It was a play that could have set them up for a FG or more.
I don’t have a lot to say here because it’s so hard to dissect a QB who is playing with this bad a supporting cast. He did make a couple of very good to elite throws, including a dime to Jefferson early on and had a couple of nice connections with Elic Ayomanor. The rest of his yards came on dump-offs to RBs and TEs.
Ward did take off with the ball a couple of times in this game and it worked on one occasion. It’s really strange to be honest that he hasn’t done this more given how bad his O-line is, and because he’s similar to Herbert in that he’s massive and has sneaky speed for his size. I’m not sure if he’ll eventually learn to work this into his game more, but when he does, I suspect both his fantasy and real-world effectiveness will go up.
Running Back
Tony Pollard: 10 Carries, 56 Yards | 2 Targets, 1 Reception, 12 Yards
Tony Pollard looked good in this game, although I think a lot of that was based on the matchup. The Chargers’ D-line just is not very effective at stopping the run and even against the weaker Titans O-line, it was getting pushed around a bit. From a usage standpoint, Pollard did start the game and had a couple runs taken back early by penalties. He also had two cracks at a short-yardage TD and was stuffed both times. If you started him for fantasy, you have to somewhat frustrated this game wasn’t bigger because there was opportunity for him to score and have more yardage.
If Pollard stays with the Titans, he’ll likely be involved in straight timeshare with Tyjae Spears and continue to operate in the between-the-tackles role, where he’s more effective.
Tyjae Spears: 7 Carries, 26 Yards | 3 Targets, 3 Receptions, 36 Yards
Tyjae Spears took almost the same amount of snaps as Pollard and was used more on LDD situations and nonobvious rushing downs. He didn’t do a ton as a runner, although part of his stat line was the Titans calling a couple of weird direct snaps which didn’t work at all.
He continues to look great as a receiver and had a nice 26-yard catch in this game where he made multiple defenders miss and pushed a tackler for a few more yards at the end as well. Given their lack of receivers, Tennessee would do well to get him 5-7 targets a game at this point.
Wide Receiver/Tight End
Chimere Dike: 3 Targets, 1 Reception, 5 Yards | Punt Return TD
I’m really not sure why the Titans went away from Chimere Dike in this game. He had a great matchup vs. a rookie slot corner and was coming off his best game of the season. His punt return TD was magical as he essentially directed blockers ahead of him and then just snaked his way down the sideline and outran the rest of the Chargers special teams. He also had another nice return after that went for decent yardage.
He’s likely the best offensive player the Titans have right now (along with Spears) and I would expect he’ll have better usage soon (maybe next week if they trade Calvin Ridley). Overall, the Titans were running the ball and the game was close for large portions, so Dike was likely just a victim of game flow more than anything else (but also poor play-calling by the Titans’ coaches, what else is new).
Elic Ayomanor: 6 Targets, 3 Receptions, 46 Yards
Elic Ayomanor had a couple of decent-looking plays, but also threw in a couple of poor routes where he either stopped running or just didn’t run the proper route and caused a misfire with Ward. He also had one brutal drop in the first quarter. He’s got decent speed and made a couple of nice moves to get some after-the-catch yardage but overall, looks more like a player best suited to be a third or fourth WR on most teams.
Van Jefferson: 4 Targets, 1 Reception, 21 Yards
Out of his element as a top target, and not someone a young QB should be relying on as an every down WR. That said, he one nice 20-plus-yard catch early on and then also had a terrible pass thrown him by Ward, which could have been another chunk gainer.
Would work fine if was a rotational player, but being asked to do too much right now.
Gunnar Helm: 1 Target, 1 Reception, 15 yards
Gunnar Helm is someone the Titans should look to get more involved soon. His one target ended up in a nice 15-yard catch and he looks like a far more versatile after the catch target for Ward than Chig Okonkwo. Not really sure why they didn’t follow up with him this week after a solid Week 8, but he is someone I could see getting more work at some point.
There is also the possibility Okonkwo gets traded, so if you have room to stash Helm and need TE help, that’s something to consider.
Chig Okonkwo: 2 Targets, 2 Reception, 10 Yards
A ghost. He offers little upside after the catch and is useless in the red zone.