The Chargers fought hard on Saturday, ultimately falling 24-22 to the Bills. Los Angeles led in time of possession but had fewer rushing, passing, and total yards than Buffalo.
Here are four things to take away from the contest.
Dicker the (Pro Bowl) Kicker
Even with the successes of the kicker carousel during the 2022 season between Dustin Hopkins, Taylor Bertolet, and Cameron Dicker, it feels so foreign to have a Chargers kicker that doesn’t instill fear and loathing into the hearts of fans.
Instead, Los Angeles has been gifted the presence of the one and only Dicker, who went 5 for 5 on field goals on Saturday, including a 53 yarder to take the lead late in the fourth quarter. His performance advanced him to 24 of 25 on field goal attempts this season.
The Chargers put out a fantastic social video promoting Dicker’s Pro Bowl candidacy earlier in the week, and it certainly felt as though the on-field product was designed to bolster that momentum. Dicker delivered, as he always has in a Chargers uniform, and nearly elevated Los Angeles to an upset win.
Keep it simple
Derrick Ansley’s adjustments to the Chargers defense were fairly obvious from the beginning of the game: simplify Los Angeles’ notoriously complicated scheme and let players play.
Derwin James exclusively played STAR on Saturday, coming off the field when the Chargers were in base defense. (Safeties Alohi Gilman and Jaylinn Hawkins were the two deep defensive backs in those scenarios.) The Chargers limited Stefon Diggs to just 5 catches for 29 yards, with Gilman adjusting to an underthrown pass to Diggs deep down the field for Josh Allen’s only interception of the night. Gabe Davis had 4 catches for 130 yards, but one of those plays was a 57 yard touchdown where a miscommunication led to Kenneth Murray guarding the wide receiver.
It was far from perfect on Saturday, but limiting the impact of Diggs and Allen, who threw for only 237 yards, while maintaining the level of run defense we’ve come to expect from the 2023 version of the Chargers defense represented a big step forward.
Offensive adjustments
Coming into the game, there was a fair amount of chatter about how much the Chargers would adjust to utilize the dual threat capabilities of Easton Stick, who profiled as one of the more athletic quarterbacks in the modern era when he entered the draft. LA did get Stick on the move much more on Saturday than in Thursday’s catastrophe, a testament to what the extra preparation time gave the Chargers the ability to install.
Those plays came with mixed results, to be fair. Stick had seven carries for 25 yards with a long of 21. His rushing touchdown came on a one yard keeper he took to the right pylon. Rolling him out on pass concepts was largely effective, with the majority of Buffalo’s five sacks coming on plays where Stick took a traditional drop back.
There are still things to clean up on offense, of course. The Chargers could lean into the rollout and designed Stick runs more. Young players Quentin Johnston and Isaiah Spiller were not heavily involved in the gameplan – both had only three touches all evening. But to put up 22 points and play competitively with a Bills defense that had held the Cowboys and Chiefs under 20 points in back-to-back weeks is no easy accomplishment.
Best outcome
This was, all around, the best possible outcome for the Chargers on Saturday. The team looked like it had new life under interim head coach Giff Smith. Players were playing harder, things looked more cohesive, the team was operating in sync for the first time in months. It’s a moral victory, one that should boost the confidence of players for the rest of the season and who may return next year.
It was also entertaining football, something that’s been difficult to say about Los Angeles in quite a while. The Chargers made splash plays, picking off Allen and forcing a James Cook fumble in key spots. The offense churned out chunk gains both through the air and on the ground, even if those drives ended in field goals. But even that was a positive – Dicker is one of the lone possible Pro Bowlers on the roster, and padding his stats a bit never hurt anyone.
Ultimately, the Chargers lost. But they can feel good about playing hard, gaining some momentum, and begin to heal from the wounds the Brandon Staley tenure inflicted upon the organization. As a bonus, the loss prevented Los Angeles from dropping in the draft order – as of Saturday night, they had the fifth pick because they are now half a game behind the 5-9 teams scheduled to play on Sunday. So even though it was a loss, it was a competitive one, one that keeps the team in play for a game-changing talent in 2024.
