Jaguars vs. Chargers: Full Report Card Grades for San Diego
A third straight win for the San Diego Chargers seemed in peril early against the Jacksonville Jaguars, but Philip Rivers once again bailed out the Bolts in their time of need for a 33-14 win.
After dropping the season opener to Arizona, San Diego has strung together victories over Seattle, Buffalo and Jacksonville with the possibility for more against three teams that have a combined record of 2-9 (New York, Oakland and Kansas City).
The Chargers will host the Jets next week, then travel to the Black Hole for a rivalry game with the Raiders before returning home against the Chiefs.
Some folks might refer to a three-game stretch like that as a series of trap games, and the Chargers nearly became victims to that trap against the Jaguars.
Blake Bortles, the first quarterback taken in the 2014 draft, looked impressive early in his starting debut, but the second half was a different story for the Central Florida product.
Here's how San Diego graded out.
Quarterback
1 of 10
| Player | C/ATT | Yards | TD | INT | Sacks | Passer Rating |
| Philip Rivers | 29/39 | 377 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 130 |
It was another grade-A performance for Rivers, who attempted a season-high 39 passes. When it became clear that running the ball was not going to generate a winning formula, Rivers took full advantage of the league's worst pass defense.
The Chargers QB made it 24 consecutive games with a touchdown pass (a new team record) and put himself in the company of a fellow AFC West signal-caller on Sunday:
"Philip Rivers now has his 8th game with 3+ Pass TD in last 2 seasons, only Peyton Manning has more (13).
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) September 28, 2014"
As long as No. 17 stays healthy, San Diego has nowhere to go but up.
Grade: A
Running Back
2 of 10
| Player | Carries | Yards | AVG | TD | REC | Yards | AVG |
| Branden Oliver | 9 | 23 | 2.6 | 0 | 4 | 33 | 8.3 |
| Donald Brown | 10 | 19 | 1.9 | 0 | 4 | 35 | 8.8 |
Heading into Sunday's game, the Chargers sported a league-worst 2.4 yards per carry, and the combined efforts of Oliver and Brown fell just short of that mark (2.1 YPC) against Jacksonville. San Diego was forced to abandon the run game when it became clear that the Jaguars defense would have none of it.
Instead, Oliver and Brown did the most damage as receivers out of the backfield—a forte of the injured Danny Woodhead.
So far, San Diego hasn't fallen victim to its lack of a running game, but it's a concern moving forward.
Grade: D
Wide Receiver and Tight End
3 of 10
| Player | REC | Yards | AVG | TD | Targets |
| Keenan Allen | 10 | 135 | 13.5 | 0 | 11 |
| Eddie Royal | 5 | 105 | 21 | 2 | 7 |
| Malcom Floyd | 3 | 39 | 13 | 1 | 4 |
| Antonio Gates | 3 | 30 | 10 | 0 | 5 |
It's always a good day for the receiving corps when two of its members register over 100 receiving yards. Allen hauled in 10 catches for 135 yards while Royal made two touchdown grabs of 40-plus yards. Floyd also chimed in with his pretty catch in the end zone that came on a dime thrown by Rivers.
Allen, who still has yet to score this season, set career highs in receptions and yards on a day when he was simply feeling it:
""I just got in the mood, got in the zone." @Keenan13Allen
— San Diego Chargers (@Chargers) September 28, 2014"
With Rivers continuing to play lights out, this group will have no trouble succeeding in 2014.
Grade: A
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Offensive Line
4 of 10
| Unit | Sacks-Yards lost | TFL Allowed | QB Hits Allowed | Passing Yards | Rushing Yards |
| Chargers O-line | 2-12 | 5 | 5 | 365 | 42 |
The offensive line was bound to struggle with a new center in play and a rotation going on at right guard.
Doug Legursky, who signed with San Diego about two weeks ago, had a botched snap with Rivers and was flagged for a false start penalty. Chris Watt, who rotated at right guard with Johnnie Troutman, was also flagged for a false start while Chad Rinehart was tabbed for holding.
On passing downs, the offensive line provided Rivers with a decent pocket to throw from, though there were a pair of instances when protection broke down and Rivers was taken to the ground.
Run-blocking, on the other hand, was a definite mess at times.
Just like last week in Buffalo, blocking on screen plays was well-executed. Legursky and others did a nice job of getting to the second level.
Grade: C
Defensive Line
5 of 10
| Player | Tackles | Sacks | TFL |
| Corey Liuget | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| Sean Lissemore | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Ryan Carrethers | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Ricardo Mathews | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Kendall Reyes | 1 | 0 | 0 |
The defensive line featured a pair of surprise appearances from Carrethers, the team's fifth-round draft choice in 2014, and Ricardo Mathews, who was signed in early September by the Chargers. Mathews was credited with his first sack in a Bolts uniform and Carrethers tallied a pair of stops.
Liuget blasted Denard Robinson in the backfield for a five-yard loss in the first quarter and Reyes snuffed out a 4th-and-1 attempt in the fourth quarter.
I thought this unit could have done a little more, especially on that goal-line score by Toby Gerhart in the second quarter, but the collective effort was good enough to help get the win.
Grade: C
Linebackers
6 of 10
| Player | Tackles | Sacks | TFL | PD | QB Hits |
| Donald Butler | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kavell Conner | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jarret Johnson | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Andrew Gachkar | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Cordarro Law | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Tourek Williams | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Dwight Freeney | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
On the first defensive series of the game, Johnson forced a fumble by Gerhart and Butler came up with the recovery. Johnson was also in on the 4th-and-1 stop in the first quarter along with Conner.
Law sacked Bortles for a seven-yard loss just days after being signed from the practice squad and Freeney did a lot of behind-the-scenes work in the pass rush.
This group has been decimated with the losses of Manti Te'o and Melvin Ingram, but I liked what I saw from Conner and even Gachkar in a backup role. Though sacks were sparse, it was good to see Freeney at least driving Bortles off his mark at times.
Grade: B
Secondary
7 of 10
| Player | Tackles | Sacks | TFL | PD | QB Hits | INT |
| Jahleel Addae | 7 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Brandon Flowers | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Marcus Gilchrist | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Shareece Wright | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Eric Weddle | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Steve Williams | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Richard Marshall | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
The Chargers' secondary was still in search of its first interception through the first three games of the season, but a rookie quarterback making his first road start was a good sign of things to come.
Flowers sat on a short route by Cecil Shorts and made the nifty pick of Bortles in the third quarter, which set up three points for San Diego. Weddle picked off Bortles again in the fourth quarter, setting up another three points.
Flowers had the best performance by far and is starting to prove his worth as a former Pro Bowl cornerback. Jahleel Addae led the secondary in tackles and tacked on a sack.
Bad news came in the second quarter, however, when Wright exited with an apparent knee injury. According to Michael Gehlken of the San Diego Union-Tribune, Wright may have an MCL sprain—the same injury that has held out Ryan Mathews for some time:
"Chargers CB Shareece Wright may have sprained MCL, will undergo MRI, source says: http://t.co/SVyBKe0OOa
— Michael Gehlken (@UTgehlken) September 28, 2014"
Marshall replaced Wright as Jason Verrett was forced to sit out Sunday's game with a hamstring injury. Williams also saw action because of injuries and was heavily picked on by Bortles.
The secondary allowed just one receiving touchdown and 253 passing yards.
Grade: A
Special Teams
8 of 10
Novak continues to demonstrate precision in his kicking and wound up becoming the most accurate kicker in team history with 88 of 100 field goals made. Novak is also closing in on the team record for consecutive field goals (29) after kicking through Nos. 24, 25, 26 and 27 on Sunday.
The San Diego kicker has 25 of the team's points this season.
Mike Scifres was forced to punt just three times—all three of which were downed inside the 20-yard line.
Kick coverage could have been better, though. Jordan Todman brought back six kicks for 174 yards—good for an average of 29 yards.
Grade: A
Coaching
9 of 10
The Chargers didn't prove much in defeating a bottom-ranked foe at home. It was expected given their talent and the woes of of bad Jaguars team, but the coaching staff has earned high praise for getting the next man up ready from week to week.
Frank Reich's offense was missing two of its leading rushers and was on to its third-string center but still found a way to put points on the board.
The running game was almost nonexistent, so Reich pushed the passing game and it paid off.
Defensively, John Pagano's unit was down two starting linebackers and missing Verrett in the secondary, but it still managed to produce three turnovers and hold the Jags to 14 points. Pagano got production from second- and third-stringers like Ricardo Mathews, Kavell Conner and Cordarro Law.
The next-man-up mentality has been the motto of Mike McCoy's team this season, and his players have responded well.
Grade: A
Final Grades
10 of 10
| Positional Unit | Grade |
| Quarterback | A |
| Running Back | D |
| WR and TE | A |
| Offensive Line | C |
| Defensive Line | C |
| Linebackers | B |
| Secondary | A |
| Special Teams | A |
| Coaching | A |
| Cumulative Grade | B |
The Jaguars looked primed for an upset early with Bortles showing up in a big way, but the Chargers cleaned up their act in the second half with 16 unanswered points and a dominant performance by Rivers.
All stat lines provided by ESPN.com.
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