Chargers Defense Holding Its Own, but Offense Must Carry San Diego to Playoffs

Seven points is all the San Diego Chargers could muster offensively Sunday night against the New England Patriots. That’s not enough to beat a quality team consistently—especially one led by quarterback Tom Brady.

If the Chargers want to make the postseason, their offense must consistently perform. It can’t just show up one week and disappear the next. The much-maligned Chargers defense held its own, but the offense couldn’t muster the 17 points it needed to get the victory.

The defense allowed 23 points, had a fumble return for a touchdown and a red-zone interception at the end of the half and the Chargers still lost by nine points. Defensive coordinator John Pagano put together a great plan to slow down tight end Rob Gronkowski and put his players in position to make several big plays in the first half, but that wasn’t enough.

After safety Darrell Stuckey returned a Brandon LaFell fumble 53 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter, the Chargers had a 14-3 lead. At home, that should be enough of a lead for any team with a respectable offense. The defense even held the Patriots to three points after they drove to the Chargers' 4-yard line on the ensuing drive to maintain an eight-point lead.

Quarter	Plays	Yards	First Downs (Non-Penalty)	Result
1	7	27	2	Punt
1	10	80	3	Touchdown
2	3	8	0	Punt (Blocked)
2	6	17	0	Punt
3	3	6	0	Punt
3	3	1	0	Punt
3	5	25	1	Interception
3	5	30	1	Punt
4	3	4	0	Punt
4	4	30	1	Punt
4	4	9	0	Turnover on Downs

Melvin Ingram was making plays. Eric Weddle was making plays. Shareece Wright was even making plays.

What did the Chargers offense do after it built a 14-3 lead? It went three-and-out and gave the ball back to the Patriots. Only compounding the issue was a blocked punt that might have ended punter Mike Scifres’ season.

The offense had a chance to answer again, but it failed again. After an 11-yard pass from quarterback Philip Rivers to wide receiver Malcom Floyd, officials flagged left guard Chad Rinehart for holding and then the Patriots sacked Rivers for a loss of nine yards. The Patriots bailed out the Chargers on 2nd-and-29 when cornerback Kyle Arrington tripped running back Ryan Mathews, but it didn’t help jump-start the offense.

From there, the Chargers gained five yards before having to use kicker Nick Novak as a punter for the first time. The offense was actually quite fortunate the defense came to play. Linebacker Manti Te’o kept the team in the game with a huge interception of Brady with 18 seconds left in the first half.

Things only got worse in the second half for the offense. It went three-and-out four times, four-and-out once, Rivers threw an interception and had another interception nullified by a penalty that many would agree was borderline. In seven second-half possessions, the Chargers had just two first downs that weren’t the result of a penalty.

"There was nothing we have not seen,” left tackle King Dunlap said after the game, via Eric D. Williams of ESPN.com “We have to do better up front. If we do our job better, we score, and we win."

Despite battling poor field position, the defense didn’t allow a score on four Patriots possessions in the third quarter. When the Patriots did break through, the Chargers only allowed a field goal. The Chargers had allowed 13 unanswered points and only trailed by two points.

Points are more important than time of possession, but fatigue was obvious in the Chargers defense in the fourth quarter. In a rare defensive breakdown, the Chargers allowed a 69-yard touchdown on a simple slant to Julian Edelman.

Even down nine with about nine minutes left, the Chargers weren’t out of the game technically, but essentially, they were. Chargers head coach Mike McCoy conceded as much when he punted on 4th-and-4 with just over six minutes left.

Despite the early lead, the Chargers ran the ball just 14 times not including scrambles by Rivers. They averaged a paltry 3.2 yards per carry on those runs. That’s not going to get it done, but unlike last week, Rivers also wasn’t able to put the offense on his arm and throw the Chargers to victory.

"They outplayed us. I didn't play very well,” Rivers said after the game, via Williams. “We didn't play very well. And they were a lot of the reason to do with it."

Rivers’ 5.7 yards per attempt is identical to his performance against the Oakland Raiders three weeks ago, but the Patriots are one of the top seeds in the NFL and not a bottom-dweller. The Chargers simply can’t afford for the offense to go to sleep if they are going to make the postseason, which is still a possibility as noted by XTRA 1360 FSSD:

Technically, the loss doesn’t hurt the Chargers that badly now, but it very well could come back to haunt them later. The Chargers are still currently the No. 6 seed in the playoffs, but the margin of error is shrinking, and the schedule doesn’t get any easier.

Next week, the Denver Broncos come to town, and they have to win every week to have any shot of home-field advantage. It’s possible to slow down the Broncos, but the Chargers will still need to score early and often.  

“There’s no time to feel sorry for ourselves,” Rivers said, via the Chargers’ Twitter account. “We know the challenges they present, and we know how to beat them.”

Even if they do beat the Broncos at home next week, the Chargers go on the road and have to beat two tough defenses after that. The San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs may be average offensively, but defensively they are still sound.

To make the playoffs, the Chargers simply must produce. Not only must the offense produce better than it did Sunday night, but it must also produce at the top of its capability.