Strong defense secures playoff spot for the LA Chargers
On the 16th day of the NFL season, the LA Chargers beat the Indianapolis Colts 20:3 and thus secured their playoff ticket early.
Just in time for the hot phase of the season, the Chargers’ injury hospital continued to thin out. On this day of the game, the newly elected Pro Bowler 2023 and Star Safety Derwin James Jr. could finally intervene in the game.
With the Colts, on the other hand, there was still no rest in the team. Head coach Jeff Saturday announced that quarterback Nick Foles would be the starter for the rest of the season. Already the third quarterback of the season for the battered team from Indianapolis. To make matters worse, their star running back Jonathan Taylor was injured last week and was even put on the “injured reserve list” and thus missed the game.
Anyone who thought there would be offensive fireworks right from the start was unfortunately disappointed. Instead, the friends of the defensive game got their money’s worth, because the first quarter clearly belonged to both defensive lines!
After both teams started with a three and out, cornerback Michael Davis caught the first interception of the game in the Colts’ second attack attempt. But the Chargers’ joy didn’t last too long. In the subsequent LA Chargers drive, Rodney Thomas II was also able to intercept a pass from QB Justin Herbert and thus book an interception for his Colts. As if the two “back to back” interceptions weren’t enough, quarterback Nick Foles went one better and produced another interception in the next drive for Indianapolis. The third of the game in the last three and a half minutes! This time, the aforementioned James Jr. intercepted a long ball from the quarterback, giving the Los Angeles Chargers the right to attack again.
However, since both offensive rows still failed, the first quarter ended with a sobering 0-0.
The second quarter started with a quarterback sack for the Colts by Dayo Odeyingbo before Justin Herbert’s offense finally began to take part in Monday night’s game. After runs from Austin Ekeler and Joshua Kelly and passes to receivers Mike Williams and Keenan Allen, running back Austin Ekeler completed the first drive in the second quarter for a touchdown for the LA Chargers. After a successful extra point, it was now 7:0 for Los Angeles.
In the drive that followed, Indianapolis benefited from two personal penalties by Derwin James Jr, which each brought Nick Foles’ offense 15 yards forward. While the first foul, a “facemask,” originated in the tackle, the second foul was a nasty hit “helmet to helmet” on receiver Ashton Dulin. Not only did the Colts get to the Chargers’ 32-yard line, they also had to do without James Jr. for the rest of the game because he was disqualified from the game for those two fouls.
The Colts didn’t capitalize on that field advantage either, and had to settle for a 46-yard field goal from Chase McLaughlin. Only 3:7 from the point of view of the Indianapolis Colts.
After LA had worked their way up to the 6-yard line in the next drive with a good mix of runs and passes, rookie kicker Cameron Dicker scored another field goal for the Chargers to make it 10:3 at halftime.
The second half was also dominated by defense. To the chagrin of the Colts, however, from now on only the defense from Los Angeles played strong. The defense around Pro Bowler Khalil Mack was able to record five quarterback sacks and another interception in the second half. The Colts’ offense didn’t take place at all in the second half and couldn’t score another point in the entire second half. In the second half, the Chargers only did what was necessary offensively and increased the lead to 13:3 with another field goal in the third quarter.
After the Colts opened the fourth quarter with a “turnover on downs” and thus gave the ball back to the Chargers, the offense put the lid on this game with Austin Ekeler’s 16th touchdown of the season. With many short runs – to play the time off the clock – peppered with individual passes to Williams and Allen, Ekeler scored the second touchdown of the game. After Cameron Dicker scored an extra point, the Los Angeles Chargers were already 20:3 with 6:33 minutes to go.
Indianapolis had nothing to counter that and so the game ended with this clear defeat for the Colts and only 173 total yards scored.
The Chargers dominated the game with a total of three interceptions and seven QB sacks and secured a place in the upcoming playoffs with this strong defensive performance.
After beating the Colts, the “Bolt Gang” sits at a 9-6 win rate, cementing second place in the AFC West. Next week, the city duel against the currently strong Rams will be about their new QB Baker Mayfield.
The Colts suffered their tenth defeat and now have a 4:9:1 win. For them it’s just a matter of finishing their season properly and already planning for the new season with probably a new head coach/quarterback team.
Manfred Fiegl – 27.12.2022
Derwin James Jr. was able to shine again after his injury, but had to end the game early. (© Getty Images)
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