The Chargers fell to the Texans, 27-20, Sunday afternoon at Dignity Health Sports Park. The loss dropped them to 1-2, and while it was discouraging, there’s plenty of football left to be played.
Here are five takeaways from the close defeat.
Secondary struggles
The Chargers entered Week 3 without four of their main starters in the secondary — safeties Derwin James and Adrian Phillips and cornerbacks Trevor Williams and Michael Davis. The lack of depth showed.
Quarterback Deshaun Watson gashed the defense for 25-of-34 passing, 351 yards and three touchdowns with a 135.8 quarterback rating. Watson completed five passes over 30 yards.
Undrafted rookie Roderic Teamer got the start at strong safety, and while he played a physical brand of football, there were a few times where he was beat badly in coverage, which resulted in huge plays.
Cornerback Brandon Facyson made his third start opposite of Casey Hayward, and he was underwhelming again to say the least. Aside from a pass break up, he blew a few key plays in coverage.
CB Casey Hayward was the lone bright spot in the secondary, holding wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins to five receptions for 33 yards. Hopkins’ big gain occurred when Desmond King was covering him.
Lack of wide receiver depth
The wide receiver position is one of the very few groups that has all players that are healthy for the most part. But aside from Keenan Allen and Mike Williams, there has yet to be a player that has filled in Tyrell Williams’ shoes.
Allen and Williams accounted for 228 yards. Meanwhile, Dontrelle Inman and Travis Benjamin only amassed 28 yards on eight targets. For a team that’s missing tight end Hunter Henry, it’s unacceptable and worrisome.
Benjamin had three dropped passes, including one that would’ve been good to tie up the game late in the fourth quarter. But the drops only hurt the team when all was said and done.
Even though Allen has been catching everything that has been thrown his way, not having a go-to third wide receiver has been evident in the passing game and someone needs to step up.
Abandoning what was working
Running backs Austin Ekeler and Justin Jackson were in a great rhythm in the first half, but the duo became nearly nonexistent in the second half.
Ekeler entered halftime with seven receptions for 45 yards, but he didn’t catch a pass the following two quarters. After rushing for 32 yards on four carries, Jackson only had one carry in the second half.
The decision to sway away from two of the best offensive playmakers aside from Allen was puzzling, especially when they were up 10 points at the half.
Coach Anthony Lynn said that he knew he could attack the secondary with Keenan Allen and Travis Benjamin after they were hit with injuries late, but it ultimately didn’t pay off.
The ones they wish they could have back
The Chargers committed seven penalties that resulted in 69 yards, but there were a few critical ones that could’ve had a different outcome on the game had they never happened.
The first one came from guard Dan Feeney. Running back Justin Jackson found his way into the end zone, but it was brought back due to holding by Feeney.
Then came cornerback Desmond King’s facemask penalty on quarterback Deshaun Watson. If King would’ve never grabbed his facemask, the Chargers would’ve had the ball after safety Rayshawn Jenkins had picked him off.
Finally, late in the fourth quarter, quarterback Philip Rivers connected with wide receiver Mike Williams to put them at Houston’s seven-yard line, but it was nullified by a holding call on left tackle Trent Scott.
It was things like this that didn’t necessarily cost them the game, but it was near the top of the list.
Welcome back, Denzel
Linebacker Denzel Perryman had not started a game since last November. A knee injury ended his season in 2018 with seven contests to be played, and his absence was felt, particularly in the run defense department.
Perryman received the start on Sunday, and he showed what everyone had been missing. He finished with six tackles, but most importantly, he was a major contributor to limiting the Texans to 39 yards rushing.
