Broncos-Chargers on 'Thursday Night Football': What We Learned from Los Angeles' 34-27 win

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• REWATCH: Broncos-Chargers on NFL+ Premium
• READ: Dicker converts first made fair catch FG since 1976
• READ: Harbaugh says Herbert willed Chargers to victory
• READ: Chargers leapfrog Broncos in AFC playoff picture

1. Herbert stood tall with ankle injury, leading statement comeback vs. Broncos. Justin Herbert entered Thursday’s game with a painful left ankle injury and still stinging from Sunday’s whipping at the hands of the Buccaneers. The Chargers were desperate for a victory, and things were not looking great when the Broncos took a 21-10 lead -- with the Chargers’ defense offering no resistance. That's when Herbert put on his Superman cape and willed his team back for a rousing victory. Herbert was already pretty dialed in in the first half, even with an interception, but he took it to another level in the second half, completing 11 of his 16 passes for 144 yards and two touchdowns. His touchdown pass to Derius Davis was an incredible effort by Herbert, and Josh Palmer helped with a terrific effort on the two-point catch. Herbert also had two gutsy scrambles, first for 18 yards in the third quarter and then for 16 more on a third-and-10 run. That helped set up the touchdown that gave the Chargers a two-score lead late -- and a badly needed victory against a division foe.
2. Broncos came out dealing offensively but fell apart. Sean Payton was throwing a heater early, and the Broncos were executing. As if bent on proving they could run the ball, the Broncos ran it seven times -- with four different runners -- on the opening 10-play TD drive. Then they went more to the air on the next two drives, and those both ended in scores. They had the Chargers in the spin cycle, but everything fell apart. After two punts to close out the first half, the Broncos drove to the Chargers’ 23-yard line on their opening drive of the second half, but Payton opted for a field goal on fourth-and-three, putting them up, 24-13. The next Broncos score was with 57 seconds remaining in the game, a field goal cutting Denver’s deficit to seven points. The Broncos totaled 70 yards on their next four drives, as Bo Nix couldn’t generate any big pass plays and the run game seemed to be shelved. After that seven-run opening drive, Denver ran it only 14 times the rest of the game -- and three of those were Nix scrambles. Nix also took a huge sack with about six minutes left that killed a late chance to take the lead.
3. Fair-catch free kick was a cool moment for football nerds out there. Is it dorky to admit that I got chills watching Cameron Dicker drill a 57-yard free kick at the end of the first half? It’s so rare -- the Halley’s Comet of football plays, really -- that Dicker’s make was the first since 1976. At my last job, I wrote an entire story about this play prior to Super Bowl LI between the Patriots and Falcons, and how Bill Belichick prepared his players for extremely rare plays. When I asked Belichick about the fair-catch rule, of course he instantly recalled an instance 15 years earlier where it almost happened. It was a fun story to write, but I almost fainted when I watched the game two days later, and, son of a gun, it almost happened. Go back and watch the final 30 seconds of regulation, and you’ll see Belichick bolt over to Julian Edelman to tell him to fair catch the Falcons’ punt from their own 27-yard line. Alas, that try would have been from 75 yards. Maybe if Belichick had Dicker, he’d have gone for it. Dicker’s 57-yarder made it with plenty of leg and got the Chargers back into the game.
4. The Broncos’ defense also fell apart. Credit the Chargers for finding some offensive rhythm, but the Broncos’ defense went from looking capable -- as it has most of the season -- to pretty awful after halftime. Denver did nothing with its one turnover, a late second-quarter pick by Kris Abrams-Draine, and the Chargers scored three touchdowns in their first four possessions in the second half, driving 70, 78 and 90 net yards. The Broncos couldn’t bring Herbert down for a sack on his TD pass to Davis and had trouble generating a pass rush against a Chargers offensive line that’s banged up and has had its issues. As a result, Herbert killed the Broncos on play-action all night. Nik Bonitto made a great play, stopping Herbert on the two-point try, and Zach Allen had a big TFL to force a field goal in the first half, but there just were not enough big plays like this. Penalties were a major issue, especially in the second half, giving the Chargers free yards and conversion. But the tackling on Hassan Haskins' 34-yard TD catch (the first receiving score of his career) was pretty awful. Haskins broke at least two tackles and ran right up the gut of Denver’s defense for the game-winner. 
5. Chargers defense ended its long schneid. Midway through the second quarter, the Broncos had scored three touchdowns on their first three drives, extending the misery of the Chargers’ defense that was just gashed by the Bucs on Sunday and running the streak of points against them to 37-zip. The Chargers hadn’t forced a punt since the third quarter of Week 14 at that point, but it was like flipping a switch from the mid-second quarter on. Suddenly, a pass rush emerged. The tackling and gap fitting improved. The Broncos had to sweat a little. The Chargers forced the Broncos to punt five times -- including three three-and-outs -- in six series, helping fuel the comeback. Joey Bosa’s second-quarter sack seemed to light a little fire, and Bud Dupree had a huge one with the Chargers protecting a three-point lead with less than seven minutes left. They did just enough to hang on, including Tarheeb Still’s pass defended on Nix’s underthrown pass 40-plus yards downfield. That probably should have been a touchdown.

Next Gen Stats Insight for Broncos-Chargers (via NFL Pro): Justin Herbert used play-action on a career-high 47.2% of his dropbacks against the Broncos, finishing 12 of 15 for 155 yards on play-action dropbacks. Herbert consistently found open receivers off play-action, averaging 5.9 yards of separation per target (80% targeted a receiver with 3+ yards of separation, zero tight windows). On the season, Herbert ranks second in the NFL in passing yards on play-action dropbacks (1,339), fewer than only Jared Goff (1,539) entering the rest of the Week 16 slate.

NFL Research: In addition to it being the league’s first made fair-catch free kick since Ray Wersching in 1976, Cameron Dicker’s 57-yarder was also the longest such field goal in NFL history. The prior mark was 52 yards, by Paul Hornung in 1964 for the Green Bay Packers.