INGLEWOOD – So, what was the most impressive aspect of the Chargers’ 23-20 victory over Denver Sunday? There were plenty of candidates.
• They saved their best for the end, rallying from deficits of 17-10 and 20-13 and winning on Cameron Dicker’s 43-yard field goal as time expired.
• Keenan Allen, back with the franchise with which he made his NFL reputation, provided the tying score by outdueling Denver’s Riley Moss in the end zone on a second-and-6 play with 2:31 left, setting up that game-winning scenario.
• Justin Herbert – who fired that touchdown pass and said he never saw the outcome because he was on the ground – spent his afternoon either getting hit or throwing on the run and still threw for 300 yards despite being sacked five times.
• The Chargers won despite sustaining more hits, with running back Najee Harris helped off the field late in the first half with what was later described by coach Jim Harbaugh as an Achilles injury. Also, right guard Mekhi Becton Sr. went off with a concussion, further scrambling an offensive line that lost Pro Bowl left tackle Rashawn Slater to a season-ending patellar tendon injury in training camp.
Then again, there’s the 3-0 start, their first since 2002 in San Diego. Is it that, or the way this particular 3-0 has been achieved?
Those ’02 Chargers, in Marty Schottenheimer’s first season as coach, started 4-0 and were 6-1 but ended up 8-8 and out of the playoffs. These Chargers have gone 3-0 against Kansas City, Las Vegas and Denver – which means, for the moment, they’re kings of the AFC West. That doesn’t mean a division championship or even a postseason berth is a lock, not with just three weeks gone in an 18-week grind.
“You can’t go 4-0 unless you go 3-0,” Harbaugh said.
But they have a leg up in the division, and that could be meaningful by season’s end. And the reverberations might be felt most in their own locker room, as a still-developing team processes the lessons it’s learning along the way.
“You know, not all games are going to be easy,” Herbert said. “I think we stuck through it and understood the situation: ‘You know, we’re losing at the current moment. But this time down is an opportunity for us to get back out there.’ And the offense took the field, and we knew that we have one job – to go move the ball and go score. And that’s exactly what we did. Defense got the ball back, and they came up with some huge stops all day. And then special teams closed it out.”
All three phases, right?
Bottom line: As long as there are ticks left on the clock and a manageable deficit, it’s never too late. Consider: After Denver went ahead 20-13 with 12:21 left in the game on Wil Lutz’s chip-shot field goal, the Chargers’ defense held the Broncos to 19 yards on their last two possessions. Their offense punted on its first possession after the field goal, but drove 76 yards in seven plays to Allen’s touchdown and 43 yards in eight plays and 1:43 to Dicker’s final field goal.
“Just kept running,” Allen said. “O-line stepped up big time. The young guys, OG (Oronde Gadsden, a tight end who had two of his five catches to start the last drive), Omarion (Hampton, a rookie running back who had 70 rushing yards on the day and two key carries in that drive) coming through, Ladd (McConkey) coming through with the catch (a 12-yard gain on second-and-13) at the end.
“Just keep playing. I think that’s what it came down to. Keep on fighting. Didn’t flinch, didn’t lay down. And, you know, we feel like we still had a chance to win.”
That was Allen’s personal thought process, as well. Early on Sunday, he said, “I just felt like it just wasn’t happening. He was throwing it to me, (but) for whatever reason, we just wasn’t completing the pass. But I just kept telling myself to stay in the game. You know, don’t get frustrated. Just keep fighting. Keep going. And when it’s time, show up.”
He did. Six of his seven receptions on the day came in the fourth quarter, three on the touchdown drive and another where he gained nine yards and got out of bounds to stop the clock with 53 seconds left en route to the winning field goal.
The touchdown play was an indisputable highlight. Herbert was scrambling again, evading defensive end Zach Allen and slinging it right-handed from the 25-yard line while running to his left, just before linebacker Nik Bonitto drove him to the ground. Allen caught it while diving to his right, away from Moss.
“I’d love to go see it on film,” McConkey said. “But from my angle, I mean, not many people can do that. Great catch, great throw, scrambling. It was an all-around great play.”
And maybe it’s poetic justice for Allen to again be a hero in Charger blue. He broke in with San Diego in 2013, was one of Philip Rivers’ favorite targets for a long time and then Herbert’s, and after Sunday’s performance, his numbers as a Charger read 923 catches, 10,724 yards and 62 touchdowns in 11 full seasons plus the first three games of this one.
Allen was traded to Chicago last season in a salary cap-related move. Bringing him back this year on a one-year contract could turn out to be an inspired decision.
“He’s one of the best ever to do it,” Herbert said. “And we’re so lucky to have him on our team, as a leader, as a teammate and as a receiver. He finds a way to get open, and you know that’s what he’s done over his career. You know especially (Sunday), it’s tough coverage. They played really well. They have a really good defense. We had to pick our battles, and Keenan just kept making plays when we needed them.”
Their hope? There’s more where that came from.
jalexander@scng.com