Chargers get what they deserve in ‘complete team loss’ to Giants, Jaxson Dart

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The Los Angeles Chargers played sloppy football on Sunday, and they got what they deserved: their first loss of the season.

The Chargers fell, 21-18, to the New York Giants, gifting away a very winnable game against rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart, who was making his first regular-season start. There were culprits in all three phases — and on the sideline, as coach Jim Harbaugh did not have his group ready to play.

“Complete team loss,” safety Derwin James Jr. said.

The Chargers committed 14 penalties, tied for the team’s most in a game since 2000, according to TruMedia. The offense committed six penalties. The defense committed six. The special teams committed two.

Offensively, the game turned when left tackle Joe Alt suffered an ankle injury in the first quarter. He did not return, and Harbaugh did not have an update on Alt after the loss. Austin Deculus, whom the Chargers traded for in August, replaced Alt at left tackle. The Chargers could not protect against a very talented Giants defensive front, which features four first-round picks: edge rushers Kayvon Thibodeaux, Abdul Carter and Brian Burns and defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence.

Those four defenders dominated the game. Carter was unblockable from multiple alignments. He bested Deculus on the edge. He won on the interior, including against center Bradley Bozeman. He created quick pressure on stunts to the inside, including past left guard Zion Johnson. Carter, Thibodeaux and Burns accounted for all 12 hits and both sacks on quarterback Justin Herbert.

“We can put a better product out there than that,” Johnson said.

The Chargers tried to devote interior resources to blocking Lawrence. The three-time Pro Bowler was still able to generate pressure. When Lawrence was stymied, he responded by getting his hands into throwing lanes. On one of those deflections late in the first quarter, Lawrence came down with an interception and nearly returned it for touchdown.

“I got to be smarter with the ball,” Herbert said.

Herbert has now been hit 26 times in the past two games. He has been hit 33 times this season. Only the Cleveland Browns’ Joe Flacco and Tennessee Titans’ Cam Ward have been hit more, according to TruMedia. The Browns and Titans are a combined 1-7 this season.

Harbaugh acknowledged Herbert is “taking too many” hits. The Chargers entered training camp with four first-round picks on their offensive line. By the second quarter Sunday, only one remained: Johnson. Tackle Rashawn Slater is out for the season with a knee injury. Right guard Mekhi Becton, a free-agent signing, missed Sunday with a concussion. Alt injured his ankle.

“It’s very concerning,” Harbaugh said of the hits on Herbert. “We got to put him in a better position. I don’t think he’s been in a good position.”

Herbert threw a second interception in the third quarter. Receiver Ladd McConkey ran into tight end Tyler Conklin on a pick play. Herbert threw with anticipation before the collision. Defensive back Dru Phillips picked it off and returned it down to the Chargers’ 3-yard line. The Giants scored 10 points off Herbert’s two interceptions.

McConkey caught just one of his six targets. He had three drops, including two on third down. McConkey had never had fewer than two catches in a game. He had never caught fewer than 50 percent of his targets in a game.

“We just got to be better,” Herbert said. “You can’t have penalties like that, you can’t have turnovers like that. We had our shot, and we didn’t execute, and that’s on us as an offense.”

Defensively, the Chargers got off to a slow start. They let Dart activate his legs early in the game, both on designed rushes and scrambles. Dart had 28 rushing yards on a game-opening touchdown drive, including a 15-yard touchdown. He rushed for 44 yards on six carries in the first half. As a result, the rookie got into a rhythm. The Chargers have a brewing weakness: defending the scramble. They have allowed 134 scramble yards through four games, according to TruMedia. Through the early slate of games Sunday, that was the second-most in the league.

The Chargers also did not tackle well early against rookie running back Cam Skattebo, who had 10 carries for 46 yards in the first half.

“Any given Sunday, it can go down,” James said. “You got to come ready to play.”

The Chargers tightened up and limited Dart to 10 rushing yards in the second half. Skattebo had 15 rushes for 33 yards in the second half. The Giants only scored eight points in the final two quarters, and they started that touchdown drive at the Chargers’ 3-yard line.

By that point, however, the Los Angeles offense was struggling to sustain drives because of the pressure on Herbert.

“We started slow,” said receiver Quentin Johnston, who led the team with eight catches for 98 yards and a touchdown.

Rookie running back Omarion Hampton provided a spark. He had 12 carries for 128 yards on the ground, including a 54-yard touchdown in the third quarter that pulled the Chargers to within three points. As Johnston said, Hampton did his best to “revive the team a few times.”

Considering the pass protection issues, it was confounding that the Chargers only gave Hampton 12 rushes. On their first drive of the fourth quarter, for instance, the Chargers went three-and-out without giving Hampton a touch. Carter wrecked that drive with two quick pressures against Deculus.

“Hindsight, lose a game, you always think about what you could have done different,” Harbaugh said of Hampton’s limited touches.

The Chargers still had chances to win this game at the end. The defense had a goal-line stand with just more than five minutes remaining. Tuli Tuipulotu, who had four sacks, blew up a third-and-goal from the 1 with a tackle for loss on a Dart rushing attempt. Safety Alohi Gilman’s pass breakup in the end zone ended the possession.

The ensuing Chargers drive stalled when Burns won to the inside on a stunt and sacked Herbert.

“We got to go hit the drawing board,” Johnson said.

After the Burns sack, the Chargers lost valuable time when it took their punting unit nearly 40 seconds to get the kick off. Earlier in the game, Deculus was called for unnecessary roughness after a Cameron Dicker field goal. The next Giants drive started at the 40-yard line after poor kickoff coverage. Scott shanked a punt in the fourth quarter that went just 31 yards and set the Giants up in plus territory. Cornerback Cam Hart was also called for holding on a third-quarter punt return. The Chargers started that drive at their own 5.

“We just got to play clean, disciplined football,” Tuipulotu said.

The Chargers did not do that Sunday. They fall to 3-1 on the season.

They hope this is a one-off game that can serve as a valuable reality check after a hot start.

“It’s uncharacteristic,” linebacker Daiyan Henley said. “We hold ourselves to a standard, and today, we did not meet that standard.”

(Top photo of Jaxson Dart celebrating a first down: Al Bello / Getty Images)

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