Bolts From The Blue
The young receiver duo of Quentin Johnston and Ladd McConkey were once again among the Chargers’ top-five performers against the Steelers.
There wasn’t a ton of good for the Chargers against the Steelers on Sunday. Mainly, all the positives came in the first half before the wheels fully imploded from the very first drive of the second half.
In fact, the final 30 minutes almost seem like a blur. That’s not good! It means nothing of note happened, and when you go back and look at the play-by-play recap, that’s essentially the truth. Three three-and-outs and four punts in their final four drives.
*heavy sigh
Let’s go ahead and dive in to see if there’s anything of note the team could hang a hat on.
Best (min. 20 snaps played)
WR Ladd McConkey - 71.3
TE Will Dissly - 68.7
OG Zion Johnson - 68.1
WR Quentin Johnston - 65.9
OT Joe Alt - 65.7
For the second consecutive week, the young receiver duo of Ladd McConkey and Quentin Johnston are among the team’s best offensive performers. That’s a great sign despite the very minimal amount of opportunities they’re receiving each week.
Before ever seeing the numbers, you would have thought that the entire interior of the offensive line was going to grade out poorly for yet another week. Surprisingly, Johnson was the highest-graded lineman for the Chargers. He did allow one hit on Herbert, but overall was above average in both run and pass blocking.
Alt did not fare well in the end against T.J. Watt. However, he allowed just the one sack but was otherwise strong in the run game, finishing with the team’s highest grade in that area among qualifying players.
Worst
OG Trey Pipkins - 46.2
C Bradley Bozeman - 49.4
TE Hayden Hurst - 49.8
RB J.K. Dobbins - 49.8
WR Simi Fehoko - 53.0
So here’s the rest of that interior that I was expecting to see. Pipkins, who also played 15 snaps at left tackle in place of the injured Rashawn Slater, recorded...*checks notes*...a 2.3 in pass blocking against the Steelers.
Yes. You are reading that correctly. It’s the single-lowest grade I’ve ever seen given to any offensive lineman in my time working in the industry. I legitimately cannot articulate how much of a turnstile you have to be to earn such a grade. However, Pipkins was still “solid” in run blocking with a 68.7.
Bozeman wasn’t much better, finishing with below-average grades of 52.4 in pass blocking and 35.7 in pass blocking. The Chargers spoke highly of Bozeman this offseason, but it’s becoming clearer he isn’t going to be the starter past this season if this keeps up.
Best
EDGE Khalil Mack - 82.2
CB Kristian Fulton - 74.0
LB Denzel Perryman - 63.6
DT Morgan Fox - 63.3
LB Daiyan Henley - 62.7
Mack recorded his third sack of the season against the Steelers and probably could have had another 90.0+ grade if it wasn’t for an...
