Surge or Static Week 7: Sweet victory at last!

The Chargers got another notch in the win column after coming away with a 39-29 victory over the Jaguars on Sunday afternoon. It almost went the way of the past four games, with the Bolts blowing a 16-point lead by the third quarter, but Justin Herbert and the rest of the offense were able to continue stacking points on the board, ending with a season-high in points.

Defensive problems are still a thing, but at least the offense isn’t laying down in the second half anymore.

Like every week, here are my Surge or Static players from their win over the Jags.

Let’s get to it.

Surge

QB Justin Herbert

Who else did you expect?

Justin Herbert continued his red-hot start to his NFL career by throwing for another three touchdowns and rushing for another as he finally recorded the first win of his professional career.

In all, Herbert accounted for 413 of the Chargers’ 484 total yards of offense. He hit Jalen Guyton down the right sideline for his second touchdown of 70+ yards and connected with Donald Parham for his second career touchdown in as many receptions.

At the end of the game, Herbert joined Patrick Mahomes as the only quarterbacks in NFL history to throw for over 250 yards in each of their first five starts.

On a weekly basis, it seems like the rookie always ends up adding his name into an elite group from history. I’m not sure if, or when, Herbert will cool off, but Chargers fans would give their right leg if it means it continues through the rest of the 2020 season.

WR Keenan Allen

For the second time this season, Allen went over both the double digit-catch and 100-yard mark as he hauled in 10 receptions for 125 yards against the Jags. He received roughly twice as many looks on the day (13) as the next closest guy, which was Hunter Henry with seven. While he didn’t find the end zone, Allen was the main target for the Herbert when he needed a big play or to keep the chains moving.

He created separation at will and even when he didn’t, he was able to haul in the tough catch, including a 26-yard reception that set up Joe Reed’s seven-yard touchdown run on the very next play.

Allen will have a tougher matchup against the Broncos this week, but at least he doesn’t have to go up against Chris Harris Jr. this time around.

DE Uchenna Nwosu

Nwosu led the team with 1.5 sacks against the Jaguars despite Melvin Ingram returning to his starting role. The former second-round pick still received an increase in snaps due to Ingram being limited a bit and he certainly made the most of them as he was constantly swarming Gardner Minshew on drop backs.

Even with Ingram returning as a starter, expect Nwosu to continue playing a significant role alongside Ingram and Bosa on obvious passing downs.

Nwosu finished with a 73.2 overall grade by Pro Football Focus, good for fourth on Chargers defense in Week 7.

Static

CB Casey Hayward

This isn’t so much about Hayward having lapses in coverage as it is about his lackluster tackling against James Robinson and the rest of the Jaguars’ playmakers. Even Hayward himself brought it up to the media when he spoke on the team’s Zoom call this past Monday, mentioning he needs to be better, specifically citing the failed attempt to push Robinson out of bounds before he crossed the goal line in the second quarter.

Hayward has to buckle down and show the NFL that he’s still one of the best corners in the league. He’s about to face a much softer stretch of quarterbacks over the next four weeks, so let’s see if he’s still got enough left in the tank to finish strong.

S Rayshawn Jenkins

Jenkins finds himself on the Static list once again due to the same reasons that have put him here before. He has continued to miss tackles in keys moments which have led to points being out on the board. He had eight missed tackles in all of 2019 and he’s already got four through the team’s first six games.

Jenkins play most of, if not, all of the snaps on defense each week and he needs to find a way to make an impact. Last year he led the team with three interceptions, which helped make up for this tackling issues. He has yet to force or recover a turnover up to this point, but he does have a sack and a tackle-for-loss. If he isn’t going to be a force in coverage, he needs to solidify his game inside the box.

The Offensive Line

For the third-straight week, at least four of the team’s five starting offensive lineman ended up in the bottom-five of PFF’s offensive grades for the Chargers.

Lather-rinse-repeat.

K Michael Badgley

I had to go back and add Badgley to this part of the article because, quite frankly, he’s been such a non-factor to this team that I completely forgot about him. He’s been multiple extra point attempts and field goals through the past two games. The extra point missed against the Saints could be argued as the biggest difference between winning and losing that one, as well. But alas, he still has no competition for his job being brought in, per Lynn.