Chargers Week 15 snap counts

Thursday’s win over the Raiders featured a ton of young and inexperienced players — mainly on the offensive side of the ball — stepping up established veterans who have been a bit banged up as of late.

Two of those notable players were wide receivers Jalen Guyton and Tyron Johnson. The two second-year players combined for 152 yards and a score in place of Keenan Allen and Mike Williams who were both hampered coming into Thursday night.

Isaac Rochell and Nwosu also played more than usual due to Joey Bosa being limited on the night with a mystery ailment.

The play by the youngsters is a good sign for the future of the Chargers, especially with a number of pricey contracts set to expire after this season.

Now let’s dive into the snap counts, along with my thoughts and notes.

Offense

Notes

• There’s no other way to kick this thing off then by pointing out that all five of the Chargers starting offensive linemen played 100 percent of the offensive snaps against the Raiders. That’s HUGE.
• Keenan Allen and Mike Williams played 36 and 42 percent of the offensive snaps on Thursday and combined for three catches for 39 yards. If you’re like me and you started Allen in fantasy this week despite all of the gossip that he would be limited, just know that I feel your pain.
• Guyton led all receivers with 80 percent of the snaps played. He finished with a career-high 91 yards on four receptions, including the 53-yard bomb that set up the Chargers at the Las Vegas two-yard line. Tyron Johnson was second in snaps for a receiver at 59 percent.
• The running back carries were once again split around 60-30-10 with Ekeler getting the majority of the carries followed by Ballage and then Kelley. Kelley also started as the team’s kickoff returner which was quite the surprise.

Defense

Notes

• Kenneth Murray ended up being the only defender to play 100 percent of the snaps against the Raiders. He finished second on the team with eight tackles, including one big hit on a running back that almost forced a fumble.
• Jerry Tillery led all defensive lineman with 80 percent of the snaps played. He managed to escape this week without a penalty and managed to lead the team with a pair of QB hits.
• Joey Bosa only played 22 percent of the team’s snaps with most of those being third downs. This was pretty scary to see, especially when Bosa wasn’t on the final injury report at all. He recorded two limited practices this week so we knew he wasn’t all the way there, but we also thought that was simply the staff resting one of their best players on a short week. Bosa eventually left the game late and was getting evaluated for a concussion. On Friday morning, Anthony Lynn did add some clarity to the situation and told the media that Bosa does not have a concussion as of right now.
• Michael Davis had one of his worst games of the season where he played 64 percent of the snaps. Like the Falcons game, the Chargers played a decent amount of base with two corners (Casey Hayward/Chris Harris) so it wasn’t a surprise to see his snaps on the lower side this week.

Special Teams

Notes

• The special teams coverages have been better the last two weeks and that’s great to see. Lynn has, so far, done a good job of making this unit acceptable.
• Badgley missed two field goals this week. They were his 11th and 12th missed kicks of the year and he now leads the NFL in that category.