By Brooks Kubena, Zach Berman, Daniel Popper, Alex Valdes
In a game with eight turnovers — three on one play — and some really shaky quarterbacking, one last bit of ugly was a beautiful sight for the Los Angeles Chargers.
Jalen Hurts threw his fourth interception near the goal line in overtime as the Chargers outlasted the Philadelphia Eagles 22-19 on Monday night at SoFi Stadium in a game between playoff contenders.
Chargers defensive back Tony Jefferson corralled the tipped ball to end the game. Minutes earlier, Cameron Dicker had kicked his fifth goal, a 54-yarder, to give the Chargers the lead in OT.
Eagles’ D has to carry the O again
This was not the way Philly head coach Nick Sirianni prefers his team to play. The Eagles had a season-high five turnovers, including Hurts’ career-high four picks. But an Eagles defense that severely struggled in its last two games kept this game within reach, forcing a field goal to open overtime, which gave the offense one more shot to win. — Brooks Kubena, Eagles writer
Pass rush gets to Herbert
Jalen Carter’s injury was supposed to hinder the defensive front. It didn’t. The Eagles sacked Justin Herbert seven times — the most times he’s been sacked in a game in his career. They got to him by using blitzes, four-man rushes and good coverage. Nakobe Dean blitzed Herbert in the first half and recorded a sack-fumble. Adoree’ Jackson intercepted Herbert off a tipped pass. And when the Eagles struggled offensively, the defense picked up the slack. The Chargers scored only six points off the Eagles’ five turnovers. Not much has changed in the way the Eagles have functioned this season. It will offer very little compensation in this loss that their defense is back to playing at a championship level. — Kubena
Herbert’s legs help get it done
In an otherwise very poor performance for the Chargers offensively, Herbert’s legs were just enough. He rushed for 20 yards on the Chargers’ tying field goal drive at the end of regulation, including 9 yards on a read keeper. In overtime, he had another 13 yards rushing to help set up Dicker’s winning kick, including 12 yards on a read keeper. Herbert had surgery on his left hand a week ago but led the Chargers in rushing with 66 yards. — Daniel Popper, Chargers beat writer
Gutsy win for L.A.
This was as gutsy as gutsy gets. And the Chargers, somehow, improved to 9-4. Defensively, the Chargers did what they needed to against a struggling Eagles offense. Most importantly, they picked Hurts three times on throws between the numbers. The biggest of them all: Tony Jefferson’s interception that iced the game in overtime. Jefferson was out of the Chargers’ defensive rotation as recently as Week 11. He has interceptions in back-to-back games since returning to the active game-day roster. — Popper
Run defense sprang a leak
The Chargers’ run defense was a little leaky. Saquon Barkley finished with 122 yards on 20 carries, but 52 of those came on one touchdown run. The Eagles ran a fake tush push. It’s fair to tip your cap on that call, which was timed well and executed well. Turnovers are the great equalizer, though, and the Chargers’ interceptions made all the difference. — Popper
Pass protection must improve
The Chargers allowed far too much free pressure, particularly up the middle. When they were able to protect, none of the pass-catchers could get open, forcing Herbert to pull the ball and scramble. The run game was nonexistent. The Chargers are injured along the offensive line, with both starting tackles out for the season. Trey Pipkins, who started at right tackle, left the game in the first half with an ankle injury, and Bobby Hart replaced him. With this collection of offensive linemen, the Chargers will have to establish the running game. They have to lean into quick-game concepts. When they want to attack downfield, they have to max protect with extra blockers. The Chargers did none of those things Monday. They also turned it over twice on offense. That is a recipe for an ugly game. — Popper
Terrible game for Hurts
Hurts had five turnovers overall in one of the worst games of his career, with mistakes overshadowing a few highlight-reel passes. In the first half, he became the first player in recent history to commit two turnovers on the same play. Hurts had one interception through the first 10 games of the season but has five in the past two. He also has seven turnovers in the past two games, playing the mistake-riddled football that he takes pride in avoiding. There were pass attempts in which his receivers did not help him enough, but there were enough poor passes that will make Hurts a major talking point coming out of this loss. — Zach Berman, Eagles senior writer
Philly blows a big opportunity
The Eagles spoiled a pristine opportunity to take a three-win lead on the Cowboys with four games to play. After the Cowboys’ loss this week, the Eagles could have given themselves some distance in the NFC East. With their third consecutive loss, the 8-5 Eagles need to rebound in a major way against the Las Vegas Raiders next week to avoid the Cowboys inching closer in the division. The Eagles’ final four games are against the Raiders, and then the Washington Commanders twice, sandwiching the Buffalo Bills. — Berman