CHARGERS GET BACK ON TRACK IN BUFFALO

                                                      CHARGERS 31 BILLS 20

    The NFL is not college football. There is no ranking by the score differential. A win in this league is hard to achieve. When your team does win it makes the whole week go by better.
 
   The Chargers have heard it all before. From 2009-2012, 48 teams who started out 0-2 wound up missing the playoffs. The last 5 years had one team each year make the playoffs after starting 0-2.

   The Chargers don't have to worry about hearing those comparisons this week. They traveled across the country and played in the  NFL early game and still they're coming home with a W. The Chargers moved to 1-1 on the season. They even got a Bills player to retire at halftime. Now that is making a statement!
    For the most part, Sunday was a complete team effort by the Chargers. The Chargers may not be able to hang with the Chiefs new offense. But it can with most of the teams in the NFL. The  offense was led by Philip Rivers dismantling Buffalo defense. By halftime Rivers was 15-16 with 178 yards passing and 3 TD's.

   Melvin Gordon is proving himself as a receiver and a running back as he finished with 6 carries for 29 yards and 6 receptions for 48 more yards. He finished with 3 touchdowns and Austin Ekeler contributed with 98 all-purpose yards. Mike Williams had his first career touchdown, Uchenna Nwosu got his first career sack and Kyzir White also got his first interception. The defense finishewd with 5 sacks and 2 turnovers.

   On the negative side, the Chargers have never scored a opening drive touchdown under head coach Anthony Lynn. The biggest glaring weakness on the Chargers is special teams. They have been ranked at the bottom of the league for a couple of years now. Whether it is Travis Benjamin or JJ Jones the returning and coverage units have been in a word...Terrible! This vital unit that can amount to a win or a loss in a close game come December or in the playoffs.

   The Chargers will be able to measure where they are against an elite team this Sunday. They play their former defensive coordinator Wade Phillips and Marcus Peters with the 2-0 LA Rams. In California it will be titled the "Battle for LA". The rest of the country could careless which is why it's not a national prime time game.

   However, for the Rams and Chargers this is one the biggest games of the year. The season is still early and it's nopt a conference game. For each teams fan base this is about bragging rights. The Rams defense is probably going to create havoc on the Chargers offensive line. We'll review this game later in the week.

   OTHER NOTABLE NOTES...

      The Chargers are 4th in the NFL with yards after the catch.
     
      Reports are Joey Bosa out till October. That is based on him not needing surgery. That aspect is unknown, that is why there is such quietness when it comes to his exact return date if there is one.

     Derwin James is the steal of the draft. He has the most sacks of any safety and has rushed the passer 11 times with 5 pressures. That is more than double any other safety in the NFL through the first two weeks. James had 31 snaps in the box and 11 at FS.

    Kyzir White is the 4th highest grade LB in the NFL (86.7) and is the 2nd highest in coverage with a grade of 90. White has allowed a passer rating of 2.8 when targeted at least 6 times.

   There were several plays against the Bills where the defense allowed Josh Allen less than 3 seconds to release the ball.

    On the other side of the ball,  Rivers had a completion percentage of 85.2% Sunday (2nd highest in week 2). Rivers quickness throws were the 4th in the league (2.18 seconds) and he was 3rd highest in passer rating with 143.2%.

   The defense did a good job of exploiting the Bills personel Sunday. They avoided CB Tre'Davious White in coverage instead targeted the rookie LB Tremaine Edmunds with play action passes targeted his way.

   The Chargers are presently 7 point underdogs against the Rams. This will be one of the rare occasions they'll be underdogs until most likely December.

   The top 5 graded players Sunday on the team from ProFootballFocus...
Virgil Green 89.8
Kyzir White 86.7
Derwin James 85.7
Philip Rivers 86.5
Joseph Addae 76.6

   Snap Counts Sunday
    Offense:
Okung 57, Tevi 57, Feeney 57, Schofield 57, Pouncey 57, Rivers 56, Allen 51, T Williams 46, Green 42, M Williams 39, Gordon 36, Ekeler 24, Culkin 17, Gates 11, Watt 7, Davis 6, Jones 3, Newsome 3 Geno Smith 1

    Defense:
Addae 62, T Williams 60, Hayward 60, James 59, Ingram 49, King 45, Rochelle 40, White 38, Perryman 37, Philon 36, Jones 30, Mebane 28, Phillips 27, Square 24, Brown 23, Landrum 21, Emanuel 17 and Uchenna Nwosu 16