Don’t for one minute under estimate how difficult it is for a team traveling from the west coast to win on the east coast as the Chargers did in defeating the Eagles to improve their record to 5-3 and take sole possession of the AFC West in the process. The Chargers won on the east coast twice this season.
In the 27-24 victory ‘Rifleman’ Justin Herbert became the became the only player in NFL history to reach 600 completions through the first 25 starts of a career.
With each and every passing game, the second year signal caller demonstrates an elite level of play that head coach Brandon Staley continues to rave about.
“Our quarterback executed at a really high level and we wanted to finish that game with the football,” said Staley. “This was a line of scrimmage game and our offensive line competed at a really high level, our tight ends blocked ( all four of them) extremely well today. Thirty-two of thirty-eight in a pro game (Herbert’s passing performance) that’s really-really good.”
“I really like the way we executed in the run game and pass game. I really thought that we had balance on offense and I thought that was one of the big keys was keeping that front off balance. I love our protection plan against a really rally good (defensive) front and my hats off to Frank Smith, Shaun Sarrett, Joe Lombardi, Shane day and our whole offensive staff,” Staley complemented following the victory in Philadelphia.
This week offers a new set of challenges against a Minnesota Vikings team that has lost games by scores of 27-24, 34-33,14-7, 20-16 and last week 34-31 in overtime against the Baltimore Ravens.
So, this team that will bring a 3-5 record into SoFi Stadium is not indicative of how good they really are and the Chargers will have to continue to improve in all facets of their game to win.
These next four games for the Bolts will tell us everything we need to know about their post season possibilities.
This Sunday against the Vikes, then the Steelers on Nov. 21, on the road at Denver on Nov. 28 and on the road at Cincy against the Bengals on Dec. 5.
Win them all and you are 9-3 and sitting pretty with five games remaining and three of them at SoFi Stadium.
BOLTS NOTES
Wide receiver Keenan Allen caught 12 passes for 104 yards in Philadelphia, his 30th 100-yard game as a Charger. Allen is three receiving yards shy of 8,000 for his career.
Quarterback Justin Herbert was not sacked in a game for the first time in his NFL career. He finished 32-of-38 for 356 yards and three total touchdowns. Herbert completed a career-high 84.2 percent of his passes.