Week 7 Overreactions: Are the LA Chargers over the hump?

The LA Chargers defeated the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 7. What overreactions came from the win?

With the LA Chargers closing out a victory with excellent play by their rookie quarterback, it seems like there may be some momentum heading out of the bye week.

How excited should we be about this performance as fans? Well, let’s decide based on some common overreactions to the game.

Overreaction #1: The LA Chargers fixed their problem with blowing leads and are ready to string together some wins

In Week 7, the LA Chargers finally got over the hump and were able to close out a game, defeating the Jacksonville Jaguars by a score of 39-29.

With this win, can we finally feel like this Chargers team is as good as advertised and is ready to go on a run to get back to .500?

As you might have expected, there are signs that point both ways on that one.

First, the positive. At this point, we know that Justin Herbert is legit. He played lights-out football again, completing 27 of 43 passes for 347 yards and 3 touchdowns. On top of that, Herbert was actually the Chargers’ leading rusher, going for 66 yards and a touchdown on 9 attempts.

Simply put, when you have quarterback play this good, you can hang around in any game and always have a chance to win.

However, there are several signs that indicate that the Chargers may not be over the hump yet.

One key sign of that is injuries. While the Chargers greatly benefitted from having some time to recover from injuries, it is apparent that they are not fully healthy and still will not be come Week 8.

After watching Chris Conley burn Michael Davis for a long touchdown, it is obvious how much the Chargers miss Chris Harris. Melvin Ingram also appeared to re-injure his knee in the game, which might make the Chargers rely on the secondary even more in coming weeks.

Also, the offensive line is still not whole. Besides successful reverses by Joe Reed and Tyron Johnson and designed plays for Justin Herbert, running plays were fairly unsuccessful. Joshua Kelley and Justin Jackson both averaged an awful 2.4 yards per carry. The Chargers need to be able to run the ball to close out close games.

Furthermore, special teams gaffes were costly in this one, and it is clear that the unit needs some changes. George Stewart’s job should be in serious jeopardy after this one, particularly due to the costly punt block. Michael Badgley’s job is also not secure (more on that later).

Despite all of this, it was promising that the Chargers were finally able to close hold a lead throughout the fourth quarter. However, teams better than the Jaguars are coming up on the schedule, and the Chargers are going to need more than elite play by Justin Herbert to go on a run in the upcoming weeks.

Verdict #1: Slight overreaction