LA Chargers: The good, bad and ugly in loss to Denver Broncos

(Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports) – LA Chargers

The bad:

The officiating:

Now, I am not one to blame the referees for losing a game. The LA Chargers absolutely lost this game and could have won it even with the bad officiating. The pass-interference call on Brandon Facyson in the endzone was absolutely the right one.

However, there was one sequence of events that was stomach-churning. Late in the fourth quarter, Kareem Jackson led his shoulder into Troymaine Pope’s head, concussing him and taking him out of the game.

This was the kind of hit that players get flagged for all the time. No call. That was ridiculous. Then, on the ensuing defensive drive, Nasir Adderley shoved Phillip Lindsay as he ran out of bounds (he did not even fall) and it was called unnecessary roughness. The Broncos scored the next play.

What Adderley did was dumb, but the fact that the referees decided to call that unnecessary roughness and not the blatant example of targeting was sickening.

The injuries:

This is not really the LA Chargers fault but it is a bad takeaway from this game. Joey Bosa had to be evaluated for a concussion and was not on the field for the last drive. Neither was Casey Hayward, who was battling his own ailment.

Pope, because of Jackson, also had to go into concussion protocol. Bosa and Hayward are two huge losses to the defense, especially the way Hayward was playing. It showed on the final drive of the game.