Saturday's game against the Seahawks was not a good showcase for the quarterbacks or offense. Los Angeles failed to find the end zone and were held under 200 total yards. HC Jim Harbaugh didn't mince words in his media availability postgame, saying outright that the offense "underperformed". Harbaugh also wouldn't commit to a quarterback as the teams' preseason Week 2 starter.
Defense and special teams meanwhile played Harbaugh's brand of "winning football" on Saturday. The defensive pass rush looked good throughout the game with quality penetration on the EDGE and interior. In their first experience with the NFL's new kickoff rules, Ryan Ficken's unit handled their business.
Biggest winners and losers from Chargers' preseason loss:
Winner: DC Jesse Minter
It wasn't a perfect game from Jesse Minter. One issue was that Seattle converted a few too many late 3rd downs in drives. That being said, his first-string defense was consistently impressive early. While the Chargers' coordinators opted to keep their play calling vanilla, Minter mixed up ways to manufacture pressure frequently.
Alohi Gilman, Ja'Sir Taylor, and other defensive backs came downhill for more pressure generation. On one play early on, Minter gave us a little preview of what the four main EDGE rushers could look like in the regular season. Tuli Tuipulotu kicked inside and applied pressure while Bud Dupree and Tre'Mon Morris-Brash won their reps on the outside. It resulted in a tipped pass by Morris-Brash from Sam Howell to force a punt.
Another play from Deane Leonard saw him in a perfect position to intercept a pass prior to slipping. The Chargers had seven pass deflections on the night.
The Minter defense had been gelling in training camp. Last night, they looked very prepared and had few miscues in terms of being in the right positions. It's just one preseason game, but the precision and aggressiveness of the defense will translate when the stars play in the regular season.
Loser: QB Easton Stick
There's no real way around this one. Easton Stick had an opportunity to place an authoritative stamp on the QB2 job behind Justin Herbert. Instead, one could argue that he had his worst preseason showing since 2019 with poor decision-making and a 14.6 passer rating. The door has absolutely creaked open regarding questions about Stick and the QB room as a whole, as indicated by Harbaugh in his postgame presser.
A poorly placed pass from Stick resulted in an interception while having Hayden Hurst shaken up badly in the process. Stick also looked rather anxious in drop-back situations. He created multiple defensive pressures on himself by failing to climb up into the pocket properly.
It certainly wasn't all Stick's fault. Greg Roman's playcalling left a lot to be desired in addition to the interior offensive line's performance. But it was as poorly as the game could've gone for him within the factors he could control himself.
Winner: LB Nick Niemann
Nick Niemann looked a little rough early on. A missed tackle by Niemann led to Brady Russell running into the end zone for a Seattle score.
After that, however, Niemann responded very well. He had a run stuff that led directly into a sack to force a Seattle punt. For the whole game, Niemann finished with 12 tackles (nine solo, six run stops, and one tackle for loss), a sack, and two quarterback hits.
Niemann will be an important presence on special teams this year, but he also showed that he has enough juice to play defensively if an injury happens to the Chargers' top linebacker trio of Denzel Perryman, Daiyan Henley, and Junior Colson.
Loser: RB Isaiah Spiller
Like with Stick, it's worth pointing out that the interior offensive line failed to do the running backs many favors. But for two main reasons, Isaiah Spiller doesn't come out of this game looking particularly good.
First, Jaret Patterson has RB3 reps locked up behind Gus Edwards and JK Dobbins. Spiller did not appear until the games' third series, indicating that he is a distant RB4.
This was also Spiller's best opportunity to impress without 2024 sixth-round pick Kimani Vidal playing. He had five yards on five carries. His longest run was four yards and he had just one yard combined on his other four attempts.
Spiller flashed slightly in the receiving game with three catches for 18 yards. But simply put, he needs better efforts as a rusher in the last two Chargers' preseason games if he is going to make the roster.
Winner: WR Jaelen Gill
Cameron Dicker will be the special teams' performance that most talk about with an awesome coverage tackle and 58-yard field goal. But the performance that stood out to me in the kicking game was that of UDFA WR Jaelen Gill.
Derius Davis was not active in the team's first preseason contest. Gill was substituted in as the teams' primary returner on kickoffs and punts. On the game's opening kickoff, Gill had a 43-yard return with himself and Elijah Dotson in the landing zone. He also had an impressive 19-yard punt return later on.
He clearly earned the trust of Ficken. The Chargers didn't experiment with other players returning a kickoff or punt last night.
Special teams was a critical element to Elijah Dotson making the initial 53-man roster last season. If Gill can continue to impress, he may prove himself worthy of a depth role.
Loser: OT Alex Leatherwood
Alex Leatherwood was signed earlier this offseason as the Chargers looked to add to their offensive line depth. After a tumultuous ending to his time with the Raiders and being on Chicago's practice squad last season, the former first-round pick is looking to earn his way back onto an NFL roster.
Last night wasn't great. Leatherwood gave up the most pressures on the offensive line with five.
OC Greg Roman said earlier in the week that the swing tackle competition between Leatherwood and Foster Sarell was a "dead heat". The preseason Week 1 win definitely has to go to Sarell between the two offensive linemen. Sarell also played significant snaps at left tackle, right tackle and right guard. Flexibility in offensive line usage definitely also gives some insight into how the coaching staff may value Sarell over Leatherwood.