Justin Herbert turned the ball over in the seventh consecutive game to begin the 2026 season. He ended with a pair of interceptions thrown and another fumble that luckily was knocked out of bounds before the Rams could secure it.
Most days, it’s easy to turn around and blame the offensive line who normally puts up an underwhelming performance in pass protection. That wasn’t the case in Week Eight as nearly the entire front five had a decent to great day protecting Herbert.
The defense unsurprisingly
had some standouts. Holding the Rams to zero first downs through the game’s first 28 and a half minutes is something to be very proud of. Unfortunately the nine points score during that stretch of dominance was nowhere near enough to put the game away.
Let’s go ahead and check out the grades from Sunday.
Offense
Best
OT Joe Alt – 77.7
TE Oronde Gadsden II – 74.4
OT Travis Burke – 69.4
WR Tre’ Harris – 66.1
WR Quentin Johnston – 63.1
Alt remains one of the top offensive tackles in the NFL and that didn’t change after missing two games with a nek injury. He returned to be the top player on the offense, posting a pass block grade of 89.9 which fell a hair short of an elite mark.
Gadsden had season-high 52 yards receiving against the Rams on five receptions, also tying his previous season high. With eight catches on 10 targets over the past two games, the hope is that McDaniel keeps pushing to get Gadsden back to his rookie season form where he was a surprising standout.
The rookie Burke remains one of the Chargers’ best offensive players despite being forced into a starting role much sooner than he likely expected. Behind both Alt and Rashawn Slater, Burke is actually the team’s third-highest-graded player on the year. He had a team-high 67.5 run block grade against the Rams.
In his first game back from injury, Harris was the team’s highest-graded wideout after catching three passes for 31 yards. He remains the best run-blocking wideout for the Chargers. Johnston also caught all four of his targets for 37 yards.
Worst
FB Scott Matlock – 31.9
RB Omarion Hampton – 47.2
OG Cole Strange – 48.6
QB Justin Herbert – 50.2
WR Ladd McConkey – 51.0
After a strong return to the field following his IR stint, Matlock had a rough outing against the Rams where he earned a porous 38.5 as a run blocker and was flagged for a penalty.
Hampton’s 30.5 receiving grade sunk his overall mark. He had a very strong 74.9 in pass protection, though.
Strange is on pace for the worst overall season grade of his career. His 39.5 pass block grade on the year remains atrocious and he continues to be one of the bottom five Chargers players week-in and week-out.
Herbert threw two more interceptions and only grew his league-leading total to 10. McConkey dropped one of the first passes thrown his way on Sunday and his stat line (4-86) would have looked a lot better if he didn’t luck into catching the Hail Mary attempt at the end of the first half (54 yards).
Defense
Best
CB Isas Waxter – 89.0
S R.J. Mickens – 84.2
LB Troy Dye – 82.8
LB Del’Shawn Phillips – 79.8
DT Justin Eboigbe – 73.7
Look at the rookie Waxter go! He was the highest-graded player not only on defense, but the entire Chargers team. He posted an 89.9 in coverage. His 79.6 tackling grade was also third best on the team.
This was Mickens’ best game of the year, as well. His 85.6 in tackling topped the team and his 75.1 in coverage was fifth best.
Despite playing very few snaps each week, Dye has been impactful. His 80.8 in coverage was second on the team while his 76.9 in tackling was fourth best.
Eboigbe was one of the team’s best run defenders (74.5 in run defense) and was sixth in tackling (71.2).
Worst
LB Daiyan Henley – 27.7
DT Dalvin Tomlinson – 29.8
DT Jamaree Caldwell – 47.4
S Elijah Molden – 53.3
DT Nick Barrett – 55.1
Henley had a very rough outing against the Rams. He was put on his butt more than once and struggled mightily in coverage (27.2). He allowed all four targets his way to be completed and missed a tackle.
Tomlinson posted the team’s worst run defense grade with a 29.9.
Molden was put one-on-one with a running back in the open field multiple times on Sunday. It never ended well for him and that’s reflected in his run defense (33.0) and tackling (24.6) grades.
