The Chargers came out and shocked both the northern and southern hemisphere’s by beating the Chiefs 27-21 in Brazil this past Friday night.
It was a whole team effort. The defense held Patrick Mahomes and Co. to just one passing touchdown and overall kept the Kansas City offense off the field long enough to maintain their lead which they held all night long. Offensively, Herbert was in rhythm with his wideouts and seemingly made the right choice on every single play. Outside of a miss deep to Ladd
McConkey, he was near perfect.
Also, welcome back Keenan Allen! The veteran scored in his first game back with the Chargers after spending all of 2024 in Chicago.
It was a hell of a way to begin the season, that’s for sure.
But now, let’s go ahead and dive into the best and worst grades given to the Chargers from Pro Football Focus this week!
Offense
Best (min. 25 snaps)
QB Justin Herbert – 84.0
OT Joe Alt – 74.9
WR Quentin Johnston – 73.7
WR Ladd McConkey – 71.3
TE Will Dissly – 69.0
Herbert went insane-o mode and it showed up everywhere. No surprise that he was the offense’s best player on Friday night.
Alt was STELLAR at left tackle and especially when he was up against All-Pro defensive lineman Chris Jones. Alt ended with an elite 91.4 pass block grade and allowed zero pressures over 40+ pass block snaps.
Johnston, McConkey, and Dissly all did their thing, as well. Johnston came through with two touchdowns while McConkey and Dissly helped move the chains in key moments. Dissly’s 84.8 run block was also tops on the team by over 17 grade points.
Worst
C Bradley Bozeman – 52.4
RB Omarion Hampton – 54.8
OG Mekhi Becton – 56.8
OT Trey Pipkins – 57.0
TE Tyler Conklin – 57.4
For the most part I thought Hampton had a solid debut against a team that’s known for stopping the run well. He had chunk gains when the team needed it to get ahead of the chains and overall made few mistakes outside of running out of bounds late when they needed the clock to keep rolling. Now I thought Hampton was also pretty good in pass protection, but PFF has him with a crazy bad mark of 18.7 which is unsurprisingly the worst on the team. Without that, his night probably looks a lot better on paper.
Bozeman had the team’s worst run block grade at 49.7 while Pipkins’ 49.2 was the worst among the front five in pass blocking.
Conklin’s night would have been much prettier if it wasn’t for the fumble after his huge catch-and-run on a screen pass from Herbert. Otherwise, he did his job all night long.
If it wasn’t for two penalties, Becton was just about everything the team wanted from him despite playing with an illness that was obviously affecting him. His pass block grade of 88.1 was nearly elite and only behind Alt. His run block grade of 63.6 was just fine for being sick.
Defense
Best
S Derwin James – 81.3
CB Donte Jackson – 77.7
CB Tarheeb Still – 71.2
DT Teair Tart – 70.4
LB Daiyan Henley – 68.7
James led the Chargers defense with five “stops” on the night, which is a play PFF qualifies as a “failure” by the offense. Still was second on the team with three stops. James also had the team’s second-highest coverage grade (77.9) and the top run defense grade (81.3).
Tart had an abysmal tackling grade at 26.2, but managed to be the team’s top pass rusher with a 76.2 in that category. Daiyan Henley, in his first game as a captain, led the defense with an 81.5 tackling grade and notched one of the team’s two sacks on Patrick Mahomes.
Worst
CB Cam Hart – 41.2
LB Troy Dye – 49.7
EDGE Bud Dupree – 52.3
DT Jamaree Caldwell – 53.4
EDGE Khalil Mack – 54.3
Hart had a team-low 39.6 coverage grade after allowing four-of-eight passes to be completed his way for 62 yards. Dye was credited for allowing the touchdown reception to Travis Kelce, but otherwise balanced his night out with an 80.4 tackling grade (second best on team).
