Game Recap: Week 9 San Diego Chargers v Tennessee Titans

Chargers win 43- 35.

What a game of football this one was, both teams took turns at driving up the field and scoring points. But in a surprising twist, it was the chargers opportunistic defence that forced two critical turnovers from Mariota, that lead to the deciding touchdowns.

The first quarter started with the Chargers, lead by the always consistent Phillip Rivers, drive down the field, ending with the future hall of famer Antonio Gates scoring a touchdown. The Titans had no answer for Rivers today, as he made throws that looked effortless in this pivotal win. Whilst on the other side of the ball, the Titans were struggling to get anything going through their vaunted ground attack, and Mariota couldn’t seem to connect with any of his receivers. Going three and out on two consecutive drives (Derrick Henry was also injured during warmups, and subsequently did not take part in this game, a factor that changed their rushing attack).

The second quarter started much like the first, with the Chargers cruising down the field, which again culminated in points with Tyrell Williams catching a 6-yard pass for a touchdown. The Titans finally came alive at this point in the game, with Mariota finally finding a number of receivers to move the ball on the Chargers defence, leading to a 16-yard touchdown pass to Rishard Matthews.

The Chargers lead by Melvin Gordon then continued to hold the ball and run the clock down, not resulting in points but padding an already impressive day by Gordon as he finished the half with over 100 rushing yards. The next series was another touchdown pass by Mariota to Matthews, the chemistry between these two is obvious, as Mariota was searching for Matthews on the majority of deep passes he was throwing.

To start the third quarter Mariota kept the ball and ran it into the end zone on a fantastic play. The Titans looked very good to start the second half, with Mariota leading his team down to the end zone then scampering to the outside to score a well-deserved rushing touchdown. Phillip Rivers then returned serve, marching the Chargers offence down the field, finishing the drive off with a Melvin Gordon rushing touchdown. Gordon now ties LeGarrette Blount with the most rushing touchdowns for the year, finishing the day with his 9th of the year. Very impressive considering this young player, had no rushing touchdowns all of last year.

The next Titans drive is where the wheels started to come off. On a designed quarter back run option play, Mariota was hit hard by the Chargers line backers, fumbled the ball and lead to a Chargers defensive touchdown. This was one of two pivotal plays made by the Chargers defence today, as they dominated this Titians run game and forced Mariota into multiple mistakes.

The fourth quarter started with Mariota controlling the drive and eventually finding a wide open Delanie Walker for an 8-yard touchdown. The Chargers on the next drive moved the ball well down the field, with both Rivers and Gordon adding in multiple big plays, finally settling for a field goal. This is when we saw the next of Mariota’s big mistakes, as he was trying to find Kendall Wright out to the left hand side of the field, Brandon Flowers the 9-year veteran, jumped the route and returned the intercept for a touchdown.

The Titans were now well behind, and made a number of good plays which resulted in Demarco Murray bruising his way in for a 1-yard touchdown. Murray was relatively quiet in this game, as the Chargers did very well to minimise his impact. At this point in the game the Titans may have thought a miracle could transpire if only they could get the ball back. Unfortunately for them Melvin Gordon had other ideas, ripping off his longest run of the day in a 47 scamper on third down to keep the drive alive and seal the win for the Chargers.

This was a very determined and polished win by the Chargers today. Whilst they have suffered a number of injuries this season, the emergence of Melvin Gordon (who finished the day with 196 rushing yards, 1 rushing touchdown and 65 receiving yards), has made all of the difference. Whilst we know that Phillip Rivers is the ultimate competitor, to have a workhorse back with Gordon behind him, is taking that pressure of Rivers and allowing this offence to attack opposing defences in numerous ways. The Chargers defence also needs to be recognised for this win, constantly forcing Mariota into difficult throws and scoring on two turnovers, they are now a mid-tier defence that could make some plays later in the year. Joey Bosa is also looking like a man possessed, when he isn’t getting the snap count wrong and jumping offside.

Whilst on the other side of the field, the Titans will be disappointed with this loss. Only a week ago they dominated a meagre Jags team. But if they are to win the AFC South, they are going to need to win these games. The play of Mariota at times looks like it will win them games, yet the turnovers over the past few weeks have proved very costly. I think the loss of Henry today hurt their overall game plan, for whilst Murray was kept relativity quiet for most of the day, having Henry come in may have made a big difference. The Titans are a young and exciting team, they just need to iron out some of their mistakes and force teams to play on their terms, not the other way around.