The Los Angeles Chargers aren’t quite off to the start they hoped for. They’re still doing better than the 0-4 start they had last year. However, they still are currently in third place in the AFC West. It’s not really for lack of plays on offense. A few drops by receivers in Week One aside, the offense has been working quite well. There have been some special teams gaffes again, but they haven’t really been game-deciding like last year. On the other hand, the defense has not been quite as good as hoped so far. That may be due to arguably their best defensive player being out due to injury: Joey Bosa.
The Los Angeles Chargers Hope for the Fast Recovery of Joey Bosa
The Aggravated Foot Injury
Now, perhaps the memory should be refreshed on what exactly is wrong with the Pro Bowler Bosa because there has been some confusion. He initially hurt his foot in the preseason, and it seemed like he was on track for returning fairly quick. However, the week before the first game of the season, he seemingly hurt it worse. He ended up in a walking boot and apparently has a bone bruise on that foot. The most recent update is that a return is not likely until around Week Nine.
The Chargers Defense Without Bosa
Let’s refresh our memories of the 2017 season for the defense really quickly. We all remember that Bosa and his pass-rusher counterpart Melvin Ingram terrorized quarterbacks last year. The team as a whole got 43 sacks. Meanwhile, the secondary allowed the third-fewest passing yards in the league and came up with 18 interceptions. That was despite losing starting cornerback Jason Verrett for the season yet again early on.
This year so far: without Bosa, they’ve struggled to get as much pressure. That’s not to say plays haven’t been made, but they are definitely having fewer sacks a game thus far. In particular, they struggled to get any pressure whatsoever on Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (although given his mobility, it may not have mattered a whole lot). And it seems to have had an effect on the secondary as well. Although there have been a few interceptions so far (including one by first-rounder rookie Derwin James), they’re in the bottom half of the league right now in passing yards surrendered. Both Mahomes and Jared Goff have (mostly) shredded the pass defense. Josh Allen didn’t, but he’s a rookie.
The Effect on the Secondary
All of this shows a series of events: when Bosa and Ingram attack the quarterback, the quarterback is under pressure and sometimes panics. When the quarterback is under pressure and/or panics because two big defensive ends are coming for him, sometimes his throws won’t be as accurate. And when the quarterback’s throws aren’t as accurate… that can lead to less passing yards and possibly more interceptions.
On the flip side, what we’re seeing without Bosa is that Ingram isn’t being able to do enough on his own. As such, not as much pressure is being put on the quarterbacks. And thus, they’re freer to do with the secondary as they see fit. And thus, now we see the truth: a couple good names aside (Casey Hayward and the rookie James), the Chargers secondary was never truly great on their own. They only looked that way because Bosa and Ingram together made it easier for them. They’re not bad, per se, but without that deadly pass-rushing duo to help them out, they’re not a top 10 secondary like they were last year. This is something I already believed to be likely, but now we are witnessing it in action.
Last Word
We already knew Bosa was one of the very best players on the team. But now his importance seems even more clear. Without him, the quality of the entire Chargers defense—not just the pass-rushing–has dropped. While the Chargers can definitely take solace in the fact that both of their two losses as of this writing have come to two of the three undefeated teams left (Chiefs and Los Angeles Rams), this still means they may be forced to lean on the offense more than usual until Bosa returns. Fortunately, their next matchups come against a San Francisco 49ers team that has lost its starting quarterback for the season, followed by a game against the current AFC West cellar dwellers Oakland Raiders, and then the Cleveland Browns. In other words, they have a good chance to get a leg back up in the division race while they wait for Bosa to return.
