{"id":146935,"date":"2023-09-20T11:00:08","date_gmt":"2023-09-20T15:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=146935"},"modified":"2023-09-19T12:43:52","modified_gmt":"2023-09-19T16:43:52","slug":"3-standouts-in-chargers-week-2-loss-to-the-tennessee-titans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2023\/09\/20\/3-standouts-in-chargers-week-2-loss-to-the-tennessee-titans\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Standouts for Chargers in Loss to Titans"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Despite a devastating loss, the silver lining was that there were some major standouts for the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 2 against the Tennessee Titans.<\/p>\n<p>[metabet_core_side_odds_tile query=&#8221;fbp\/los_angeles_chargers&#8221; size=&#8221;350&#215;300&#8243; site_id=&#8221;lastwordonsports&#8221;]<\/p>\n<h2>3 Standouts for Los Angeles Chargers in Week 2 Loss to Tennessee Titans<\/h2>\n<h3>Keenan Allen<\/h3>\n<p>In a game where the Chargers were going to air out the ball, Keenan Allen had to be reliable for <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2023\/06\/06\/justin-herbert-best-season-2023\/\" target=\"_self\">Justin Herbert<\/a>. Allen did not disappoint, having a career game. He caught eight balls on 10 targets for 111 yards and two touchdowns. With that performance, Allen showed that, despite his age, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2023\/07\/23\/3-chargers-primed-for-regression\/\" target=\"_self\">regression<\/a> remains a non-issue.<\/p>\n<p>After an impressive Week 1 performance, Allen took advantage of a banged-up secondary in Week 2. He completely destroyed Tennessee&#8217;s defense backs with his clean routes and reliable hands.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">atleast we got this from the game <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/FqkSmEzBON\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/FqkSmEzBON<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Nate Gosney (@NateGosney) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NateGosney\/status\/1703618728410353969?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">September 18, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3>Tuli Tuipulotu<\/h3>\n<p>Tuli Tuipulotu was the Chargers&#8217; second-round selection in the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2023\/09\/13\/chargers-rookie-draft-class-off-to-unimpressive-start\/\" target=\"_self\">2023 draft<\/a>. He is the main rotational\/substitute edge rusher for the Chargers. Khalil Mack and Joey Bosa are certified stars, but are getting older. Therefore, Tuipulotu is expected to eventually replace one of the likely-to-be-cut defensive ends in the coming years.<\/p>\n<p>The 21-year-old should be viewed in a similar vein as former USC and Charger defender, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/N\/NwosUc00.htm\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Uchenna Nwosu<\/a>. Both have similar builds, skillsets, and roles. Nwosu was a rotational defender when the Chargers paired Bosa with prime <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/I\/IngrMe00.htm\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Melvin Ingram<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>During Nwosu&#8217;s tenure, he played well in his role, and eventually earned the starting job after Ingram&#8217;s departure. Thus, Tuipulotu will likely follow a similar path to Nwosu.<\/p>\n<p>Tuipulotu was very solid in Week 1, but he was a standout Week 2. <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2023\/09\/17\/chargers-key-players-replacements\/\" target=\"_self\">With Bosa playing on limited snaps<\/a>, the USC product filled in for the former Rookie of the Year. As a majority starter, Tuipulotu showed why he was drafted as early as he was.<\/p>\n<p>The defensive lineman had seven tackles, a sack, and plenty of big plays in the run game. Tuipulotu stood out throughout the entirety of the game, showing that he deserves to be considered for a long-term starting spot. However, this year, he will return to his rotational role, playing in relief of the aging defenders ahead of him.<\/p>\n<h3>Kenneth Murray<\/h3>\n<p>The biggest surprise standout of the game was former first-round selection, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/M\/MurrKe00.htm\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kenneth Murray<\/a>. Murray has been considered by many as a bust, and someone who does not deserve the snaps he is getting. After position switches and coaching changes all amounting to limited success, Murray is in a make-or-break year.<\/p>\n<p>In Week 2, lead linebacker Eric Kendricks was out. Thus, it was up to Murray to call defensive plays and lead the defense. On Sunday, against the league&#8217;s most feared runner, Derrick Henry, Murray was up to the challenge. Murray had ten tackles and one sack, earning a week without the media talking about how he should be cut.<\/p>\n<p>If Murray can push on from this performance, he can be a real pleasant surprise for the Bolts. Consequently, this would make things interesting for the linebacker room. Next week against the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/vikings\/\" target=\"_self\">Minnesota Vikings<\/a>, Murray will be put to the test once again, against one of the league&#8217;s best passing offenses.<\/p>\n<p><em>Universal Responsible Gambling Disclaimer:<br \/>\nAges 21+. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Main Photo: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Despite a rough start to the season, some players gave standout performances for the Chargers in Week 2&#8217;s loss against the Titans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4709,"featured_media":147118,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[7642,504,6098,9815],"class_list":["post-146935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chargers","tag-chargers-featured","tag-keenan-allen","tag-kenneth-murray","tag-tuli-tuipulotu"],"modified_by":"Curtis Leung","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146935","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4709"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146935"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146935\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}