Young quarterbacks and defense pace the Chargers and Rams

Some people say defense wins championships but if you don't score points a good defense can be wasted. Two games into the 2020 season and the Chargers and Rams have the right combination to have winning seasons.

Their defenses are led by powerful defensive lines, active linebackers and opportunistic defensive backs. The Rams are also led by a young fifth year quarterback in Jared Goff and Chargers rookie quarterback Justin Herbert made an impressive debut against the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs last week at Sofi Stadium in Inglewood. Herbert looked like a high draft choice throwing for 311 yards and one touchdown but he had one costly interception during a 23-20 overtime loss.

Although Herbert played well Chargers head coach, Anthony Lynn said veteran Tyrod Taylor is the starting quarterback if he is healthy. Taylor suffered chest pains just before kickoff last week and it was revealed a few days ago that Taylor has a punctured lung. This happened after a team doctor gave him a shot last Sunday just before the game. The shot was to relive pain from broken ribs and it accidently punctured his lung. Now it looks like Herbert maybe the starter for at least the next few weeks.

Goff threw for 267 yards and three touchdowns in their 37-19 win over the Eagles last Sunday.

Both teams got help from their running backs last week when Austin Ekeler of the Chargers ran for 93 yards and his back up, former UCLA star Joshua Kelley gained 64 yards and Darrell Henderson of the Rams gained 81 yards.

The 2-0 Rams travel to Buffalo to play the 2-0 Bills at 10 a.m. on Channel 11, and the Chargers 1-1 have another home game against the 0-2 Carolina Panthers at 1 p.m. on Channel 2.

The Rams face a tougher opponent in the Bills who are led by their 6-5, 238 pound quarterback Josh Allen. "Yeah, he's really impressive," said Rams head coach Sean McVay at their training camp in Thousand Oaks last Wednesday. "I think you just look at the play making ability, the ability to create off schedule. He's seeing the field really well right now. He's making plays on schedule and off schedule. He's playing the position at a high level and coach (Offensive Coordinator Brian) Daboll's doing a really nice job of putting Josh and their players in good positions to be successful."

The Lakers are leading the Nuggets 2-1 (At Press Time) in a best of seven game series but the Nuggets continue to be a dangerous team. They are led by their big man Nikola Jokic and guard Jamal Murray but the Lakers have a better one-two punch in Anthony Davis and LeBron James.

Lakers head coach Frank Vogel had this to say about Davis and James this week. "The combination of AD and LeBron, if one of them is not going the other one is and when they are both going at the same time they are near impossible to stop."

Vogel said even though the Lakers have a lot of veteran players on the team their spirit is young. "They continue to enjoy the game of basketball and we have big strong guys who also have the ability to run and that's Lakers basketball but Denver is also big and strong and they are mentally tough."

If Lakers can continue to get inspired play from veteran guard Rajon Rondo they should be able to make it back to the NBA finals. "He has the ability to be able to compete on the defensive end, bark out coverages and be a quarterback on the court," said Vogel about Rondo. "He continues to energize our group. His voice is energy and offensively his ability to quarterback the offense just settles us down and he is able to create good looks around him."

The Sparks of the WNBA were knocked out of the playoffs in the second round 73-59 by the Connecticut Sun in the Bubble in Florida last week. The Sparks were held to their lowest point total of the year. One of the reasons why is they were playing without one of their best players, Nneka Ogwunike who was suffering from a migraine headache. They finished the season with a record of 15-8.