Buccaneers dominate in blowout win over the Chargers

Last Sunday afternoon at SoFi Stadium, the Los Angeles Chargers had one of those days that every football coach and player experiences. They got blown out at home by their opponent. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers came into town with their high-powered offense and took the Chargers defense apart, defeating the Chargers 40-17.

This was one of those games where the Chargers simply got beaten up physically and the game got away from them. The Chargers led in the second quarter, 17-10. From that point on, the Buccaneers completely dominated the game, outscoring the Chargers 30-0. The Buccaneers outgained the Chargers 506 yards to 206 yards, dominating on the ground 223 yards to 32 yards and outgained the Chargers through the air, 283 yards to 174 yards. The Buccaneers also controlled the time of possession, 36:48 to 23:12.

The Buccaneers offense was so potent that Tampa Bay rookie punter Jack Browning, who was promoted from the practice squad to face the Chargers after struggling in his NFL debut the previous week, never got a chance to punt. The Bucs offense scored on 8 of their 11 offensive possessions, giving Browning the day off from his punting duties.

Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield completed 22 of 27 passes for 288 yards and four touchdowns, while future-Hall-of-Fame wide receiver Mike Evans had nine receptions for 159 yards and two touchdowns. Evans needs 251 yards in receiving to tie Jerry Rice's record of 11 consecutive seasons with 1,000 receiving yards. Evans has missed three games this season due to injuries.

As the late great former USC head coach John McKay once said about his team's performance, "Can't stop a pass, or a run...otherwise we're in great shape." That epitomized the Chargers performance on Sunday, although the offense did very little in the game as well. The question for the Chargers is whether this is a one-game aberration, or are the Chargers starting to get exposed?

The loss dropped the Chargers to 8-6 but they are still in good shape for a playoff berth. The Chargers are in the 7th and last playoff slot, two games ahead of the Cincinnati Bengals, Miami Dolphins, and Indianapolis Colts, who are all at 6-8 for the season. If the Chargers win two of their final three games, they are in the playoffs, regardless of what the other teams do. Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh understands what is ahead for his team.

"From my vantage point, I mean, this is life," Harbaugh said after the game last Sunday. "It's football. We've seen the good times and today we're staring at adversity. It's how we respond. That's where my mind is on to, getting ready for this next game. We didn't play well enough, we didn't coach well enough. It was pretty thorough. Very thorough and now we're staring at that adversity. It's how we respond."

Next up is the Denver Broncos on Thursday Night at SoFi Stadium, with the game a quick test of how the Chargers will respond to adversity. The Broncos are in the 6th playoff slot with a 9-5 record. A win by the Broncos would clinch a playoff berth in the AFC and put them in a good position for the 5th or 6th playoff slot.

The 7th playoff slot is a likely road game at Buffalo against the Bills in the wild-card round of the NFL playoffs, not something that any team should look forward to. Buffalo is 11-3 on the season and the average high temperature in Buffalo in January is 31 degrees. Considering the fact that the Chargers need to win this game to help get into the playoffs and stay out of the 7th playoff slot, this is in effect a playoff game for the Chargers.

The Chargers have lost three of their last four games and have struggled to run the football in all four losses. They have averaged 65 yards rushing per game in the past four games and without a credible running attack, the play action passes are not as effective. The Chargers receiving group and pass blocking have not been good enough to carry the Chargers to victory. The knee injury to running back J.K. Dobbins has negatively affected the running game. Dobbins is currently on injured reserve and will not be available this week.

The Chargers need to find their running game this week against a tough Bronco defense. The Broncos run defense is second in average per carry allowed at 3.9 yards and fifth in rushing yardage allowed per game at 98.6 yards per game. The Chargers and Broncos are tied for the league lead in scoring defense at 17.6 points per game.

The Chargers have quarterback Justin Herbert, and he will always give the Chargers a shot at winning in any game. Herbert has thrown 16 touchdown passes and just 2 interceptions through 14 regular season games. Herbert threw for 195 yards and two touchdowns against the Buccaneers, surpassing 20,000 passing yards for his career. Herbert joins Hall of Famer Peyton Manning as one of only two players in NFL history to achieve this milestone within their first five seasons.

The Chargers defeated the Broncos earlier in the season in Denver, 23-16. The Chargers led in that game, 23-0 at the end of the third quarter. The Broncos have won four consecutive games and are playing good football. The game will start at 5:15 pm at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood and will be televised nationally on Amazon Prime Video.