Chargers News: Advanced Analytics Pin Loss On These LA Players

Who is at fault?

Your Los Angeles Chargers' 20-17 loss to the Dallas Cowboys on Monday Night Football has definitely put a sour taste in most Bolts' fans mouths.

The team has fallen to 2-3, and now has to play 12 consecutive games to round out the season, including multiple contests against the Chiefs (first one is on Sunday), and matchups with the Baltimore Ravens, Buffalo Bills, and Detroit Lions. Things could get ugly in a hurry.

When it comes to breaking down exactly what happened on Monday, you can point to a series of factors, ranging from offensive line play, to QB Justin Herbert missing throws, to the defense collapsing towards the end of the game and committing a number of penalties, to poor play-calling by OC Kellen Moore. 

To that end, when there's this much to break down, analytics can give you a good gist of how it all breaks out numerically. Per Alex Isendorf, a Chargers reporter and podcaster, here's how Pro Football Focus evaluated the worst Bolts' this past Monday night: 

Bottom 5 Chargers PFF offense grades vs. Cowboys
1. RG Jamaree Salyer 46.4
2. WR Keelan Doss 48.0
3. C Will Clapp 48.2
4. WR Quentin Johnston 48.6
5. TE Tre' McKitty 50.1

— Alex Insdorf (@alexinsdorf99) October 17, 2023

As expected, the offensive line was particularly poor when facing off with a terrific Dallas defensive line. Right guard Jamaree Salyer had the worst PFF grade on the roster at 46.4, suggesting that he was directly responsible for a number of busted protections and thus, pressure on Herbert that likely impacted his accuracy and decision-making to a great degree. 

Wide receiver Keelan Doss, who was elevated from the practice squad ahead of the game, didn't play a ton of snaps, but was clearly bad while out there. Receivers struggling to get open doesn't help a consistently collapsing pocket while facing a great defense. 

Center Will Clapp, akin to Salyer, is someone who needed to be better than he was on Monday. As the center, he's the anchor of the offensive line and needs to be responsible for calling out protections and reading the defense. Such a poor PFF grade reflects a subpar job of all of that, which the loss can be partially attributed to. 

WR Quentin Johnston and TE Tre McKitty have less expected of them and weren't on the field as much as Salyer and Clapp, but Johnston in particular got blown up on the game-sealing interception, getting bumped by CB Stephon Gilmore, falling over, and letting him intercept a ball that was intended for him. This, paired with his inability to get open, definitely didn't help the Chargers in an already difficult matchup. 

While analytics don't tell the full story, two offensive lineman and three pass-catchers being statistically responsible for the loss does say something about the game. Football being 11-on-11 and involving so much complexity and nuance mean that while one player (ex: Herbert) looks responsible for issues on the field, there's oftentimes a bigger root cause, like the offensive line. 

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