Assistant predicts long touchdown
LONDON — The Chargers’ first touchdown Sunday came on a play they liked so much that they called it Saturday.
Having detected something during their preparation to face Tennessee, the Chargers decided to send Tyrell Williams deep on their first play from scrimmage if they liked what they saw from the Titans defensive alignment.
“We were hoping to get that coming into the game,” Williams said of the play that went for 75 yards. “It came to the perfect coverage and it just opened up perfect.”
Williams sped past the secondary and caught Philip Rivers’ pass at the Titans’ 40-yard line. He then went the rest of the way untouched, running away from defensive backs Logan Ryan and Kevin Byard.
Coach Anthony Lynn said he and his staff were confident the play would work. They were so confident, in fact, that quarterback coach Shane Steichen on Saturday predicted the outcome.
“He looked at the play and said, ‘That’s going to be a touchdown, coach,’ ” Lynn said. “He was right.”
The pass enabled Williams to have his second consecutive 100-yard receiving game. He finished with four receptions for 118 yards. In the last two games, Williams has seven catches for 236 yards (33.7 average) and three touchdowns.
Before last weekend in Cleveland, the Chargers had gone 22 games without scoring a touchdown on their first possession.
Then they did it against the Browns. Now, they’ve done it in two consecutive games. Gordon hurting
With the Chargers getting a week off, Lynn said he was hopeful running back Melvin Gordon (hamstring) could return for the Nov. 4 game at Seattle.
Gordon was injured in practice Friday and was one of the players inactive for the game.
“Obviously, we’re better with Melvin Gordon,” Lynn said. “I just felt like I had to protect him [Sunday] because I don’t want this to be a lingering thing.”
Without Gordon, Austin Ekeler started and carried 12 times for 42 yards. The Chargers finished with only 47 yards and a 2.9 average on the ground.
Because he had to start on offense, Ekeler was unable to fulfill his regular special-teams duties.
“You could see in the coverage units we gave up some yards where, if Austin’s in there, maybe not,” Lynn said.
Said Rivers: “We hated not having Melvin out there. But I can tell you we said, ‘Hey, let’s go figure it out. Let’s go find a way.’ ”
It’s good!
Rookie kicker Michael Badgley remained perfect, making field goals of 29 and 28 yards and both extrapoint tries.
He is three for three on field-goal attempts and seven for seven on extra-point tries the last two weeks filling in for Caleb Sturgis (quadriceps).
On the down side, only one of Badgley’s kickoffs reached the end zone and all five were returned by Darius Jennings.
“I’d like his kickoffs to be a little longer, for sure,” Lynn said. “When you have to cover, especially against a guy we had to cover against today, something bad can happen.”
A short kickoff helped lead to a 37-yard return by Jennings and Tennessee’s first touchdown. The Titans’ field position also was aided at the end of that return by an unnecessary roughness penalty on Rayshawn Jenkins.
“It wasn’t ideal field position on a couple of those kickoffs, I can tell you that,” Lynn said. “But, we make no excuses. You have to stop them.”
Sturgis could be healthy enough to return at Seattle, although Lynn has not publicly committed longer-term to either kicker.
Etc.
Offensive tackle Joe Barksdale (knee), linebacker Jatavis Brown (groin) and receiver Travis Benjamin (foot) returned after missing time. Brown finished with four tackles and Benjamin one catch for 13 yards. … Since Week 17 of 2015, Williams has six touchdown catches of at least 50 yards. That’s second in the NFL to Kansas City’s Tyreek Hill, who has seven.