Chargers vs. Texans: First-half takeaways from Week 17 game

Missed opportunities

The Chargers should be more in Saturday’s game, despite giving up the two big-play touchdowns to the Texans in the first quarter. Keenan Allen dropped a third-down pass at the end of the first quarter to stall a Chargers drive. LA stalled out in the red zone after a Derwin James Jr. interception and had to kick a 27-yard field goal to get on the board. After a Justin Herbert deep shot to Quentin Johnston got the Chargers into the red zone again, rookie tight end Oronde Gadsden II popped a ball into the air that Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair picked. Elijah Molden picked off CJ Stroud to get the Chargers the ball back again, but Cameron Dicker missed a 32-yarder to keep LA stuck at 3 points.

Pass protection woes

Los Angeles’ 23rd offensive line combination has not stepped up to the task so far on Saturday. Herbert was sacked on his first two dropbacks of the game by Danielle Hunter and Will Anderson Jr. and has been sacked two other times by Denico Autry, one of which was negated by a tripping penalty on Autry. Bobby Hart, playing left tackle for the first time in over three years, has struggled with Hunter. The Chargers have also opted to keep only five blockers in the formation for a decent amount of time, which has forced Herbert to flush the pocket on multiple occasions in the first half.

Sputtering ground game

The Chargers knew coming in that they’d be at a disadvantage on passing downs, so the gameplan appeared to feature a heavy dose of running back Omarion Hampton with Kimani Vidal out with a neck injury. Hampton has mainly been bottled up, however, with only 22 yards on 10 carries in the first half. His longest carry has gone for 5 yards. Houston is predicting many of LA’s runs, so offensive coordinator Greg Roman will need to get creative in the second half to knock the Texans off-balance.

Defensive rollercoaster

LA entered the week as the best team in the league at defending the deep pass, but they gave up touchdowns of 75 and 43 yards on essentially the same play in the first quarter. On both, a Texans receiver ran a deep post to beat the Chargers’ quarters coverage. Since that 43-yard score, however, the Chargers have allowed only 87 yards on 27 plays and intercepted Stroud twice. Which of those two sides of the coin emerges from the halftime locker room for LA will go a long way in defining the second half.

Kick coverage unit steps up

The Texans have at least had to work for it on Saturday when they’ve gotten the ball on special teams. LA has held the Texans to kick returns of 12 and 18 yards and to only one punt return for 4 yards on Saturday, despite Houston entering the week tied for 12th in kickoff return average. That could help the Chargers climb back into this one.