Chargers vs. Giants: Highlights, game tracker and more

The Los Angeles Chargers faced the New York Giants on Sunday, Oct. 8 in Week 5 of the 2017 season, and here are the highlights from the game.

The Los Angeles Chargers and New York Giants went into the weekend searching for their first win of the 2017 season. While many people predicted these two franchises to be surprise playoff competitors, it’s pretty clear that there have been more issues with their rosters than we all realized. However, that didn’t mean they weren’t about to claw for a win on Sunday.

Things were pretty ugly out of the gate for both teams. LA started the game with the ball, but went three-and-out in less than a minute and a half. The Giants didn’t go three-and-out, but only gained 20 yards on seven plays before they had to punt. However, they pinned the Chargers deep, which proved to be huge. Philip Rivers and his center botched the snap and the ball went out the back of the end zone for a safety.

Of course, the Giants offense wasn’t able to really make that sting as Eli Manning and the offense gained just 16 yards on the next drive. Even still, the vaunted New York defense remained strong as they forced another three-and-out. This time, the G-Men capitalized as they went 64 yards in five plays with Orleans Darkwa finding paydirt from 23 yards out.

Rivers and the Bolts finally didn’t get forced off the field in three plays, though, and put together a big drive. Running eight plays and going 77 yards, Rivers found Melvin Gordon on an underneath pass for a six-yard touchdown to make it 9-7 in favor of Big Blue. That, however, was followed by more nothingness as the next seven drives (three for LA, four for New York) ended in punts and only one saw more than 20 yards gained.

Just before the half, though, the Chargers found a little life again on offense, going 12 plays for 49 yards and then kicking a field goal to take the lead at 10-9 going into the locker room.

After opening up the second half with a big stop, the Bolts looked like they could take over. They started what appeared to be a nice drive, but Rivers took a shot to the end zone for Keenan Allen that was picked off. Manning and the Giants were able to take advantage as they went nine plays for 80 yards when Roger Lewis scored.

The Chargers answered with a monster 12-play, 92-yard drive of their own, though, that culminated in a 25-yard touchdown pass to Hunter Henry. However, Big Blue had an answer of their own as Manning found Odell Beckham Jr. for a monster 48-yard touchdown. The two-point conversion, however, was unsuccessful.

With a drive apiece then ending in a punt, the Bolts got the ball back and went 48 yards on 11 plays before pulling within two thanks to a field goal. The Giants got the ball back to try and ice the game, but it turned out to be disastrous for New York. On the second play of the drive, an incomplete pass to Beckham saw him take an odd landing after a hit. He was carted off and is believed to have a broken leg. On the next play, Melvin Ingram forced a huge sack fumble and recovered to give LA the ball in the red zone. Rivers then found Ingram for the second time for a touchdown to pull ahead.

New York got one more chance and ran 10 plays, but weren’t moving much of anywhere. Their 0-5 fate was then effectively sealed as Manning looked for Evan Engram across the middle and was picked off.

Highlights

Next: Picks against the spread for Week 5

Whoever wins on Sunday afternoon will give their head coach at least one full week of harmony before Week 6 begins. While being 1-4 isn’t ideal, dropping to 0-5 is a whole lot worse. Hang in there Giants and Chargers fans.