https://chargerswire.usatoday.com/2023/01/01/chargers-rams-winners-losers-austin-ekeler-mike-williams/

Alex Katson
January 1, 2023 5:27 pm PT

The Chargers beat the Rams on Sunday to improve to 10-6.

Here is a look at the good and not-so-good from Los Angeles’ victory.

Stud: Austin Ekeler

What a game it was for Ekeler, who had the longest run of his career on
the second quarter 72-yard touchdown scamper. He also became the third
running back to haul in at least 100 catches and score at least 15
touchdowns from scrimmage in a single season, joining LaDainian
Tomlinson and Christian McCaffrey. Ekeler was virtually impossible to
tackle all game, turning 14 total touches into 161 yards from scrimmage
and two touchdowns. It was a stellar performance against a Rams rushing
defense that came into the game ranked top ten in DVOA and had not
allowed a 100-yard rusher the entire season.

Dud: Run defense

Giving up 6.4 yards per carry to a team with five offensive linemen on
injured reserve that’s also starting a player they were trying to get
rid of less than three months ago is…bad. What’s worse is that the
defensive line was pretty frequently moved right off the ball when the
Rams chose to run, which represents a disappointing downturn from the
past few weeks. Cam Akers himself took 19 carries for 123 yards, good
for a per-carry average of 6.5 that feels much more like Akers getting
6.5 every time rather than a few big runs with a few stuffs mixed in.
The Chargers don’t have a high-quality run defense; this season has been
evident of that at every turn.

Stud: Mike Williams

Williams had maybe his best game of the season, converting ten targets
into seven receptions for 94 yards. There was the trademark Williams
plays, namely an astounding one-handed catch on the sideline that
dropped the jaws of the collective football internet. But there were
also new wrinkles: screens to the bigger receiver, deep curls where
Williams juked defenders to generate extra yardage after the catch, etc.
It was an all-around phenomenal performance that made the game feel, at
times, as though the entire offense flowed through Williams and Ekeler.
That’s a good sign for the Chargers, who seemed on Sunday to finally
find a way to consistently get their stars the ball and score 30+ points
for the first time since Week 5.

Dud: Kenneth Murray Jr.

Like we said earlier, much of the struggle with run defense on Sunday
came from the push the Rams’ offensive line generated. Still, that
doesn’t mean the second-level defenders are without blame, and Murray,
in particular, seemed to have a rough go of things. When Akers found
himself wide open in space only to have a throw bounce off his
fingertips, Murray had fallen down trying to meet him in the flat. As
with the defensive line, it’s a disappointing showing for the
linebacker, who had strung together a few quietly fairly good games.
Sunday, unfortunately, represented a coming back to Earth for the former
first-rounder.

Stud: Morgan Fox

The book on Baker Mayfield is pretty widely distributed: make him feel
pressured, and he will make mistakes. The Chargers were able to do that
on Sunday, racking up three sacks and four QB hits, one of each of which
came from Fox. The former Ram has continued to be perhaps the best
free-agent acquisition of the year for the Chargers and perhaps across
the entire league when you consider value. Fox is constantly disrupting
the pocket and redirecting runners when given the opportunity to do so,
and he’s proven to be a key cog in the Chargers’ defense.

Dud: Open-field tackling

One of the reasons Cam Akers was so successful was that he’s a bigger,
more powerful running back who can break tackles with relative ease.
Against players like that, you have to be sound as a tackler to limit
them effectively. On Sunday, the Chargers were far from sound: every run
from Akers seemed peppered with flailing Chargers defenders and ended
with him dragging defenders a few extra yards. Tackling has been an
issue for this defense dating back to the preseason, and those issues
have continued to rear their heads throughout the year. Whenever Derwin
James, who missed Sunday’s game with a concussion, is off the field, the
deeper levels of the defense lose most of their teeth.

Stud: Offensive line

After a series of down games from the offensive line unit, Sunday’s
performance was sterling. Justin Herbert was not sacked for the first
time since the Falcons game. He was only hit twice, the lowest number
since the Falcons game. The Rams presented a bounce-back opportunity as
soon as Aaron Donald was ruled out, especially because the recent
downturn in offensive line play had a lot to do with going up against
elite interior pass rushers in recent weeks. On the ground, we’ve
already given some credit to Austin Ekeler, but kudos are also for the
group blocking for him. The Chargers could largely match the push the
Rams got, giving Ekeler space to find a hole and then navigate from
there, which is when he’s at his best.

Dud: Big play defense

The few times the Rams were able to move the ball down the field, it was
primarily because they generated at least one big play on the Chargers’
defense. The 13-play, 81-yard field goal drive was catalyzed by a
42-yard Cam Akers rush. Baker Mayfield had a 39-yard completion to Van
Jefferson on the ensuing drive. The Rams’ lone touchdown came on a
23-yard untouched run from Malcolm Brown. The Chargers were able to
limit this tendency in the second half. Still, it’s concerning to give
up those sorts of plays to an offense as anemic as the Rams when you’re
staring down the barrel of an AFC gauntlet that includes Patrick
Mahomes, Joe Burrow, Josh Allen, and Lamar Jackson. It’s also a return
to earlier versions of this defense, which gave up big plays routinely
before finding solutions over the bye week.