Big-armed Cardale Jones completed 10-of-16 passes for 149 yards to help the Los Angeles Chargers to a 27-24 win over the San Francisco 49ers on Thursday.
PFF's ReFocused series features immediate takeaways from the two analysts who graded the game live. The two offer a detailed breakdown of the game's most notable performances before the grades and advanced stats are reviewed and finalized by Senior Analysts.
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Final Score
Los Angeles Chargers 27, San Francisco 49ers 24
Los Angeles Chargers
Quarterback Cardale Jones moved the ball down the field by using his legs and utilizing play-action. He had some good accurate passes but missed a couple of throws to open receivers.
Rookie quarterback Easton Stick had a poor night. He made two poor decisions on passes, which both resulted in interceptions. He later led his team to a game-winning touchdown by mostly handing the ball off.
Isaac Rochell was a force for the Chargers’ defense on their first drive. Rochell batted a C.J. Beathard pass down on second down. Rochell then hit C.J. Beathard’s arm as he threw a pass on fourth down causing the pass to fall incomplete.
Rookie Takeaways
Rookie safety Nasir Adderley showed an ability to play centerfield for the Chargers' defense like a veteran and break on passes to make plays on the ball. Adderley nearly had an interception of an off-target Wilton Speight pass in the third quarter, but it was knocked out of his hands by Chris Thompson. Adderley then came close to another interception on a pass intended for Malik Henry near the goal line. Adderley finally got his interception in the fourth quarter when he broke on a C.J. Beathard over route intended for Tyree Mayfield.
San Francisco 49ers
Sheldon Day didn't finish a ton of plays in the backfield, but he was a constant disruptor at the line of scrimmage against the Chargers' porous offensive line.
Like Day, 49ers' Damontre Moore was a terror off the edge of the defense, beating blocks against the run and in the passing game en route to an overall strong performance.
Quarterback C.J. Beathard threw a nice touchdown pass to Kendrick Bourne after Beathard was forced to scramble and Bourne to alter his route. Wilton Speight had an opportunity to lead a game-winning drive with 1:17 remaining in the fourth quarter, but he threw an interception to Adarius Pickett which ended the game.
Jeff Wilson Jr. cut an outside zone run back and then ran for a 41-yard touchdown, leaving some Chargers' defenders lunging after him. Beathard also had a key block to spring the long run.
Rookie Takeaways
It wasn't Wilton Speight‘s night. The game looked too fast for the former Michigan signal-caller. He finished the night with two interceptions and just six incompletions from 13 attempts.
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