INGLEWOOD – Battling injuries to his kicking leg, Dustin Hopkins hit a 39-yard game-winning field goal in overtime to beat the Broncos 19-16 as the Chargers improve to 4-2 record.
Hopkins, who missed last week's game due to a quad injury, gave it a go on Monday night. However, after an extra point attempt early in the second quarter, Hopkins suffered a hamstring injury, gutting out the remainder of the game in noticeable pain.
The Chargers opted to have punter JK Scott handle the kickoff duties the rest of the way, easing the stress on Hopkins' leg and only trotting him out for field goals and extra point attempts.
“He had a hamstring cramp/strain. It just didn’t feel right. You can’t say enough about him hanging in there," Chargers coach Brandon Staley said after the game. "Then, you can’t say enough about JK Scott coming in and doing an outstanding job kicking off for us so that Dustin can save himself for field goals and PATs."
As the game stood at a standstill by the score of 16-16 after four quarters of play, the overtime quarter began with four three-and-outs between the two teams. It was only until the Chargers forced a special teams takeaway sparked by Ja'Sir Taylor who pushed the Broncos defender into the return man, resulting in a puffed punt that wound up being recovered by Dean Leonard.
"Once I saw the fair catch and saw him relax, his teammate was standing right in front of him, so instead of just letting him catch it, I decided to make a play," Taylor said of the game-altering takeaway. "He should've moved out of the way, but thank god he didn’t."
As the Chargers took over inside Broncos' territory just inside the five minute mark of overtime, they brought out Hopkins after failing to pick up a first down in which he converted the 39-yarder to seal it.
"I knew I was trying to focus on a little backswing and just get through the ball," Hopkins said of his final kick on the night. "I wasn't thinking about the circumstance or anything like that. I was trying to repeat my swing thoughts in my head, even though that changed from pregame to mid-game."
Hopkins finished the game four-for-four on field goals attempts and one-for-one on extra point tries.
Hopkins was all smiles in the locker room after the overtime victory, but he didn’t shy away from explaining just how much pain he was dealing with when going through the kicking motion.
"Before every kick you knew that it was going to feel like somebody stabbed you with a knife," Hopkins said. "Pain is temporary. I was just kind of committed to swinging and dealing with the pain after after the kick."
As for the Chargers defense, they got off to a rough start, allowing Russell Wilson to complete 10-of-10 passes for 116 yards and one touchdown across his first two drives to open up the game.
The Chargers then rebounded in the second half and overtime, holding Wilson to 3-of-11 passes for 15 yards and 0 touchdowns in crunch time.
"We didn't have our best stuff in the first half on defense and we came out and played a lot better in the second half," linebacker Drue Tranquill said. We'll have to clean some things up from the first half, but I thought just overall, a great team win."
Tranquill led the Chargers in the second half, recording two sacks in the fourth quarter – each coming on third downs.
Among other things, Monday night's showdown was nothing short of penalties. There were 19 total penalties for 240 yards. While it wasn’t a flashy performance by the Chargers, it's one they'll gladly take over a divisional opponent.
Milestones:
- Justin Herbert has reached 1,000 completions in his 38th career game. It’s the fastest in NFL history to reach that mark.
Injury Roundup:
- K Dustin Hopkins (hamstring)
- RB Joshua Kelley (knee)
- C Will Clapp (injury not announced)
Looking ahead:
- The Chargers have improved to a 4-2 record and will host the Seahawks in Week 7 at SoFi Stadium.
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