FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Jim Harbaugh loves a high-five, calls it certainly one of mankind’s nice innovations. However generally, even that hearty gesture is inadequate.
So when the Chargers coach noticed the workforce’s normal supervisor slipping out of the guests’ locker room Saturday — within the wake of the membership’s most lopsided win in 5 years — he summoned him for a bear hug.
The Chargers clinched a playoff berth with their 40-7 drubbing of the New England Patriots, and Harbaugh felt the urge to wrap his arms round first-year normal supervisor Joe Hortiz. Such is the delirium of an NFL workforce beginning to hit its stride on the proper time.
“I needed a hug from Joe,” mentioned the coach, who lured Hortiz from the Baltimore Ravens. “He’s the same brilliant guy every single day. He takes no deep, long bows. But he should.”
That is no end line, in fact, however Harbaugh’s Chargers have checked an enormous field on their to-do listing. The franchise has secured a spot within the postseason for simply the third time in 11 seasons, and with a finale at Las Vegas remaining has an opportunity to lock up the AFC’s fifth seed with a win and a Pittsburgh Steelers loss to the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 18. That may imply a extra favorable wild-card recreation at Houston, versus frigid openers at Buffalo or Baltimore.
There’s additionally which means to bolting down a spot within the playoffs by profitable at New England, though these Patriots are a shadow of the model led by Tom Brady and Invoice Belichick. It is a franchise that tormented the Chargers in years previous, delivering a divisional-round knockout to Marty Schottenheimer’s 14-2 San Diego Chargers within the 2006 season, and beating the broken-down Chargers the next 12 months within the AFC championship recreation.
There’s nobody remaining in that Chargers locker room from that period. A lot of the gamers had been in all probability in grade faculty on the time. Nonetheless, there was significance to those gamers rising from the fog that had settled on Gillette Stadium to forge a transparent path to the postseason.
That is exactly what Chargers possession had in thoughts after they employed Harbaugh, an plain turnaround artist. Simply verify his historical past. The San Francisco 49ers had been 6-10 the 12 months earlier than they employed Harbaugh, and 13-3 in his first season. The Michigan Wolverines went from 5-7 earlier than Harbaugh to 10-3 in his debut season.
“Coach Harbaugh’s a winner, that says it all,” Chargers cornerback Kristian Fulton mentioned. “He’s won his whole life, won each team he’s coached. He told us at the beginning, there’s just one way to get to where he wants to go and that’s hard work. We’ve been working hard.”
When requested on the podium in regards to the widespread threads amongst these groups that reversed course, Harbaugh instantly pointed to his gamers, “stalwarts” as he calls them, together with quarterback Justin Herbert and security Derwin James.
Later, after a lot of the workforce had left the locker room for the bus, Harbaugh reiterated that with, “There are no good coaches without good players. There’s no great coaches with bad players.”
Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert congratulates Ladd McConkey (15) on his six-yard landing catch towards the Patriots within the second quarter. McConkey had eight catches for 94 yards and two touchdowns.
(Michael Dwyer / Related Press)
A type of excellent gamers Saturday was rookie receiver Ladd McConkey, who had eight catches for 94 yards and two touchdowns. That pushed his numbers to 77 receptions for 1,046, six extra grabs than earlier Chargers rookie record-holder Keenan Allen.
The Chargers traded as much as the second choose within the second spherical to draft McConkey, a standout from the College of Georgia. Their commerce companion in that deal? The Patriots, who used the fifth choose in that spherical to draft Washington receiver Ja’Lynn Polk. McConkey had seven extra yards on Saturday, and the identical variety of touchdowns, that Polk has had all season.
Requested if there was just a little piece of him that wished to indicate the Patriots what they missed, McConkey mentioned: “That’s not me. If they want to think about it that way, like, `Oh, we should have done this,’ it’s shoulda, coulda, woulda.”
Traditionally, it’s vital for groups to have the ability to run the ball within the postseason, particularly when the climate can flip foul in so many NFL cities. Solely extra cause for the Chargers to be ok with the return of operating again J.Okay. Dobbins, who missed 4 video games with a knee sprain. He ran for 76 yards in 19 carries towards the Patriots, with a two-yard landing.
The Chargers’ J.Okay. Dobbins (27) ran for 76 yards and a landing in 19 carries towards the Patriots in his return from a knee harm.
(Robert F. Bukaty / Related Press)
He was a part of the Baltimore brigade who got here west to the Chargers from the Ravens, coached by Harbaugh’s older brother, John.
In contrast to a whole lot of his teammates, Dobbins has playoff expertise. He’s performed in postseason highway video games at Cincinnati, Tennessee and Buffalo. He understands the significance of a workforce discovering one other gear in December, because it appears the Chargers have, and fostering a perception that it may possibly compete on the highest stage.
“We can beat you a lot of ways, and in the playoffs that’s what you’ve got to do,” Dobbins mentioned. “In the playoffs, they’re going to try to take away the thing that you do best.”
He mentioned Harbaugh has “changed the culture” of a workforce that gained 5 video games final season.
“He’s brought in guys that are winners,” he mentioned. “That’s how you change the culture. You draft guys who win [national championships] or won all throughout college. You bring in guys who have won all across the league. You start to see the benefits of that.”
Harbaugh delivered his hugs Saturday however he’s hoping there are various extra. One field checked. The way in which he sees it, his workforce has solely earned a spot on the beginning gate.
