J.K. Dobbins had some of his best college performances against Jim Harbaugh. On Sunday, Dobbins helped give Harbaugh a win in his return to coaching in the NFL.
Dobbins rushed for 135 yards on 10 carries, including a 12-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter, as the Chargers came back in the second half to win 22-10 against the Las Vegas Raiders.
“It’s good. We are the same side now. That’s all I can say, and we’re going to keep working together,” said Dobbins, who signed a one-year deal with the Chargers during the offseason after starting his career in Baltimore.
Dobbins’ standout game at Ohio State was in 2019 against Michigan, where he ran for 211 yards and four touchdowns in a 56-27 win over Harbaugh’s Wolverines. Dobbins was picked in the second round by the Ravens in 2020 but has faced injury issues.
He played only one game last year due to an Achilles tendon tear in the second half of Baltimore’s opener against Houston.
Dobbins had his second and third-longest runs of his career in the second half, marking his fifth game with 100 or more rushing yards in the NFL.
His 46-yard run up the middle on third-and-1 from the LA 47-yard line set up Cameron Dicker’s third field goal and gave the Chargers a 9-7 lead with 9:08 left in the third quarter.
On the first play of the fourth quarter, Dobbins ran 12 yards off right tackle to extend the Chargers’ lead to 16-7.
Midway through the fourth quarter, with Los Angeles ahead 16-10, Dobbins had a 61-yard run to the Las Vegas 14. Three plays later, Herbert connected with Ladd McConkey for a 10-yard touchdown to seal the win. The 2-point conversion attempt was unsuccessful.
This 8-play, 92-yard drive followed Raiders coach Antonio Pierce’s decision to punt on fourth-and-1 at the Chargers’ 43 instead of attempting to convert the play.
“When the game was on the line, we’ve got to fit up the run correctly,” Pierce said. “Guys have got to get off blocks. Second-level players have got to fit up. Hats off to them. They stayed consistent with their game. They didn’t beat themselves.”
Dobbins’ performance was part of what might be seen as a classic Harbaugh-style game. The offense was balanced with 27 run and 27 pass plays, and the defense created three turnovers along with a few key stops in short-yardage situations.
In the first quarter, Poona Ford stopped Zamir White for a 1-yard loss on fourth-and-1 at the Raiders’ 40-yard line. The Chargers turned that into a field goal by Dicker.
One of Los Angeles’ three turnovers was Khalil Mack returning a fumble by Gardner Minshew 22 yards to the Las Vegas 12 just before halftime. Dicker made a 25-yard field goal to bring the Chargers within 7-6 at the break.
“It was a great performance. To have the early stops (on defense) were huge,” Harbaugh said. “We had a lot of three-and-outs on offense, but we were at our best when our best was needed the most.”
Safety Derwin James, in his seventh season with the Chargers, called it “complementary football all the way around.”
“This is the first time I felt like we played actual, real complementary football from where the offense was struggling a little bit and we picked them up, and then we gave up a play and they came back and gave us a play, they gave us a big first down,” James said.
Justin Herbert completed 17 of 26 passes for 144 yards and a touchdown as the Chargers bounced back from a 63-21 loss to the Raiders last December, which led to the firings of coach Brandon Staley and general manager Tom Telesco.
This eventually led to the hiring of Harbaugh after he led Michigan to a national title.
“It definitely didn’t go our way in the first half but to go out in the second half to put together a couple drives and the defense get some turnovers, great team ball,” Herbert said.
