The newly revamped Los Angeles Chargers defense had a strong performance on Sunday during their joint practice with the Los Angeles Rams.
Jesse Minter’s defensive unit made a big impact, forcing five turnovers, including three interceptions and two fumbles, against Matthew Stafford and the Rams’ offense.
“The ball was like a volleyball today. It was tipping up everywhere,” said safety Derwin James. “You can see it, it’s real and we felt that from our guys getting off the ball today, they did a great job.”
Stafford was intercepted three times, with cornerbacks Asante Samuel and Kristian Fulton each grabbing one. Samuel made a pick in the end zone during a red zone drill, and Fulton intercepted Stafford after the ball was tipped by linebacker Tuli Tuipulotu during two-minute drill situations.
Fulton, who joined the team in the offseason after four years with Tennessee, has been a standout defensive player in the first two weeks of practice.
Minter, who was Michigan’s defensive coordinator before joining the Chargers with coach Jim Harbaugh, was pleased with the results.
“Results build confidence. It has started to stack up maybe the last three or four days where the guys are playing with a lot of confidence, trusting each other, starting to really understand fits of routes and things like that,” Minter said.
“Then, when you get an opportunity to kind of test it against a different opponent and different schemes, it’s certainly great when you get the results.”
The defense put a lot of pressure on the Rams throughout practice. Three of the interceptions came from balls being tipped at the line of scrimmage.
“They got their hands up at the line of scrimmage a couple times and tipped balls in this league don’t hit the ground,” Stafford said. “They have a really talented roster on the defensive side of the ball that we went up against today. It was good for us to see where we’re at.”
Linebacker Joey Bosa also made a big play with a strip-sack of Stafford before leaving practice late with what seemed to be an injury to his left arm or wrist.
“We don’t want to be too high on ourselves. There’s more work to be done, but it definitely felt good to go get the ball. That’s definitely momentum going forward,” said James.
It was encouraging to see the defense forcing turnovers. In the three years under former coach Brandon Staley, the Chargers had the fifth-fewest interceptions (34) and allowed the sixth-most yards (356.4 per game) from 2021 to 2023.
Rams receiver Puka Nacua had to leave halfway through the two-hour practice and had ice on his right knee. Coach Sean McVay said he didn’t know what happened to Nacua.
The Chargers’ offense, missing quarterback Justin Herbert for at least two weeks due to a foot injury, struggled with Easton Stick as the starter. Tre’Davious White and Kamren Curl each intercepted Stick, while Florida State rookies Jared Verse and Braden Fiske each pressured Stick, which would have been sacks in a game.
Offensive coordinator Greg Roman mentioned that even though Herbert isn’t practicing, he is still contributing ideas in meetings to make adjustments to the playbook.
“We’re not hitting the pause button at all. When he’s ready to roll here, pretty soon, everybody’s gonna be ready for him,” Roman said.
The Chargers will start their preseason on Saturday against the Seattle Seahawks, while the Rams will play the Dallas Cowboys on August 11. The Chargers and Rams have another joint practice on August 14 before their annual preseason game on August 17.
