Herbert stood tall with ankle injury, leading statement comeback vs. Broncos. Justin Herbert entered Thursday’s game with a painful left ankle injury and still stinging from Sunday’s whipping at the hands of the Buccaneers. The Chargers were desperate for a victory, and things were not looking great when the Broncos took a 21-10 lead – with the Chargers’ defense offering no resistance.

That’s when Herbert put on his Superman cape and willed his team back for a rousing victory. Herbert was already pretty dialed in in the first half, even with an interception, but he took it to another level in the second half, completing 11 of his 16 passes for 144 yards and two touchdowns. His touchdown pass to Derius Davis was an incredible effort by Herbert, and Josh Palmer helped with a terrific effort on the two-point catch. Herbert also had two gutsy scrambles, first for 18 yards in the third quarter and then for 16 more on a third-and-10 run.

That helped set up the touchdown that gave the Chargers a two-score lead late – and a badly needed victory against a division foe. Broncos came out dealing offensively but fell apart. Sean Payton was throwing a heater early, and the Broncos were executing. As if bent on proving they could run the ball, the Broncos ran it seven times – with four different runners – on the opening 10-play TD drive.

Then they went more to the air on the next two drives, and those both ended in scores. They had the Chargers in the spin cycle, but everything fell apart. After two punts to close out the first half, the Broncos drove to the Chargers’ 23-yard line on their opening drive of the second half, but Payton opted for a field goal on fourth-and-three, putting them up, 24-13. The next Broncos score was with 57 seconds remaining in the game, a field goal cutting Denver’s deficit to seven points.

The Broncos totaled 70 yards on their next four drives, as Bo Nix couldn’t generate any big pass plays and the run game seemed to be shelved. After that seven-run opening drive, Denver ran it only 14 times the rest of the game – and three of those were Nix scrambles. Nix also took a huge sack with about four minutes left that killed a late chance to take the lead.