NFL Week 1 Winners and Losers: LA Sports edition

The NFL is back and welcomed its fans with an interesting slate of games. Here is our winners and losers from the week, LA Sports edition.

The first week of the NFL season finally ended with the traditional doubleheader on Monday night. Plenty of action of action this week for Los Angeles Rams, San D…Err Los Angeles Chargers fans, and yes even USC Trojan fans to pay attention to.

These are the winners & losers of the first week of the NFL, Los Angeles edition:

Winners

Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay

When McVay held out his starters for all of the pre-season, some thought back to the Rams disastrous home playoff loss that ended their 2017 season.  The Rams explosive offense looked out of sync and may have been due to lack of game experience together.

Once the offense got going though McVay’s strategy looked to pay off as they gashed the Raiders scoring 17 unanswered points in the second half.

Jared Goff went from 60 yards on four completions in the first half to 173 yards on 14 completions in the second half plus both of his touchdown passes and Todd Gurley woke up gaining 89 yards in the second half at a 5.9 average yards per carry.

Rams GM Les Snead:

When Rams GM made big moves this offseason to turn a good defense into an elite one e was rewarded in game one. The Rams intercepted 3 Raiders passes and returned one on a pick-six. The also reduced Raiders QB Derek Carr to shell of himself.

Carr completed zero passes in the third quarter as the Raiders only had one first down the entire quarter. The Rams defense showed a national audience just how elite they are now. Rewarding their boss Snead for his shrewd moves.

USC Trojans Fans:

At least Trojans fans had a quarterback they could root for playing Monday night, despite the fact that the Trojans weren’t playing.

Former USC quarterback Sam Darnold made his first  NFL career start as a rookie with the New York Jets. His first pass was a touchdown, for the Detroit Lions. An auspicious start, but the Darnold put on his cape and put on a superhero effort.

After that first pass, Darnold wen 16-21 with 198 yards and two touchdowns helping the Jets blow out the Lions 48-17. Darnold looked the part of a seasoned QB as he picked apart the Lions, Trojans fans should be happy to see Darnold succeed at the next level, but may also be sad because he left.

Loser:

The Los Angeles Chargers:

A dark horse candidate for Super Bowl contender the Chargers laid a huge egg in their opening game at home against the Kansas City Chiefs. It probably started when the Chargers lost defensive end Joey Bosa for the first game.

WIthout Bosa leading the rush the Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes carved up the Chargers in his first start as the full-time starter for the Chiefs. Mahomes threw four touchdowns to extend the Chiefs win streak over the Chargers to nine games.

Chargers QB Phillip Rivers threw for 424 yards but was behind the whole game. The Chargers might get a reprieve this coming week as the play the inept Buffalo Bills but a loss in Buffalo might snuff out their Super Bowl dreams.