THE HERD | Colin "heated" Chargers Fail To Capitalize On Opportunities In 20-17 Loss To Cowboys

The Los Angeles Chargers were limited to six points in three second-half trips to the red zone, Justin Herbert had two passes intercepted and Tristan Vizcaino missed a 44-yard field goal attempt in a 20-17 loss to the Dallas Cowboys Sunday at SoFi Stadium.

Greg Zuerlein kicked the game-winning 56-yard field goal as time expired, three minutes, 54 seconds after Vizcaino tied the score with a 29-yard field goal. The Chargers appeared to have taken the lead four plays earlier, but Herbert’s 2-yard touchdown pass to Jared Cook was nullified by an illegal shift penalty.

Referee Tony Corrente explained to pool reporter Jeff Miller of the Los Angeles Times after the game that Cook had gone in motion before Mike Williams was in a set position.

“All 11 players have to be set simultaneously, at least for a second, before they can go into a shift, or they can go into motion,” Corrente said.

In a game where Dallas had the only punt, the Chargers were outgained 419 yards to 408 and trailed 25-24 in first downs but led 30:57-29:03 in the time of possession. The Chargers converted five of 12 third downs, 41.7%, the Cowboys six of 10, 60%. Dallas was unsuccessful on the game’s only official fourth-down conversion attempt.

“We lost this game on all three phases of the game,” said Brandon Staley, who was attempting to join Marty Schottenheimer as the second of the Chargers’ 17 coaches — including two interim coaches — to win both of their first two games with the team. “We didn’t play clean enough to win.”

Staley said he would “look at our red area plan.”

“Running the ball better gives you a much better chance of being successful in the red area,” Staley said. “Moving forward, I think if we run the ball better, we’ll put ourselves in a more favorable down for distances down there.”

The Chargers were penalized 12 times for 99 yards, the Cowboys eight times for 76 yards.

“It felt like a preseason game, to be quite honest with you,” Staley said. “That was just the way the game was being officiated today. We have to play within the parameters of how the game’s being called. We need to make sure that we keep our composure. If we play a clean enough game, none of that would matter.”

Vizcaino kicked a 32-yard field goal on the opening possession of the second half where the Chargers had a first down on Dallas’ 13-yard line, but their next three plays were a 2-yard pass by Herbert to Austin Ekeler, and a 1- yard run and incomplete pass by Herbert.

The Chargers’ drove to the Cowboys’ 9-yard line on their next possession, but Herbert’s third-down pass was intercepted in the end zone by Damontae Kazee after the intended receiver, Keenan Allen, had fallen down.

“It’s one of those timing routes and I have to be smarter and I have to see when he goes down,” Herbert said. “I have to go onto my next read. It is one of those bad mistakes that I got to learn from.”

Dallas took a 17-14 lead on the ensuing drive on Zuerlein’s 34-yard field, its first points since the first quarter. The field goal came one play after Dak Prescott fumbled when he was sacked by linebacker Kyler Fackrell for an 8-yard loss, but Cowboys guard Zack Martin recovered the ball.

Dallas (1-1) had an NFL-record tying 13 first downs in the first quarter, in which it led 11:10-3:50 in time of possession. The Chargers (1-1) had a 10:35-4:25 lead in time of possession in the third quarter, in which they had eight first downs to the Cowboys’ four.

Facing a Dallas defense that was without three starters because of injury or illness, Herbert completed 31 of 41 passes for 338 yards and one touchdown, was sacked twice and had an 87.2 passer rating. It was the 10th time in his 17-game NFL career Herbert exceed the 300-yard mark.

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