The Bolts started off the Jim Harbaugh Era on the right foot with Sunday's 22-10 win over the Raiders.
Chargers Head Coach Jim Harbaugh held his first Monday afternoon press conference of the season and recapped the Week 1 win.
Here are five takeaways from Harbaugh's press conference:
1. Bosa, Mack lead the way
It was a little bit of déjà vu.
Sunday's victory over the Raiders felt a lot like the Chargers 2022 season opener, which was also a Week 1 home win against Las Vegas.
The common theme? Joey Bosa and Khalil Mack were two of the best players on the field.
Bosa was tabbed as Pro Football Focus' Player of the Game as he tallied an overall defensive grade of 91.4 that included his first sack of the season.
"He's that player," Harbaugh said. "You saw it in the production, in the tackles, in the hustle. He was great against the run and unblockable in the pass. Great game for him."
Bosa was a monster in the run game, registering a run defense grade of 93.7, the best mark among all defensive players in Week 1 heading into Monday Night Football.
Bosa notched two tackles and forced a fumble on 11 run plays, with his highlight coming just over midway through the third quarter.
The Bolts edge rusher showed incredible effort to track down Raiders running back Zamir White nearly 10 yards down the opposite side of the field to punch the ball free.
Harbaugh said Bosa's motor reminded him of Justin Smith, a five-time Pro Bowler who played for Harbaugh in San Francisco.
"The play where he tracked down and caused the fumble reminded me of something Justin Smith would do," Harbaugh said. "Right now, I've got Joey up there with Justin Smith. That's a football player."
Harbaugh also singled out Mack, who tallied 1.5 sacks and a fumble recovery.
"Khalil had the same type of game," Harbaugh said.
He later added: "A tremendous football player."
Mack's overall PFF defensive grade was 87.2, tied for 21st among all defensive players.
2. Praise for Alt and the O-line
The chatter last week was that rookie right tackle Joe Alt would have his hands full with Raiders star edge rusher Maxx Crosby.
But the Bolts No. 5 overall pick appeared to pass that test with flying colors.
According to NFL Next Gen Stats, Alt faced off against Crosby 1-on-1 on 11 pass-rushing situations Sunday and didn't allow a single pressure.
"He was really good," Harbaugh said of Alt.
Harbaugh later added: "Just the fire in the belly, wanting to prove themselves. I thought that really showed."
Harbaugh also lauded center Bradley Bozeman, who made his Chargers debut.
"Bozeman, the energy he brought, the pursuit downfield covering plays," Harbaugh said. "It was a great blue-collar performance by him.
"If I had a blue-collar award offensively, I'd give it to Mr. Bozeman," Harbaugh added.
3. Rotating the green dot
Chargers Defensive Coordinator Jesse Minter said last week that he envisioned the Bolts three main linebackers — Denzel Perryman, Daiyan Henley and Junior Colson — being involved in some sort of rotation this season.
Sure enough, that's exactly what happened in Week 1 as Henley played 40 snaps followed by Colson (35 snaps) and Perryman (30 snaps).
Harbaugh said Monday that the players rotated wearing the green dot each series, something he noted could continue going forward.
"We'll see how that plays out. It was good," Harbaugh said. "If you're going to have a rotation, there needs to be a rotation with the green dot.
"I feel like that's something benefitted us and we were good at," Harbaugh added. "Without having decided that, probably standing here before you I would lean more to keeping that going."
Harbaugh said the goal for players in the front seven was to play between 20 and 40 snaps to keep everyone fresh.
That was the case at linebacker and along the defensive line, too.
Poona Ford led interior linemen with 32 snaps, followed by Morgan Fox (29) and Otito Ogbonnia (27).
"Guys playing 20 to 40 plays in that front seven defensively and then guys going in and playing really good," Harbaugh said.
4. Harbaugh sees room to grow
One game into the 2024 season, the Chargers have already matched their AFC West win total from last year.
Sunday's victory put the Chargers at the top of the division with the Chiefs while the Broncos and Raiders started 0-1.
"A division opponent, it's almost like winning twice. And winning twice is really nice," Harbaugh said.
With that said, Harbaugh offered his initial takeaways from watching the game back Monday morning.
"A lot of good, a lot of great. To get the win, it's huge," Harbaugh said. "Plus, to have room for improvement and things to work on, that's a great place to be. And stayed pretty healthy."
Harbaugh noted that the Bolts have a list of things to clean up, most notably five offensive penalties that included four false starts and a holding call.
"It looked a lot like that was a preseason kind of game for us offensively in the first half," Harbaugh said. "Then really good in the second half."
Other key points from Harbaugh were that the offensive line's pad level was too high in the first half, and that quarterback Justin Herbert saved a few sack situations by getting rid of the ball quickly and efficiently.
5. James hits 500 tackles
Derwin James, Jr. reached an impressive milestone Sunday.
The Chargers safety notched seven total tackles against the Raiders, which pushed his career total to 504 tackles.
James became the fastest defensive back to eclipse 500 tackles since 2000, doing so in 67 games.
"A spectacular game by Derwin James," Harbaugh said. "Played all 60 plays … got his 500th tackle.
"I think the fastest to 500 tackles since the turn of the century. In 24 years, that's a huge accomplishment," Harbaugh added. "He's been playing that way long before us newcomers arrived on the scene."
James reached the 500-tackle mark one game faster than safety Landon Collins.
