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Camp Report: Chargers Defense Dominates vs. Rams

Camp Report 10

The Chargers and Rams held the first of two joint practices Sunday morning at The Bolts.

The teams will meet again in El Segundo on August 14.

The Bolts, meanwhile, will hold practice Monday at 10 a.m.

Here is the Chargers Camp Report from Sunday's practice:

1. The defense dominates

There are good defensive showings in practice. And then there is what the Bolts defense put on display Sunday.

The Chargers simply dominated on defense against the Rams, forcing six total takeaways in the two-hour long practice.

The Bolts first-team defense looked fantastic, taking the ball away five times against Matthew Stafford's group in a outing that featured three interceptions and two forced fumbles and recoveries.

Chargers Defensive Coordinator Jesse Minter wore a wide smile when he came to the podium following practice and said he was "very encouraged" by the joint session against Sean McVay and Co.

"Results build confidence," Minter said. "It started to stack up the last three of four days where guys were playing with a lot of confidence and trusting each other and starting to really understand fits and routes and things like that.

"When you get an opportunity to test it against a different opponent, it's certainly great when you get the results," Minter added.

Derwin James, Jr. said: "It feels amazing. To be able to play fast and see the results that we saw today, it felt good as a defense and it let us know that — 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."

The Chargers first takeaway of the day actually came from the second-team defense as Nick Niemann came down with an interception off Jimmy Garoppolo.

Safety Tony Jefferson flew in from the secondary and broke up a pass that fluttered in the air before Niemann corralled it.

A few plays later, Alohi Gilman and Daiyan Henley teamed up for another turnover. Gilman popped the ball free and Henley pounced on it for a fumble recovery.

The Bolts took the ball away on the ensuing play with Otito Ogbonnia tipped Stafford's pass at the line of scrimmage before it wobbled right into the hands on linebacker Denzel Perryman.

The Chargers secondary then decided to get in on the fun.

With the teams in a red-zone, 11-on-11 drill, Stafford tried to thread the needle into the back of the end zone.

But James was lurking and deflected the pass into the air before Asante Samuel, Jr. caught the ball while getting both feet down in the back of the end zone.

James gave his assessment of what he saw on the play.

"It was scramble drill and I was trying to find a receiver," James said. "I couldn't get it myself and I just wanted to tip it up. Zont made a great play on it."

Joey Bosa later had a strip-sack on Stafford that the Bolts recovered for their fifth takeaway of the day.

The sixth and final turnover came in a 2-minute drill as the Rams offense ran just two plays.

Stafford's pass was tipped at the line of scrimmage by Tuli Tuipulotu before Kristian Fulton came down with the interception.

"The ball was like a volleyball today, it was tipping up everywhere," James said. "That's how it felt today. You can see it, it's real and we felt that from our guys getting off the ball today, they did a great job."

Fulton, a free-agent addition this offseason, cemented himself as one of the stars of camp thus far with yet another interception and a pair of red-zone pass breakups, one of which came against Cooper Kupp in the end zone.

"The way he's been practicing is the way I think we can play," Minter said.

Minter later added: "He's just in a really good headspace. Guys believe in him."

James said of Fulton: "Ballhawk, around the ball. Ball magnet. Everything, you name it. He's making a lot of plays, he's seeing the plays, trusting it and he's playing fast."

On a day where seemingly everyone on the Chargers defense made a splash play, Minter has praise for the Chargers secondary for their play against the likes of Stafford, Kupp and Puka Nacua.

"It's hard to pinpoint one guy," Minter said. "Derwin and Alohi did a great job really controlling the traffic so to speak.

"I thought Kristian and [Samuel] were in great positions to play the ball and make plays," Minter added. "That entire group … Derwin a great leader for the mindset we want to bring every snap."

James added: "Very encouraging. We got the ball out but we have to continue to stack the days."

2. Bosa, Mack stand out

A big reason the Bolts balled out on defense Sunday?

The stellar play of their edge rushers.

Minter said this offseason that the group was expected to be strength of the defense. They were against the Rams.

"Complementary football. It's not always about offense, defense and the kicking game," Minter said. "Sometimes it's [about] your personnel.

"We have these guys who are elite rushers and elite edge guys," Minter later added. "We expect those guys that are your 'best players' to lead the charge and play the best."

Bosa and Khalil Mack set the tone right from the opening sequence as Mack "sacked" Stafford on the second play of practice. A play later, Bosa burst into the backfield for a tackle for loss on a run play.

Their presence freed up teammates, too, as Scott Matlock would have had a sack on Stafford due to the focus being on Bosa and Mack on the outside. Mack later added another sack on third-and-5 in a team drill.

"Joey is a monster. Him and Khalil," Minter said. "When you take this job you're like, 'OK, you've got Bosa and Mack' and you start thinking about the possibilities of what that could look like. Then it looks like that.

"They are physically dominant players, really smart and really tough," Minter added. "The do things the right way and want to be really good. It's a coach's dream to have those two guys."

The Chargers showed off their edge rusher depth, too.

The interception that Samuel had in the end zone? Bud Dupree pressured Stafford as he threw the ball. And Tuipulotu had the tipped ball that Fulton came down with in the 2-minute drill.

"When you turn on the tape from today, they'll see, 'Man, I made that play because Khalil was right in his face.' That builds confidence in the group and your teammates," Minter said of the edge rusher group.

James added: "It allows us to play fast. Having those four guys with depth, it's going to be very fun this season. We just need to come out and do our part in the secondary and I'm sure linebackers will do their part, too."

3. Good work on ST

The teams spent two period working on kickoffs and kickoff returns to continue trying to get a grasp on the altered format.

The first sequence featured the Bolts kickoff return team as Derius Davis led the way at returner.

The second session focused on the Chargers kickoff teams as Cameron Dicker experimented with multiple kickoff styles to keep the Rams off balance, something Chargers Special Teams Coordinator Ryan Ficken said Friday was the plan throughout camp.

Cam Hart, Tarheeb Still, Thomas Harper and Tre'Mon Morris-Brash all flashed on kickoff returns by making "tackles" on the play. (There was no live tackling at practice).

Dicker, meanwhile, hit his lone field goal try in a 2-minute session from roughly 50 yards out.

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