Alexander: The Harbaugh Era with L.A. Chargers begins well

INGLEWOOD – In Jim Harbaugh’s debut as Chargers coach, he did indeed bring a Big Ten-style offense with him. Problem was, for a half 3 yards and a cloud of nylon wasn’t getting it done.

At least it wasn’t until J.K. Dobbins, um, warmed up.

But maybe that’s not the best descriptive term. It was more than sufficiently warm at SoFi Stadium Sunday afternoon, the greenhouse effect from the translucent roof contributing to the 97 degree temperature and not many cooling breezes coming in from the open ends.

But that old saying about continuing to pound the rock until it cracks? The Chargers, committed to the physical brand of football preferred by their new coach, kept pounding. And after they were limited to 20 ground yards in nine carries – and trailed 7-6 in the first half – maybe the Las Vegas Raiders’ run defense began to show the cracks.

The Chargers finished with 176 ground yards in Sunday’s 22-10 season opening victory, along with 144 passing yards from Justin Herbert. The two second-half touchdowns that enabled the Chargers to put this one away? A 12-yard run by Dobbins on the first play of the fourth quarter to make it 16-7, and a 10-yard TD pass from Hebert to Ladd McConkey.

The latter was set up by a 61-yard scamper by Dobbins on a second-and-3 play from the Chargers’ 25, one in which he acknowledged he ran out of gas. And that came shortly after the Raiders, with a fourth-and-1 from the Chargers’ 43 and an opportunity to retake the lead, punted the ball away with 7:09 left.

It was the first time a trailing team had punted on fourth-and-1 inside the opponent’s territory in the fourth quarter since the opening weekend of the 2016 season, when Buffalo coach Rex Ryan did so against Baltimore. The Bills lost that game to start a 7-9 season.

Life can be strange. That call came against another team coached by a Harbaugh, the Ravens’ John. Rex Ryan’s brother, Rob, is currently a senior defensive assistant for the Raiders – and in 2016 was his brother’s assistant head coach in Buffalo. Do you think he was tempted to suggest to his current boss, Antonio Pierce, that this might not end well?

It didn’t for the Raiders, obviously. And for that, the Chargers can thank Dobbins, who finished with a career-high 135 yards on 10 carries and whose 61- and 46-yard runs were the longest of his career.

Dobbins was picked up this past offseason as distressed goods. He missed all of the 2021 season, which would have been his second in the NFL, with a torn ACL. He missed eight games in 2022 with a different knee issue, and he tore his Achilles in Week 1 last year, which may have been why he was available to the Chargers on a one-year, $1.61 million deal.

The idea was that Dobbins, given a clean bill of health by L.A. orthopedic surgeon Neal ElAttrache, and former Ravens teammate Gus Edwards would help provide a potent running game to complement Herbert and a fleet of new receivers. General manager Joe Hortiz, whose previous employer was the Baltimore franchise, had a pretty good idea what he was getting.

Dobbins had let everyone know he felt like he was 100 percent and just needed to go out in Week 1 and show it, which he did. But there was one caveat.

“I gotta finish those runs like I used to,” he said. “And I will. I will. I’m gonna make sure I fix it so I can do what I’m capable of doing.”

Then again, it’s not hard to run out of energy when it’s that hot.

“Like back in Texas,” Dobbins said.

Any identity or culture change with this team, and in particular this offense, begins in the trenches. Among the first things Harbaugh did in his postgame remarks Sunday was to salute his offensive linemen, and it should be noted that while the Chargers were flagged for four false starts and a holding penalty in the first 20 minutes in the game – much of that due to noise created by Raiders fans – four were committed by tight ends Will Dissly and Eric Tomlinson and the other by McConkey.

The guys on the interior? Not perfect, maybe, but pretty good.

“We had a lot of confidence in our offensive line,” Harbaugh said. “I mean, we feel like they’re the tip of the spear, and we feel like we can attack with that group. And they were outstanding. (Left tackle) Rashawn Slater played a great game. (Left guard) Zion Johnson, just love him. (Center Bradley) Bozeman played really well, and so did Pip (right guard Trey Pipkins III). I mean, what a great story, one of the fine tackles in pro football moves to guard, and I thought he was outstanding. And (rookie right tackle) Joe Alt, he played really good. Super happy for Joe.”

Alt had the most difficult assignment, against Pro Bowl defensive end Maxx Crosby. He gave up one sack and one tackle for loss, but otherwise minimized the damage.

“Joe’s a true ballplayer out there, and he wasn’t fazed at all,” Herbert said. “He’s a tough player, knows his stuff and we’ve got complete faith in him.”

Before we get carried away, a reminder: This was Week 1. It’s a league-wide truism that Week 2 is a better indicator, especially after teams see film involving all of the regulars who didn’t play much or at all in the preseason.

This was by no means the finished product. But as a sample of what the Harbaugh Chargers are capable of, it was a good start.

jalexander@scng.com