Desmond King, Chargers defense deliver more good than bad against Dolphins
COSTA MESA — A content Desmond King approached Casey Hayward in the locker room and shared the good news of his multi-sack performance against the Miami Dolphins.
The Chargers’ slot cornerback delivered a stat line that resembled something a dominant pass rusher would do. So of course, King wanted to share with his teammate after Sunday’s 30-10 victory at Hard Rock Stadium.
“He came and told me today, ‘I had three sacks,’” Hayward recalled, “and I was like, ‘Wow. I didn’t even notice that.’ … He had a good game.”
King was officially credited with 2.5 sacks along with four combined tackles and a forced fumble. He almost added a safety when he sacked former UCLA and St. John Bosco High quarterback Josh Rosen at Miami’s 1-yard line in the fourth quarter.
But King’s delight didn’t last long.
King noticed he was receiving the blame on social media for the Dolphins’ lone touchdown, a 34-yard touchdown that came off a DeVante Parker wheel route in the first quarter. Some pointed the finger at King because he was the closest defender to Parker.
“Everyone saying I was beat on a wheel route for the touchdown lol,” King tweeted Sunday night. “How can you get beat in a zone coverage? … Let the critics talk, they don’t know football.”
Everyone saying i was beat on a wheel route for the touchdown lol
— Desmond E. King II (@blaqbadger14) September 30, 2019
Perhaps King shouldn’t be bothered by critics who don’t know what defensive play was called, or what the assignments were. But it’s hard to blame King. Mistakes from cornerbacks often overshadow their positive plays.
San Francisco 49ers cornerback Richard Sherman also voiced his displeasure with the criticism the position receives.
“It’s hard to play CB (cornerback) in this league,” Sherman tweeted Sunday. “One catch given up and all of a sudden you are having a bad game. That’s why it’s funny to hear “elite” thrown around so loosely.”
Chargers coach Anthony Lynn said King probably could have been in a better position to prevent the touchdown, but he didn’t want him to linger on the one play.
“He’s gotta carry that, but they did a good job of scheming it,” Lynn said Monday. “Des (King) just backed up off it for a little bit. He probably should have carried that.
“A lot of times those guys (cornerbacks) are evaluated on how they recover after they get beat, because they’re going to get beat. It just comes with the territory. That’s why they’re all wired a little differently if you ask me.”
Regardless if King got beat on the play or not, there’s no denying he had a performance to remember Sunday.“When Des is on top of his game, he’s very valuable,” Lynn said. “We love him in our 3-deep zone coverage. He’s good blitzer. He’s a good tackler.”
As a defensive unit, the Chargers shut out the Dolphins in the second half and held them to 36 yards. The Dolphins got 197 of their 233 total yards in the first half.
The Chargers sacked Rosen five times and cornerback Michael Davis recorded his first career interception. It was Davis’ first game since suffering a hamstring injury in Week 1 against the Indianapolis Colts.
REPORT: INGRAM TO BE OUT WITH INJURY
It wasn’t all good news for the defense against the Dolphins.
Lynn said there was no update Monday on pass rusher Melvin Ingram’s hamstring injury, but NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport later reported Ingram is expected to miss time and likely a couple weeks. Ingram was injured in the second quarter and didn’t return.
It’s the latest injury blow for the shorthanded Chargers, who were forced to play 45 of their 46 activate players on Sunday. Melvin Gordon, who returned last week after a 64-day holdout, was the only player who didn’t enter the game.
“We can’t catch a break,” safety Derwin James tweeted about the Ingram injury report. James is on injured reserve with a foot injury. “We still fighting (with) 2-2 (record).”
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