Chargers Place KeAndre Lambert-Smith on IR. The Hamstring Isn't What Beat Them.
The Los Angeles Chargers put wide receiver KeAndre Lambert-Smith on injured reserve after he hurt his hamstring in Sunday's 26-14 loss to the Arizona Cardinals. He'll miss at least the next month.
The consensus writes itself: a blow to a passing game that can't afford one. I want to see the target share before I sign off on that. A month on IR is a month, and it's a real absence. It is not, on its own, a season-shaping event.
Here's what that Sunday actually showed. Arizona quarterback Jacoby Brissett completed 27 of 37 passes for 277 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions. That's a 103.1 passer rating. Trey McBride caught nine of 13 targets for 95 yards and a score. Kendrick Bourne chipped in 75 yards on eight catches. The Cardinals' offense moved the ball all afternoon against a Chargers defense that never found an answer for the tight end.
Arizona also took the ball away twice, an Andrew Wingard interception and a Will Johnson fumble recovery. Those are the plays that decided a 12-point game, not the depth chart at receiver.
The Chargers' response is already underway. Yahoo Sports reported they're adding wide receiver Gary Jennings, which is what teams do when a receiver goes down: they find another body and keep calling plays.
That's the part worth arguing about. Everyone is treating the IR designation as the story of the Chargers' week. It isn't. The story is a secondary and linebacker group that let a backup-caliber quarterback post a 103.1 rating and let McBride convert nine catches. Fix that and the receiver room sorts itself out. Don't fix it, and it won't matter who lines up outside.
My call: Lambert-Smith's absence costs the Chargers less than the defensive tape from that loss does. If they're still giving up 95 yards to a tight end in October, the Jennings signing won't be the move anyone remembers from this week.
