Joey Bosa costs Chargers with penalty for helmet toss
Joey Bosa was one of the culprits in the Los Angeles Chargers’ brutal collapse in the playoffs on Saturday night.
The Chargers blew a 27-0 lead and lost 31-30 to the Jacksonville Jaguars in their AFC Wild Card Playoff game.
One of the key plays that helped the Jaguars pull off the win came when Bosa was called for a penalty in the fourth quarter.
Keep in mind some context: Late in the third quarter, Bosa was ticked off that holding was not called on a touchdown pass from Trevor Lawrence to Zay Jones. He ended up being called for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that was enforced on the kickoff.
Then in the fourth quarter, Lawrence threw a touchdown pass to Christian Kirk to make it 30-26 with 5:25 left. On that play, Bosa thought the officials missed a false start. He spiked his helmet in anger after the penalty wasn’t called. He ended up being flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct again.
Joey Bosa’s reaction to Brandon Staley handing him his helmet back is the funniest thing you’ll see this @NFL playoffs…pic.twitter.com/XUwjIrVIjM
— J. Tito Javier (@JavierPDJavier) January 15, 2023
The penalty brought a potential 2-point conversion attempt to the 1-yard line, which Doug Pederson decided to try. Trevor Lawrence reached out the ball for an easy conversion to make it a 30-28 game, setting up the Jags to win on a field goal.
After the game, Pederson said he probably wouldn’t have gone for the 2-point conversion if not for the penalty that brought the Jags to the 1-yard line.
Doug Pederson says he probably would not have gone for the late two point conversion had it not been for the penalty.
— Lindsey Thiry (@LindseyThiry) January 15, 2023
That’s a brutal penalty by Bosa. Without his penalty, the Jags probably would have kicked the extra point to make it 30-27. The game then would have gone to overtime at 30-30 instead of ending on Jacksonville’s field goal to make it 31-30.