Chargers run through hapless Panthers en route to 2-0 start to season

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Chargers ran and ran and ran some more Sunday at Bank of America Stadium, and it wasn’t long before they had secured a 26-3 victory over the Carolina Panthers and their first 2-0 start to a season since 2012. Their offensive line pushed and pushed and pushed some more.

J.K. Dobbins and Gus Edwards and even quarterback Justin Herbert rushed through the holes and helped to produce a resounding victory against an overmatched opponent. Dobbins rushed for 131 yards on 17 carries, the first Chargers running back to start a season with back-to-back 100 yards games.

Edwards gained 59 yards on 18 carries and Herbert had 22 yards on three carries before three kneel-downs in the victory formation in the closing moments of a game that was never really in doubt. Hassan Haskins relieved Dobbins and Edwards in the closing minutes and gained 11 yards on three carries.

“It was just relentless,” Herbert said of the Chargers’ ground game after they rushed for 219 yards on 44 carries, an average of five yards per attempt.

Herbert threw first-half touchdown passes of 29 and 5 yards to wide receiver Quentin Johnston and Dobbins scored on a 43-yard run as the Chargers raced to a 20-0 halftime lead. Herbert completed 14 of 20 passes for 130 yards with two touchdowns and one interception by game’s end.

Dobbins punctuated his touchdown run with a celebratory summersault into the end zone and then got a postgame visit from Chargers general manager Joe Hortiz after failing to stick the landing. Dobbins said he didn’t plan to try his flip, but said he had wanted to since doing it in pee-wee football.

“It just happened,” he said. “Mr. Joe Hortiz just told me, ‘No more flips.’”

The Chargers’ offense was only half the story, though. Their defense stuffed the Panthers at almost every turn, much as they did during a 22-10 victory last Sunday over the Raiders at SoFi Stadium. At one point, late in the first half Sunday, the Panthers had zero first downs and 20 total yards of offense.

Elijah Molden, filling in for injured safety Alohi Gilman, ended one Carolina possession with an interception of Panthers quarterback Bryce Young. The Panthers had finally gotten their first first down on an 11-yard run by Chuba Hubbard, but Molden picked off Young on the next play with 3:27 left in the half.

“Man, he walked in, no questions asked, he wasn’t worried about nothing,” safety Derwin James Jr. said of Molden, acquired Aug. 28 from the Tennessee Titans in exchange for a seventh-round pick in the 2026 draft. “He just wanted to work hard with us. He’s just been a great add to our defense.”

Dobbins then raced 43 yards for a touchdown and a commanding 20-0 lead. One week after he gained 135 yards against the Raiders, he ran for 85 of the Chargers’ 134 yards in the first half. It was the most they gained in a half since rushing for 135 against the Cleveland Browns during the 2022 season.

By game’s end, Dobbins had another reason to feel vindicated after knee and Achilles tendon injuries threatened to derail a promising career. Conventional wisdom, as he often told it during the offseason and in training camp, was that he was injury prone and his productive days were likely behind him.

“I’ve been telling you all offseason,” he said. “No one believed me, but I’m speaking the word of God to you. I’m telling you what God is telling me, you know? I’ve been telling you all offseason. A lot of people talk about my injuries, but they were unfortunate. The storm might be over. I think it’s over. I am healthy now and I’ve been telling y’all when I’m healthy I could be one of the best.”

“You can see it, you can see how our identity is starting to form, for sure,” Chargers center Bradley Bozeman said. “But we’ll do whatever the hell we have to do to make sure that things work right. If we have to pass it 60 times or run it 60 times, do 60 screens, 60 draws, whatever it has to be to make it happen.”