INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) The Indianapolis Colts finally earned a victory in Los Angeles, where coach Shane Steichen paid his dues before leading the NFL’s highest-scoring offense.
Steichen said he felt emotional facing his former team, especially after seeing so many Los Angeles Chargers alumni on the field before the game.
“It’s great to come back here,” Steichen said. “I have a lot of good memories here.”
The Colts gave it another one after posting their NFL-leading sixth victory, 38-24 on Sunday behind Jonathan Taylor’s third three-touchdown game of the season and Daniel Jones for 288 yards and two scores.
“Shout out to Shane,” Chargers safety Derwin James Jr. said. “Man, great, great game plan. Great team, playoff caliber team.”
Taylor was untouched on TD runs of 23, 8 and 19 yards. He had 16 carries for 94 yards.
“When you have an offensive line like us,” Taylor said, “I try to give them as much praise as I can because they do a lot of the heavy lifting and the dirty work and they really make the job look easy.”
Jones hit Michael Pittman Jr. for a 4-yard score and Tyler Warren with a 5-yard pass. The quarterback was 23 of 34 while being sacked once.
“It’s electrifying. We have playmakers everywhere,” Taylor said. “No matter who scores, we can’t wait for the other to score.”
The Colts (6-1) also ended a five-game losing streak in Los Angeles after losing to the Rams at SoFi Stadium last month. They hadn’t beaten the Chargers, Rams or now Las Vegas Raiders in Los Angeles since 1986. Overall, the Colts hadn’t beaten the Chargers since September 25, 2016 in Indianapolis.
“It felt like every play was working for them,” Chargers receiver Keenan Allen said.
Off to their best start since 2009, the AFC South-leading Colts led 23-3 at halftime while holding the Chargers to 10 rushing yards on six carries. Taylor got the Colts started with his first score 2 1/2 minutes into the game.
“We know teams are going to continue to give us their best,” Taylor said, “so it’s going to get harder and harder.”
The Chargers (4-3) never led while losing for the third time in four games despite a career-high 420 passing yards and three touchdowns from Justin Herbert. His 37 completions set a franchise record. He was sacked three times and intercepted twice.
“The way it happened is difficult,” Herbert said.
The Chargers outscored the Colts 21-17 in the second half, rallying with three touchdowns on three straight possessions, after being held to Cameron Dicker’s 43-yard field goal in the first half.
Their final drive of the game killed nine minutes, but the Chargers turned the ball over without reaching the red zone.
“I was proud of the way the guys fought. They never gave up,” Herbert said. “We always thought we were in it.”
Quentin Johnston caught a 7-yard pass on the Chargers’ first possession of the third. The Colts responded with Taylor and Pittman’s second TD on a 2-point conversion for a 31-10 lead.
Pittman had a 4-yard touchdown run, Jones hit Tyler Warren with a 5-yard score and Michael Badgley kicked a 36-yard field goal in the second quarter for a 23-3 halftime lead.
Grover Stewart got his first career interception with a pick of Herbert in the second quarter.
Herbert had the ball hit at the line of scrimmage by the 6-foot-4, 314-pound nose tackle. He jumped into the air and Stewart caught him. Several Colts players charged the field to celebrate.
“Any time a great player has an interception like that, it’s always electrifying on the sideline,” Taylor said. “We know that, like the offensive line, they do a lot of the hard work and the dirty work, so when they get rewarded for something like that, hey, let them go in the end zone, let them celebrate.”
Colts: DE Samson Ebukam was injured and left in the third quarter.
Chargers: DL Otito Ogbonnia injured his elbow in the first quarter and did not return.
The Colts host Las Vegas on Sunday.
The Chargers host Minnesota on Thursday.
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