CLEVELAND — Tarheeb Still was the last Los Angeles Chargers player to leave the field and enter the tunnel after a convincing 27-10 win over the Cleveland Browns.
As the rookie cornerback trotted under the awning and into the bowels of the stadium, his cleats click-clacking on the hard surface of the ramp, there was one person waiting for him: general manager Joe Hortiz.
Hortiz threw his arms around Still and enveloped him in a bear hug, smacking his back. Hortiz nearly left his feet. The two rocked back and forth for a few seconds before disengaging. Hortiz turned around. The pride emanated from a smile as wide as his face would allow.
Hortiz put his hand on Still’s shoulder, and the two made their way up the tunnel. Just before making a right turn to the locker room, Still said, “Damn, that feels great.”
It should feel great. Still had his first career interception in the fourth quarter of the win. He also forced an interception earlier in the second half, leaping to break up a pass in the end zone. Still tipped that ball to safety Elijah Molden. Two massive plays in a suffocating defensive performance that helped the Chargers improve to 5-3.
Hortiz drafted Still in the fifth round in April. He was not supposed to play this early in his career, but injuries dictated a different path. Kristian Fulton is out with a hamstring injury. Asante Samuel Jr. is on injured reserve with a shoulder injury. Ja’Sir Taylor is battling a fibula injury. Still has been forced onto the field, playing at least 42 snaps in the each of the past five games. He has played nickel. He has played on the outside. He played a career-high 70 snaps against the Browns. And so far, he is proving Hortiz right.
“He believed a lot in me,” Still said. “I wanted to go out there and show him that I was as advertised, that I was the person that he drafted.”
Hortiz did not have any words for Still in the tunnel after the game. “Just a big hug,” Still said. “A lot of energy and lot of excitement.”
let’s go heeb!!!!
📺 | @nfloncbs pic.twitter.com/qJhmv9PldS
— Los Angeles Chargers (@chargers) November 3, 2024
Hortiz identified the talent. Still has performed. Some credit, too, must be given to the coaching staff, including defensive coordinator Jesse Minter and defensive backs coach Steve Clinkscale.
Still’s deflection on Molden’s interception shone a light on how coaching breeds production.
The Browns offense found some life on the opening possession of the second half. The Chargers led 20-3. The Browns drove 66 yards, deep into Chargers territory, and faced second-and-goal from the 4-yard line.
Cleveland set up with a trips receiver look to the right. Still was the outside corner to that side. Molden was the safety, aligned in the end zone. As quarterback Jameis Winston took the shotgun snap, Molden was in conflict, with all three receivers running route stems in his direction. Still dropped to the flat in a Cover 2 look.
The middle receiver, Jerry Jeudy, ran a corner route. Molden got a late break because of the muddy look early in the down. Still had to defend two routes: Jeudy and running back Nick Chubb, who had released to the flat from the backfield. It was a high-low concept. Jeudy was the high man, Chubb the low man.
The Chargers coach this technique when a defensive back is in Cover 2 in the red zone. They call it “fade to flat.” Protect the deep corner first but maintain positioning to attack the flat if the ball goes there.
In practice and meetings, Clinkscale drove this point home with Still, because the Chargers were expecting some variation of this high-low concept in the red zone.
“He cussed Tarheeb out all week,” safety Derwin James Jr. said with a chuckle. “Tarheeb responds the best when he gets cussed out.”
Still executed the technique. He baited Winston into the corner throw to Jeudy.
“He was just in perfect position,” Molden said.
Still was able to retreat, leap and tip the ball. By that point, Molden had recovered, and he was sitting underneath the deflection for his third interception of the season.
“That’s something that we worked all week, me and coach Clink,” Still said. “I just had to be set and be ready to make the play.”
tarheeb w the assist
📺 | @nfloncbs pic.twitter.com/qgopfcRer0
— Los Angeles Chargers (@chargers) November 3, 2024
This was the first of three picks Winston threw in the game, all in the second half.
“Jameis was going to give us some opportunities to get the ball,” said edge rusher Khalil Mack, who had a sack-fumble in the first quarter.
Later in the third quarter, safety Alohi Gilman intercepted Winston on an overthrow, his first of the season. In the fourth quarter, Winston tried to throw over the middle to receiver Elijah Moore on an in-breaking route. Still jumped it.
“He got his feet wet now,” James said of Still. “So I told him, if he likes nice things, keep doing that.”
The Chargers could have added to that interception total. Linebacker Daiyan Henley got his hands on a throw over the middle in the first quarter but could not come down with the catch. James dropped an interception in the second quarter.
The Chargers sacked Winston six times and limited him to a 56.5 completion percentage on 46 attempts.
“The back end, they had things locked down,” said defensive lineman Morgan Fox, who had two sacks. “And when the ball was near them, they were taking it away.”
The Chargers did not surrender a touchdown until less than a minute to go in regulation. Garbage time.
“Total team defense domination today,” Mack said.
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Minter and his staff had the Chargers prepared for the Browns schematically. They knew the Browns liked to get to quick-game throws on second-and-long. They had five passes defended and two sacks on those downs and distances. They also knew what parts of the field and from what formations the Browns wanted to take their deep shots.
For example, on the opening play of a drive in the third quarter, the Browns aligned in a two tight end package, with one tight end inline to each side. This was a giveaway. The Chargers knew a “double-chipper” look meant a likely shot down the field. After the snap, both tight ends stayed into chip on the Chargers’ edge rushers. It was a max protection scheme, with only two receivers on routes. Winston threw deep to Moore on a go route. The Chargers had him double covered, with Still and Molden both tracking the route.
“The game felt easy today,” James said.
On paper, the Chargers should be stumbling in pass defense. By the second quarter Sunday, they were down all three of their starting corners. Samuel and Fulton were inactive. Taylor, the Chargers’ primary nickel corner, was knocked out of the game after aggravating his fibula injury. Rookie Cam Hart started at one corner spot. Still started opposite. But once Taylor went down, Still moved into nickel, and Eli Apple came on as the second outside corner. The Chargers signed Apple to the practice three weeks ago. They elevated him for Sunday’s game.
There has been no decline in play despite the rotating pieces. Hart, another fifth-round pick in April, has turned his all-world tools into consistent, physical play over the past four weeks. Apple played well Sunday in his first Chargers action. Hortiz’s roster-building is providing depth. Molden, too, was a pickup in August when Hortiz sent a 2026 seventh-round pick to the Tennessee Titans.
“We be on our third, fourth corner. You know how it is,” James said. “Now we got depth, and the depth guys we got coming in, they’re balling. S—, they competing just as good as the first guy. When you can add that, it’s a credit to our front office what they’re doing, making us a deeper team, bro. And you can see it in every position.”
Still was just the latest Hortiz addition to make an impact.
“That’s the cool feeling, especially as an older guy, being able to be around a guy like him who’s hungry and growing,” Gilman said of Still.
When Still first arrived at the Chargers facility in late April, he was surrounded by legends he only knew from afar.
“I used to play with Derwin James on Madden all the time,” Still said. “Now he’s my safety.”
This opportunity to play with his idols, he said, is a “blessing.”
“I’m like a kid in a candy store. It’s like a dream,” Still said. “Not everyone can say they played with Khalil Mack, you know what I’m saying? I just take advantage and give those guys everything I got to help win.”
On Sunday, he did exactly that.
cam + tarheeb 🤝 “gift from the football gods” pic.twitter.com/1kehglLNEn
— Los Angeles Chargers (@chargers) November 3, 2024
“A gift from the football gods,” coach Jim Harbaugh said of Still.
A gift from Hortiz, really.
But for Harbaugh, those might be one and the same.
(Photo of Tarheeb Still and Derwin James: Gregory Shamus / Getty Images)
