Week in Review | Chargers Ready for Colts in Primetime

The Chargers defense had a couple players punch their ticket to the Pro Bowl.

Both James and outside linebacker Khalil Mack were announced as starters 2023 Pro Bowl Games in Las Vegas on Wednesday. This marks James’ third time and Mack’s seventh being named to the Pro Bowl.

In addition to James and Mack, six more Chargers were named alternates for the 2023 Pro Bowl Games: Running back Austin Ekeler (first alternate), center Corey Linsley (first), quarterback Justin Herbert (second), long snapper Josh Harris (second), punter JK Scott (fourth) and wide receiver DeAndre Carter (fifth) as a return specialist.

Since the Chargers don’t play until Monday, their schedule this week looked a bit different than it would in a regular week. At 8-6, they will use the extra day as a way to recover, as Week 16 could be a big one.

Especially the last couple of weeks, the team has gotten big contributions from many players, but there have been a couple all season who have stood out.

Chargers Senior Writer Eric Smith wrote Wednesday about a couple of unheralded players who have been crucial in the story of the Chargers season, including Ja’Sir Taylor, Breiden Fehoko and many more.

In the case of most improved player however, Smith tabbed cornerback Michael Davis as his most improved player in his weekly mailbag, as Davis has stepped into a starting role and excelled.

But he’s been pressed back into a starting role over the last two months and has thrived of late, rising to the occasion and being one of the Bolts best defensive players. Since Week 9, he leads all NFL cornerbacks with 10 forced incompletions.

I chatted with Davis a few weeks ago about what he was focusing on and he gave a simple answer: Effort.

If you play hard, he said, good things usually happen. That’s been the case for Davis, and the entire Chargers offense, in recent weeks.

In transactional news, the Chargers announced they had signed defensive lineman Christopher Hinton to the…