The bye week seems to have done Chargers QB Justin Herbert a lot of good.
The bye week seems to have done Justin Herbert a lot of good.
Good timing, too, because the Chargers have needed him to elevate his supporting cast to even be competitive these past two weeks. With Keenan Allen, Mike Williams, and Jalen Guyton all out with injuries, L.A. is seemingly on the brink of holding a fan raffle to determine its next starting receiver.
And yet, against one of the best defenses in the league, the Bolts hung tough, eventually losing 22-16 on Sunday Night Football. Herbert was a big reason why spending all game making plays that few others in the league could.
Let’s get into the film.
Early on, many of Herbert’s throws were keyed in on 49ers safety Talanoa Hufanga, a breakout star who’s made his money as an aggressive ballhawk and tackler. Here, Hufanga is the read – if he carries Michael Bandy upfield, Herbert hits DeAndre Carter on the crossing route. If Hufanga stays home, as he does, it gives Herbert the option of launching the go route. The only problem is Bandy doesn’t generate any separation on the corner. Knowing the routes have played out, Herbert bails from a clean pocket to generate movement downfield. Tight end Gerald Everett drifts towards the sideline, where Bandy has cleared the field for him and makes a nice catch outside his frame to pick up the first down.
I love everything about this play. I love the design to get Josh Palmer open. I love how Palmer delays his release to set up the first rub from DeAndre Carter. I love Herbert’s throw to hit Palmer and pick up another first down. Everything about this is executed perfectly, which is a credit to Palmer, Carter, and Bandy for getting their timing down. This is the kind of play you can call when you know your QB can hit throws like this. While Herbert makes it look easy, there are a lot of QBs in the league that end up trying this throw and get picked by the safety drifting over.
Tre’ McKitty must still be kicking himself about this one. Corner Charvarius Ward (the red arrow going upfield) has deep half responsibility here, which leads him to carry Richard Rodgers upfield on the seam route. Linebacker Dre Greenlaw has seen this movie before from the Chargers. Half expecting Herbert to swing this out to Austin Ekeler, Greenlaw is caught just flat-footed enough for McKitty to sneak past into the open field. By the time Ward turns around, the ball is already in the air. If McKitty hauls this in, it’s, at minimum, a first down and, more likely, a touchdown. Instead, it bounces off his hands.
Luckily for McKitty, most of the Chargers fans watching live forgot about his drop immediately because this absolute seed was the very next play. Herbert is watching DeAndre Carter on this crossing route the whole way, and he has him open when he throws this ball. The only complication comes when McKitty’s underneath route coincides with the ball placement, which makes for an insanely tight window throw that teleports through the hole and hits Carter in stride. Herbert throws this while the pocket around him dissolves, and he takes a hit. This isn’t a throw he threads into that window earlier this season when the rib injury had a visible impact on his ability to drive the ball.
Similarly, this isn’t a play Herbert makes before the bye week. LA loves to get Herbert moving as an extension of their run game in doses here and there, just enough to remind defenses that their QB has wheels, too. But pre-bye week, Herbert barely ran the ball, instead opting to either take a checkdown or throw the ball away. What I find incredible here is how Herbert navigates this pocket: step up to avoid the pressure coming from both edge rushers, then immediately takes a hop step to avoid running into another oncoming defender. I do think Herbert intended to slide here but ended up being tackled behind by Fred Warner, leading to the nasty hit that put the QB in concussion protocol to end the first half. Still, hit or not, this play is a good process, showing that Herbert is confident enough in his ribs to scramble more often. That’s a great sign.
Joe Lombardi is trying to call plays deeper down the field. Sometimes, like in our first clip today, they simply don’t get open. That’ll happen when you have one of the slowest WR groups in the league. But sometimes, they are getting open, as Carter does here. On most of those occasions, the Chargers’ patchwork offensive line is giving up pressure that forces Herbert off the deep reads. This pressure design by San Francisco is beautiful: not only is their formation overloaded to the right side, but Fred Warner loops around everyone after the linemen have engaged to rush free on Herbert. That forces him to move off his first read (Carter on the deep cross) and get rid of the ball for survival purposes.
All this is to say: I don’t think this offense is broken, at least not systematically. Physically, they’re somewhere between broken and hurting bad. The game plan against San Francisco incorporated way more intermediate and deep routes as Herbert’s primary read than we’re used to from Lombardi. This fell apart once the 49ers could scheme up more pressure in the second half, yes. But it’s an encouraging sign that Lombardi at least has the plays in his arsenal. Now that Herbert is healthy enough to execute them, Lombardi has shown he’s more comfortable calling them. If/when this team gets Keenan Allen, Mike Williams, and Trey Pipkins back, I’d expect much more productivity and explosiveness from this unit. This is good tape, even in a loss, missing five starters (including Gerald Everett, injured on Sunday) and three skill position contributors.
In short: Justin Herbert is coming soon. Get the popcorn in the microwave.
