INGLEWOOD, Calif. — The two throws sailed over the head of Keenan Allen, and, really, they were all anyone needed to see from the Los Angeles Chargers’ 20-17 loss to the Dallas Cowboys to know the truth: Justin Herbert just was not himself.
The first miss came with 1:30 left in the first half Monday night at SoFi Stadium. Allen beat Dallas cornerback DaRon Bland on a shifty move, faking on an in-breaker before running wide open down the left sideline. Herbert airmailed the throw out of bounds. A completion would have moved the Chargers into field goal range. Instead, they punted. And those three points loomed large.
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The second miss came with 11:19 left in the game, on the opening play of the Chargers’ first drive of the fourth quarter. Allen, again, shook Bland out of his shoes. This time, the receiver faked to the flat before a smooth cut to the inside. Bland fell over, tumbling out of bounds. Allen was wide open. Herbert, again, threw long. The Chargers ended up punting.
“Keenan ran two great routes, and I missed him,” Herbert said after the game. “That’s on me as a quarterback.”
GO DEEPER
Cowboys rebound with MNF win over Chargers
The fourth-quarter misfire was less detrimental. The Chargers recovered a fumble on the ensuing punt, taking over at the Dallas 20-yard line. And Herbert found tight end Gerald Everett five plays later on a fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line to tie the game at 17.
Herbert to Everett on 4th and Goal! @Chargers tie it up pic.twitter.com/B7LsUXoKwf
— NFL (@NFL) October 17, 2023
Still, the two bad throws told the story of this game.
The Chargers fell to 2-3. The Kansas City Chiefs are up next, in six days at Arrowhead.
“I got to make more plays as the quarterback,” Herbert said.
He does. No qualifiers needed.
Herbert is being paid to make those throws now.
He is being paid to lead winning and tying drives in crunch time.
He came up short in Week 1 against the Miami Dolphins. He came up short in Week 2 against the Tennessee Titans. And he came up short again Monday night. Herbert got the ball down three with 2:19 remaining. A sack on second-and-2 set up a third-and-10, and Herbert threw an interception with pressure in his face to ice the game.
“There was a lot left out there,” Herbert said.
STEPHON GILMORE SEALS THE WIN WITH A PICK#DALvsLAC pic.twitter.com/32L5CtBPde
— NFL (@NFL) October 17, 2023
The two overthrows were jarring because Herbert is typically so composed, so accurate, so unflappable, so reliable — even in the face of unrelenting pressure.
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On Monday night, he was unsettled. The Cowboys pass rush dominated the game and clearly affected how Herbert was operating and processing. Herbert is dealing with a fractured middle finger on his non-throwing hand he suffered in Week 4, but he said the injury “didn’t cross my mind too much” in the loss.
There have been so very few games where Herbert looked like this — mortal. A 45-0 loss to the New England Patriots in his rookie season and a 34-6 loss to the Baltimore Ravens in 2021 are perhaps the only two comparable examples. Three of his 54 career starts.
Except this performance came in prime time, in a game the Chargers really could not afford to lose. And so the criticism will come. That is how it goes when a player signs a contract like Herbert did.
“Just part of ball,” coach Brandon Staley said of Herbert’s misses to Allen.
To explain the overthrows, we have to start at the beginning of this game.
The game plan offensively, according to tackles Rashawn Slater and Trey Pipkins III, was to establish the run early and try to keep the Cowboys’ many rushers — Micah Parsons, DeMarcus Lawrence, Dante Fowler Jr. and the rest — off balance.
The Chargers had nine designed rushes for 18 yards in the first half. Their five first-down carries went for 13 yards. On second down, they faced an average distance to gain of 8.6 yards in the first two quarters. Too many known pass-rush situations, and the Cowboys had their way with the Chargers offensive line.
Parsons wrecked the game, right up until his sack on the second-to-last play of the night when he surged through the line of scrimmage in between Pipkins and right guard Jamaree Salyer.
Micah Parsons breaks through!
📺: #DALvsLAC on ESPN/ABC
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/cKH8Z3jhNB pic.twitter.com/znVFciReSX
— NFL (@NFL) October 17, 2023
“He obviously brings challenges from the ability that he has,” Pipkins said of Parsons. “Simple as that.”
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Offensive coordinator Kellen Moore was facing his former team. His game plan did not materialize, particularly the rushing attack.
“We just didn’t get there,” Slater said.
Added Staley: “Our inability to run the football allowed their rush to really express itself. They were able to play their type of game most of the game.”
Herbert has seemed immune to pressure through his first four NFL seasons. Since Herbert entered the league in 2020, only two qualified quarterbacks have a lower sack-per-pressure rate, according to TruMedia: Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen.
And even Monday night, with pressure bearing down on him on what seemed like every dropback, Herbert was only sacked once.
Those two missed throws to Allen, though, showed the impact of the Cowboys rush better than any box score stat.
Herbert was kept as clean as he could expect on those two plays, and he still missed.
When asked if he felt like he was rushed on the two throws because of the pressure earlier in the game, Herbert said, “Even if I was, that’s on me to be able to calm my feet down and stay good in the pocket and deliver that strike. Keenan ran two great routes, and he gave us those opportunities to get those explosive plays, so that’s on me to stay in there and deliver and do my job to get him the ball.”
Those plays are on him. No qualifiers needed.
The defense held Cowboys running back Tony Pollard to 30 yards on 15 carries. Herbert had enough help in this one from Staley’s unit. The Cowboys converted three third downs on their go-ahead field goal drive. A third-and-19 on illegal contact penalties on cornerbacks Ja’Sir Taylor and Michael Davis. A third-and-6 on a broken-play completion to receiver CeeDee Lamb (seven catches, 117 yards) near the right sideline with Taylor in coverage. A third-and-9 on a comeback to Brandin Cooks with cornerback Asante Samuel Jr. in coverage.
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Since Staley took over in 2021, the Chargers have allowed 22 conversions on third-and-11 or longer on 72 snaps, including penalties — a 30.6 percent conversion rate that is tops in the league over that span, according to TruMedia.
An issue. But not the issue Monday night. The Chargers held the Cowboys for 5-for-13 on third down. They stopped the Cowboys on two of their four red zone drives. Overall, they pressured well, they covered well, they stopped the run.
The Chargers defense played well enough to win against the Cowboys but the offense didn’t do enough. (Ronald Martinez / Getty Images)For once, Herbert received the help he has so desperately needed from the defense.
“Defensively we played well enough to win,” Staley said.
It was a struggling offense that Herbert failed to lift on this night.
Chargers running backs finished with 31 rushing yards on 16 carries.
“Not good,” said Austin Ekeler, who rushed for 27 yards on 14 carries. “Got to be way better.”
“We got to take a hard look at what we’re doing,” Staley said.
The Chargers still have to play the Chiefs twice. The play the Lions, Ravens and Bills. They play at the Jets and at the Packers.
If the Chargers are going to get to where they want to go, they need to find their rushing attack. They need better protection in front of Herbert.
And, yes, they need better play from their $262.5 million quarterback.
“He definitely gave us a chance to win in the game,” Staley said. “He competed. We were right there at the end, and we got to put this one behind us and get moving.”
(Top photo of Micah Parsons sacking Justin Herbert: Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images)
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