QB Justin Herbert takes ultimate blame for Chargers’ embarrassing loss to Jaguars
The Bolts never got going against Jacksonville.
Losing difficult games happens in the NFL. For contending teams, you just won’t find a way to win them all. That being said, getting embarrassed is a different story, particularly if you have playoff aspirations. That’s what occurred to the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 11, though. They were manhandled by the Jacksonville Jaguars, and quarterback Justin Herbert took the fall for it afterwards.
Justin Herbert takes blame after awful loss to Jaguars
“You gotta trust your gut and you go out there and try and play as fast as you can and not think, but sometimes they get you. I could have done a much better job of getting rid of the ball and not taking some of those sacks.” — Justin Herbert after loss to Jaguars
Herbert also added that he has to play better. He did not feel that his performance on Sunday was good enough for his team, and he’s not incorrect in that thinking.
The offensive line was horrid once again in Week 11. Herbert was consistently under duress early in plays, and the running game never found space upfront. In both instances, those players did not do their jobs well enough, including trade deadline acquisition Trevor Penning.
The lineman started at left tackle but was removed late in the game amid some widespread swaps around the unit. Penning allowed a sack and was called for two penalties in his starting debut for the Bolts. Austin Deculus replaced him and could start for the Chargers in their next game, in Week 13 versus the Las Vegas Raiders.
“Penning allowed a team-high eight pressures and one sack; no other lineman allowed more than three pressures, according to the NFL’s Next Gen Stats. But offensive coordinator Greg Roman also didn’t help Penning much, leaving him one-on-one 71% of the time, more than any other lineman with 10 snaps.” — ESPN
For the quarterback, though, it was easily his worst performance of the campaign as well. He put the football in harm’s way too often, and the passing game found no success down the field. Quentin Johnson’s impact was nonexistent, and Ladd McConkey did not build on the recent success we’d seen from him.
Scoring just six points is never acceptable, and the defense struggled far too badly for LA to have any sort of chance at a win in the second half of this matchup. Herbert finished the game with a line of 10-18 for 81 passing yards, 21 rushing yards, and an interception.
The Chargers QB was sacked only twice, but that does not tell the story about how much pressure he was under for much of the defeat. Regardless, Los Angeles needs to put this one behind them and get healthier over the upcoming bye week.
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