Another week, another Chargers football game. Los Angeles watched the Cowboys commit eleven penalties but committed nine of their own to salt away a 20-17 loss that dropped the Chargers to 2-3.
Here’s what to take away from the loss.
Sloppiness out of the bye
Committing nine (accepted) penalties coming out of the bye week with an extra day to prepare for a game is…abysmal! It underscored a sloppy performance overall from Los Angeles, which was sometimes covered up by an equally grimy showing from the Cowboys.
There were six penalties, three of them holds, on the Chargers offensive line. One of those killed a fourth-quarter drive revived by Dallas touching a punt before Los Angeles’ special teams landed on it. There were blown coverages between Ja’Sir Taylor and Eric Kendricks in the red zone on a CeeDee Lamb reception that put the ball on the three-yard line. There were blown assignments, like when Will Clapp whiffed on a block against Osa Odighizuwa, resulting in a handoff that ended barely after it started.
It was, in a word, horrible. And again, to have such an awful performance at home after a bye, with an extra day to prepare, is inexcusable.
Protection problems
Dallas only got home for one sack that counted – the Micah Parsons deletion of Justin Herbert just after the two-minute warning. But the Cowboys were in Herbert’s face all night, racking up eight QB hits and affecting Herbert’s throws on what seemed like every dropback.
It was a night to forget for almost every member of the offensive line, and the fact that they didn’t have answers for a Dan Quinn defense that Kellen Moore is familiar with makes it sting that much more. Six different Cowboys defenders got a hit on Herbert, none of whom were named DeMarcus Lawrence, who also had the Chargers quarterback bailing out of the pocket. Even Rashawn Slater struggled on Monday night, allowing a team-high four pressures. Center Will Clapp and right tackle Trey Pipkins each allowed three to reach their team total of ten.
It’s been a concerning theme this season for Los Angeles, whose protection issues have reared their ugly head, especially in critical moments of the game. While Slater has primarily been the player Chargers fans remember on the left side, the protection on the right side has struggled, primarily when the pressure is on. Part of that is opposing defenses putting their best pass rusher on that side to avoid Slater, but none of LA’s plans to help Trey Pipkins have been effective thus far this year. It’s time to find answers to that problem.
Justin Herbert's worst game
This was easily Herbert’s worst game of the season if not his career. He was undoubtedly dealing with a broken finger, but the narrative all week was that it would not affect his throws and process. We can’t pivot now and claim that the finger caused Herbert to struggle. Call a spade a spade – it was a bad game, and even the best players have bad games.
The pressure clearly had Herbert feeling jittery for most of the game. Even before Dallas started to get home, Herbert was bailing from pockets a beat or two too early. It felt like he rushed some throws that weren’t open and was late to come to some that were. The throw to Austin Ekeler in the flat should have been a touchdown, but Herbert came back to it far too late and gave Cowboys safety Markquese Bell time to come back and stuff Ekeler at the 1. A throw to Keenan Allen on a double move was just a plain miss from the typically pinpoint, accurate quarterback.
There’s no reason to panic about Herbert’s performance, especially in a week where many of the league’s upper-echelon of passers struggled. But with even a median Herbert performance, the Chargers could have and probably should have won this game.
Broken
This could apply to several things. Broken, as in Justin Herbert’s finger (not an excuse for his performance, as mentioned). Broken, as in the rushing attack, which was held to 2.3 yards a carry and has not produced positive results since Week 1. Broken, as in the defense, which was bent so many times that they finally gave in towards the end of the game.
Broken, as in the spirit of this team after losing their sixth game of three or fewer points in the last two seasons.
It’s hard to fathom a world where the Chargers continue with this status quo, where they’re forever on edge no matter what the lead is. LA got off to a hot start in this game and not a single soul thought they had the game locked up because it’s a Chargers football game. It’s an issue that’s permeated the environment around this roster since the Jaguars game, whether Brandon Staley wants to acknowledge it or not.
Something under the hood is broken. And for the first 5 minutes on Monday, it looked like the Chargers had fixed it during the bye week. But like a DIY fix rarely holds for long, the duct tape LA put over their problems peeled off quickly and revealed that this is still the same team we saw earlier this season.
Call a mechanic, Los Angeles.
