Late-game pass protection woes yet another issue in this lost Chargers season
INGLEWOOD, Calif. — The Los Angeles Chargers’ late-game pass protection was already a problem. So much so that both coach Brandon Staley and offensive coordinator Kellen Moore faced questions about the repeated breakdowns in the week leading up to the team’s 20-10 loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday night at SoFi Stadium.
Through 11 weeks, quarterback Justin Herbert had been sacked five times in two-minute drill situations — tied or trailing by one score with less than four minutes remaining in regulation. That led the league, according to TruMedia. Herbert also committed an intentional grounding as a result of pressure in a Week 1 loss to the Miami Dolphins . The six combined sacks and grounding penalties were two more than any other team in those situations, according to TruMedia.
“It’s us as a team on offense executing better,” Staley said Wednesday when presented with those numbers. “All 11 guys, not just the O-line.”
“A frustrating element of ours,” Moore said a day later. “We have to continue to find ways to improve there because, obviously, it’s gotten us a couple of times.”
The problem remains unresolved. Against the Ravens, the Chargers’ protection again unraveled in a crucial moment of a one-score game. They lost another close one as a result. At 4-7, the Chargers have a better record than just one team in the AFC — the New England Patriots , who they play on the road next week. Their odds of making the postseason are now somewhere close to nonexistent.
“Every time, it stings more,” Staley said Sunday night of all the close losses.
This protection blunder came on a fourth-and-6 with 1:57 left in the game. The Chargers trailed by three points. They were at the Ravens’ 46-yard line, needing at most nine yards to get into kicker Cameron Dicker ’s range. Dicker has twice connected from 55 yards this season.
Herbert set up in shotgun with Austin Ekeler to his right, tight end Donald Parham Jr. detached off the formation to the left, and three wide receivers. Herbert took the snap. The Ravens brought cornerback Arthur Maulet on a blitz from the slot. He exploded into the backfield unblocked. Herbert was looking left, where Keenan Allen was running an out route to the sideline. Herbert did not have enough time. Allen was not yet out of his break when Maulet smothered Herbert. The Chargers quarterback threw an errant pass while Maulet spun him to the turf. Incomplete. Intentional grounding.
Arthur Maulet brings the pressure and forces the turnover on downs: #BALvsLAC on NBC
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— NFL November 27, 2023
“We just didn’t pick it up well enough and make the right timing with the route and the quarterback,” Staley said.
This was the seventh sack or intentional grounding in a two-minute drill situation for the Chargers this season, according to TruMedia.
“We had kind of seen it. We knew that they were going to bring it,” Herbert said of the slot pressure. “And we just didn’t execute.”
Herbert took the blame after the game. He said he “could have changed the protection” and motioned in an additional blocker pre-snap to deal with the pressure look. Instead, Herbert said, he told Allen pre-snap to get out on his route quickly as a hot-read option in case of a blitz.
“I didn’t do a good enough job of moving, getting off the spot and creating a lane to throw,” Herbert said. “I thought I had time. It was a 6-yard route. I have to do a better job of creating space and getting the ball out.”
The Ravens iced the game on the ensuing possession when Zay Flowers — yes, the same Zay Flowers the Chargers passed on in the first round in April for Quentin Johnston (one catch, 7 yards) — took a jet sweep handoff 37 yards for a touchdown.
Staley had made several personnel changes to his secondary amid pass-defense struggles. Deane Leonard replaced Michael Davis at outside cornerback. Essang Bassey replaced Ja’Sir Taylor in the slot at Star. Jaylinn Hawkins replaced Dean Marlowe at safety. The unit, in turn, played by far its best game of the season against a high-octane Ravens offense led by quarterback Lamar Jackson .
But by the time Jackson handed off to Flowers, the Chargers defense had been on the field for too much time and too many plays, largely because of the offense’s sluggish performance — poor protection and four turnovers.
Jackson and his group got one too many opportunities.
“When it becomes a defensive game, you got to get one more stop,” Staley said. “And we didn’t do that.”
Why have the Chargers been in so many tight games?
The most basic answer is that any semblance of complementary football has eluded this team.
The more detailed answer is a whole mix of untimely mistakes and letdowns. Coverage busts. Mind-numbing penalties. A rushing attack that has done very little attacking. Crushing turnovers.
And yet through all this, the Chargers have been either winning or within one score in the fourth quarter of every game this season. That is not some moral victory or even an indication that the Chargers are close to whatever misguided expectations they had before the season. It is simply the truth. The Chargers have possessed the ball while trailing by one score in the fourth quarter of eight games this season. They are 1-7 in those games. They are 0-4 in games decided by three points or less.
The piercing through line in the late stages of these tight losses? The protection breakdowns.
Miami. Week 1. Herbert and the offense got the ball with 1:45 remaining, trailing by two points. After a first down completion to tight end Gerald Everett , Herbert was called for that intentional grounding. On second down, Herbert was sacked. On fourth down, Herbert was sacked again. Dolphins defensive coordinator Vic Fangio brought blitzes on all three of these plays.
That meltdown prompted a veteran coach to tell The Athletic’s Mike Sando this on Moore’s offense: “You can scheme them and get a rusher free against them.”
Tennessee. Week 2. Herbert and the offense got the ball with 2:22 remaining, trailing by three points. They drove from their own 25 to the Titans’ 7-yard line. They faced a third-and-3 with 21 seconds remaining. A touchdown would have likely won the game. Titans defensive end Harold Landry III won to the inside on a stunt and sacked Herbert. The Chargers settled for a field goal. They lost in overtime.
Dallas. Week 6. Herbert and the offense got the ball with 2:19 remaining, trailing by three. They faced a second-and-2 from their own 33-yard line. Micah Parsons lined up on the interior in a three-point stance. Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn brought a blitz to Parsons’ side. Parsons won. He sacked Herbert, who threw a game-sealing interception on the ensuing play.
Green Bay . Week 11. Herbert and the offense got the ball with 2:33 remaining, trailing by three. They had all three timeouts. They faced a third-and-10 from their own 25. The Packers brought a four-man rush. The pocket collapsed. Herbert was sacked. The Chargers punted. They managed to get the ball back again with 1:27 left and no timeouts. That drive stalled when Herbert’s fourth-and-1 pass was batted.
And now Baltimore. Week 12.
“It’s just what we saw on film,” right tackle Trey Pipkins III said of the Ravens’ pressure looks. “They’re a good defense. It wasn’t anything different than what we had seen.”
Herbert will get all of the blame for yet another failed two-minute drill.
“That’s part of the job,” Staley said.
He deserves some of it, for which he was accountable.
“I have to do a better job up front at the line of scrimmage of making those checks and correcting protections,” Herbert said. “I didn’t do that today, and it cost us.”
But how much is on Herbert? And how much is on Moore? And how much is on the Chargers playing most of this season without their All-Pro center, Corey Linsley ? And how much is on the offensive linemen actually on the field? And how much is on the receivers running their routes with the correct timing? And how much of that timing is missing with Mike Williams and Joshua Palmer both out? And how much ... and how much ... and how much ...
That is the thing about broad issues in football: The solution can rarely be distilled down to one tidy answer.
“You need all 11 guys on one accord,” Allen said.
The issue persists nonetheless.
In this lost Chargers season, just add it to the list.
(Top photo of Justin Herbert being pressured into an intentional grounding penalty: Ryan Sun / Associated Press)
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