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EL SEGUNDO — So you’re telling me you watched Justin Herbert’s four-interception AFC wild-card stinker against the Houston Texans last weekend and you’re starting to think the haters are onto something? You’re thinking he might actually be overrated.
Tell me you don’t know ball without telling me you don’t know ball.
Let you explain? You’re just thinking the Chargers’ quarterback might not have that dawg in him.
OK, well, all of his teammates think he does, so.
You’re just sayin’: He hasn’t won a single playoff game.
Never mind the previous state of the franchise and the churn of coaches directing him in his five NFL seasons, including – count ’em – four offensive coordinators. Never mind the litany of injuries he’s played through. And never mind that he’s played in only two of those postseason tilts, you’re pointing to the the fact that he’s lost them both?
Sure, just like Lamar Jackson lost his first two playoff games. Just like Peyton Manning did. (Wait, Manning lost his first three.) So, yeah, OK, it’s totally a wrap. Herbert ain’t Him.
Look, it’s fine, we’re all entitled to our opinions. But if you’ve convinced yourself that Herbert isn’t going to be remembered as a winner, that he’ll forever be a playoff bust and won’t ever even sniff a Super Bowl, then my opinion is that you’re going to feel silly later. Maybe sooner.
Herbert is way too talented, too good an athlete, too intelligent, too diligent and too well-respected by his colleagues not to succeed.
And he’s too dang tough, to hear Jim Harbaugh tell it, to wilt.
“He’s the opposite of a house plant,” the head coach said. “He’s field corn. Just like field corn doesn’t need to be talked to in a certain way, it doesn’t need conditions to be perfect – sunlight, shade, water, water content, soil content. Field corn, it’ll burrow down for any energy it can find and it will rise up and start producing.”
Field corn, I learned today, is fed to livestock or processed into ethanol, because – duh – sweet corn is what we enjoy when we’re grilling on the weekend.
What I already knew: Herbert, so loyal and low-maintenance, has Harbaugh in his corner. And, for just the second time in his career, Herbert will be working with the same offensive coordinator for consecutive seasons, welcome consistency even if Greg Roman’s play-calling can leave something to be desired.
Also, Joe Hortiz, whose only misstep in his first year as general manager was not being immersed enough in the moment when he made his first call on draft night, connecting with offensive tackle Joe Alt to tell him the Chargers selected him No. 5 overall.
Yes, the Texans pulled the chair out from under the surging Chargers on Saturday, 32-12. It was the kind of stunning defeat that left you feeling like you should be able to write a letter to a network to complain about them taking the Chargers off the air so soon, before they even had a chance to finish the story.
“We were as good as the best teams in the playoffs,” Harbaugh said. “Not just as good as any team, but as good as the best teams in the playoffs.”
In regard to his 6-foot-6, 26-year-old quarterback, Harbaugh insisted, “we did him a disservice and didn’t put him in positions to be successful,” as the Texans got all up in Herbert’s grill. They pressured him on 50% of his dropbacks, sacked him four times and coaxed more interceptions out of him than he had thrown in 17 regular-season games.
If they want to put Herbert in better position in these pivotal moments, they’ll have to give him more, better options. They’ve got to equip him with more playmakers than Ladd McConkey, the revelation who set the NFL rookie record with his 197 receiving yards on nine catches in the Chargers’ loss to Houston – a game in which no other Chargers receiver accounted for more than 14 yards.
I heard Harbaugh and Hortiz attack Wednesday’s 45-minute postseason media session at The Bolt with optimism unknown to mankind; “I don’t know if it’s possible to get everybody back, but I want to get as darn close as is possible,” the coach told us.
But I also trust that they know better than anyone that Herbert needs help.
They know he was leading an offense this season that featured McConkey and Alt alongside Rashawn Slater … but not much else. And that Herbert still managed to overachieve, leading the Chargers to an 11-6 record and second place in the AFC West while finishing with the best passer rating (101.7) and fewest interceptions (three) of his pro career, even though he was sacked more times (41) than in any previous season.
Hortiz, who had a heck of a draft last season, said the Chargers already have a preliminary draft board set. He’s also got significantly more salary cap space to play with than when he arrived last year and took over a team that was way over it.
He refused to specify as to what type of weapons the Chargers might pursue – his diplomatic assertion was, basically, all of them! – but Harbaugh did broaden his pitch from “Competitors Welcome,” to “Playmakers Welcome” too.
And Harbaugh quadrupled, quintupled … dectupled down on his belief in Herbert.
“I wouldn’t spend two more seconds thinking about what happened in that game,” Harbaugh said. “It didn’t go good, and that’s on me. That’s my responsibility, that’s my accountability … there’s nobody in this entire organization who gives more blood, sweat and tears and contributes more, produces more for the entire organization than Justin Herbert.”
Of course, that’s his opinion. He’s got his, and you’ve got yours.
Originally Published:
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