When Joe Alt’s season ended, I wrote off the Chargers in this space, saying they couldn’t reach the Super Bowl.The left tackle’s broken ankle was one monstrous injury too many, the other being right tackle Rayshawn Slater’s season-ending injury in training camp.
A bad offensive line is too much to overcome. It will poison the quarterback. Just give it time. Even if he’s a star, his game will eventually deteriorate.
Justin Herbert couldn’t avoid the reckoning.
Two weeks after Alt’s ankle was mangled, depriving him of his blindside protector, Herbert and the offense came a cropper in a 30-6 blowout at Jacksonville in mid-November. Herbert didn’t look himself that day. He seemed unsettled. Bad habits were creeping into his game.
It was mid-to-late-career Philip Rivers all over again.
The schedule gave Herbert and teammates a reset, much-needed after 11 games in 11 weeks.
Mercy came via a bye week, the pitiful Raiders and an inept Cowboys defense.
Herbert and the offense cashed those opportunities.
Led by Herbert and their defense, the Chargers outcompeted the Eagles, who had their own blocking issues that would prove insurmountable. It was a tough-guy, physical win, validating head coach Jim Harbaugh’s approach.
One just like it followed: Chargers defenders pounded the faltering Chiefs, and coordinator Greg Roman’s offense lined up a sixth lineman at a high rate.
The fatal flaw couldn’t be sufficiently mitigated, though, once the schedule toughened.
Led by their AFC-best defense, three menacing ends and quarterback C.J. Stroud, coach DeMeco Ryans’ Texans won in L.A., ensuring the Chargers wouldn’t get a first-round bye or a homefield wild-card game.
Sunday in Massachusetts, the Chargers were outclassed in the wild-card game, 16-3.
Coach Mike Vrabel’s Patriots were much better than Harbaugh’s team.
Highlighting a crisis that Harbaugh must heed, Herbert displayed the traits of a QB whose blocking had failed him too often for too long.
He never looked settled. He moved around too much. His accuracy dipped. On the times when the protection held up, did he see ghosts? Rivers admitted to it in 2012. It’s often the residual of months of bad blocking.
The Chargers’ pass protection on Sunday was actually decent for most of the first half, but the offense scored only three points. In the second half, the avalanche came because the Patriots, having expanded their lead, could tee off.
Chargers blockers couldn’t solve stunts, and were whipped on straight-up rushes, too. Herbert took a beating, despite running early and often.
Nick Canepa’s Report Card: Chargers fail, flail in playoff loss to Patriots
It was sadly appropriate that a sack ended L.A.’s season, and that it happened as it did
Bradley Bozeman is a feisty NFL backup center but has held the Chargers’ starting job for the past two seasons, despite allowing the most pressures of any center this past year.
Patriots nose tackle Milton Williams was a star of the Eagles’ Super Bowl rout of the Chiefs last winter, earning himself a big contract from New England.
Williams clubbed aside Bozeman, got to Herbert in a flash and sent him flying to the turf like a 6-foot-6 bowling pin.
Harbaugh and general manager Joe Hortiz are now on the clock. They have to make several grades on the offense, particularly in the line and among the pass-catchers.
If Harbaugh doesn’t have the right offensive assistant coaches to get the job done, he’ll be done sooner than he’d like — even if Alt and Slater regain full health.
It might be instructive for Harbaugh and Hortiz to drill deep into what L.A.’s top NFL team has done over and over.
The Rams of general manager Les Snead and coach Sean McVay have regenerated success in various offensive iterations despite massive turnover among McVay’s offensive staff. They’ve built good offensive lines and four-man tight-end groups that had no more than one first-round pick among those 10 players.
Three things
How talented is Patriots quarterback Drake Maye, 23? He’s more talented than Herbert, 27. And costs almost $30 million less against the salary cap.
Give Maye a slight edge in agility. His mental processing and decision-making are rare for a second-year QB. Two inches shorter, he’s more compact in his movements. He can match Herbert’s sprint speed, has comparable arm strength and throws with better touch.
Sunday, Maye was throwing on time, if not always with accuracy. Herbert was mostly improvising.
Maye had a lot more help. Pats running back Rhamondre Stevenson was the game’s offensive MVP. Tight end Hunter Henry, the ex-Charger, gave Maye another large advantage.
• The traits the Patriots displayed Sunday recalled many of the franchise’s wins over the San Diego Chargers under Bill Belichick. They were the crisper, more physical team.
• One reason coaches go for it on fourth down inside the 10, as Harbaugh did in the first quarter, is that if it fails, the team’s defense is well-positioned to stop the opponent on a long field, resulting in good field position after the punt. The Patriots, after stopping L.A., nixed that plan on first down via a clever outlet pass to the underrated Stevenson that went for a 48-yard gain.