With excuses running out, it’s time for Justin Herbert to change the narrative

As Justin Herbert continues to build his résumé as one of the NFL’s best quarterbacks, a painful, unavoidable truth has emerged.

When the Chargers have needed nothing less than the very best Herbert has to offer, he has fallen woefully short.

A quarterback whom the football gods have blessed with size, strength, athletic ability, a powerful, accurate throwing arm, and a mind as astute as any in the NFL has led the Chargers to just three playoff appearances in seven seasons.

Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert has been focusing on his footwork. Getty Images

His record in those games is 0–3. He’s completed just 54.7% of his passes. He’s been intercepted four times to just two touchdowns, and his passer rating is 64.7.

To put that in perspective, he’s completed 66.5% of his 3,438 regular-season passes and has 163 touchdowns to 58 interceptions. His career passer rating is 96.3.

Charger offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel watches Herbert practice during training camp. AP Photo/Wally Skalij

There is no sugarcoating it. And no reasonable fan or football observer can justify or explain it away. For some inexplicable reason, Herbert has completely fallen apart in his moments of truth.

When the NFL’s very best quarterbacks hoist their teams onto their shoulders, Herbert has done the complete opposite.

He’s let his team down.

Not once.

Not twice.

But three times.

That is a pattern.

An ugly one at that.

With the excuses running out, it’s time for Herbert to change that narrative.

He can’t do anything about all that now. It’s June, after all, not January. But clearly, some groundwork has been laid throughout the Chargers’ offseason that they believe will put Herbert in a better position to play his best football in the playoffs rather than his worst.

Or they hope, anyway.

“It’s just about working, doing everything we can now to be prepared for those elimination games,” Herbert said.

Chargers offensive coordinator McDaniel made a slight adjustment to help Herbert release the ball quicker. Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The starting point, quite literally, is his feet. That, and a workload management plan that significantly reduced the number of throws Herbert attempted this offseason, including their three-day minicamp this week.

All of which is the brainchild of Mike McDaniel, the fourth offensive coordinator tasked with turning Herbert into a quarterback every bit as efficient in the postseason as he is in the regular season.

It’s an assignment he takes literally.

“From my standpoint, I put a ton of pressure on myself and the rest of the coaching staff that, all right, this is a player that is as good as any player that I’ve ever worked with. How can we do things to lean into the skill set and basically improve play from the high level that he already has?” McDaniel said. “And you do that nonnegotiably, because I see that as the job of coaches. And then it’s on the player to take those nuggets of expectation, of drill work, of technique and fundamentals, and truly live that.”

McDaniel quickly surmised that Herbert’s footwork could use some tweaking.

It’s not that he felt Herbert’s previous footwork was broken, necessarily. But he did feel a slight adjustment could go a long way toward improving the quickness with which he got the ball out of his hand.

For as long as Herbert can remember, his front foot has always been to the side of his throwing arm. AP Photo/Wally Skalij

In turn, that would enable the ball to reach his receivers more accurately and efficiently, maximizing the chance for yards after catch.

All of which began with McDaniel offering a subtle, albeit dramatic, adjustment to Herbert’s foot placement base when lined up in the shotgun. For as long as Herbert can remember, his front foot has always been to the side of his throwing arm. In other words, his right foot was situated a few inches in front of his left foot.

McDaniel asked him to put the left foot in front of the right foot, a technique he and 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan cooked up for their quarterbacks while working together with the Texans years ago.

Shanahan and McDaniel concluded that quarterbacks got rid of the ball a tick faster when starting from that base.

It’s a small detail, to be sure. But the way McDaniel sees it, when it comes to elevating the level of play of a quarterback as physically gifted and accomplished as Herbert, it is all in the margins.

“The biggest thing was adjusting that for a reason that’s tied together with all the things that he’s doing and ultimately trying to take advantage of the space that defenses give,” McDaniel said. “Particularly when you have a dangerous offense and maximizing yardage on every throw.”

As McDaniel pointed out, more efficient footwork could ultimately be the difference in a short out throw picking up 12 yards rather than 5.

The goal is making sure Herbert is operating at his highest level, mentally and physically, late in the season. AP Photo/William Liang

“Our timing, based on someone’s footwork and when we’re able to throw, has a big portion in the maximization of that 5-yard out route,” McDaniel said.

In a multilayered approach geared toward expediting Herbert’s footwork transition while also managing the stress on his throwing arm, McDaniel limited the throws Herbert made during the offseason program. In fact, there were plenty of times during OTAs when Herbert was doing all of his technique work without a football in his hands.

The objective was to get him to a point where the footwork came second nature to him, while also preserving his arm for the long season ahead. Again, the biggest goal is making sure Herbert is operating at his highest level, mentally, physically and fundamentally, late in the season.

And specifically in the postseason.

For a quarterback notorious for taking extra reps in practice and afterward to get things right, scaling back has been an adjustment. But he understands the long-range goal in mind.

“I’ve thrown a lot of footballs,” Herbert said. “It’s May and June, and I didn’t think it was as necessary to throw as much now. Do everything I can to get the footwork ready and get the offense down. The throws, they’ll be there. We’ve got plenty of time in camp and throughout OTAs to get the timing. So, I think it’s been smart.”

The hope is that it leads to Herbert playing his best football in the postseason. Not his worst.

The excuses are running out.

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