Bolts From The Blue
Justin Herbert was included on this week’s “All-Film Team” by ESPN, a list of players who are performing well despite not being in the running for accolades at the end of the season.
Coming into the 2024 season, it was a foregone conclusion that the passing game was going to be toned down under Jim Harbaugh and Greg Roman. However, I believe it was still quite the shock to see Herbert fail to pass 180 passing yards in each of the team’s first four games.
Since the team’s win over the Broncos in Week Six, however, Herbert has thrown for 349 and 279 yards in Weeks Seven and Eight, respectively. That’s 628 across the last two outings, more than his first four games combined.
Not only have his passing numbers looked good recently, Herbert maybe played the best ball of his career against the Cardinals and Saints. His game grade from Pro Football Focus against Arizona was 89.7, only .03 away from being in the “elite” range. Against New Orleans, Herbert’s 95.3 game grade was the highest he’s ever been graded by PFF. When you combined those two grades, it’s the highest-graded two-game span of his career, as well.
This is a new Herbert we’re seeing folks, and he’s still getting it all done with some good players coupled with some guys who are lucky to be off a practice squad. The film is phenomenal, which brings me to the point of this blurb.
My good friend Benjamin Solak who now makes the big bucks at ESPN recently wrote up a list of players he called the “All-Film” team. In his words, it’s a list of “players who won’t get season-long awards or All-Pro nods or anything but are still good” and Herbert was his very first player he discussed.
Here’s what he had to say:
“You could convince me that Herbert is playing the best ball of his career over the past few weeks. He’s once again making the unbelievably difficult look dispassionately routine. I can list the number of quarterbacks who could make a passing game work behind this interior offensive line and with these receivers on one hand. The Chargers are a high-floor, low-ceiling team — but they’d be a low-floor, no-ceiling team without No. 10 back there.”
What is there to say? Solak nailed it on the head here. Herbert has done some of his best works in his 4+ seasons in the NFL when forced to throw to a makeshift group of pass catchers. This year has been no different. One note I will say is that Herbert has done this without 2023 first-rounder Quentin Johnston on the field who is still rehabbing an ankle injury he sustained against the Broncos.
When Johnston returns, it will be interesting to see if anything changes or if Johnston will simply step in and benefit from the increase in passing production along with the rest of the receivers.
Either way, Herbert is playing lights out and that...
