Justin Herbert Made Some Unbelievable Throws vs. the Bengals
Justin Herbert may have only completed 17 of 36 passes on Sunday night against the Bengals. But boy did he make those 17 completions count. Time and time again he made tight-window throws downfield that maybe only 1 or 2 other quarterbacks can make. And it was the difference in the game.
Chargers Head Coach Jim Harbaugh wants his team to be physical. He wants to run the ball. Entering Week 11, the Chargers ranked 6th in the NFL in run frequency.
What does running the ball invite? Lots of cover-3. In fact, the Chargers faced the third-highest frequency of cover-3 entering their game against the Bengals according to
of MatchQuarters.If we know that, then the Chargers certainly know that. So their passing game has to be built to attack cover-3 when the opportunity presents itself.
On Sunday night against the Bengals, Justin Herbert capitalized repeatedly.
L.A.’s first touchdown was a thing of beauty. The Chargers came out on first down in “13” personnel (1 RB, 3 TE) and a condensed formation. It was a run look, which induced Cincinnati into cover-3:
But after motioning to a 2x2 formation, L.A. utilized play-action and ran “4 verts,” a great cover-3 beater that puts the the deep middle safety into conflict:
The Bengals were likely not anticipating that playcall out of this personnel grouping and formation.
Herbert did a great job of getting his head around quickly off of the play-action and then looking left to move the safety. That created just enough of a window for him to deliver this ball to tight end Will Dissly down the right seam: