LA Chargers: Team grades from a tough loss to Tom Brady’s Bucs

The LA Chargers suffered their third straight loss with a brutal second half against Tom Brady’s Buccaneers.

Justin Herbert was certainly one of the positives today. Each week he’s continued to get better in key areas. This week, he was fantastic when it came to his pocket poise.

Whether the pressure was in his face or the pocket broke down, he was always calm and measured. Herbert made a few more mistakes against the Panthers than he did against the Chiefs, so it was nice to see him play careful, but also dynamic football today.

The interception at the end seemed to be a miscommunication with Keenan Allen. Perhaps they should’ve been a little more methodical on that drive, but the deep ball was cooking the Buccaneers all game.

My favorite thing Herbert did today was getting new guys involved. It was partially out of necessity with the Mike Williams‘ injury, but it was great nonetheless. The strike he threw to practice squad call up Tyron Johnson was beautiful.

He had a similar moment with Jalen Guyton later in the game. Donald Parham was finally found in the offense as well! Herbert trusted the big guy to go up and get six.

More than any of the statistics, Herbert turning lemons into lemonade was great. It reminded me of what Carson Wentz did with the Eagles in 2019. The LA Chargers have a decision to make for Week 5, but Herbert’s play has made that decision a lot harder than I thought it would be.