The Chargers' offense has been much maligned in recent weeks with poor performances against the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs. Sunday was a different story, representing a small breakout against a struggling Dallas Cowboys defense.
Justin Herbert hit 300+ passing yards for the first time in over two months. The ground game got going with Omarion Hampton having his most efficient runs on a per carry basis since Week 4 against the Giants.
On some level, it comes with the disclaimer that yes: it was the Cowboys. Dallas' secondary has been injured and changing pieces all throughout the season while their defensive line has struggled to generate much consistent pressure. The Chargers can't necessarily expect Sunday's defensive performance to translate directly to Saturday vs. Houston or in Week 18 @ Denver.
The Chargers' passing offense is back, but still faces major tests of its legitimacy in the coming weeks.
It starts, of course, with Herbert. From a stepping up in the pocket standpoint, Sunday vs. Dallas was easily Herbert's best navigation of the season. The Cowboys in PFF's charting technically got 23 pressures. But in terms of quality, hits, and sacks, it felt like a lot less. It's the first game in quite some time that Herbert hasn't been brought down for a sack. His pocket navigation led to a quality deep strike to Quentin Johnston, one of their many explosive connections on the afternoon.
The Chargers also let drives come to them before taking deep shots. It was almost Tom Brady Patriots-like.
Chunks of 5-15 yard passing plays down the field before they would uncork an explosive pass or get a big Hampton run. Against the Eagles and Chiefs, it felt like the Chargers were waiting for big pass plays to come open downfield that just never came. It led to Herbert getting battered and taking more hits.
If the Chargers are going to win in the playoffs, they're generally going to need more Herbert 250-300+ yard games than the 100-200 yard outputs. Hampton will also help shoulder the load in some cold-weather AFC playoff games. The rookie UNC product looked much more comfortable today than he did in his first two weeks back.
The stress test of whether the passing offense is back will come in the teams' next two weeks where they face lockdown secondaries. Derek Stingley, Kamari Lassiter, Patrick Surtain, and Riley Moss are just some of the tough DB matcups that the offense will face in Weeks 17 and 18.
Lassiter and Stingley gave the Chargers a lot of problems in the Texans/Chargers Wild Card matchup last year. Both Houston and Denver's defensive lines can also give the Chargers issues
But even though it would be a tad premature to declare the passing offense "back", it was nice to see proof of concept that it can work after a tough few weeks.