The Los Angeles Chargers could not have started off better against the Houston Texans, as a quick turnover from John Metchie and a pair of field goals put Houston up early. Instead of taking control of this game, both sides of the ball have been unable to slam the door shut. Greg Roman is in the spotlight once again.
Roman's passing game has come under fire this season, as anything outside of throwing it to Ladd McConkey has been a bad decision. As the Chargers drove the ball into Texans territory, all of Roman's worst tendencies came out. Three straight Gus Edwards runs left them with a fourth down they needed to go for.
His go-to play? How about a whip route to Quentin Johnston, who has several big drops in this game? Johnston, who was later found to have dropped the ball, didn't even run past the first-down marker on 4th-and-2. Roman is starting to regress into all of his old, bad habits.
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The inconsistent Roman has been able to cook up a solid running game, as he does in just about every stop he arrives in. However, his passing attack, and his play-calling in situations when his teams have to throw, remains incredibly subpar. The Chargers felt the sting of Roman's limitations this season.
While McConkey has been a welcome addition, the front office is unable to add any marquee wide receivers in the offseason and the stunted development of their youngsters has made things incredibly tough on Herbert to compete with some of the better quarterbacks in the AFC.
The Chargers have forced three Houston turnovers in this game, and they have just three points to show for it. Herbert bears a good chunk of the blame due to his under 50% completion percentage. However, with Roman struggling and his receivers dropping everything, the whole offense is melting down.
The Chargers can still pull something out in this game, but they will need to overcome Herbert playing at less-than-ideal levels and a coordinator in Roman that has been so bad at points he has ventured into actively harming his team.