The Chargers' offensive line struggles continue to be a key storyline in 2025. Rashawn Slater and Joe Alt are now out with injuries for the remainder of the season. Sunday's game against Pittsburgh represented LA's first chance to see what it will be working with for the rest of the year.
It was well...more of the same. QuarterbackJustin Herbert was sacked five times and the Chargers' pass protection gave up 18 pressures. It was the sixth time this season that the offense had allowed 15+ pressures on Herbert. Los Angeles has just one game this season in which they allowed less than 10 pressures. That came in Week 2 vs. Las Vegas when they allowed seven.
Herbert also had an average time to throw of 2.25 seconds on Sunday. That was one of the five lowest times to throw by a QB in a game this season. Herbert's pressure percentage of 42.5% in Week 10 was worse than the next closest game on that list (Aaron Rodgers in Week 4) by almost 14.5%.
The Chargers have historic pass protection problems and not much to do to help Justin Herbert
It was a credit to OC Greg Roman and QB Justin Herbert that they found ways to adapt in this game. Screens to Quentin Johnston and quick game passes to Tre' Harris to try to scratch out easy yards were built in.
Getting RB Kimani Vidal to the outside worked a lot better this game than it did against Tennessee and Ladd McConkey was the same threat he usually is over the middle of the field. At the very least, it gives the Chargers some confidence in executing a game script that accounts for the lack of pass protection.
While Daniel Popper's time to throw stat or the pressures from the Steelers game are great figures to highlight, they're actually not the historic stat this article is centered around. That would instead be the sheer amount of pressures Herbert has taken and is on pace to take for the rest of the season.
Herbert has taken 173 pressures in ten games. For the record, that's 33 more pressures than the next closest quarterback-Patriots QB Drake Maye is at 140 pressures this season.
To eliminate any potential confounding with BYE weeks, injuries, and different amounts of games played, Herbert also leads all QBs in pressures per game:
Most pressured QBs per game in 2025 via PFF:
Justin Herbert - 17.3
Trevor Lawrence - 15.3
Joe Flacco - 14.9
Baker Mayfield - 14.7
Cam Ward - 14.2
Drake Maye - 14
For a 17 game season, Herbert is on pace to take roughly 294 pressures. That would be 43 more than Geno Smith took in 2024 at 251. It's 17 more than Sam Howell took as the 2023 pressures leader.
The impact can also be demonstrated through the hits Herbert is taking. Just three weeks ago, Herbert lead the league in QB hits per game taken at 62. The next closest at the time was Cam Ward at 44. On Sunday, Herbert appeared to get his ankle rolled up on yet another hit he took. While he seems to have avoided a worse ankle injury unlike in 2024, it's another hit in what's been an uphill battle to just keep the Chargers QB upright this year.
Herbert is tied with Falcons QB Michael Penix Jr. for the league lead in number of times he's been hit while throwing (9). There's plenty of more stats that one could rattle off, but the point is clear. It's a really bad, potentially unsustainable situation for Herbert and the Chargers.
Maybe there are some tweaks to make. The Chargers traded for OT Trevor Penning at the deadline and could want to see him play at some point. But it feels like we'll be talking about a similar offensive line situation for the rest of the season without Alt and Slater. It's unfortunately up to Herbert and Roman to limit the damage as much as they possibly can.
Hopefully, the Chargers have a better pass protection plan in place when they play the Jaguars this week.