How Justin Herbert led Chargers past Cardinals: Anatomy of a game-winning drive

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Failure is an inherent part of playing quarterback in the NFL, and Justin Herbert had to live in that reality for the past two weeks.

In back-to-back games, both on national television, Herbert and the Chargers offense took over possession needing a touchdown with less than a minute remaining. And in back-to-back games, Herbert’s final play was an interception — first in a loss at the 49ers in Week 10, and then in a home loss to the Chiefs in Week 11.

Narratives can often emerge from these painful moments, questions and critiques skewed by recency bias.

In the best quarterbacks, though — the ones you build a team around — these moments spur resiliency. They spur resolve. They spur a response.

Herbert is one of those quarterbacks. No doubt about it. Because on Sunday, in a 25-24 win over the Cardinals, the Chargers quarterback got the ball again. He needed a touchdown. Less than two minutes remaining. The season very much hanging in the balance. And Herbert, limping through a left ankle injury, delivered the drive of his career.

Herbert marched the Chargers 38 yards for a touchdown. Down 24-23 after the score, coach Brandon Staley went for two. Herbert converted on a completion to tight end Gerald Everett.

It was the 12th game-winning drive of Herbert’s career, tying him with Patrick Mahomes on the career list.

FOR THE DUB.
— Los Angeles Chargers (@chargers) November 28, 2022

Is Herbert clutch? Hell yeah he is.

This is how he and the Chargers won the game.

The punt return

The Chargers defense had struggled to contain Kyler Murray and Cardinals offense for most of Sunday afternoon, but Staley’s unit found a rhythm down the stretch of the game. The Chargers forced the Cardinals into three consecutive three-and-outs — and the third one got Herbert the ball back with 1:48 remaining.

Safety Derwin James Jr., who had two takeaways in the game, stuffed a run on first down off the edge. Cornerback Michael Davis got home for a sack on a blitz on second down. And on third-and-16, Murray dumped off to running back James Conner on a screen. Conner was dropped short of the sticks.

That brought on the Cardinals punt unit. Returner DeAndre Carter waited deep. Carter said after the game that special teams coordinator Ryan Ficken had called a wall return to the right, which assigned the blockers to shield their men away from the right sideline to create a return lane.

Punter Andy Lee drove his kick toward the Chargers’ left sideline. Rookie Raheem Layne, making his NFL debut, linebacker Amen Ogbongbemiga and rookie safety JT Woods all executed their blocks. The lane opened to Carter’s right. Carter received the punt, made a decisive cut to his right, and surged down the sideline for a 20-yard return.

“Everybody did their job, man,” Carter said. “Those guys did a hell of a job getting their blocks set on the edge, and we were able to get around the corner.”

The Cardinals were also called for having a player out of bounds on a kick. That tacked on 5 yards to the end of the return.

Herbert and the Chargers offense were set up with great field position inside Arizona territory.

A fast start

The Chargers offense prepared to take the field after Carter’s return.

“You could feel the belief on the sideline,” left guard Matt Feiler said.

That belief was rooted in Herbert.

“Just the things you’ve seen him do in games and in practice, it’s just kind of like, this guy can do anything,” Feiler said. “So just having that and his confidence carry into the huddle, everybody just feeds off that.”

Cardinals defensive coordinator Vance Joseph has a blitz-heavy scheme, and he was leaning into his pressure looks all game long. Herbert had been under an immense amount of pressure throughout the fourth quarter. The Chargers had punted on three straight possessions before the final drive. The last offensive possession had ended on a sack off an all-out blitz from Joseph.

Joseph called another blitz on the Chargers’ first-and-10 from the Arizona 38. Cornerback Trayvon Mullen came flying off the edge after Herbert took the shotgun snap. The Cardinals dropped into a zone behind the blitz. Herbert felt Mullen. Everett was lined up in the slot and ran an out-breaking route, finding a soft spot in the coverage. Herbert fired a missile in between two defenders, linebacker Dennis Gardeck and cornerback Antonio Hamilton. Everett secured the catch in traffic for a 10-yard gain. First down.

Austin Ekeler took a screen for 8 yards on the next play.

That set up a second-and-2 from the Arizona 20-yard line. Herbert found Ekeler out of the backfield for a first down. But Johnson was beaten to the inside by Cardinals defensive lineman J.J. Watt. Johnson grabbed Watt by the neck and wrestled him to the ground. He was called for holding, and that backed the Chargers up 10 yards.

The drive was wavering.

The blitz pickup

The Chargers faced a second-and-12 from the Arizona 30 after Johnson’s holding penalty.

Joseph had successfully ended the Chargers’ previous drive with that all-out blitz on third-and-8 — called Cover 0, or zero blitz, which only leaves one player in coverage for every eligible receiver for the offense.

The Chargers had tried to snap the ball quickly on that play, and the tempo had prevented Herbert from adjusting the protection to pick up the extra blitzing defender on the interior.

With the Chargers backed up behind the sticks on this second-and-12, Joseph went back to the zero blitz.

This time, the Chargers were ready.

Seven players rushed the quarterback. Four players dropped into coverage to defend the Chargers’ four eligible receivers — Keenan Allen, Joshua Palmer, Carter and Everett.

The five offensive linemen — left tackle Jamaree Salyer, Feiler, Clapp, Johnson and right tackle Foster Sarell, who was playing in place of the injured Trey Pipkins III (knee) — all picked up one blitzer after Herbert took the snap. Running back Isaiah Spiller blocked to the inside and stood up linebacker Zaven Collins, who came through the gap in between Clapp and Johnson. That left one free rusher, safety Budda Baker, off the left edge.

Allen was lined up on the right side, inside of Everett. He saw the zero blitz and gave Herbert an outlet.

“I stopped the route short,” Allen said.

He turned around on a comeback route at 5 yards. Herbert was waiting on him and got rid of the throw just as Baker was making contact with him.

Complete. Allen broke inside and converted for a first down with yards after the catch. Gain of 16.

“Just me and Herbert being on the same page,” Allen said. “I knew the middle was going to be wide open because everybody kind of blitzed.”

The third-and-7 check

Herbert was pressured on the ensuing first down and completed to Everett for a 3-yard gain. On second-and-7, pressure came again, this time from a four-man rush, and Herbert’s throw to Ekeler over the middle fell incomplete.

That set up a third-and-7 with 25 seconds left. The crowd was loud, and Herbert had a tough time hearing the call. By the time Herbert called the play in the huddle and got to the line, there were nine seconds remaining on the play clock.

The Chargers set up in an empty formation with Ekeler split wide to the left. With the play clock winding down, Herbert got to work. He motioned Ekeler in from out wide into the backfield to get an indicator for the Cardinals’ coverage. As Ekeler shifted, no Cardinal defender moved with him. That meant zone.

Herbert recognized it before Ekeler got to the backfield. He stepped toward his offensive line and killed the play, changing to a screen pass designed to beat zone.

Herbert got back into position. Five seconds on the play clock. Ekeler set up to his left in the backfield. Herbert snapped it with one second on the play clock. He flipped a pass to Ekeler over the outstretched arms of Cardinals defensive lineman Zach Allen. Ekeler followed his blocks and ran through multiple tackles before being dragged down at the 1-yard line.

Without his starting center in Corey Linsley, one of the smartest players in the league, Herbert was still able to affect the game at the line of scrimmage on the biggest play of the afternoon. And he did it with the play clock winding down.

“Growth, man,” Ekeler said of the audible. “He’s growing.”

The bread-and-butter call

After the Ekeler screen, the Chargers took their final timeout with 16 seconds remaining. Then they set up for a first-and-goal from the 1-yard line.

Joe Lombardi went back to a staple play for his offense this season, particularly in the red zone: a play-action boot pass to Ekeler in the flat.

The Chargers had already used this play in three key moments this season. They completed two passes off this concept on the final touchdown drive against the Texans in Week 4 — first on a fourth-and-1, and then on the game-sealing score. They also scored on the play against the Falcons from the 1-yard line in Week 9.

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Herbert lined up under center. He faked the handoff to Ekeler.

Ekeler then sprinted into the flat.

The Cardinals, though, had clearly scouted this play, and they were ready for it in this part of the field. Arizona linebacker Isaiah Simmons was matched up with Ekeler, and he sprinted with the Chargers running back to the flat after the play fake.

Herbert threw on the run and hit Ekeler right in the chest. Simmons had him wrapped up at the goal line.

Ekeler stretched the ball to the pylon.

“I was trying to torque that thing in the end zone,” Ekeler said. “Race to the pylon. Me and the linebacker. Who’s going to get there first?”

It was Ekeler, barely reaching the ball over the goal line.

“Just the tip,” Ekeler said with a smile.

The two-point conversion

Earlier in the drive, Staley said he had decided he would go for the two-point conversion if the Chargers scored with less than 40 seconds remaining.

Ekeler scored with 15 seconds on the clock. Staley held up two fingers.

“I was holding it up, too,” Allen said. “We got to go.”

Lombardi and Staley had their play call ready, and the ball was going to Everett.

The concept was a changeup off the stick-flat concept that is perhaps the most-used call in Lombardi’s playbook. And it is exactly what it sounds like. One player runs a route to the flat. The other player runs a stick route — which is a shallow comeback route.

After a Cardinals timeout, Herbert set up in the shotgun. Ekeler was to his left. Everett was just off the right shoulder of Sarell, the right tackle. Allen was outside of Everett.

Herbert sent Ekeler in motion from left to right. As Ekeler passed behind Herbert, the Chargers quarterback took the snap. Ekeler sprinted to the flat. Allen ran a clearing route on a crosser over the middle. Everett took three steps to his right to try and get his defender, Simmons, to flow to the flat as well.

That is exactly what Simmons did. Everett cut back inside on his designed route. Simmons was off balance. Everett was wide open. Herbert hit him for the go-ahead conversion.

“Smooth like chocolate milk,” Staley said.

“Schematically, it worked out perfectly,” Everett said.

“We just knew he was going to be open,” Herbert said.

finished the game on our terms.
— Los Angeles Chargers (@chargers) November 28, 2022

Lombardi went to his off-speed pitch at the perfect time. The Chargers have put the stick-flat concept on film time and time again. The Chiefs’ game-deciding pick six in Week 2 was on that exact concept. Everett got his redemption Sunday on a variation of that call.

“You sell it. You sell it. You sell it,” Everett said. “You hope that they overplay it, and that’s what he did.”

And Herbert delivered.

“The way Justin played today is what makes him so special,” Staley said. “We wouldn’t have won without him.”

(Photo of Gerald Everett and Justin Herbert: Rick Scuteri / Associated Press)