{"id":109461,"date":"2025-12-26T13:04:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-26T13:04:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/109461\/"},"modified":"2025-12-26T13:04:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-26T13:04:08","slug":"justin-herbert-isnt-letting-injury-compromise-chargers-ambitions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/109461\/","title":{"rendered":"Justin Herbert isn’t letting injury compromise Chargers’ ambitions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Twisting and tying shoelaces into a knot became a formidable task for Justin Herbert<\/a> in the days following hand surgery.<\/p>\n

Every time the Chargers<\/a> quarterback leaned over to tie his shoes, his cast would nudge in the way, complicating a once-menial task. <\/p>\n

For Herbert, it became a constant reminder of the broken bone he suffered during a 31-14 victory<\/a> over the Las Vegas Raiders on Nov. 30 \u2014 a helmet-to-hand hit from Raiders safety Jeremy Chinn that required surgery on his non-throwing hand the next day.<\/p>\n

And while the 27-year-old, who earned his second Pro Bowl honor Tuesday, has been far from perfect since the injury, the Chargers (11-4) have managed to win four consecutive games, including two against last season\u2019s Super Bowl teams.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe days went on, and as I got better and more mobility with (the left hand), I think it\u2019s become more normal, and it feels a bit better, so that\u2019s also a positive,\u201d Herbert said earlier this week.<\/p>\n

Eking out wins against the Philadelphia Eagles<\/a> and Kansas City Chiefs<\/a>, Herbert increased his yards-per-pass attempt from 5.3 yards to 7.2 yards. His completion percentage improved from a season-low 46.2% against the Eagles to a respectable 65.5% against the Chiefs.<\/p>\n

Against the Dallas Cowboys<\/a>, Herbert recorded a 132.8 passer rating, his best since December 2021 in Week 14 against the New York Giants. He passed for 300 yards and three touchdowns in a 34-17 win<\/a> over the Cowboys that led to the Chargers clinching a playoff berth<\/a> Monday with San Francisco\u2019s win over Indianapolis.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo me, that\u2019s just a test of the type of person, type of player he is,\u201d said wide receiver Quentin Johnston<\/a>, who made a spectacular, one-handed touchdown catch and finished with 104 receiving yards against Dallas. \u201cI mean, shoot, still playing and executing at a high level \u2014 I\u2019m really happy to be on the team with him. I would rather be with nobody else but him.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Houston Texans (10-5) on Saturday<\/a> at SoFi Stadium will allow Herbert the chance to build on his impressive season, and exorcise at least some of his playoff demons.<\/p>\n

Herbert\u2019s nightmare performance against the Texans in the wild-card playoffs last season remains seared into his memory. He threw a career-worst four interceptions in a 32-12 defeat<\/a> that dropped him to 0-2 in career playoff games.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one felt worse than I did,\u201d Herbert said. \u201cI think it\u2019s important to continue to move forward and realize that it\u2019s what happened, and it would be crazy of me to deny the truth of what happened and to live in this reality where, if I tried to block it out, I don\u2019t think that\u2019s gonna be any good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Plenty remains at stake for the Chargers. They remain in the hunt for the AFC West title and the AFC\u2019s top playoff seed. If the Chargers beat the Texans and follow with a win over the Denver Broncos in Week 18, they\u2019ll win the division. The Chargers need to win out and hope the Jacksonville Jaguars and New England Patriots both lose at least once to secure the No. 1 seed.<\/p>\n

While coach Jim Harbaugh<\/a> says the team is approaching the next two weeks one game at a time, the Chargers\u2019 defense \u2014 inspired by Herbert\u2019s efforts \u2014 sees the path to continuing their red-hot run.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a hell of a statement he\u2019s making throughout the building, and everybody can feel it,\u201d outside linebacker Khalil Mack<\/a> said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Twisting and tying shoelaces into a knot became a formidable task for Justin Herbert in the days following…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":109462,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[58779,1535,34567,217,44789,17180,1544,48,52,51,3376,47,50,49,6442,427,315,43526,430,1543,1539],"class_list":["post-109461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-ambition","tag-chargers","tag-dallas-cowboys","tag-day","tag-hand-surgery","tag-houston-texans","tag-justin-herbert","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-last-season","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-philadelphia-eagles","tag-team","tag-time","tag-type","tag-week","tag-win","tag-yard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109461\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}