{"id":469225,"date":"2026-09-19T17:30:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-19T17:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/469225\/"},"modified":"2026-09-19T17:30:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-19T17:30:09","slug":"justin-herbert-mike-mcdaniel-and-chargers-seek-urgent-reset","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/469225\/","title":{"rendered":"Justin Herbert, Mike McDaniel and Chargers seek urgent reset"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Mike McDaniel<\/a> isn\u2019t panicking.<\/p>\n

But the Chargers<\/a>\u2019 new offensive coordinator knows his unit must show urgency and improvement Sunday against the Las Vegas Raiders after a rude wake-up call in the season opener.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have a lot of visions coming to a new team and working on something for months. The vision never looked like that,\u201d McDaniel said of the Chargers\u2019 26-14 loss<\/a> to the Arizona Cardinals. \u201cThat\u2019s the beautiful thing about football; like life, time spent forecasting [and] visualizing things going a certain way … no one cares about that.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, it was a case of humble pie.\u201d<\/p>\n

Quarterback Justin Herbert<\/a> never looked fully comfortable. He completed 17 of 27 passes with 207 yards, one touchdown and one back-breaking interception.<\/p>\n

The time-of-possession disparity also played a big role in the loss, with the Cardinals controlling the ball roughly 15 minutes longer.<\/p>\n

Herbert knows that can\u2019t happen again.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s another opportunity for us to go play football, to be better, and to put our brand of work out there,\u201d Herbert said. \u201cI don\u2019t think we were happy or content with [the] Week 1 effort. So, we\u2019re doing everything we can to fix it and be better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Facing a Maxx Crosby<\/a>-led Raiders defense that held McDaniel\u2019s former team, the Miami Dolphins, to 13 points in Week 1, the Chargers are focusing on often-overlooked aspects, such as understanding assignments, communicating more clearly, cleaning up penalties and operating as a collective.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are elementary things,\u201d McDaniel said.<\/p>\n

\"Chargers <\/p>\n

Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert celebrates with coach Jim Harbaugh, center, and offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel after a touchdown against the Cardinals on Sept. 13.<\/p>\n

(Harry How \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The offense will need more production from several players, especially if wideout Ladd McConkey<\/a>, who is questionable to play with a rib injury, is unavailable.<\/p>\n

Wide receivers Quentin Johnston<\/a> and Tre\u2019 Harris, who each saw six targets in Week 1, should see increased involvement, as should speedy rookie Brenen Thompson<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been really good,\u201d coach Jim Harbaugh<\/a> said of Thompson. \u201cGreat opportunity for him [and a] great challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tight end Oronde Gadsden II is another player who could play a key role in a revitalized passing attack.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would expect [Gadsden] to be more involved outside of an unforeseen situation where the game and the parameters with which you\u2019re playing change, in which case we\u2019ll address that,\u201d McDaniel said.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the most important player to watch Sunday will be Omarion Hampton<\/a>. The second-year running back had just 12 carries for 43 yards and one touchdown while also losing a fumble against the Cardinals. <\/p>\n

\u201cReally just flush [Week 1],\u201d Hampton said about the Chargers\u2019 approach to facing the Raiders. \u201c[And] look at all the stuff we can work on. Come back, regroup as a team, talk about what we need to do to move forward and make it not happen again.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all think the same thing … urgent to get how we want to play. That\u2019s really the main thing going on in the locker room.\u201d<\/p>\n

Changes also will be apparent on the offensive line.<\/p>\n

Trey Pipkins III (knee) won\u2019t play against the Raiders, ending the rotation at left guard, at least for now. And while the team would rather be at full strength, Kayode Awosika \u2014 who played well against the Cardinals \u2014 will get a chance to prove himself without sharing snaps.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, as McDaniel emphasized, talk of expectations and adjustments don\u2019t matter \u2014 it\u2019s what shows up on film that does.<\/p>\n

Good thing the Chargers\u2019 new play-caller craves adversity.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been my favorite week of my employment here,\u201d McDaniel said. \u201cBecause \u2014 I know [through] my experience in this league \u2014 do not measure anything beyond how a group of people handles adversity in the National Football League.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not if, it\u2019s when.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mike McDaniel isn\u2019t panicking. But the Chargers\u2019 new offensive coordinator knows his unit must show urgency and improvement…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":469226,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[155381,6439,84836,1535,949,73761,184695,1544,48,52,51,47,50,49,3289,146815,11595,780,184694,430,1539],"class_list":["post-469225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-adversity","tag-arizona-cardinals","tag-beautiful-thing","tag-chargers","tag-football","tag-former-team","tag-improvement-sunday","tag-justin-herbert","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-loss","tag-mike-mcdaniel","tag-raiders","tag-touchdown","tag-urgent-reset","tag-week","tag-yard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469225","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=469225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469225\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/469226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=469225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=469225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=469225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}