{"id":188710,"date":"2025-09-29T00:57:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-29T00:57:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/188710\/"},"modified":"2025-09-29T00:57:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T00:57:07","slug":"chargers-harbaugh-hits-herbert-taking-very-concerning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/188710\/","title":{"rendered":"Chargers’ Harbaugh: Hits Herbert taking ‘very concerning’"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Kris RhimSep 28, 2025, 08:21 PM ET<\/p>\n

Close<\/a>Kris Rhim is a reporter for NFL Nation at ESPN. Kris covers the Los Angeles Chargers, including coach Jim Harbaugh’s franchise-altering first season (https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nfl\/story\/_\/id\/41068072\/los-angeles-chargers-2024-preview-jim-harbaugh-culture). In Kris’ free time, he lives his NBA dreams at men’s leagues across Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — For the past two weeks, Los Angeles Chargers<\/a> quarterback Justin Herbert<\/a> has played under duress.<\/p>\n

He has been hit 26 times, sacked seven times and pressured on more than 50% of his dropbacks. Against the Denver Broncos<\/a> in Week 3, he overcame the protection issues, willing the Chargers to a win with highlight plays that included breaking a tackle from Broncos defensive linemen Zach Allen<\/a> and throwing a touchdown pass to wide receiver Keenan Allen<\/a> from a seemingly impossible angle.<\/p>\n

But there weren’t any heroics for Herbert in Sunday’s 21-18 loss to the New York Giants<\/a>. He was sacked twice, pressured 21 times and finished the game with two interceptions. He has matched his interception total from last year (three) through four weeks.<\/p>\n

“He has taken too many [hits],” coach Jim Harbaugh said. “It’s very concerning. We’ve got to get better. We got to put him in a better position. Don’t think he’s been in a good position.”<\/p>\n

Justin Herbert was sacked twice and pressured 21 times in the Chargers’ loss to the Giants on Sunday.\u00a0AP Photo\/Yuki Iwamura<\/p>\n

With under four minutes remaining in the fourth quarter Sunday, Herbert was sacked by Giants outside linebacker Brian Burns<\/a>. Herbert, typically stoic in these situations, slammed the football on the ground. The sack effectively ended the game, but the moment reflected just how bad a day it was for the Chargers’ offensive line.<\/p>\n

But Herbert didn’t appear concerned postgame.<\/p>\n

“It’s part of the game. Playing quarterback is you’re going to get hit,” he said. “You’ve got to be ready to get hit.”<\/p>\n

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The Chargers’ offensive line already came into this game struggling, but those issues metamorphosed when tackle Joe Alt<\/a> left the game on a medical cart with an ankle injury in the first quarter. A source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter that the initial belief is that Alt has a high ankle sprain. In the second half, Alt returned to the sideline with a walking boot.<\/p>\n

Alt’s replacement, Austin Deculus<\/a>, struggled mightily. According to Next Gen Stats, he allowed six pressures in his 37 pass-blocking snaps, the most of any Chargers offensive lineman. The next closest were guards Zion Johnson<\/a> and Jamaree Salyer<\/a>, who allowed four each.<\/p>\n

“We don’t like that obviously,” tackle Trey Pipkins III<\/a> said of the hits on Herbert. “That’s on us and we’ll fix it in our room.”<\/p>\n

Harbaugh’s comments about the hits Herbert has been taking are similar to the ones he made after the Chargers’ playoff loss last year to the Houston Texans<\/a>. Harbaugh and general manager Joe Hortiz said that they did Herbert a “disservice” in that game. He was sacked four times, pressured on 50% of his dropbacks and threw the most interceptions in a game in his career.<\/p>\n

The Chargers did upgrade the offensive line in the offseason by signing right guard Mekhi Becton<\/a>, but Becton missed Sunday’s game with a concussion. Injuries to Pro Bowl left tackle Rashawn Slater<\/a>, Alt and Becton have the Chargers in an even worse position now than they were in last year.<\/p>\n

“We work on it,” Harbaugh said. “We get better. Get back to work and regroup.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kris RhimSep 28, 2025, 08:21 PM ET CloseKris Rhim is a reporter for NFL Nation at ESPN. Kris…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":188711,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[349,99],"class_list":["post-188710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=188710"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188710\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/188711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=188710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=188710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=188710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}