Justin Herbert grimaced ever so slightly the other day as he thought back to that fateful afternoon more than 11 months ago. They weren’t pleasant memories, to be sure, but he shared what he could, what he felt comfortable talking about when recalling the worst day of his professional life.
Had he learned anything about that day, about himself, about playing quarterback at a level necessary to excel during an NFL playoff game? Had he grown as a person, as a player, as an important leader in the Chargers return to the postseason this season?
“Sure hope so,” he said without hesitation.
Herbert gets a chance to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt when he and the Chargers host the Houston Texas on Saturday at SoFi Stadium, the team that badgered, harassed and tormented him during a nightmarish 32-12 loss in an AFC wild-card playoff game Jan. 11 at NRG Stadium in Houston.
Last time, the Texans intercepted four Herbert passes and pressured him into 14-for-32 passing for 282 yards and one touchdown. He had thrown only three interceptions during the regular season, but his accuracy and his decision-making failed him repeatedly in the loss.
Herbert had never thrown more than two interceptions in a game before that one. It wasn’t just that the Texans’ defense appeared to be everywhere all at once, it was that he made throws and decisions that were out of character. One pass was badly overthrown, another was tossed across the field wishful-thinking style.
The Texans took advantage and also sacked him four times.
Herbert fell to 0-2 in playoff games.
“I think those games, as hard as they are to watch, you have to learn from them,” he said. “You watch them individually and you see what went wrong, what we could have done differently. It’s just part of the game. Unfortunately, it didn’t go our way. There’s nothing I can do to change that.
“It’s more so what can you learn from it. What you can do to move forward and give everything you can to put this team into a position to win.”
This time, with two regular-season games remaining, Herbert seems better prepared for the Texans. His play to date hasn’t been flawless by any stretch of the imagination. He has passed for 3,491 yards with 25 touchdowns and 12 interceptions in leading the Chargers (11-4) back to the playoffs.
What’s more, he was named to the Pro Bowl Games for the second time in his six-season NFL career.
Not to be overlooked, he’s also played with a fractured left, non-throwing hand to varying degrees of success during the Chargers’ four-game winning streak. He reported decreased swelling and pain in his hand and with an increased ability to control the football during practice this past week.
“Way less now,” he said if he’s thinking about his hand while on the field.
Damaged hand or not, Herbert has continued to be self-critical of his play, holding himself to an ever-higher standard. He was especially hard on himself after completing 12 of 26 passes for 139 yards with one touchdown and one interception in a 22-19 overtime victory Dec. 8 over the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles, exactly one week after surgery on his hand.
“I think it’s important to hold yourself responsible and accountable, just like everyone else on the team,” he said earlier this week. “There are definitely plays and situations from this year that I’d love to have back, and I try not to make the same mistake twice, and I think that’s the most important thing.
“There are a lot of talented people in this league and you can prepare and do everything perfectly and it might not go your way. It’s sometimes out of your control. The best thing you can do is move on to the next play and have a short memory and to understand the next play is the most important one.
“If you let your previous plays affect your next one, then you’ve already lost.”
So, as difficult as it might have been in the days, weeks and months that followed the Chargers’ playoff loss to the Texans, Herbert did what he could to let it go. It wasn’t easy. It was one of those games that stuck with him through the winter, through the offseason and into spring practices.
“It was one of those things you continue to think about,” he said. “There are a lot of football games that you just remember, whether they’re good or whether they’re bad, they stick with you. I think it’s a great learning experience. No one felt worse than I did after that game. I think it’s important to continue to move forward and to realize it’s what happened. It would be crazy of me to deny what happened, to live in this reality if I tried to block it out, I don’t think that’s doing any good. So, I think (it’s best) moving on and understanding what it was and just attacking the next game.”
The next game is at hand, and it’s against the Texans.
TEXANS (10-5) at CHARGERS (11-4)
When: 1:30 p.m. Saturday
Where: SoFi Stadium
TV/Radio: KCBS (Ch. 2); 640 AM/94.3 FM (Spanish)