The offensive success in the first half was the clearest illustration of how overblown the national criticism of Greg Roman has been in years previously and how misplaced the skepticism has been by Charger fans. As the season has gone on the discourse around the offense has moved on from falling short of being successful to becoming inconsistently explosive. This can be tied back to one component; Justin Herbert, or more specifically, his confidence. 

Anyone who knows my writing knows I don’t like to dwell on intangibles as I leave that guesswork to the seemingly unending supply of talking heads available at any hour on any network. However what Jim Harbaugh has conjured up is something the football world has never seen before; a former president of the Sheldon high school fishing club who believes he is the best player on the field.

This surge in confidence that Harbaugh has very deliberately stoked, has spread to both Greg Roman. Whether this was willingly or by osmosis, it has happened because since the Week 6 bye the typical Roman ground attack has transformed itself to a play action vertical passing scheme. This new found assertiveness is both the reason for the 1st half success and for the 2nd half struggles, both Herbert and Roman were feeling themselves and whilst it cost the team a 21 point lead, it ultimately won them the game.

The plan of attack was clear from early on in this game. The first drive of three straight runs was to test the Bengals’ box count and from that Roman knew how he was going to beat them. Lou Anarumu wanted to counter the Chargers’ tight formations in both 11 and 12 personnel with an odd front out of base and he opted to keep a lid on this with Cover 3 and Quarters coverages. This is the look the offense was faced with on the first touchdown.

I screamed when I saw this on broadcast but the endzone angle of Herbert’s first touchdown throw to Will Dissly is even better. I cannot state enough just how good this throw is. To throw the ball low enough to beat the outside corner yet hard enough to beat the free safety and high enough to beat the dropping linebacker is insanely difficult. Scheme wise this was brilliant too, it’s not rocket science to attack Cover 3 with 4-verts but to do it from 13 personnel is a really nice touch. By going into this heavy look on 1st down, Greg ensured that the Bengals would answer with base coverage as they didn’t want to allow for a full playbook call on second down. One thing to note is that motion is always used even if it’s a small shift here to give Justin the visual confirmation he needs to know this is going to be a zone coverage call. 

This was just the beginning though. Roman, Herbert and the receiving corps had their way with the Bengals zone defense by using a lot of play action and two man route concepts off the back of dragging the heavy box front down towards the line of scrimmage.

Roman was almost being arrogant here in a very good way. He essentially said ‘I know you’re in zone and I know how you’ll play this’. He ran a play action 2-man concept and both routes were wide open despite 7 defenders dropping into coverage. Another ridiculous throw but the best thing about this for me was that Herbert took the harder option for more yards. That is something he never would have done. As Jack from The Thunder Down Under Podcast points out; Harbaugh’s constant gushing over him is more than just admiration. It is a deliberate attempt to bolster his confidence to make the most out of Roman’s scheme. His arm is talented enough and always has been, it was about unlocking his mind.

Through Herbert’s increased self belief comes the attitude to push smaller details to unlock bigger concepts.On the touchdown play to Quentin Johnston  it was clear to me that Herbert brought himself some time by drifting his boot shape right up to the limits behind Alt who was guarding Hubbard who was in a pocket contain role. He did this to buy time as he wanted this to be a touchdown rather than a first down. 

This is something he has developed under Roman/Harbaugh as in previous seasons he has rushed these looks because he was worried about being hit or having a faster clock due to the failings of the protection. The pass blocking has improved (find stats) but not to the degree where it alone would change how he approaches the game. Herbert has always been brave but it was his lack of belief that meant he’d take the early out, his belief in himself and his belief in his defense. 

That’s what a team built by someone who knows what they’re doing curates; it gives each unit the confidence to be brave in their role knowing if you did take a chance the team wouldn’t crumble if you came up short. 

This play design was also great, Roman noted that the flats defender had continued to stay low on the pass to Dissly two plays earlier so Hebert was confident that this double leak route concept would break the Bengals very rigid cover 3 rules. Even the hard play action sold by Matlock sift blocking held the linebackers which forced Cam Taylor-Britt to squeeze on Palmer’s post route. It all tied together with a confident late throw for what looked like an easy score.

The play above illustrates the key aspect of why the passing game was finding consistent margins. This route should not be open vs cover 2, the fact that it is, tells me that Roman knew their zone rules through film study and this allowed them to protect the sidelines down low as the Bengals play true zones with strict parameters. Before Half Time the Chargers’ offense could do what they wanted on plays like this however from the first snap of the third quarter you could see what the Bengals did differently.

Lou Anarumu switched things up by playing more man and two high zone to counter the Chargers’ two route concepts that were torturing the Bengals single high zone game plan. The play below was the exact same concept as the second video in this article but this time the Bengals dropped deep enough to make this tough. Lou also had his linebackers get proper depth and stop Herbert from being able to find the sideline holes or dig windows. The adjustments should have been to run the ball more and attack the flats but it didn’t seem like this was something Roman or Herbert were willing to do. This hot hand foul meant that drives were fizzling out before they could even get started.

This is the first time I’ve ever written this but Herbert’s fault in the second half was that he was a bit too aggressive. He often passed up the throws that could have kept the offense on schedule in favor of taking the deep shots that had been consistently open in the first half.

Roman didn’t change his concepts to match the Bengals adjustments which tells me that he and Herbert agreed that he could beat the zone droppers and find the man coverage windows. To me this was still a mistake, it’s easy for me to say whilst watching from my sofa but our offense needs to be able to dial up and down on their levels of aggression with a bit more flexibility that they have shown so far this season. 

On these drives where nothing was landing Justin needed to be able to bring the run game into consideration by taking the underneath stuff and living to get closer to the sticks. As fans we can say in a vacuum “they should have run the ball more” but when the Bengals are stacking the box on first down, you need to throw the ball. That leaves second and long but this is where more runs could have worked against a lighter box. 

2nd down was where the mistakes were made and it cost the team by leaving them in 3rd and long. This receiver group is good, better than most people predicted, but they are not good enough to win in isolation in these high pressure down and distances especially when mistakes creep into the game like we saw from both Herbert and his pass catchers.

Roman was stuck in a bind here, his offense couldn’t line up in spread, that’s not who they are so when the Bengals managed to use both heavy boxes and two high shells, the Chargers struggled to think of ways to capitalize on the new areas of weakness; the sidelines. He could have used motion to lighten the box or at least run proper release routes from the tight ends but with Fisk and Matlock on the field you’re essentially losing two pass catching options. The play action was working from these heavier sets when the Bengals actually thought you were going to run the ball but without that established, they could just sit off of it and tell your big guys to win against man coverage.

The Bengals shift to man coverage was a predictable answer however on this play Ladd shows why he is the antidote to any team daring to play him in a straight man match up. The league’s newest explosive slot receiver will beat your apex defenders 9 times out of 10. Herbert didn’t see when he shook his man out of his boots two plays earlier but he didn’t make the same mistake here and found him for a badly needed play on 3rd and long.

This route by Ladd is utter filth, my goodness this would have thrown off even the best corners. The twitch he shows here is elite level already with a savvy ability to generate burst out of a full turn which is what the best slot receivers in history have been able to do. It’s early but his fit in Roman’s tight formation scheme is looking like a fantastic alignment of skills.

In general the lack of counter-adjustments are why the offense has struggled in the second half all season. Halftime adjustments made by opposing defenses checking the blue pad have resulted in teams landing on the same conclusion that the Bengals did and there are teams ahead on the schedule that won’t have to rely on mid game adjustments to get into these looks as they are already a big part of their schemes. Ladd seems to be the answer to how teams like the Chiefs will look to use man coverage to defend against Roman’s new pass heavy offense but Roman will have to keep being creative to get him the free releases he will need to best Trent McDuffie.

Luckily for the Bolts, endgame theory came into play and Lou made a big mistake when he saw the light at the end of a 21 point deficit. He resorted back to single high zone as he didn’t have the courage or conviction to play man coverage with 45 seconds left on the clock. The result spoke for itself as Justin Herbert won the game in two throws, both to the electric man coverage antidote that is Ladd McConkey. Greg Roman absolutely cooked with these route combinations when they finally opened up for him as an option. He deserves his flowers for having the stones to stay the course even after an entire half of it not working. 

The good news is that I truly believe that the lack of second half success combined with the ultimate game winning drive would have been the perfectly balanced reality check that Herbert and Roman need to push the offense into another gear heading into a tough Monday Night Football game against the Baltimore Ravens in a couple of days time. It appears harsh enough that they don’t blindly stay the course of deep shots no matter what but the marquee game winning drive would have ensured the confidence that Harbaugh has instilled into his quarterback wouldn’t have been dented too much.

I have been a strong advocate of the offense that Harbaugh, Roman and Herbert are building as the bones are very much there to see on tape. They are building with a long term view and whilst they are ahead of schedule they have by no means panicked and started to lose their identity. On the surface it may have seem like smash mouth power football was their brand but in reality their target is an actual balanced offense that can vary tempo in a way that excites me. We’ve seen both dominant run displays, explosive passing games and a balance of both. All that’s left is to find that second half consistency and I trust Herbert’s new found confidence to meld with his even mannered nature to start to become a star no matter what the opposition do to stop him.