By james art EL SEGUNDO — Greg Roman made his intentions clear almost from the moment he was hired as the Chargers’ offensive coordinator. He asked reporters if they could envision quarterback Justin Herbert’s signature passing game accompanied by an additional running game in the 2024 season and beyond?
No, reporters joked later.
They could not imagine it because they had never seen it during the current era of many gaps.
The Chargers’ determination to deploy a solid ground game this season has been admirable, and it has had its moments of success, like when running back JK Dobbins began the season with back-to-back games of 100 yards or more. But there were also almost an equal number of omissions.
Herbert said Wednesday that the Chargers are still searching for their offensive identity. Roman agreed wholeheartedly on Thursday.
“Oh yeah, it’s a complete evolutionary process,” Roman said. “I said it Week 1, Week 2, we’ll probably evolve as the season goes on, as guys come in and out of the lineup, as guys get healthy that haven’t been healthy, it’s going to change. Profile change pending. What we do will change.
“I don’t think we’ve figured out that identity yet. It takes real consistency week after week to do that. That’s what we’re aiming for. I don’t think when you start a new program it just pops up. I remember when we started in San Francisco, after five weeks, there was some rough stuff.
“It takes a while, the chemistry, the offensive line playing together, the quarterbacks and receivers playing together, the practices — all those things add up. You try to get better every day, every week. We just need to clear some things up from last night. One more game and the questions are different.”
In fact, as it stands now, the identity of the Chargers can change from possession to possession depending on the circumstances. That was evident during their 17-15 loss Monday night to the Arizona Cardinals, when it was apparent that the passing game was hot and the ground game was not.
Herbert ended up throwing for a season-high 349 yards, completing 27 of 39 passes.
The Chargers combined to rush for just 59 yards on 22 carries.
However, neither the passes nor the ground plays resulted in a touchdown.
The Chargers’ points came via five field goals by Cameron Dicker.
“We didn’t run the ball as well as we would have liked,” Herbert said. “Everyone is still settling in. We’re still finding our identity on offense, so as long as we can do that and put everything together, whether it’s running game and passing game married together, I still think we’re finding our way.”
LESSON LEARNED?
Without a doubt, the unnecessary roughing penalty on rookie tight end Cam Hart that extended what turned out to be the Cardinals’ game-winning drive Monday night was “devastating,” as safety Derwin James Jr. said after the game. That gave the Cardinals a free first down and 15 extra yards on an incomplete pass.
Defensive coordinator Jesse Minter said he had a simple message for Hart.
“We believe in you,” Minter said. “Let’s move forward and we have a lot of faith in Cam Hart. You have to be very aware of the angle you’re going (to tackle) with your head. It’s at all levels of football now, so it’s not new to the NFL, it’s not new to these types of games. Guys have been kicked out of college games for a while now because of this play. It’s not like, ‘Oh, I can’t believe they gave that (penalty)’.
“That will be called. There are a lot of different angles you can watch it from (on replays of Hart’s helmet-to-helmet hit against Arizona wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr.). Some look better than others. Some look worse than others. There are so many different ways to look at it. That’s one of the things that happens. You cannot change it right now. You can only control how you react to such things.