Chargers are struggling to protect Justin Herbert. Can the issue be fixed?

What began as musical seats begins to sound like a sad thrombone.

There are only so many times when you can be stopped by the line of the offensive before it has a wave effect on the entire football team. A Chargers They remind of this now, when they go on Sunday game with Washington commanders, hoping – unlike knowledge – they can provide adequate defense of the defender Justin HerbertField

Having reached a convenient cruising height with victories during the three consecutive enemies of the AFC West, the team goes to the site of strong turbulence.

Outstanding Joe allwho intervened in the left shell after Rash Slater at the end of the knee injury seasonHe is engaged in feeding the high stretching of an ankle and will not play against Washington. Right guard Bekton bugs It comes out of the concussion and is indicated as doubtful. Thus, they are a month after the season, and the offensive line is a Meshin, which cannot cope with the defensive front part New York giants last weekField

“It's like a story about Cinderella at some point,” said The duke is a lot ofA widely respected expert on the line of offensive. “You know, when this watch falls at midnight, this transportation will turn into a pumpkin. You have no answer. You seemed to see it against New York. ”

This does not mean that the situation is hopeless. The teams used to lose key offensive linear, and there are different ways of compensation for this. But this is a difficulty for Jim HarboMaybe the biggest since he became a coach until last season. Taking into the training camp this summer, the line of the offensive was a strong side of the team, with a tender in the left tackle and alt on the right.

The chargers did not do much to update the inside of their line, the responsibility in January in the play -off in Houston, but the signing of Beckton was a step in the right direction. He was a solid block for Champion Super Biddlelphia Orela Last season.

Bekton supported the concussion of the brain in Victory Week over Denver And missed the game of giants. This week he remained in the protocol of the concussion, and his status of Sunday game is unclear. On Wednesday, he returned to training in a yellow T -shirt without contact as a precaution.

Communication between linear players is key.

“Especially with new guys, you must express this for some time before getting to this unspoken communication”, “Right Tackle Trey Pipkins III said. “As soon as you played next to someone for a long time, you know what they want and what they are going to do. Until then, we are talking about excessive communication on the line, so everything is on one page. ”

It is unclear when ALT can return after the second year was taken to the locker room against the giants and watched the second half on the side line in street clothing and walking. The uprising bore this load all week.

Chargers are on the third left capture in Austin DesulusWhich bounced around the league and began one game in the last three seasons, the second right tackle and the second right guard.

“At some point, you begin to play people whom you are not even ready to really be there, and even more so their physical talents,” said Andrew WhitworthPension ALL-PRO LEFT SNACKLE, and now Amazon analyst “Football on Thursday evening”. “They are still trying to find out the crime, terminology, and they never played next to the guy with whom they are nearby. The war with exhaustion really begins to apply its reason. ”

What does this do is check the work of Harbo and the coordinator of the offensive Greg Roman To develop ways to strengthen the line and protect Herbert without having lost too many options for insulting. They can continue to run in the rear field to help, for example, with protection or add an additional hard end for blocking. But it also violates what a crime can do.

“Of course, you can get off with your back or save a h-converting blow there,” Whitestrt said. “But then you will have fewer guys on the route, you hold the ball longer, and now the internal linear players are under even greater pressure. You can take a few pictures, but you cannot live there. ”

In the last two games on Herbert, there was a pressure of 46 fall, more than on any quota -terbecue in the league, According to TrumediaField

Herbert expressed confidence this week in some of the less famous players blocking for him.

“These are the guys who saw big football games and guys who played in national championships and in such huge games,” he said. “Maybe this is new for them for NFL, but before they played in big football games.”

It is easy to get carried away with what all this means. Chargers 3-1 and in their unit and come out of 21-18 defeat Earlier, without victories, giants, whose passage is the power of their team. Moreover, the charging devices were supposed to make these linear adjustments in the heat of the action, in contrast to having a week of practice to work with the reconfigured line.

The season is young. The teams previously overcome these types of problems. A Rams I had to shuffle my line several times last season and entered into the appearance Close to knocking Orlov And promotion to the game of the NFC championship.

However, the next few weeks will be covered for charging devices.

“We are going to find out about the depths of this team,” said Manveter, founder of Ol Masterminds, which teaches offensive linear linear players at all levels.

“We are going to find out about training. And we probably learn even more about Justin Herbert and his ability to create and wear a team. ”

We also find out whether the pumpkin can turn into transportation.

Times writer Benjamin Royer contributed to this report.