If the Houston Texans want to punch their ticket to the NFL Playoffs on Saturday night, and not have to wait around to see what happens when the Indianapolis Colts host the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday afternoon, they'll need to do so at the expense of the Los Angeles Chargers, who have already played their way into the postseason.
While the Chargers seem to remain an afterthought around the NFL, and even in their own city, one player who has attracted a lot of attention ever since being selected 6th overall in the 2020 NFL Draft is quarterback Justin Herbert.
While Herbert has yet to put together a postseason run that's memorable for the right reasons, what's abundantly clear is that the 6th-year QB has all of the physical tools you could hope for from a franchise quarterback. The size, the speed, the arm, the accuracy... it's all there, but what stands out about Herbert most to Houston Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans is his toughness.
“Really talented quarterback. One of the toughest guys I’ve seen in the pocket," Ryans said of Herbert, via Texans All-Access. "I’ve shown clips of him throughout the season to our team, just of some of the decisions he made, how tough he is in the pocket. So, he’s an impressive young player who’s doing a really good job. They’re doing a good job of playing well around him.”
Perhaps the reason that Herbert hasn't yet ascended to the top level of NFL quarterbacks, at least in terms of popularity, is that he's only the second-best quarterback in his own state (behind Matthew Stafford) and in his own division (behind Patrick Mahomes). Speaking of Mahomes, DeMeco Ryans sees similarities between Herbert and the three-time Super Bowl champ.
"He has that athletic ability to escape the pocket," Ryans added. "His ability to escape the A and B gaps is very similar to Mahomes in that way. And also, they have the zone-read element that, when it’s crunch time, and he needs to make a play, he’ll pull the ball and make plays for you.”
Herbert's ability to escape the A and B gaps has been paramount for much of this season, as the Chargers have been playing without starting tackles Rashawn Slater and Joe Alt for multiple weeks. But fortunately for Los Angeles, Herbert and an underrated supporting cast of pass-catchers and running backs have allowed the Chargers to remain a top 8 offense both in terms of scoring and total yards per game.
In player in particular who DeMeco Ryans is concerned about is rookie running back Omarion Hampton, who recently returned to the Chargers lineup after a lengthy stint on the IR. After giving up nearly 200 total yards of offense to another rookie running back (Ashton Jeanty) last week, Ryans is eager to see if his team's defense is up for the challenge.
“We got another challenge this week. Hampton, another good physical young back who’s tough. "He’s going to run the exact same way," Ryans said about Hampton. "So, we got to make sure that we got it corrected. They’re gonna check us. They’re going to run the ball a lot. So, we’re gonna have our opportunities to show that we fixed our tackling, and we have to do it.”