You would never know it by his demeanor, but Justin Herbert was tired of hearing the criticism all season long. The Los Angeles Chargers entered the season as a popular choice to not only reach the postseason for the first time in Herbert’s career but were also viewed as a potential Super Bowl contender after making several upgrades both to the offense and the defense.
But Herbert can’t control any of that, he could only focus on himself while leading the Chargers’ offense. Only, his job got tougher with his top two receivers and his blindside protector missing multiple games due to injury.
Pro Bowl left tackle Rashawn Slater has been sidelined for 10 games. Keenan Allen has missed seven games, and Mike Williams has missed four. On Sunday night against the Dolphins, Herbert had both of his top receivers in the lineup for just the fourth time this season, and it made a big difference.
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Justin Herbert surpasses Andrew Luck in NFL recordbooks
Despite being viewed as one of the most naturally-talented quarterbacks in football, with an ability to uncork 60-yard bombs in a flash, the outside perception of Herbert appeared to be getting sour.
Some were stating he was relying on check-down options far too often, and it likely didn’t help that the player selected one spot before him in the 2020 NFL Draft, Tua Tagovailoa had suddenly become an MVP candidate for his outstanding play in Miami.
Fans were beginning to wonder if Tagovailoa had overtaken Herbert not only with what they both are accomplishing this season but also in potential and how high their ceilings still reach.
Yet, on Sunday night, Herbert turned that perception around by somehow completing 76% of his passes on an absurd amount of attempts (51) while racking up 367 yards to outscore the splashy Dolphins.
In doing so, Herbert actually became a new NFL record-holder. The 24-year-old gunslinger now has the most passing yards in a quarterback’s first three seasons, overtaking Andrew Luck.
| Justin Herbert | 13,056 passing yards |
| Andrew Luck | 12,957 passing yards |
| Peyton Manning | 12,287 passing yards |
Amazingly, Herbert still has four games to play this season. Sure, we’re now in the 17-game era and these previous legends did it in a 16-game era. But even if we remove last year’s extra game, Herbert would still easily demolish the previous marks.
Of course, we’re also in a pass-heavy era, where teams aren’t afraid to let their QB sling the pigskin up to 60 times per game. It’s wild. Unlike Luck and Manning, Herbert didn’t begin his career as a starter. He got into the lineup in Week 2 of his rookie season after Tyrod Taylor received an improper pain-killing injection from a Chargers team doctor, which forced their starting QB out of action, giving way to Herbert making his debut.
It’s easy to say now that he should have been installed as the starter back in training camp, but one can never know how a rookie will perform coming out of college.
Either way, Herbert’s now not only a record-holder, but he’s right back to being viewed as a superstar QB with an extremely bright future ahead of him. Chances are, he’ll shatter several other all-time marks before his career is done, as the 24-year-old is just getting started.
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