EL SEGUNDO, Calif. (AP) — Despite dealing with his share of injuries and learning a new offense, Justin Herbert is on one of the NFL's longest streaks without throwing an interception.
Herbert enters the Los Angeles Chargers' game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday having thrown 335 passes without a pick. That's the fifth-longest run in league history. Aaron Rodgers holds the record of 402 for Green Bay in 2018.
“It’s one of those things where you go play quarterback and you’re not worried about it. If I throw an interception, it is what it is,” Herbert said. “I’m doing everything I can to take care of the ball and make sure that I’m not putting the team in harm’s way. At the end of the day, you got to be aggressive downfield and you got to take your shots.”
Herbert suffered a sprained left ankle and bruised left leg in last Sunday's 19-17 loss at Kansas City. He practiced Thursday after sitting out Wednesday.
Herbert — whose last interception came midway through the first quarter on Sept. 15 at Carolina — has also joined Tom Brady as the only players who have not thrown an interception in 11 straight games with a minimum of 15 attempts in each. Brady accomplished the feat with New England in 2010.
“It's pretty amazing. I said to him the other day, ‘Thank you for not having us overcome some interceptions.’ It's huge and has kept us in a lot of games,” offensive coordinator Greg Roman said. “You have a smart quarterback that is trying to win the game. He's not trying to win stats and understands the importance of taking care of the football.”
Herbert will face a Tampa Bay defense that has only six interceptions, tied for sixth fewest in the league.
“He does a great job taking care of the football and understanding the offense," Tampa Bay coach Todd Bowles said. “If it’s not there, he can use his legs; if it’s there, he’s got a cannon of an arm. He can zip it in. He trusts his receivers — they do a good job of mixing it up.”
The Chargers (8-5) have dropped two of their past three, but hold the second wild card spot in the AFC.
The Bucs (7-6) have won three straight since their Week 11 bye, which gave them a chance to regroup following a stretch in which they lost five of six.
All of the victories, which have carried them back to the top of the NFC South, have come against last-place teams (Giants, Panthers, Raiders).
Taking care of the ball
Tampa Bay’s Baker Mayfield has already matched a career high with 28 touchdown passes, but he hasn’t done as good a job of protecting the ball as he did a year ago. He’s thrown more interceptions through 13 games (13) than he did in 17 games (10) a year ago. He threw for 295 yards and three TDs during last week’s 28-13 win over Las Vegas, yet also turned the ball over three times to help the Raiders keep it close until the fourth quarter.
“We have to understand, especially when we’re in the red zone and we’re in the scoring territory, we can’t turn it over. That’s No. 1,” Bowles said.
“You don’t like the turnovers, period. Every now and then they can happen, but we have to do a better job taking care of the football as an offensive staff, period,” Bowles added. “Between the coaches and the players, we need to do a better job of focusing on exactly what we want to get done, how we need to get it done, and make sure we execute it every play. It’s not just on Baker, it’s on everybody.”
Defensive dominance
Los Angeles leads the league in scoring defense, allowing 15.9 points per game. It is also fifth in sacks (39) and three-and-out percentage (24.3%) and seventh in third-down defense.
“They’re really gap sound,” Mayfield said. “They don’t get bad eyes down there. Everybody does their part in whatever the play's called. Nobody tries to do too much and then like I said earlier, they fly to the ball. They don’t let you get explosives. Obviously, in the red zone, they’re closing windows pretty quick.”
Peaking at the right time
The Bucs are 7-1 in December and January regular-season games dating to last season and 19-5 in those games going back to 2020.
The Chargers are the only opponent with a winning record that Tampa Bay will face over the final seven weeks of the season.
Keep an eye on ...
Tampa Bay's running backs catching the ball out of the backfield. The Bucs are second in the league in receptions by running backs (85), first in receiving yards (726) and tied for the league lead with six touchdowns.
Rachaad White is fourth among backs in yards after the catch with 420. He has 41 catches, and Bucky Irving has 36.
“They're similar in the sense they can do the same things but different in style. They're both really shifty,” Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter said. “The goal of offense is to get the ball to people in space with angles on blockers. They do a good of that.”
___
AP Sports Writer Fred Goodall in Tampa, Florida, contributed to this report.
___
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
Joe Reedy, The Associated Press
