Herbert has his way with Dolphins
INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Justin Herbert threw for 367 yards and a touchdown, and a short-handed Chargers defense got the best of the Dolphins’ Tua Tagovailoa as Los Angeles beat Miami 23-17 on Sunday.
The Chargers (7-6) moved into position for the final AFC playoff berth, ahead of the New York Jets. Their hold would be short lived if New England beats Arizona on Monday.
“It was an incredible team win,” coach Brandon Staley said. “Justin was fantastic and definitely led the way for our team. He made a lot of winning plays and really made good decisions throughout the game.”
Herbert — the sixth draft pick in 2020, one behind Tagovailoa — completed a career-high 39 passes on 51 attempts for his 21st 300-yard game. He became the first NFL quarterback to throw for 13,000 yards in his first three seasons.
“There were a lot of good things from all three phases. The defense did an incredible job,” Herbert said.
Wide receiver Tyreek Hill scored two touchdowns for the Dolphins, one of them on a recovery of running back Jeff Wilson’s fumble that Hill took 57 yards to the end zone. But Tagovailoa had his worst game as an NFL starter, completing 10 of 28 passes for 145 yards and a touchdown as the Dolphins (8-5) lost their second straight.
“They played to what they’re good at, and we just didn’t execute,” Tagovailoa said. “It was very disappointing for us to go out there as an offense and show what we showed. That’s not to our standard.”
The Chargers held Miami to 219 yards despite not having safety Derwin James, cornerback Bryce Callahan and defensive tackle Sebastian Joseph-day because of injuries. The Dolphins came in with the league’s top-ranked pass offense.
LA’S offense was buoyed by the return of wide receiver Mike Williams, who had missed four of the past five games with a high ankle sprain. Williams had six catches for 116 yards, including a 10-yard TD while getting both feet in bounds near the back of the end zone to extend the Chargers’ lead to 10-0 early in the second quarter.
Austin Ekeler, who finished with 104 scrimmage yards, had a 1-yard run off left tackle with 18 seconds left in the quarter to extend the lead to 17-7.