Los Angeles Rams safety Quentin Lake has apologized to Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert after criticizing his performance following Los Angeles' win over Los Angeles last week. Lake, appearing on Amon-Ra St. Brown's podcast, said Herbert was "throwing deli meat out there" during a two-interception game that contributed to the Chargers' seventh consecutive loss to start the season.
Lake said Friday he sent a text message to Herbert after the remarks went viral. "I don't know if he read it," Lake told the Los Angeles Times. "He probably says, 'I don't care about it anymore. I'm not trying to see this. It doesn't matter. You said what you said.' But at the same time I . . . felt like it was right for me to at least say, 'Hey, man, I didn't mean it in any disrespectful way.'" Lake had also said after the game that Herbert "was seeing ghosts out there" and that the Rams' defense expected him to make mistakes.
Herbert downplayed the comments this week. "I haven't looked into it, haven't heard anything about it, so I can't really make a comment about it," he told reporters. "We're really just focused on what's going on in the building, playing football and doing what we can and doing our best to, you know, go put our best effort out on Sunday. And that's all that really matters. Anything outside of that is out of our control."
Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh defended his quarterback after reviewing the film. "I thought he played — did his job exceptionally well," Harbaugh said. "You know, two throws he would have liked to have back." Offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel dismissed Lake's opinion. "People are saying whatever they want with whatever facts they have when we're not living up to expectations," McDaniel said. "Keep it moving."
Herbert has thrown an interception in every start this season, leading the NFL with 10 interceptions and posting the lowest QBR among starting quarterbacks at 32.5. Despite the career-worst start, the Chargers are not expected to trade their franchise quarterback before the deadline. ESPN's Adam Schefter reported last month that the organization has never discussed trading Herbert. "The person cut me off mid-sentence, stopped me in my tracks and said, 'Let me be very clear about this: we have never even discussed that idea. Should we trade Justin Herbert has never been uttered in our organization, nor will it be,'" Schefter said. "They won't discuss it, they won't think about it."
The Chargers, who have not scored a touchdown in their last nine quarters of play, host the Houston Texans on Sunday. The Texans are 2-5 this season, with both wins coming over their last three games.
