Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert confirmed that he decided on his own to run the ball with 27 seconds left in the fourth quarter on Monday night, keeping the ball and gaining nine yards when his coaches and all 10 teammates on the field were expecting a handoff.
“At the end of the day, we got to go make something happen,” Herbert told Daniel Popper of The.Athletic.com. “You can draw it up one way, but you got to go make it happen.”
On the play in question, offensive coordinator Greg Roman called for Herbert to hand off to running back Kimani Vidal and Vidal to run to the left. As Herbert went to hand off to Vidal, he saw Eagles edge rusher Jaelan Phillips run toward Vidal, expecting him to get the ball. That left an opening where Phillips had been, and in a split second Herbert pulled the ball away from Vidal and took it himself, running to the right and getting into range for Cameron Dicker’s game-tying field goal.
Chargers center Bradley Bozeman said when he saw Vidal he thought, “Kimani doesn’t have the ball. What is going on?”
Herbert knew he was going to surprise his teammates and coaches, but he also knew if it worked, everyone would be happy with his decision.
“If you do that,” Herbert said. “You got to be right.”
