Los Angeles Chargers left without starting quarterback – Who will replace Justin Herbert?

Bad luck continues for the Los Angeles Chargers. Not only has the team lost its last five games, falling to 5-8 and further away from the postseason, but it has now lost its starting quarterback, Justin Herbert.

Head coach Brandon Staley’s team had an encouraging start to the regular season in which they went 3-1. However, they lost momentum until they were relegated to third place in the AFC West Division, very far from the dispute to enter the next phase of the tournament.

As if that were not enough, on Sunday in a 7-24 loss to the Denver Broncos, Herbertbroke the index finger on his right hand and had to leave the game, giving his place to Easton Stick, a graduate of North Dakota State in his fifth year as a professional.

Now, the Chargers have placed Herbert on injured reserve, and reports from sources within the team say he will undergo surgery that will sideline him for the rest of the season.

Stick will have to take the reins of the team

The change forced Staley to name Stick as a starter for Thursday Night Footbal. Stick will be playing in only his second game as a professional, and it will be his first start ever.

Despite everything, Coach Staley showed all his confidence in his new signal-caller, who he said has had extraordinary growth as a quarterback.

Mechanically, throwing the football with accuracy, I think that he has really developed that sense of, ‘Hey, this is what my base needs to be, this is where my shoulders need to be,'”Staley told the media when reporting the situation.

He highlighted that Stick has great consistency in his passing, which he demonstrated in the minutes he played against Denver. “I thought that you saw him really drive the football – throw it with touch, really drive it on some of those in-breaks,” Staley noted.

Defensive tackle Sebastian Joseph-Day fully supported his coach and his new quarterback. “I have nothing but full confidence in Easton Stick,” he told the team’s website.

“The looks that he gives us week-in and week-out (on the scout team) are amazing. He’s confident, he’s poised, he knows the offense like the back of his hand,” explained Joseph-Day.

Left tackle  highlighted Stick’s calmness in moments of pressure. “We see him every day in practice, we know what he’s about. It wasn’t like any panic or anything like that,” the player explained

He admitted that Stick is very different from Herbert, but also said that they share “a lot of the same toughness, the same focus, attention to detail. That’s something I’ve always noticed with him; he’s just as detailed. That’s always stood out to me.”

The Chargers have a difficult schedule in the last month of the regular season: They will visit the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 15, then host the Buffalo Bills, pay a visit to the Broncos, and close against the defending Super Bowl champion, the Kansas City Chiefs.