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          NFL Nation

          Justin Herbert has career day as Chargers hold off Jets late

          • Shelley Smith, ESPN ReporterNov 23, 2020, 12:42 AM
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              Shelley Smith joined ESPN in January 1997 after working part-time as a reporter for the network since 1993. She has covered Super Bowls, the NBA Finals, the BCS championship game, the Stanley Cup playoffs, golf and tennis championships and more.
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          INGLEWOOD, Calif. -- It's not a Los Angeles Chargers game without late-game dramatics. This time, they won, beating the New York Jets 34-28 after holding off a late New York drive to break their string of hard-luck, fourth-quarter losses.

          With the win, the Chargers moved to 3-7 on the season, while the Jets fell to 0-10.

          Once again, quarterback Justin Herbert was the star. He tied an NFL rookie record (set earlier this season by the Cincinnati Bengals' Joe Burrow) with 37 completions, going 37-of-49 passing for 366 yards and three touchdown passes. He set a personal high for passing yards and a league rookie record for most games with at least three touchdown passes, as Sunday was the fifth time he has thrown three or more touchdown passes.

          Many of those passes went to Keenan Allen, who set a franchise single-game record with 16 receptions. Allen gained 145 yards and hauled in a 13-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter to put the Chargers up 31-13.

          The Jets did add some anxious moments, as they came back from 18 down to have a chance to tie the game late. New York drove to the Chargers' 32 with less than two minutes left. But unlike blown leads earlier in the season against the Denver Broncos (21 points), Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New Orleans Saints (17), Jacksonville Jaguars (16, but eventually won) and the Kansas City Chiefs (11), the Chargers held, as they gave up a voluntary safety to provide the final margin. Therefore, the Chargers' four losses while entering the fourth quarter with a lead didn't become five.

          Giddy secondary: The defensive secondary had to be the happiest players on the field. They bent but didn’t break, forcing three Joe Flacco incompletions on the final three plays of the drive to hold on to the victory.

          QB breakdown: Herbert was amazing. He has had a lot of impressive performances, but this had to be the best. He had three touchdowns and zero interceptions. He looked poised and in control throughout, throwing for 277 yards in the first half. He threw touchdown passes to Allen, Mike Williams and Hunter Henry.

          Special-teams issues: The win covered up a blocked punt on the first series of the game, repeating the pattern from the previous week's loss to the Miami Dolphins. The Jets converted the blocked punt into a touchdown to take an early 6-0 lead.