Chargers' Jim Harbaugh, Justin Herbert respond to 'deli meat,' 'seeing ghosts' jabs after loss to Rams

Los Angeles Rams safety Quentin Lake raised eyebrows among members of the NFL community when he recently said that Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert "was throwing deli meat out there" and "seeing ghosts" during the Rams' 24-9 win over the Chargers on Nov. 1. 

Herbert tossed two interceptions and engineered zero touchdown drives in that game. While speaking with reporters on Wednesday, Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh and Herbert were asked about Lake's comments.

Jim Harbaugh: Justin Herbert "did his job exceptionally well" in loss to Rams

"As far as anybody’s opinion, I don’t see that," Harbaugh responded, per Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. "Everybody’s entitled to their opinion. Not what I see. ...I thought [Herbert] played — did his job exceptionally well. You know, two throws he would have liked to have back." 

The two throws Harbaugh referenced were Herbert passes that the Rams intercepted. Herbert will begin Week 9 of the season responsible for a league-worst 10 thrown interceptions on the campaign, and ESPN stats show that he began Thursday ranked last in the NFL among qualified players with a 32.6 adjusted QBR.

Justin Herbert focused on playing better, not outside noise

The futures of Harbaugh, Herbert, general manager Joe Hortiz and others associated with the Chargers are up in the air this fall. Los Angeles is 0-7 heading into this coming Sunday's home game against the 2-5 Houston Texans, and DraftKings Sportsbook had the Chargers as 4.5-point underdogs for that matchup as of Thursday morning. 

"I haven’t looked into it, haven’t heard anything about it, so I can’t really make a comment about it," Herbert said about Lake's comments. "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."

Lake's words placed an even brighter spotlight on the fact that something seemingly is wrong with Herbert, who was supposed to take a big leap while playing under first-year offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel. At this point, it's fair to wonder whether the Chargers' game against the Texans will be the last that McDaniel calls plays for Herbert.