Chargers wide receiver Quentin Johnston’s six touchdown catches in his first eight appearances of this season made for a big improvement over his rookie year production, but Monday night’s game against the Ravens represented an unwelcome reminder of how much Johnston struggled in 2023.
Five of quarterback Justin Herbert’s passes went Johnston’s way on Monday night and he didn’t catch any of them. Three of those passes were in Johnston’s hands before hitting the turf in the second half and the drops helped keep the Chargers from a comeback that would have allowed them to avoid a 30-23 home loss.
Herbert said he felt he could have provided “better placement, better balls” on the throws, but Johnston said it’s on him to make the plays when they present themselves.
“You kind of just learn not to dwell on it too much, and just try to put it past me as much as I can,” Johnston said, via Joe Reedy of the Associated Press. “Obviously I want to have catches back, but I can’t. So I can’t do anything but just learn from it. … I know I’ve got to get better.”
The Chargers gave up 213 rushing yards and couldn’t get anything going on the ground for themselves after J.K. Dobbins left with a knee injury, so the missed connections with Johnston weren’t the only place that the team fell short. The miscues were still glaring, however, and the Chargers will need more from the 2023 first-round pick in the future.