The Los Angeles Chargers were drowning for much of the second half of Saturday's wild-card game against the Jacksonville Jaguars after entering halftime with a massive lead, but they got a life preserver at a pivotal moment early in the fourth quarter.
The Chargers had seen what was once a 27-0 lead narrow to 30-20 by the start of the quarter. After a Jaguars touchdown, they were an empty drive from things getting very uncomfortable.
On 2nd-and-6 at the Chargers' 37-yard line, it looked like that drive would fizzle when pass-rushers Folorunso Fatukasi and Travon Walker got home for a sack to set up 3rd-and-13.
And then Walker did something very foolish. Or Herbert did something very smart.
It seems inarguable that Walker pushed Herbert. Whether or not Herbert needed to go down as hard as he did, in front of the official, well that's up to you. Either way, the end result was a fresh set of downs for a team that desperately needed to score some points or at least burn some clock.
The good news for Walker is that while the Chargers succeeded in burning an additional five minutes off the clock with what turned out to be a 14-play drive, Los Angeles kicker Cameron Dicker missed a 40-yard field goal wide left to keep the deficit at 10 points.
We'll see how that ends up working out for the Chargers.