Even Tom Brady couldn’t believe what he was seeing from the Los Angeles Chargers’ offense. In the third quarter of Sunday’s Chargers-Bills game, the Hall of Fame quarterback-turned-color commentator couldn’t hold back his disgust. It was second down, the score was 10-10, and the Chargers were on Buffalo’s 3-yard line. Earlier in the game, they had failed to convert on third down in the red zone with an outside zone run out of shotgun formation. That moment was clearly still on Brady’s mind: “No more of this running sideways on the 1-yard line,” he said. “One yard. Three downs. You don’t deserve to win if you can’t punch it in.”

The ball was snapped, and quarterback Justin Herbert faked a handoff for a play-action pass, but the play was quickly blown dead for a false start on tight end Hayden Rucci. “On second-and-1, it’s a quarterback sneak; it’s downhill. You don’t have to do anything cute,” Brady said. “When you run these cute little plays, you’re susceptible to some of these penalties.” After a failed third down, the Chargers settled for a field goal. On the sideline, coach Jim Harbaugh put his hands on his knees and dropped his head. Brady’s frustrations echoed those of the Chargers’ fanbase and pundits who have wondered whether offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel’s offense overcomplicates things for this team.

Harbaugh disagreed with that notion postgame, defending the offense and his coordinator. He said that there is “no disconnect” between McDaniel and the offense and was adamant that there wouldn’t be any offensive changes moving forward. “Anytime something doesn’t work, you wish you would’ve run a different play. That’s football,” he said. “We’ve got to keep striving and make it work.” Through three weeks, the Chargers’ offense is as bad as it has ever been in the Herbert era. The quarterback who threw for 5,014 yards in his second season and has since carried this ailing franchise on his back looks like a shell of himself. In this new offense, Herbert seems uncomfortable in the pocket, unsure of where to go with the football, and hasn’t been able to make the types of herculean plays he made in years past to keep this team afloat.

On Sunday, he could have easily had three interceptions but ended up throwing just one, thanks to drops from the Bills. The lone interception came in the fourth quarter. The Chargers were losing by three, and linebacker Daiyan Henley had just forced the Bills’ fifth turnover — punching the ball out of quarterback Josh Allen’s hands after a sack by outside linebacker Khalil Mack. Three plays later, the Chargers were just outside the red zone, but Herbert threw a ball intended for wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling into the arms of Bills safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson, who was there the entire way. “I need to play better,” Herbert said. In his postgame news conference, Herbert, as he always does, took the blame for the team’s struggles. In this case, he was responsible for a lot but not all of the Chargers’ woes. In the locker room, there was a mix of confusion and frustration about how the offense has fallen this far.