Here’s what we learned, what we heard and what comes next after the Chargers’ worrisome 20-10 loss Sunday to the Pittsburgh Steelers that went far beyond the final result, the Chargers’ first defeat after impressive victories over the Las Vegas Raiders and Carolina Panthers in their first two games:
SHUT HIM DOWN
There is no magic cure for a sprained ankle, and a high ankle sprain like the one Justin Herbert suffered in the third quarter of the Chargers’ victory in Week 2 over the Panthers could be especially difficult and time-consuming to mend. High sprains typically take longer to heal than those lower down in the ankle.
Don’t ask why. This isn’t a medical journal.
It just is the case that high ankle sprains take more time to heal.
So, the wise move, the prudent decision, would be to shut down Herbert this week and let either Taylor Heinicke or Easton Stick start the Chargers’ game Sunday against the Kansas City Chiefs. Herbert should get this week and next week’s bye week off to rest and rehabilitate.
Lock him in the athletic trainer’s room, if you must. Allowing him to play against the Chiefs could be viewed as borderline medical malpractice.
Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh was correct to pull him from this past Sunday’s game before Herbert did further damage to his ankle. As it was, Herbert had a difficult time walking in the second half, planting his right foot to throw and dodging the Steelers’ heavy pressure, especially late in the third quarter.
Postgame X-rays were negative, but further testing is expected this week.
Herbert is “a beast” and “a warrior,” as Harbaugh said Sunday. No one is doubting those descriptions of the Chargers’ quarterback, who has earned every penny of the five-year, $262.5-million contract extension he signed last year. Herbert has been down this perilous road before and he’s survived to tell the tale.
But only just barely, and with plenty of scars to show for it.
Two years ago, he suffered fractured rib cartilage in a Week 2 loss to Kansas City. He insisted on playing the next week against the Jacksonville Jaguars and looked sore and stiff and insisted on playing to the end of a 38-10 loss. That was a different regime but the same determined Herbert.
“My responsibility as a quarterback is to give everything I can to this team, to my teammates, and I feel like I did that,” Herbert said Sunday after appearing at his postgame session with reporters with his bum ankle encased in a cumbersome gray walking boot. “I pushed myself.”
Yes, and now it’s the time for Herbert to heal.
It’s a long season. Let’s not make it longer by allowing his injury to linger and jeopardize further games down the road. The Chargers are 2-1 going into Sunday’s game against the Chiefs, and who’s to say that a well-prepared Heinicke or Stick coupled with a stingy defense can’t pull off an upset?
INJURIES (PART 2)
Joe Alt, a rookie right tackle, suffered a sprained MCL in Sunday’s game against the Steelers and is expected to be sidelined for the Chargers’ Week 4 game against the Chiefs, according to an ESPN report that cited an unnamed source. Alt played all 46 offensive snaps against Pittsburgh.
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“Joe’s been incredible,” Harbaugh said of Alt, the fifth overall pick in the NFL draft in April who has started his pro career against the Raiders’ Maxx Crosby and the Steelers T.J. Watt. “It’s like he’s been playing for five or six years, like a six-year vet. He’s gone right out of the chute against some of the best in the game.”
Additionally, the Chargers also could be without standout left tackle Rashawn Slater, who injured his pectoral muscle Sunday. Trey Pipkins III shifted to left tackle from right guard after Slater was injured and Jamaree Salyer came off the bench to take Pipkins’ spot at right guard.
We’ll learn more about their O-line plans Wednesday.
WHAT COMES NEXT
The Chargers (2-1) face the Chiefs (3-0) on Sunday at SoFi Stadium, 1:25 p.m..