INGLEWOOD, Calif (News4usonline) – The big question for the Los Angeles Chargers going into their Week 3 game against the Jacksonville Jaguars was if Justin Herbert was good to go.
Herbert answered that question immediately, standing under center right from the start. Herbert went the distance, finishing up the game in his team’s 38-10 defeat to the Jaguars at SoFi Stadium.
“He wanted to be out there with his teammates,” Chargers head coach Brandon Staley said in a postgame press conference. “He felt good and he wanted to finish the game. He wanted to give our group some energy. We were going to protect him there at the end with really sound protection as best we could, but it was more about him wanting to finish with his guys.”
Ten days after suffering a rib injury against the Kansas City Chiefs in a Thursday Night Football game, Herbert played pretty well, throwing for 297 yards and a touchdown and showing a lot of grit. That’s the good news about Herbert’s day.
On the opposite end of that spectrum, the third-year quarterback, who is known to be a very capable runner, only rushed the football one time for a grand total of seven yards. One of the more accurate passers in the NFL, to say that the rib injury played a part in his limited mobility, would be an understatement.
For the day against the Jaguars, Herbert completed only 55 percent of his passes (25 of 45).
“He was throwing the football well,” Staley remarked. “There was the protection. The rush was there today, which forced them to have to speed up at times, but he threw the ball out there today, throughout warm ups and in the game. We didn’t do a good enough job, as a football team, today, in all phases.”
On Friday, there was not a census if Herbert would play since he was listed as questionable. Herbert said he got the nod that he would be starting only moments before the game was to start.
“Probably right before kickoff,” Herbert said. “I had a feeling that I was going to go in and was just going to see how it felt. Before warmups, it felt good, so I was going to roll with it.”
As far as playing with his injury, Herbert dismissed that as something that comes with the territory.
“It’s part of the game, dealing with injuries and dealing with pain,” Herbert said. “A lot of the guys in that locker room do not feel great. It’s all about how you react and how you respond. I’m going to do everything I can to go to treatment, take care of my body until hopefully, this thing can go away.”
The Chargers have been hit hard the past two weeks with the injury bug taking down several of their key contributors. Herbert is not the only player nursing an injury. Wide receiver Keenan Allen, cornerback J.C. Jackson, tight end Donald Parham. Jr., and center Corey Linsey were among the players listed as inactive for the game.
The Chargers played the Jaguars being short of some of their best players. Several more players got banged up during the Jacksonville game with edge rusher Joey Bosa leading the malady parade.
“[OLB] Joey [Bosa] has a groin injury. [T] Rashawn [Slater] has a biceps injury. [WR] Jalen Guyton has a knee injury. [LB] Kenneth Murray [Jr.] returned to the game, he just had the wind knocked out of his stomach. Those were the four in the game,” Staley said.
As far as the game itself, this game was different from the outcomes of the first games of the season for the Chargers. In the team’s season opener against the Las Vegas Raiders, the Chargers recorded six sacks in a 24-19 win. In an eventual 27-24 defeat to the Chiefs, the Chargers held their AFC West opponent to just seven points in the first half.
The Chargers just could not get it going, never having the lead. It snowballed from there with Jacksonville scoring 31 points in the two middle quarters to open up the game.
“I can’t speak for the rest of the league; I can just speak for our team. This was a great win against a really good football team,” Jacksonville head coach Doug Pederson said. “This was a playoff-caliber football team. Again, we just trust our process and do the little things right. We’re still young and we’re still learning how to win and how to do all that stuff. I think this was just a great step in that direction.”
In evaluating the team’s offensive and defensive gameplan, Staley said they did not meet the standard needed for the team to succeed against Jacksonville.
“Obviously, they weren’t good enough,” Staley said. “They weren’t good enough because we got outplayed today.”
Dennis has covered and written about politics, crime, social justice, sports, and entertainment. Dennis currently covers the NFL, MLB, NBA, NCAA, and Olympic sports. Dennis is the editor of News4usonline.com and serves as the publisher of the Compton Bulletin newspaper. He earned a journalism degree from Howard University.