Jim Harbaugh said Wednesday the NFL can’t take the head out of the game because it’s between the shoulders. But the parts of the body more concerning to the Chargers this week are the ankle, hip, knee and chest.
Those are the respective injuries that could sideline four critical starters — quarterback Justin Herbert, linebacker Joey Bosa and both offensive tackles, Joe Alt and Rashawn Slater — when Los Angeles (2-1) hosts Kansas City (3-0) on Sunday (4:25 p.m. ET, CBS). And that’s in addition to the one-game suspension the NFL levied against safety Derwin James this week. Harbaugh disagreed with the league’s decision.
“There was not a defenseless player,” Harbaugh said Wednesday, describing his view of the hit James delivered on Steelers tight end Pat Freiermuth last week. “Changed his course, and I thought that Derwin’s helmet was stiff-armed by Mr. Freiermuth.”
Regardless, the league saw a concerning history with regard to James leading with his head, and even sent a preseason warning memo to nearly two dozen players with similar histories. Officials have penalized James for seven unnecessary-roughness calls since 2018, second most in the league. An appeals officer jointly appointed by the NFL and NFL Player’s Association upheld the decision this week.
The James suspension is ancient history, however, compared to the Chargers’ injury report as they make space in their athletic training room and try to figure out how to beat the Chiefs. Alt (knee) and Slater (pectoral) missed practice Wednesday while Herbert (ankle) was limited. But regardless of who starts at quarterback – Herbert or Taylor Heinicke – playing a game without both starting tackles is a nightmare scenario.
While Harbaugh said Herbert’s Monday MRI revealed progress, the quarterback hasn’t been 100 percent since his high-ankle sprain during the Chargers’ Week 2 win at Carolina. He started last week in the loss at Pittsburgh but aggravated the injury and didn’t finish. Herbert said Wednesday he’s doing everything possible to play this week, even though the Chargers have a Week 5 bye after the game.
“Take it day-by-day and see how it feels,” Herbert said. “It’s gotten better and continues to get better.”
Should Herbert miss Sunday, backup Taylor Heinicke is expected to get his first for the Chargers, his seventh team since entering the league in 2017. Out of football in 2019, the journeyman’s last NFL start was Week 17 for Atlanta last season, a 37-17 loss at Chicago. Including last week’s relief stint for Herbert, Heinicke in 39 games has a career 84.3 passer rating; he’s 13-15-1 over 29 starts.
Similar to Malik Willis in Green Bay, Heincke joined the Chargers the last week of August in a trade with the Falcons.