Justin Herbert's injury status is the biggest storyline surrounding the LA Chargers heading into the team's Week 3 matchup against the Pittsburgh Steelers Herbert was awkwardly tackled in the team's Week 2 win over the Carolina Panthers and suffered a high ankle sprain as a result.
The Chargers were very cautious with Herbert during practice leading into Week 3 and have been rather tight-lipped about his status for the game. This gamesmanship is not new for Jim Harbaugh, although it left fans in a state of confusion leading into the game.
Chargers fans watched Herbert's activity during warmups like a hawk to get an idea of whether or not the star quarterback was going to play. With the team's official inactives list released, fans got their answer.
Player | Position |
|---|---|
Jordan McFadden | OL |
Kimani Vidal | RB |
Justin Eboigbe | DL |
Tarheeb Still | CB |
Joshua Palmer | WR |
Junior Colson | LB |
Justin Herbert is official active for the Chargers
All of the concern leading into Sunday around Herbert's injury was for naught as the star quarterback is officially suiting up against the Steelers in Week 3. However, just because Herbert is playing does not mean he is going to be his usual self.
Herbert is almost definitely dealing with some kind of pain on Sunday and the Chargers are going to tweak the offensive gameplan accordingly with that knowledge. There likely will be no designed runs for Herbert, who will likely only have quick passes in the passing game.
Instead, the Chargers will likely lean into the run game even more than they have the first two weeks of the season. The Steelers are going to be a harder team to run against than the Panthers or Las Vegas Raiders, which will serve as a real test for this Chargers rushing attack.
The rest of the Chargers' inactives for Week 3 bring no real surprises. All in all, the team is fairly healthy outside of the star quarterback and that will show up on the field against the Steelers. Not having Joshua Palmer is a bit of a bummer but it is not like the fourth-year receiver has been all that impactful thus far.
With Palmer out, rookie Brenden Rice will officially make his NFL debut against the Steelers. It is unclear how big of an offensive burden he will be given.
With a healthy defense against a Steelers offensive line that is battered, the Chargers are absolutely still in a good position to win this game.