Coach Staley Provides Update on Justin Herbert

Sep 16, 2022 at 03:33 PM

Eric Smith

Editorial Director

The Chargers are 1-1 following a loss on Thursday Night Football.

Here are five takeaways from Chargers Head Coach Brandon Staley on Friday:

1. An update on Justin Herbert

Chargers Head Coach Brandon Staley provided an update on quarterback Justin Herbert on Friday afternoon.

"Justin has a fracture to his rib cartilage," Staley said. "It's good news, better than having a fracture of your bone in the ribs, but the CT scan did confirm that. He's day-to-day.

"I think that we'll know a lot more about practice and stuff like that on Wednesday," Staley added. "Going to take the weekend, certainly, and the beginning of next week — Monday, Tuesday — to learn a lot more, but day-to-day."

Herbert was injured in the fourth quarter of Thursday night's loss in Kansas City. He was hit and left the game for one play before returning and finishing the game.

As far as Herbert playing in Week 3 against Jacksonville, Staley said more would be known in the coming days.

Herbert threw for 334 yards with three touchdowns and an interception in the loss, compiling a passer rating of 100.5.

It was the seventh time in Herbert's career that he has thrown for 300-plus yards with at least three touchdowns and a quarterback rating over 100.

2. Chargers rue handful of missed plays

Staley said Friday that the Bolts Week 2 loss was determined by a handful of missed opportunities.

The Chargers led by 10 points at two different times in the game, but ultimately couldn't hold on against the Chiefs.

The Bolts also tallied more offensive yards, had more first downs, committed fewer penalties and won time of possession at Arrowhead Stadium.

But the end result was a tough 27-24 loss to a division rival.

"After the game, I told the team, I told you guys, that I love the way that we competed in the game," Staley said. "I felt like we showed the type of competitiveness and the type of togetherness that you need in an environment like that. At the same time, we didn't make the winning plays that can close that game out.

"There were just a handful of plays that we're capable of making where you get close that game out," Stakley continued. "To play the way we did, particularly in the fourth quarter, I really love the way that we competed.

"I think that our takeaway is that we just need to keep improving. We need to keep improving, keep working at it," Staley added. "At the beginning of the season, you're still in that discovery phase. We just need to keep working at it as a group, keep improving. That's where our focus is going to be moving forward."

Just as he did Thursday night, Staley reiterated that his defense played well against Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs offense.

"Excellent job. [Mahomes] is as tough as it gets," Staley said. "I thought our guys really competed and gave us a chance in the game. I love the way that we defended in that football game.

"I thought our execution, outside of a couple of plays — I'm talking about a couple of plays — our execution was really good," Staley added. "And then our physicality and toughness was where I expect it to be. I thought that we really defended at a high, high level last night."