Well over a dozen of reporters huddled in the far corner of the Chargers' locker room at Hoag Performance Center on Tuesday, descending upon Melvin Gordon for any type of update about his injured knee.
The star running back was more than happy to provide an update.
While he's itching to take the field in Thursday's showdown with the Kansas City Chiefs, Gordon explained how the team is going to play it smart before deciding. After not practicing on Monday, the running back was a limited participant on Tuesday.
However, Gordon believes the decision will come down to the wire just before kickoff.
"I'm feeling better for sure, but I definitely think it'll be a game day decision," he said. "I've made a lot (of progress). I've been grinding hard to try to get back. We're still trying to decide what we're going to do. I know Coach (Anthony Lynn) is trying to be careful and doesn't want me to further hurt myself or things like that. So, we're going to see where that goes, but I'm a lot stronger and a lot more confident than I was last week."
His words are consistent with what Lynn has said all week long.
"I'm hopeful," the head coach said once again on Tuesday. "He's one of our better players. I'd like for him to play. We're trying to win every game we can to get into the playoffs, but if he's not ready, he's not going to play."
While it will be a mutual decision whether he suits up, Gordon noted he thought he'd have a much better chance of playing if the game was on Sunday. The shortened week complicates matters, especially since the team is holding walkthroughs rather than typical practices.
"The short week kind of messes things up because I'm pretty sure the coaches and everybody would be a lot more confident with the game being on Sunday," he admitted. "It's just the short week kind of messed things up because you don't get a full practice with the guys. Everything's like a walkthrough tempo, so it's like you don't really know what you can do until you get out there. That's where you've got to be careful."
Also complicating matters is Austin Ekeler's status being up in the air as well after the second-year back suffered a neck injury and a concussion in Sunday's win over the Cincinnati Bengals. As a result, the Bolts may ride a pair of rookies in Justin Jackson and Detrez Newsome if neither Gordon and/or Ekeler are active.
Still, even if that's the case, Gordon explained he has full faith in both men powering the ground attack.
"I knew since day one when I saw Justin run the ball the first time, I was like, 'Yeah he's got some talent.' I knew what it was," Gordon said. "And then him coming from the Big 10, that's all we do is run the ball, so he's got to have some craft. He's special in his own way, but I knew from the first day he touched the ball that he has something to him. Detrez, too. He's a better player than what most people give him credit for. He showed flashes in the preseason, went and did his thing. So, I know the opportunity with both of those guys, there's no stress. They were born to do this. They're running backs, man, and by all means, they can go in there and make plays if they have to."
