The Los Angeles Chargers won their first two games of the 2024 NFL season, which led to a trickle of optimism that they may be able to challenge for a wild-card playoff spot in the AFC, but they then lost their following two games.
Coming off their bye week, the Chargers visit the Denver Broncos in Week 6, and they’re hoping quarterback Justin Herbert, who has been dealing with an ankle injury lately, is almost back to full strength.
To that end, Herbert has come off the injury report, according to NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport.
Justin Herbert is off the report. Good news. https://t.co/cOv8M2nJ1k
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) October 11, 2024
Through four games, Herbert has thrown for just 578 yards and five touchdowns, but some of that may be a function of new head coach Jim Harbaugh’s philosophy of playing smash-mouth football.
The Chargers are last in the league in pass attempts, as they’re looking to establish an identity as a team that pounds the football on the ground and blocks with aggression.
Running back J.K. Dobbins has run for 342 yards and two touchdowns while averaging 6.1 yards per attempt through four games.
Herbert has a history of gutting it out through injuries. A couple of years ago, he dealt with a rib injury throughout most of the schedule but still managed to appear in all 17 games.
No one in the AFC West will likely be catching the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs, who are off to a 5-0 start, but with the help of a relatively manageable schedule and some good luck on the injury front, perhaps the Chargers will wind up being in the running for a playoff spot after all.
