The Pittsburgh Steelers managed to take down the Los Angeles Chargers, but part of that was due to their opponent’s quarterback situation. Justin Herbert is one of the NFL’s best quarterbacks, but an ankle injury kept him limited in practice this week. It wasn’t clear if he was going to start in Week 3, but he did, and for a little more than half the game, he looked good. However, after he took a sack in the third quarter, he seemed to reaggravate his injury, leaving the game. Head coach Jim Harbaugh explained the situation.
“As soon as I saw Justin [Herbert] get up, first sign of any limp he was coming out of the game,” Harbaugh said after the game via the team’s website. “I took him out.”
All week, Herbert sounded like he was going to test his ankle and do what he could to play. Now, it seems it wasn’t up to him to leave the matchup. Harbaugh had to be smart with his franchise quarterback. Risking any further injury would’ve been irresponsible. Nobody was happy about that, but it was probably the right call.
There doesn’t seem to be an update at the moment on Herbert’s status. Veteran Taylor Heinicke came in for him and had trouble against the Steelers. Ankle injuries can flare up easily if not fully healed, so it isn’t surprising that Herbert continued to have issues. The Steelers are a physical team, and they wanted to prove they had the better defense in this game.
Herbert dealt with some injuries during the preseason as well, which probably factored into Harbaugh’s thinking. He’s already been pretty banged up, and the season isn’t close to over. The Chargers haven’t relied on Herbert so far this year, but against the Steelers, they needed him.
The Chargers have had a strong running game this year, although the Steelers managed to shut that down for the most part. If Herbert does miss a decent amount of time, they might be able to get by with that and their defense. However, they also had a laundry list of other injuries to crucial positions, so they could be in trouble. Everyone involved knew this was going to be a physical game, but it’s always unfortunate to see so many injuries.
