Chargers QB Justin Herbert to undergo surgery to fix break in left hand suffered in win over Raiders
Herbert went to the locker room following a 14-play, 74-yard scoring drive that concluded with his 10-yard touchdown throw to Quentin Johnston, and was unable to take the field for start of the Chargers’ next possession.
Trey Lance entered the game as Herbert was deemed questionable to return near the end if the first quarter, but his relief appearance wouldn’t last long.
Herbert, donning a white glove on his left hand and what appeared to be a splint on his middle fingers, re-entered during the drive in which Lance started, marching the Bolts into the red zone before throwing an interception on a pass intended for Ladd McConkey near the pylon at the goal line.
It would be Herbert’s only misfire of the afternoon, as the Chargers star quarterback went on to lead three more TD drives, one of which concluding on a throw to McConkey, to beat the Raiders handily.
Harbaugh admitted that there were some limitations to the game plan following Herbert’s injury.
“There’s some things that — getting under center — I thought that would be difficult,” he said. “So, we were operating exclusively out of the shotgun.”
Herbert finished 15-of-20 passing for 151 yards with two TDs and one INT for a 108.5 passer rating. He wasn’t heavily relied upon as running backs Kimani Vidal (126 yards; TD) and Jaret Patterson (54 yards; TD) provided a healthy ground attack along a stressless victory, but Herbert was clutch on third downs, converting 8 of 12 passes for first downs with his accurate arm.
“They’re really fun to play with,” Herbert said of Vidal and Patterson. “Those two guys have done such a great job this year. To have J-Pat back out there, I’m really happy for both those guys because they work really hard week in and week out, and to see them go have success like that today, it’s really well-earned.”
The Chargers (8-4) are pacing a heated AFC wild-card race and sit just behind the first-place Broncos (10-2) in the division.
