EL SEGUNDO, Calif — Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert is healing at the perfect time heading into Sunday’s wild-card game against the New England Patriots.
Herbert, who suffered a fractured left hand in Week 13, said sitting out of last week’s game against Denver for precautionary reasons proved beneficial.
“I’d say definitely not taking hits on it last week was probably pretty helpful,” Herbert said. “It limited kind of the swelling and just getting back to making sure that you have got full strength, being able to hold onto a football.”
One of the biggest issues for Herbert since the injury has been taking snaps under center and gripping the football with his left hand. While injured, he typically avoided those during the week, opting to take a few on Saturdays and on game days. But for the first time since the injury, Herbert took under-center snaps Wednesday, the earliest in a game week he has done that since the fracture.
“I would say that I was able to do most everything out there,” Herbert said of Wednesday’s practice. “It’s just making sure I can grip on the ball and have two hands on it in the pocket. … So I think that’s been good.”
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It was just over a year ago that Herbert and the Chargers clinched a playoff spot on the road with a 40-7 beatdown of New England — only the Patriots’ second home loss by 30-plus points this century. Herbert threw for 238 yards and three touchdowns, and rookie wide receiver Ladd McConkey had eight catches for 94 yards and two touchdowns.
That Patriots team, which was 4-13, bears little resemblance to this season’s version, which has had one of the league’s most surprising turnarounds under first-year coach Mike Vrabel. New England is 14-3 this season, earned the AFC’s No. 2 seed and enters the postseason riding a three-game win streak.
For that reason, Herbert said last season’s game film isn’t very helpful.
“They’re not the same team they were last year,” Herbert said. “… You turn on the tape and you see a completely different team.”
The Chargers could be heading into this game without one of their most important players. Running back Omarion Hampton, nursing an ankle injury, sat out practice Wednesday and didn’t practice all of last week.
“He’s doing everything and anything he can to get back,” coach Jim Harbaugh said.
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