Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert sustained two injuries — a leg contusion and an ankle issue — in their loss Sunday night to the host Kansas City Chiefs.
Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh revealed the ankle injury in meeting with reporters on Wednesday. He said it is a separate ailment from the high ankle sprain that Herbert played through earlier in the season.
“I’d like to give him some rest, but you know Justin. I don’t control him,” Harbaugh said ahead of Wednesday’s team practice. “Sometimes he looks at me and he goes out there and a lot of times it’s good for him. He’s one of those type of guys where football is the treatment, is the medicine, and I get that.”
The Chargers (8-5) host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (7-6) on Sunday.
“He’ll be doing everything and anything in his power to play on Sunday,” Harbaugh said on Wednesday. “We’ll see about (practice) today.”
Herbert, 26, missed one play when he sustained the leg contusion near the end of the first half of the 19-17 loss to the Chiefs. Herbert said after the game that he thought he took a helmet to the knee.
He has completed 234 of 366 passes (63.9 percent) for 2,764 yards and 14 touchdowns with one interception — a league-best rate of 0.3 percent — in starting all 13 games this season.
Herbert has started all 75 games of his career since the Chargers selected him sixth overall in the 2020 NFL Draft. He has completed 66.2 percent of his passes for 19,987 yards, 128 TDs and 43 interceptions.