CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Chargers could have showered, dressed quickly, boarded their bus and headed for the airport and a five-hour flight home to LAX after they thumped the Carolina Panthers on Sunday. It would have been a routine itinerary for any team facing cross-country travel.
But the Chargers are doing things differently under new coach Jim Harbaugh.
So, the Chargers are spending the coming week in Charlotte, practicing Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte campus before heading to Pittsburgh to face the Steelers on Sunday. They’ll turn four long, cross-country flights into two with a shorter one in between.
“Getting the body clock right, cutting down the travel time, not just in the air but all the different travel time,” Harbaugh said, listing the benefits of staying in the eastern time zone in preparation for next Sunday’s game against the Steelers. “People a lot smarter than me have figured out that’s the way to do it.”
In addition, it’s a chance for the Chargers to bond, as in a second training camp, to get to know each other better early in a season in which they have started with consecutive victories. If the players were opposed to staying in Charlotte, then Harbaugh might not have decided that they stay in North Carolina.
Majority rules, after all.
“The guys were, like, ‘Yeah, let’s do that,’” Harbaugh said. “That’ll be fun. One of the players said the other day, and I kind of stole his line, ‘Pack the board games and the snacks.’ I shamelessly took that from that person. Sorry, Justin Herbert. It was so good, I just had to steal it. I give full credit to Justin.”
Other team leaders agreed it was best to stay, including safety Derwin James Jr., and left tackle Rashawn Slater, according to Harbaugh. It would put them in the best position to rest, recover and then prepare to face the Steelers without additional cross-country flights to tax them.
“It makes you feel so good,” Harbaugh said. “They enjoy each other’s company.”
There was 1:57 remaining in the third quarter when Herbert lost control of the ball on a third-and-4 scramble at the Carolina 19-yard line. The Panthers swarmed him and knocked him to the turf. When the bodies cleared, Herbert came up limping and he went to the sideline for treatment.
Later, he said he had an X-ray on his lower right leg.
Herbert finished the game and didn’t appear to be limping.
“I must have just gotten rolled up, a big pile, got rolled up,” Herbert said after the game, doing his best to describe what happened. “Walked off. Was a little sore. Got taped up. Went in and got X-rays, so we’ll know in the next couple of days. Was able to finish the game and keep moving around on it.”
