The Latest Austin Ekeler Injury Update Will Have Chargers Fans Stressing and Bill Belichick Relaxing
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Mac Jones, Justin Herbert, Bill Belichick and Brandon Staley. The New England Patriots and their rookie quarterback travel west to face the Los Angeles Chargers and their second stud quarterback. One team has an aspiring head coach; the other has one of the best head coaches.
LA is getting into bye week after a stellar 4-2 start to the year (let’s forget the beating the Baltimore Ravens), and the Patriots have just beaten Zach Wilson and the New York Jets for the second time before Halloween.
Herbert fires from all cylinders and has the Chargers at the head of the AFC West. Still, a recent update on star running back Austin Ekeler is terrible music to the ears of Brandon Staley and the residents of SoFi Stadium.
Austin Ekeler missed Thursday’s training session with a hip injury
Something to Monitor: Chargers RB Austin Ekeler was added to the team’s injury report due to a hip problem and he hasn’t trained today.
– Field Yates (@FieldYates) October 28, 2021
The Chargers are fresh from their farewell week and generally well rested, recovering from a brutal stretch of six games at the start of the season. However, the latest update had resulted in Ekeler missing out on Thursday with a hip injury.
Yes, this is a shocking development for a number of reasons. First of all, Ekeler hadn’t been mentioned of an injury in the past two weeks. In addition, disgust was not on the practice report on Wednesday.
This is worrying for the Chargers and Herbert, who will likely have to get more passes if the dynamic running back doesn’t get well before Sunday.
All eyes will be on the disgusting front until Sunday rolls in for both Chargers fans and fantasy football players.
Bill Belichick and the Patriots will sleep a lot better when Disgust isn’t available
A lot can change until Sunday, but the fact is that disgusting status is in the air. As if the handling and planning for the Patriots weren’t already challenging enough, the Chargers and offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi will now be working on an alternative game plan as an emergency plan.
Even with the patriots in a juvenile movement, they can still find a way to thwart opposing offenses. On the flip side, the Chargers’ offensive unit is scary, with Keenan Allen, Mike Williams, Jared Cook, and Herbert at the helm.
But the absence of disgust would be a formidable one to overcome. In the year the Shifty running back has 356 yards in rushing and 242 yards in reception game with a total of seven scores. He does everything and it could get ugly if he can’t get dressed on Sunday.
Belichick and the defense of the patriots should have a much simpler game plan without disgust. The Chargers still have a ton of options on the offensive, however, and Herbert himself is a budding star in this league.
The next man for the Chargers is a hot topic this week
Austin Disgust celebrates a touchdown pass | Katelyn Mulcahy / Getty Images
Ironically, the day before he landed on the injury report, Ekeler approached the rest of the running back group (h / t Daniel Popper of The Athletic).
“Somebody has to step up.”
Austin disgust in the Chargers RB room
He’s right. It wasn’t nice, and if he can’t go who knows what the workload will be like. According to Ekeler, it was a mix of Justin Jackson, Joshua Kelley and rookie Larry Rountree. None of these running backs put a total of 100 yards in the shade in the year.
The next leading rusher is Herbert with 72 yards. Kelley, the 2020 third round pick of the Chargers, has proven itself in just two games. Jackson has appeared in five, but those two have only made 16 carries and 46 yards a year together.
Now it might be time for someone to step in if Disgust is out on Sunday. The next few days will be crucial for the Chargers, and being without the launch retreat would be a defining blow to Staley’s group.
UPDATE: Ekeler wasn’t in training on Friday either, which seriously jeopardizes his status for Sunday’s game.
RB Austin Ekeler didn’t train today. He appeared in yesterday’s injury report with a hip injury after fully exercising on Wednesday. #Charger
– Daniel Popper (@danielrpopper) October 29, 2021
Statistics courtesy of Pro Football Reference
RELATED: Bill Belichick Meets Chargers QB Justin Herbert With Massive Praise: “I Don’t Think You Will Find Too Many Better Than Him”
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The Latest Austin Ekeler Injury Update Will Have Chargers Fans Stressing and Bill Belichick Relaxing
