Jim Harbaugh was asked Wednesday how badly the Los Angeles Chargers need a win. He answered with a kitchen-cabinet analogy before he got to the one-word reply.
“Use the olive jar analogy,” Harbaugh said. “Sometimes those olives are packed so tight in there that you can’t, but you work to get one out and once you get one out, then another, and then they come. … But to answer your question, yeah, badly.”
The Chargers are trying to avoid the franchise’s first 0-6 start since 2000, when Harbaugh started five games at quarterback for a San Diego team that lost its first 11. They visit the 4-0 Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday, October 18, at 4:25 p.m. EDT, their last game before a Week 7 bye.
“It’s actually inflated”
Harbaugh was asked whether an 0-5 start can deflate a locker room with high expectations. He said the opposite has happened with his veterans. “What I’ve noticed is the leaders, I mean Khalil Mack, Derwin James, Justin Herbert and others, that are the tone setters, are the example setters,” he said. “I haven’t seen their leadership or example setting or tone setting deflate at all. You know, it’s actually inflated.”
Asked for an example, he listed “the training environment, the meeting environment, the practice environment and the game environment.” As for how he handles the frustration himself, he said he tries to “work harder, work smarter” and spends “most minutes of the day, waking minutes of the day” looking for ways “to put the players in a better position to be successful.”
He was less interested in talking about whether the offense in Mike McDaniel’s first season has taken too long to click. “Comfortable, again, that’s one of those words that doesn’t resonate that much,” Harbaugh said. “It hasn’t produced a win yet, but this is constantly striving to get to that precision offensively. … And I believe it’s coming. I do.”
Mesidor, Tart and the backfield
Harbaugh said rookie edge rusher Akheem Mesidor sought out Mack early, and that Mesidor, Mack and Tuli Tuipulotu now “feed off each other” in a tight-knit room. “I would say it’s more than flash,” he said of Mesidor. “It’s a consistently high level that Akheem is playing at.” He also called defensive tackle Teair Tart “a force for good” on the interior.
When a reporter pointed out that first-round running back Omarion Hampton’s snaps have dropped three weeks in a row, Harbaugh said he does not track carries that way. “Every time Omarion’s in the game, I’m fired up,” he said, adding that Kimani Vidal is “playing really, really good football, too.” Asked how that might affect Hampton’s confidence, he deadpanned: “You ask me about people’s psychology. I can’t even be hard-pressed to spell the word, let alone talk intelligently about it.”
Harbaugh also explained the addition of receiver Luke Grimm to the practice squad. The Chargers worked out four or five receivers on Tuesday, and Grimm “really shined,” he said. “Collectively everybody that attended the workout thought he had the best workout.” He said the room is set for this week. KeAndre Lambert-Smith had his practice window opened, and Ladd McConkey practiced.
Herbert: “Not give it to the defense”
The Chargers have committed 13 turnovers, the most in the league, and their defense has faced a steady run of short fields. Herbert kept his answer simple. “Just got to play quarterback and not turn the ball over, and you know, got to hold on to the ball and not give it to the defense,” he said. “So, got to make a play and know when to go down, when to throw it away and things like that. And that’s just part of the job.”
He also walked through his late interception against Denver. “They were disguising cover zero, and you know, that was our plan,” Herbert said. “They dropped out and had a completion on it earlier, and the guy just dropped into the right spot and made a good play. … I could have put it further outside.”
On the noise around an 0-5 team and its quarterback, Herbert said: “We have a job to do. It’s to go play football and to go play on Sunday. And so any time spent not focusing on that, you’re wasting your time.” He added that what happened in OTAs or camp “is pretty much irrelevant to what’s going on right now. We have to do our best to find a way to make it work.”
Spagnuolo’s disguises
Herbert gave credit to Theo Wease for stepping in with the receiver group thinned out, saying he allowed him “to play in timing and knowing where he’s going to be at,” and noted Marquez Valdes-Scantling “made some big plays, too.” Next he gets Steve Spagnuolo’s defense. “They’re able to do so many different coverages, bring different pressures, and you know, they make everything look the same, and they do a great job disguising,” he said.
Asked about the long-running matchup between Derwin James and Travis Kelce, Herbert said he would not be the best one to judge it but added, “I think Derwin is as good as it gets, too. So, it’s always fun to watch those two go at it.” James did not practice Wednesday because of his hamstring.
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