Trey Pipkins III will not play for Chargers vs. Texans in wild-card playoffs
The Chargers will be without right guard Trey Pipkins III in their wild-card game against the Houston Texans on Saturday, with the offensive lineman was announced as inactive because of an oblique injury. Pipkins was questionable going into the game.
Jamaree Salyer will start at right guard for the second consecutive game. Salyer, who has rotated into the lineup throughout the season, started last week because of a pregame injury to left tackle Rashawn Slater, which shuffled the offensive line and put Pipkins at right tackle and Joe Alt at left tackle.
Slater (knee) will return to the starting lineup Saturday as the Chargers try to win their first playoff game since 2018.
Running back J.K. Dobbins (ankle), receiver Quentin Johnston (thigh/illness) and linebacker Denzel Perryman (groin) were all questionable but will play. With Dobbins back in the lineup, the Chargers put running backs Kimani Vidal and Jaret Patterson on the inactive list. The Chargers have three running backs active with Dobbins, Gus Edwards and Hassan Haskins.
Other Chargers inactives: QB Easton Stick (third quarterback), WR Joshua Palmer (foot), TE Hayden Hurst, DL Justin Eboigbe
Texans inactives: LB Devin White, DE Jerry Hughes, OG Nick Broeker, OG Shaq Mason, DT Kurt Hinish
NFL wild-card playoff picks: Can Chargers, Rams pull off a Los Angeles sweep?
Los Angeles Times NFL writer Sam Farmer examines the matchups this week. Lines according to FanDuel Sportsbook (O/U = over/under). Record last week 12-4 (.750); season 189-83 (.695). Using point spreads with the scores Farmer predicted, the record against the spread last week would have been 9-7 (.563); season 144-126-2 (.533). Times Pacific. TV channels are Los Angeles local.
No. 5 Chargers at No. 4 Houston
Saturday, 1:30 p.m. TV: Channel 2 (CBS), Paramount+
Hernández: These aren’t your daddy’s Chargers. Jim Harbaugh has team primed for playoff run
LAS VEGAS — Watching Justin Herbert scramble for 41 yards in the Chargers’ regular-season finale against the Las Vegas Raiders, how could you not think it?
Watching Quentin Johnston catch everything Herbert threw in his vicinity, how could you not feel it?
This will be the season Justin Herbert finally wins his first playoff game — and maybe even his second.
The kind of postseason run that once was believed to be another year or two away suddenly feels within reach for Herbert and his team, which is entering the playoffs as the AFC’s No. 5 seed with a winnable wild-card game ahead against the Houston Texans.
Chargers’ decimated secondary survived because Derwin James Jr. ‘can make it right’
A second safety went on injured reserve in as many weeks. The Chargers were calling on practice squad players who hadn’t even had a week’s worth of practices to fill in.
With the pressure of the postseason looming, how did Jim Harbaugh feel about the position that was scraping the bottom of the team’s personnel barrel?
“Tremendous confidence,” the Chargers coach said with a proud smile. “We’re talking about Derwin James’ position.”
The star safety has re-established himself as one of the league’s top defensive backs, earning a fourth Pro Bowl nomination and notching a career-best 5½ sacks while anchoring a secondary that has started 10 players.
Chargers fortify rushing attack with return of Gus Edwards, addition of Ezekiel Elliott
For the first time in two weeks, the Chargers had both of their leading rushers on the practice field Tuesday, and the team didn’t stop at stocking the backfield with only J.K. Dobbins and Gus Edwards.
Former Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott made his Chargers practice debut Tuesday after being signed to the practice squad. The Chargers made the move official while releasing receiver Laviska Shenault.
With the Cowboys well outside of the postseason picture, Elliott asked to be released after playing 15 games for the team that drafted him fourth overall in 2016. Three seasons removed from his last 1,000-yard campaign, the 29-year-old was searching for an opportunity to compete for a championship in the waning years of his career.
Texans considered easier playoff opponent for Chargers, but ‘They’ve got playmakers’
LAS VEGAS — Derwin James Jr. breaks every Chargers huddle with a simple direction.
“Be the best,” the star safety’s teammates respond in unison.
On Sunday, the Chargers lived up to their daily proclamation, cementing themselves as the NFL’s top defense in points allowed while finishing the regular season with a 34-20 win over the Las Vegas Raiders.
Allowing an average of 17.7 points per game, the Chargers (11-6) edged the Philadelphia Eagles, who held the New York Giants to 13 points in Week 18 and permitted 17.8 points per game.
Within a season, GM Joe Hortiz changed Chargers’ DNA: ‘Everybody’s just, like, fighters’
Jim Harbaugh just got done high-fiving all of his players. He saved a special greeting for Joe Hortiz.
In the immediate aftermath of the Chargers clinching their first playoff berth since 2022, the coach wrapped the general manager in a tight, two-armed hug in the locker room.
“Love you!” Harbaugh shouted at Hortiz with both hands on his shoulders. They embraced again.
Harbaugh’s influence has been the headline as the Chargers have tried to ditch their reputation of mediocrity. The eccentric coach would like his players to get the credit for changing the culture.
Chargers vs. Houston Texans: How to watch, predictions and betting odds
For three straight weeks, the Chargers have shared emphatic high fives in their celebratory post-game locker room. They sing “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow.” They shout that “nooo-body” has it better than them.
The Chargers feel as if they’re having too much fun for Saturday’s AFC wild-card playoff game to be the end.
“We’re not ready for this to be our last game,” cornerback Kristian Fulton said. “We want to show that our goal is the Super Bowl. A lot of people probably don’t think we can do it, so we’re just ready to show the world.”
The Chargers (11-6) haven’t won a playoff game since 2018, but have completed the franchise’s best single-season turnaround in two decades. They surged through the end of the regular season with a three-game winning streak to vault from the seventh seed to the fifth, which pitted them against the Houston Texans (10-7).