MACK FAVORS ACTION OVER WORDS
Superstitious sack artist prefers play to speak for itself
Please don’t ask Chargers edge rusher Khalil Mack. He doesn’t want to talk about it. Nothing personal, but he would rather let his actions, his remarkable ability to toss aside offensive linemen on the way to menacing opposing quarterbacks, speak for themselves.
“I don’t want to say nothing,” he said. “I don’t want to say nothing.”
Six sacks against the Las Vegas Raiders on Oct. 1, breaking the franchise record of five set by Leslie O’Neal in a Nov. 16, 1986 game against the Dallas Cowboys.
One sack against the Cowboys this past Monday night.
Seven sacks overall through five games, tied for third in the NFL, putting the franchise single-season record of 171⁄2, set by Gary Johnson in 1980, within sight.
“I don’t want to say nothing,” Mack said. “I don’t know what’s going on.”
Mack went on to praise the play-calling of Chargers coach Brandon Staley and defensive coordinator Derrick Ansley for enabling him to wreak havoc on the opposition. He was a constant presence in the opposition’s backfield and then broke out with a monster game against Las Vegas.
“I’m not saying nothing,” he said, prompting laughter from a group of reporters. “Do me a favor and look at the film from the first two games and the last three games and you’ll be able to tell the difference. But I’m not saying nothing. I’m not saying nothing. I’m not saying nothing.” Superstitious?
“I am,” Mack said, laughing, as he thanked reporters for their time.
“Appreciate, y’all,” he said.
Johnston’s slow start
So far, depending on how you gauge the impact of first-round draft pick Quentin Johnston, the numbers are either modest at best or meager at worst. Johnston, a wide receiver, has played five games since the Chargers took him with the 21st pick in the draft out of TCU and he’s caught six passes for 44 yards. That’s it.
He hasn’t caught more than two passes in a game.
He hasn’t been targeted more than three times in a game.
He hasn’t scored a touchdown.
Johnston was on the field for 35 of 73 offensive plays during the Chargers’ loss to the Cowboys on Monday night. Despite not catching a pass in two targets by quarterback Justin Herbert, Johnston was on the field for the most snaps of his career, topping the 33 he played against the Raiders.
Johnston figured to get more playing time after Mike Williams’ season-ending knee injury. But there’s a bond that must develop between a quarterback and a wide receiver, especially a rookie with limited NFL experience, and in the words of offensive coordinator Kellen Moore, “We’re really close.”
“We certainly have to give him some more opportunities, and that’s on me,” Moore said. “We have to find those. He’s been working hard. He’s been doing a really good job. I think that we’re close. It doesn’t take a whole lot to get the thing going with him. He has done a nice job out here. Certainly, Keenan (Allen) and Josh (Palmer) have gotten a lot of targets, and that’s part of the process. Certainly, we’d like to get ‘Q’ going a little bit more, as well.”
Key injury updates
Edge rusher Joey Bosa revealed he suffered a broken left big toe when it was stepped on accidentally during the Chargers’ victory over the Minnesota Vikings in Week 3. He also said the bye week and limited practice participation aided his injured hamstring, an unrelated ailment.
“It’s been tough,” Bosa said. “The first couple of weeks were tough. I was definitely disappointed after having a couple of good weeks getting the hamstring back (to full strength). I get stepped on. Obviously, it was an accident. It was tough dealing with that the first week or so where I wasn’t able to do much.”
Derwin James Jr. suffered an ankle injury during Thursday’s practice and didn’t join his teammates on the field Friday. He was listed as questionable to play Sunday against the Kansas City Chiefs. Fellow safety Alohi Gilman was ruled out for Sunday because of a nagging heel injury.
Of the possibility of facing tight end Travis Kelce without a healthy James available, Staley said, “You’ve got to defend Travis with your whole team, anyway, so it’s not going to be one person. We know that Derwin is one of the few guys that has gone toe-to-toe with him and can meet that matchup. We’ll have to make adjustments if he can’t go.”