In his debut with the Chargers, running back J.K Dobbins had a big day. He thinks he can show up even bigger.
“I think I can be way better, you know?” Dobbins told reporters Friday, via NFL.com. “We’ll see. If I get those long runs again, I’m going to take it to the crib.”
Last week, Dobbins had 135 yards on only 10 carries, an uncanny average of 13.5 yards per attempt.
He had 107 of those yards on only two runs — one for 61 and one for 46. He added a 12-yard touchdown in the win over the Raiders.
Dobbins has always been incredibly good when healthy. His career rushing average is 6.1 yards per carry. But it was a knee injury in 2021 and a torn Achilles tendon in 2023 that derailed his career.
As a rookie in 2020 with the Ravens, Dobbins had 134 carries for 805 yards, an average of 6.0 yards per carry exactly.
If he can keep going, the Chargers under first-year coach Jim Harbaugh could be pretty darn good.
“We got a lot of room to improve,” Dobbins said. “We didn’t start out good -- had some bonehead mistakes, had some penalties, some false starts -- we just got to focus up. Great teams, they don’t get it until they get it. You see it, and it’s like, ‘Oh, wow, that teams look scary.’ But you can see we have that. We have the tools, we have the talent. We just have to put it all together, and once we put it all together, it’s going to be good to see.”
They should get to 2-0 on Sunday in Carolina, because the Panthers are, frankly, not good. They next face the Steelers and Chiefs before an early Week 5 bye.
Chargers edge rusher Joey Bosa missed a second consecutive day of practice with a back injury that has his availability in doubt for Sunday. The team lists him as questionable to play.
Bosa popped up on the injury report Wednesday as a limited participant.
He played only 14 total games the past two seasons because of injuries, a reason Bosa hasn’t made the Pro Bowl since 2021 when he had 10.5 sacks. Bosa broke his hand in an Aug. 4 joint practice with the Rams that required surgery to repair the fracture, but he played 40 of 60 snaps in the season opener and totaled seven tackles, a sack and two quarterback hits against the Raiders.
The Chargers list safety Alohi Gilman (knee) as doubtful, and receiver Joshua Palmer (knee), cornerback Ja’Sir Taylor (fibula) and running back Hassan Haskins (toe) as questionable.
Haskins and Taylor had limited participation Friday, while Gilman and Haskins did not participate.
Chargers edge rusher Joey Bosa’s practice participation moved in the wrong direction Thursday.
Bosa was out of practice due to the back injury that landed him on the report as a limited participant on Wednesday. Bosa had seven tackles and a sack in the season-opening win over the Raiders.
Bosa’s partner on the edge Khalil Mack is also on the report, but he was a full participant after resting to start the week.
The Chargers’ injury report was otherwise the same as the one they handed in on Wednesday. Safety Alohi Gilman (knee) and cornerback Ja’sir Taylor (fibula) missed a second straight practice. Running back Hassan Haskins (toe), receiver Joshua Palmer (knee), and linebacker Denzel Perryman (thigh) were limited participants.
Friday will bring word from the team on Bosa’s chances of playing against the Panthers on Sunday.
The Panthers’ 2024 season got off to an ugly start with last week’s 47-10 loss to the division-rival Saints.
But Carolina has a chance to get back on track this weekend with the team’s home opener against the Chargers.
While quarterback Bryce Young struggled last week, throwing an interception on his first passing attempt, veteran receiver Adam Thielen said the offensive issues certainly were not all on the young signal-caller.
“I don’t think that’s just a Bryce thing. I think that’s all of us,” Thielen told reporters on Wednesday. “First game back — games are just different. You can do all the preseason, you can do all the OTAs, training camp — all that is great and all that gives you an idea of what a game looks like. But games are just different. So, it was great to get out there, feel that game-like energy, and passion, crowd noise, everything — just to kind of get that one behind us.
“Obviously, not the result [we wanted], but good to get that out, and now we can just go play football and be who we want to be, who we are, and show individuality who we can be. That’s not just a Bryce thing — that’s all of us. Those are kind of first-game nerves, first game whatever — a little rust, whatever. We all individually have to kind of figure out a way to get better this week and put that one behind us.”
One way to do that, Thielen said, is for the Panthers to get off to a faster start on Sunday.
"[T]hat doesn’t necessarily mean you have to just score 30 points in the first half,” Thielen said. “It means that you’ve got to go get some first downs. You’ve got to make a couple of big plays. You’ve got to do some of the little things right that just give you some confidence, momentum, give the offense some short third-down opportunities — that you just start to build this confidence, demeanor, and momentum that can go toward you.”
Young finished Week 1 13-of-30 for 161 yards with a pair of interceptions. Thielen led the team with 49 yards on three catches.
Panthers owner David Tepper fired head coach Matt Rhule during the 2022 season. Then he fired head coach Frank Reich during the 2023 season. But new head coach Dave Canales says after starting the 2024 season with a blowout loss that he feels support from Tepper.
Asked if he talked to Tepper after the game, Canales said on Wednesday, “Yeah, absolutely, I talked to him.”
Canales said he sees his relationship with Tepper and his wife, Panthers Chief Administrative Officer Nicole Tepper, as a positive.
“These are people that I want to make proud of what we’re doing here and what we’re building,” Canales said. “So, it means a lot to me to make sure that I connect with him, to connect with Nicole, to be able to talk about just the state of our organization, just kind of following up on games. I look forward to that process. So we had some good times to connect after the game. Those are private conversations that I’ll keep to myself. But a lot of support.”
Wednesday was Tepper’s 67th birthday.
“Happy birthday, by the way, David. Hope you’re having a great time with your family,” Canales said.
Tepper will have a better day on Sunday if the Panthers look like a more competent football team against the Chargers than they did in their ugly Week One against the Saints.
