CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Quarterback Justin Herbert did not practice on Wednesday as the Los Angeles Chargers began preparations for Sunday's game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Herbert’s right ankle got rolled up on during the third quarter of last Sunday’s 26-3 victory over the Carolina Panthers. He was not seen on the field at UNC Charlotte during the reporters' viewing period, which occurred at the start of the two-hour session.
The Chargers, 2-0 for the first time since 2012, remained in Charlotte this week with consecutive games in the Eastern time zone.
Coach Jim Harbaugh said on Monday that X-rays on Herbert's ankle were negative. Before Wednesday's practice Harbaugh said he expects the fifth-year quarterback to continue to get healthier as the week goes along.
“I was in a meeting with him and he said he was feeling much better and good today,” Harbaugh said.
The injury happened with 2:03 remaining in the third quarter. Herbert moved up in the pocket as it collapsed, but his lower right leg was rolled up on from behind by linebacker D.J. Johnson as he fumbled the ball at the Carolina 20-yard line.
Herbert walked gingerly to the sideline and pointed to his right ankle while talking to trainers on the bench. He briefly spent time in the medical tent, but did not miss any snaps after he got his ankle taped up. Herbert was 14 of 20 for 130 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. It was his lowest passing yardage total in a full game in five NFL seasons.
It is the second time in three seasons Herbert is dealing with an injury going into a Week 3 game. In 2022, he sustained fractured rib cartilage after taking a hard hit from Kansas City defensive lineman Michael Danna during the fourth quarter of a game against the Chiefs.
Herbert was questionable going into the game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, but did play. He went he went 25 of 45 for 297 yards with one touchdown and one interception in a 38-10 loss.
Herbert missed two weeks during training camp because of an injury to the plantar fascia in his right foot, but has been full-go in practice during the first two weeks of the regular season. He also had a torn labrum to his non-throwing shoulder near the end of the 2022 season and two broken fingers last year, including one on his throwing hand that caused him to miss the final four games.
Easton Stick, who has four regular-season starts in five-plus seasons, is the backup even though the Chargers acquired Taylor Heinicke from the Atlanta Falcons at the end of the preseason.
Heinicke, who has started 29 games during his seven-year career, has been inactive the first two games of the season and is listed as the emergency third QB.
When asked who would start on Sunday if Herbert couldn't go, Harbaugh said “right now it’s Easton, but we're going to be way over the legal limit of what-ifs.”
The Chargers' fast start can be mostly attributed to the running game. J.K. Dobbins leads the league with 266 rushing yards and is the first player since San Francisco’s Garrison Hearst in 1998 to have 130 rushing yards and a touchdown run in each of his team’s first two games.
Los Angeles' average of 197.5 yards rushing is second in the NFL. Herbert has thrown it only 46 times in the first two games but does have three TD passes.
The Chargers have called 48 pass plays compared to 71 designed runs. The 40.8% pass rate is third lowest in the league.
Only the Steelers and New Orleans Saints have called a higher percentage of running plays.
NOTES: Wide receiver Joshua Palmer (elbow/calf), cornerback Ja'Sir Taylor (fibula) and linebackers Junior Colson (hamstring) and Bud Dupree (illness) also did not practice. Linebacker Joey Bosa (hip), safety Alohi Gilman (knee), tight end Hayden Hurst (ankle) and linebacker Khalil Mack (rest) were listed as limited.
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Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert throws a touchdown pass against the Los Angeles Chargers an NFL football game on Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Erik Verduzco)
LOS GATOS, Calif. (AP) — Like many retirement communities, The Terraces serves as a tranquil refuge for a nucleus of older people who no longer can travel to faraway places or engaging in bold adventures.
But they can still be thrust back to their days of wanderlust and thrill-seeking whenever caretakers at the community in Los Gatos, California, schedule a date for residents — many of whom are in their 80s and 90s — to take turns donning virtual reality headsets.
Within a matter of minutes, the headsets can transport them to Europe, immerse them in the ocean depths or soar them on breathtaking hang-gliding expeditions while they sit by each other. The selection of VR programming was curated by Rendever, a company that has turned a sometimes isolating form of technology into a catalyst for better cognition and social connections in 800 retirement communities in the United States and Canada.
A group of The Terraces residents who participated in a VR session earlier this year found themselves paddling their arms alongside their chairs as they swam with a pod of dolphins while watching one of Rendever's 3D programs. “We got to go underwater and didn't even have to hold our breath!” exclaimed 81-year-old Ginny Baird following the virtual submersion.
During a session featuring a virtual ride in a hot-air balloon, one resident gasped, “Oh my God!” Another shuddered, “It's hard to watch!”
The Rendever technology can also be used to virtually take older adults back to the places where they grew up as children. For some, it will be the first time they've seen their hometowns in decades.
A virtual trip to her childhood neighborhood in New York City's Queens borough helped sell Sue Livingstone, 84, on the merits of the VR technology even though she still is able to get out more often than many residents of The Terraces, which is located in Silicon Valley about 55 miles south of San Francisco.
“It isn't just about being able to see it again, it's about all the memories that it brings back,” Livingstone said. “There are a few people living here who never really leave their comfort zones. But if you could entice them to come down to try out a headset, they might find that they really enjoy it.”
Adrian Marshall, The Terraces' community life director, said that once word about a VR experience spreads from one resident to another, more of the uninitiated typically become curious enough to try it out — even if it means missing out on playing Mexican Train, a dominoes-like board game that's popular in the community.
“It turns into a conversation starter for them. It really does connect people,” Marshall said of Rendever's VR programming. “It helps create a human bridge that makes them realize they share certain similarities and interests. It turns the artificial world into reality.”
Rendever, a privately owned company based in Somerville, Massachusetts, hopes to build upon its senior living platform with a recent grant from the National Institutes of Health that will provide nearly $4.5 million to study ways to reduce social isolation among seniors living at home and their caregivers.
Some studies have found VR programming presented in a limited viewing format can help older people maintain and improve cognitive functions, burnish memories and foster social connections with their families and fellow residents of care facilities. Experts say the technology may be useful as an addition to and not a replacement for other activities.
“There is always a risk of too much screen time," Katherine “Kate” Dupuis, a neuropsychologist and professor who studies aging issues at Sheridan College in Canada, said. “But if you use it cautiously, with meaning and purpose, it can be very helpful. It can be an opportunity for the elderly to engage with someone and share a sense of wonder.”
VR headsets may be an easier way for older people to interact with technology instead of fumbling around with a smartphone or another device that requires navigating buttons or other mechanisms, said Pallabi Bhowmick, a researcher at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign who is examining the use of VR with older adults.
“The stereotypes that older adults aren’t willing to try new technology needs to change because they are willing and want to adapt to technologies that are meaningful to them,” Bhowmick said. "Besides helping them to relieve stress, be entertained and connect with other people, there is an intergenerational aspect that might help them build their relationships with younger people who find out they use VR and say, ‘Grandpa is cool!’"
Rendever CEO Kyle Rand's interest in helping his own grandmother deal with the emotional and mental challenges of aging pushed him down a path that led him to cofound the company in 2016 after studying neuroengineering at Duke University.
“What really fascinates me about humans is just how much our brain depends on social connection and how much we learn from others,” Rand said. “A group of elderly residents who don't really know each other that well can come together, spend 30 minutes in a VR experience together and then find themselves sitting down to have lunch together while continuing a conversation about the experience.”
It's a large enough market that another VR specialist, Dallas-based Mynd Immersive, competes against Rendever with services tailored for senior living communities.
Besides helping create social connections, the VR programming from both Rendever and Mynd has been employed as a possible tool for potentially slowing down the deleterious effects of dementia. That's how another Silicon Valley retirement village, the Forum, sometimes uses the technology.
Bob Rogallo, a Forum resident with dementia that has rendered him speechless, seemed to be enjoying taking a virtual hike through Glacier National Park in Montana as he nodded and smiled while celebrating his 83rd birthday with his wife of 61 years.
Sallie Rogallo, who doesn't have dementia, said the experience brought back fond memories of the couple's visits to the same park during the more than 30 years they spent cruising around the U.S. in their recreational vehicle.
“It made me wish I was 30 years younger so I could do it again,” she said of the virtual visit to Glacier. “This lets you get out of the same environment and either go to a new place or visit places where you have been.”
In another session at the Forum, 93-year-old Almut Schultz laughed with delight while viewing a virtual classical music performance at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado and later seemed to want to play with a puppy frolicking around in her VR headset.
“That was quite a session we had there,” Schultz said with a big grin after she took off her headset and returned to reality.
Rendever CEO Kyle Rand is pictured at Salesforce Park in San Francisco on June 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Terry Chea)
Jim Holtshouse and his son, Mike Holtshouse, watch video through Rendever virtual-reality headsets at the Forum at Rancho San Antonio retirement community in Cupertino, Calif. on June 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Terry Chea)
Bob Rogallo watches video through a Rendever virtual-reality headset at the Forum at Rancho San Antonio retirement community in Cupertino, Calif. on June 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Terry Chea)
Mike Holtshouse and his father, Jim Holtshouse, watch video through Rendever virtual-reality headsets at the Forum at Rancho San Antonio retirement community in Cupertino, Calif. on June 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Terry Chea)
Jim Holtshouse watches video through a Rendever virtual-reality headset at the Forum at Rancho San Antonio retirement community in Cupertino, Calif. on June 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Terry Chea)
