Keenan Allen shrugs off shoulder injury in Chargers
INGLEWOOD — Keenan Allen sprinted across the middle of the field in the third quarter Sunday, racing through traffic as he went from his right to his left. A nanosecond later, he caught a pass from Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert for a 12-yard gain and a first down at the Detroit Lions’ 18-yard line.
Suddenly, he was down and injured along the Lions’ sideline. The crowd of 70,240 at reSoFi Stadium went silent. The Chargers were already without wide receivers Mike Williams and Joshua Palmer because of knee injuries. The last thing they needed to see was Allen sidelined by an injury.
Allen went to the sideline, then the locker room and then, soon enough, he was back on the field in the fourth quarter. He returned to the game after the Chargers announced that his return was questionable because of a shoulder injury. Jalen Guyton and Quentin Johnston caught touchdown passes in his absence.
But there was Allen with the ball in his hands again on the Chargers’ final drive, completing a 38-yard touchdown pass play that would make it 38-38 with 3:34 remaining in a game they would ultimately lose 41-38. Allen would catch 11 passes for 175 yards and two touchdowns.
“I thought early on it would be a shootout and that’s what it ended up being, a shootout,” said Allen, who dismissed his shoulder injury during his postgame media scrum at his locker. “You’ve got two great offenses, and no matter how good a defense is, it’s hard to stop a great offense.”
WELCOME BACK
Guyton’s touchdown reception, on an 18-yard laser from Herbert in the third quarter, was the highlight of his return to SoFi Stadium. He had actually made his return last Monday night from a yearlong layoff because of a knee injury that ended his 2022 season in Week 3, but he didn’t catch a pass.
INGLEWOOD — Keenan Allen sprinted across the middle of the field in the third quarter Sunday, racing through traffic as he went from his right to his left. A nanosecond later, he caught a pass from Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert for a 12-yard gain and a first down at the Detroit Lions’ 18-yard line.
Suddenly, he was down and injured along the Lions’ sideline. The crowd of 70,240 at reSoFi Stadium went silent. The Chargers were already without wide receivers Mike Williams and Joshua Palmer because of knee injuries. The last thing they needed to see was Allen sidelined by an injury.
Allen went to the sideline, then the locker room and then, soon enough, he was back on the field in the fourth quarter. He returned to the game after the Chargers announced that his return was questionable because of a shoulder injury. Jalen Guyton and Quentin Johnston caught touchdown passes in his absence.
But there was Allen with the ball in his hands again on the Chargers’ final drive, completing a 38-yard touchdown pass play that would make it 38-38 with 3:34 remaining in a game they would ultimately lose 41-38. Allen would catch 11 passes for 175 yards and two touchdowns.
“I thought early on it would be a shootout and that’s what it ended up being, a shootout,” said Allen, who dismissed his shoulder injury during his postgame media scrum at his locker. “You’ve got two great offenses, and no matter how good a defense is, it’s hard to stop a great offense.”
WELCOME BACK
Guyton’s touchdown reception, on an 18-yard laser from Herbert in the third quarter, was the highlight of his return to SoFi Stadium. He had actually made his return last Monday night from a yearlong layoff because of a knee injury that ended his 2022 season in Week 3, but he didn’t catch a pass.
