Los Angeles Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh praised Justin Herbert after his star quarterback was among players and members of the team’s traveling party who were stuck in an elevator for two hours at the team hotel in Dallas on Friday.
Per Harbaugh, Herbert was among “11 or 12 of our players” on the elevator at The Westin Dallas Downtown on Friday, one day before the Chargers visited the Cowboys in the teams’ preseason finale.
“Justin Herbert, his hair was a little wet, but his shirt was completely dry,” Harbaugh said following the Chargers’ 26-19 win over the Cowboys. “That was another thing that blew me away. The guy is just a beast.
“The remarkable things that came out of it was, to a guy, young rookie players, Justin Herbert’s a leader. He was a rock. Kept everybody calm.’Jeri Fouts (wife of Pro Football Hall of Fame member Dan Fouts) told me the same thing, pulled me aside after they got out, just how great Justin was. And everybody kept their poise.”
Dallas Fire-Rescue was summoned after the elevator was stuck in a “blind shaft” between the third and 15th floors of the hotel.
“Without the Dallas fire department, could have been a lot worse,” Harbaugh said. “Could have been a lot more hours. Who knows how it would have ended.”
Herbert, 26, did not play Saturday. The Pro Bowl quarterback assuredly will be on the field on Sept. 8 when the Chargers open their season against the Las Vegas Raiders in Inglewood, Calif.
–Field Level Media