Chargers left tackle Joe Alt carted off field with right ankle injury

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Jim Harbaugh didn’t have an update on Los Angeles Chargers left tackle Joe Alt after he was carted off the field Sunday, and what the coach said wasn’t promising.

Alt hurt his right ankle in the second quarter against the Tennessee Titans, and a cart came out pretty quickly to take him off the field. Alt never returned as the Chargers beat the Titans 27-20.

“Yeah, feel that,” Harbaugh said when asked about seeing Alt go down. “Feel for him, feel bad for him.”

Alt missed three games with a sprained right ankle and returned Oct. 23 in the Chargers’ win over Minnesota. He didn’t get up after a long incompletion by Justin Herbert with 4:49 left in the first half against Tennessee.

Jamaree Salyer replaced Alt on the next play, and the Chargers gave up their second sack on the next play after Alt was taken off the field. The Chargers already had right tackle Bobby Hart leave in the first quarter with a groin injury.

Trey Pipkins III, who came in at right tackle, said it’s never easy seeing someone go down.

“It’s difficult, but I mean, that’s kind of the nature of the position, right?” Pipkins said. “I feel like the O-line room specifically have a lot of camaraderie. We got a lot of tradition and that’s our standard is that when people go down, people step up.”

The Chargers (6-3) wound up giving up a season-high six sacks without their offensive tackles. Harbaugh said other players stepped up.

“Sometimes you could say … the team finds itself in a situation where it’s got its back against the wall,” Harbaugh said. “I mean, that’s when you find out who you really are. Felt that’s what our guys did today. Dug deep, gritty win, found a way to win.”

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