Chargers Edge Rusher Joey Bosa Eager to Look Ahead After Battling Food Poisoning in Last Week's Return to Play

Joey Bosa has his sights set on the Chargers' Week 18 game after overcoming food poisoning last week in his first game back from injury.

Nicholas Cothrel | Jan 5, 2023

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Los Angeles Chargers

COSTA MESA – Chargers edge rusher Joey Bosa made his return last Sunday against the Rams, coming fresh off his surgically repaired groin that forced him to miss 12 games this season.

Bosa, after three months away from the game, was put on a snap count restriction last week until he further gets his body back into football shape.

He finished the game playing 24 defensive snaps (49%). But physically, he felt a bit drained from food poisoning that hit him the night before the game.

"I had gotten food poisoning on Saturday, so it was a kind of a rough outing," Bosa said. "But other than that, my groin felt good. My mind was kind of somewhere else, luckily, so I wasn't worrying about my groin as much.

"Kind of crappy luck, pun intended, with my first game back. My girlfriend is not going to be my chef ever again."

Bosa said it's still up for debate, but he thinks it was some type of fish that caused him to become ill. He became dehydrated, and if not for a turnaround about six hours before the game kicked off, Bosa's unsure if he would have been able to play.

"Felt a bit weak," Bosa said of his experience last weekend. "There's a lot of variables going on, so it's kind of hard to know why I was feeling that way. But I think I was definitely a little rundown from being dehydrated and not getting some food in me, and obviously being my first came back, but I thought I felt pretty good, just need to get my wind back."

Nonetheless, Bosa said it was good to get back into the swing of things and collect game-speed reps to build his body back up with the playoffs looming.

He also pointed to a silver lining in that his body isn’t physically beat up like most of the NFL players across the league who've played nearly an entire regular season schedule. If anything, Bosa says it should serve as an advantage once he gets his stamina right.

"It's super exciting," Bosa said of being able to play in the playoffs this season. "Last time I was in the playoffs, it was kind of the same deal with my foot injury. But like I said last week, I'm feeling much better this year and much more confident going into these games than I did that year.

"It's exciting to get an opportunity, especially when I'm talking to my brother yesterday and he's just worn down from a whole season of grinding. I'm like, 'Oh, I don't feel too bad. What's the big deal?' It's definitely a unique thing being kind of fresh. I think my body will continue to get better as I'm playing."

Come playoff time, Bosa expects to endure a full workload, and to get there, he indicated he'll continue gathering a higher volume of snaps in Week 18.

The Chargers will face the Broncos Sunday at 1:25 p.m. PT at Empower Field. They currently hold possession of the No. 5 seed in the AFC playoff picture. With a win over the Broncos or a loss by the Ravens, the Chargers will secure the highest Wild Card seed in the AFC.

However, the Ravens vs. Bengals game kicks off at 10:00 a.m. PT, nearly three and a half hours before the Chargers game. Therefore, the Chargers could lock in the No. 5 seed before their game officially gets underway.

"Once we find out about that game, we’ll make the appropriate decisions moving forward, just take it case-by-case," Chargers coach Brandon Staley said of how they’ll manage the Week 18 game. "Obviously, we’re not going to know that until Sunday. Our approach this week is to go beat the Broncos and to play our best.”

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