Jim Harbaugh Praises Justin Herbert's Leadership While Stuck In Elevator For 2 Hours
If you're ever stuck in an elevator, Justin Herbert is a good person to have with you. At least, according to Jim Harbaugh.
On Friday night, Dallas Fire-Rescue crews rescued 15 people in the Los Angeles Chargers traveling party — both players and personnel — who were trapped in an elevator at The Westin hotel. The elevator was stuck in a "blind shaft" somewhere between the third and 15th floors, so emergency crews had to pull everyone to safety, one-by-one, through a ceiling panel.
And now we know that QB1 was among those trapped.
"We dodged a bullet," Harbaugh said. "I usually think of dodging a bullet of dodging an injury in football. You’ve got to get good at that. You’ve got to get good at making yourself harder to break.
"That’s a shared experience that brought them closer together. I just missed it, being on that elevator. It was like, ‘Wish I could have been there with those guys.’ But Justin Herbert was."
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Harbaugh said every person who came off the elevator was sweating, except for Herbert, and some of the players had taken off their shirts. They had been stuck for two hours without air conditioning.
"Justin Herbert, his hair was a little wet, but his shirt was completely dry," Harbaugh said. "That was another thing that blew me away. The guy is just a beast."
Jim Harbaugh praised Justin Herbert's leadership skills during the stressful elevator ordeal.
(Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
Jeri Fouts — wife of Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Fouts — was also on the elevator. She told Harbaugh that Herbert showed tremendous leadership during the stressful ordeal.
"The remarkable thing that came out of it was, to a guy, young rookie players, ‘Justin Herbert’s a leader. He was a rock. Kept everybody calm,’" Harbaugh said. "Jeri Fouts told me the same thing, pulled me aside after they got out, just how great Justin was. And everybody kept their poise.
"You get in those situations, and it’s a test of wills. I was proud of each of the guys and the two women that were on that elevator. That’s a win. You feel good about yourself. You were challenged. It was a test of will, and you pull it down, or pull it in. It was a camaraderie amongst that group that is even stronger than it was before."
Leave it to Jim Harbaugh to turn this fiasco into a coaching moment. If we didn't know any better, we'd think he set the whole thing up on purpose.