Eric D. Williams 10y

McCoy says Keenan Allen will be fine

SAN DIEGO -- A day after his team’s disappointing loss to the Miami Dolphins, San Diego coach Mike McCoy provided some updates on players who suffered injuries against Miami.

McCoy said rookie receiver Keenan Allen, who appeared to suffer a knee injury in the second half, should be available this week. Allen played in 49 of the possible 65 plays on offense for the Chargers.

“He’s fine,” McCoy said. “He’ll be playing, which is great.”

Nick Hardwick missed five plays because of a neck stinger that forced him to miss some practice time last week, but McCoy said his veteran center should practice on Wednesday.

And reserve cornerback Johnny Patrick suffered a concussion and will go through the league’s concussion protocol program this week before being cleared to return to the field. The Chargers said Patrick had a head injury after the game, but did not confirm whether or not he had suffered a concussion.

McCoy wouldn’t say if outside linebacker Melvin Ingram will return to practice this week. San Diego has until Tuesday to decide if Ingram will be allowed to practice with the rest of the team. Ingram began the regular season on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list after having surgery to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in May.

If Ingram begins practicing this week, San Diego has 21 days to add him to the active roster or leave him on the reserve PUP list. So the latest the Chargers can activate Ingram is for the Denver game on Dec. 12, nearly seven months after his surgery.

“We’ll look at obviously the best interest of Melvin and the health of his knee,” McCoy said, when asked what will go into the organization making that decision. “And understand what we want to do moving forward with him. And we have a plan in place. We’ll let you know that as soon as we want to let everybody know.”

McCoy said his team will once again work on tackling after his defense struggled against the Dolphins. McCoy said San Diego had 12 missed tackles that led to 92 bonus yards after contact by Miami.

“I know we’re not always going to the ground, but that’s something we’ve been doing from the very first day we put our pads on,” McCoy said. “So that’s inexcusable. We’ve got to clean that up.”

McCoy also shouldered the blame for not telling the offense to spike the ball at the end of the game, which would have allowed the Chargers to run a few more plays while the team was driving for the winning score.

“We need to spike that,” McCoy said. “That was a mistake we made. And there’s no excuses for that, we just didn’t get it done.”

For the second time in three weeks, McCoy said quarterback Philip Rivers and receiver Vincent Brown were not on the same page, leading to another interception, this time a pick by Miami cornerback Brent Grimes in the opening quarter on Sunday.

“It was a double move,” McCoy said. “It was a slant-and-go, and he jumped inside of the corner when he’s got to go outside.”

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