Chargers’ Joey Bosa reveals battle with food poisoning ahead of return in Week 17

Chargers star edge defender Joey Bosa returned to the field last Sunday in the victory over the Rams. Bosa had been out since Week 3 with a groin injury that he had to have surgery on.

Bosa was on a snap count restriction to get back to the speed of live-game action. He played 24 defensive snaps and logged three pressures.

While it was refreshing to see him back on the field, refreshed was not entirely how Bosa felt in his return. He had 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 is not entirely sure, but he felt like it was some fish that caused him to feel sick. He became dehydrated but was able to make a quick recovery with a six-hour turnaround from kickoff.

“Felt a bit weak,” Bosa said. “There’s a lot of variables going on, so it’s hard to know why I was feeling that way. But I think I was definitely a little run down from being dehydrated and not getting some food in me, and obviously being my first game back, but I thought I felt pretty good, need to get my wind back.”

Bosa added that it felt good to get reps again to build up ahead of the playoffs. He expects to receive more snaps this weekend against the Broncos than he did in Week 17. Then, he should be back up to a full workload when the playoffs start.

“It’s super exciting,” Bosa said on the playoffs. “Last time I was in the playoffs, it was 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.”

Bosa has been to the playoffs once, back in 2018, when the Chargers beat the Ravens in the Wild Card round but lost to the Patriots in the Divisional round. That year, he had a foot injury that he sustained in training camp, re-injured in Week 1, and didn’t return until Week 11.