LA CHARGERS HEAD COACH ANTHONY LYNN
Postgame Press Conference
Sunday, December 6, 2020
Opening Statement:
"Let me just start out by saying that was one of the worst football games that I've ever been a part of in my 30 years in the National Football League as a player and a coach. It's not acceptable. It's not indicative of the men in the locker room. I watched closely - not one guy on that field quit. This team will re-group, will battle and will bounce back. We will make sure - I know that I will personally make sure - that will never happen again. That was unacceptable and embarrassing. I'll do the best that I can to answer your questions, but I'll tell you right now that I don't have a lot to say."
On QB Justin Herbert playing in the fourth quarter:
"He's a young quarterback and he wanted to be in the game with his teammates. They wanted to go out on the field and get on the scoreboard. More than that, you have to learn to play through those rough patches. You're going to have some rough patches throughout a season. I didn't want to pull him out when things were getting bad, I wanted him to be able to play through it and turn things around. That was the main reason. The thought did cross my mind, but I left him in.
"You're going to have some games like that. He was running for his life in Miami, taking some shot. You're doing to have some games like that.
"Absolutely, I wanted to protect him, but I left him in."
On the special teams:
"Unacceptable. Special teams, unacceptable. Period."
On punt returns with the wrong number of players:
"Like I said, it was unacceptable - special teams was. The whole operation. I made a change on special teams [two weeks ago]. I have a lot of guys doing different things. Today, it got confusing on the field, and it was unacceptable. The coaching, it was unacceptable."
On starting T Storm Norton:
"Storm, first of all, had a really good training camp. He made a couple of plays in the Saints game where he did a good job. He has been practicing well. I wanted to see Storm play. I put Storm in instead of [TJ Trey [Pipkins Ill]. I've had a good look at Trey, so I wanted to get a good look at Storm."
On the development of T Trey Pipkins Ill:
"Trey is developing fine. He's going into his second year. He's a young kid that came in really raw. He has some really nice physical skills to work with. I do believe that he is going to develop into a starting tackle in the National Football League, it just might not be today."
On the end of the first half:
"We were doing all that we could with no timeouts left to move the ball down the field and get into field goal range where we could get some points before the half and then come out and have the ball. We felt like that could have given us a little momentum going into the locker room, so that was the plan."
On the number of coaches assisting with special teams:
"Right now, this is what we have to work with. I'm helping out because they need help there. When you let one guy go, someone else has to step in. I'm helping out a little bit in practice and in drills and things like that. The operation today, just was not good and was unacceptable."
On the energy to start the game:
"I don't think there was any lackluster [effort]. I think those 14 points that we gave up on special teams did not help our momentum, but offensively, we were a little out of sync last week. We have to find our rhythm. We have to get in-tune, offensively, because I saw this a little bit last week and we did not turn it around this week."
On practice this past week:
"I thought the week of practice was fine under the circumstances with the all of the Zoom meetings, no in person meetings and all of that. I thought the guys handled that really well. I had no problem with how the week of practice went."
On the New England opening drive:
"That's something that we were trying to stop because we knew they were going to try to hold the clock and run the football, and shorten the game as much as they could. In the first half, that's exactly what they did."
On the upcoming games:
"We signed up to play 16 games and that's what we expect to do."
On his job status:
"I talk to [Owner and Chairman of the Board] Dean [A. Spanos] all the time. That's out of my control, my job status, but I talk to Dean all the time."
On Owner and Chairman of the Board Dean A. Spanos:
"He's frustrated as hell, just like I am right now. He's very frustrated. When I came here, we felt like the first couple of years we were getting this thing going in the right direction and the last couple of years, it just hasn't been that way. It's my job to get this back on the right track, and if I'm here, I will."
On special teams:
"I moved [Senior Analyst George Stewart] to a different role because I felt like we needed to make a change at that position. I didn't like the results that we were getting. I felt that last week, we did some things a lot better there, but this week it was just not good enough. I can't say that enough."
On his message to the team after the loss:
"It was disappointing. I won't go into every detail of what I told those guys in the locker room, but I was disappointed - but I was more disappointed in myself than them because I'm in charge."
On Herbert's performance:
"He did some good things in that game. When I watch the tape tonight and in the morning, there will be some good things that he did. Obviously, we didn't put any points on the board, so it wasn't good enough. I know our third down over the last couple of weeks, for whatever reason, [has not been] efficient enough. We have some things to work on and get fixed, but that young man right there - the way he works and with his football I.Q., I have no doubt that he will help turn this situation around."
On his job status:
"Yeah, I expect to be the coach of this team tomorrow."
On how he will evaluate the special teams film:
"When I watch the special teams tape, we'll make corrections like everywhere else. It was more of the operation [that was the issue]."
QUARTERBACK JUSTIN HERBERT
Postgame Press Conference
Sunday, December 6, 2020
On the Patriots defense:
"They played really good defense today and it didn't go our way at all. We would have loved to have a bunch of throws, bunch of decisions back, we didn't execute out there. It's on us for sure."
On the Patriots challenging defense:
"We just didn't execute today. They have a great defense and they're coached really well. They have some great guys on that side of the ball. We didn't get to do what we wanted to do and definitely didn't execute. Like I said, it's on us."
On the team's confidence moving forward:
"You have to move on. There's another game next week and there's still a lot of football left - four weeks of football left - it's a four-game season for us. We have to take each game as they come, and we have to be 1-0 next week. Learn from this one and move on."
On coming out of the game in the fourth quarter:
"It was never a question for us -to be out there and give everything we have - that's all we can do. I really wouldn't be able to live with myself if I ever quit on those guys. It was 45-0 and obviously tough. No one is happy with that outcome. All those guys kept going back out there and battled through it. I'm glad that no one quit on us."
On coming out of the game:
"I can't really remember the situation on the sideline. I just knew I was going to go back in, kind of regardless of what the situation was. I was going to be out there with the team."
On the loss:
"It's definitely tough. We didn't really get to do a lot of the things we wanted to execute. We need to put up points and you can't expect to win a whole lot of games when you don't put up enough points. Like I said, we have to learn from it. Another opportunity for another week of football. I'm proud of the ways the guys stayed out there and we're going to learn from this one and be better."
On the blocked kick before halftime:
"That's a tough situation but we believe in our field goal unit. I'd put those guys in that position again and I know [Michael Badgley] is going to step up and make it. It's just one of those tough outcomes where they got us. We didn't execute and we need to be better. I've said that a lot but that's what it has to be like. We have to learn from it and we have to get better. We've got another week of football and another opportunity to get better and play the game that we love."
On Head Coach Anthony Lynn:
"I believe in Coach Lynn and the rest of the coaching staff 100%. We got beat 45-0. It's not [only] on him. It's on us, on the players out there that didn't execute. It's on the offense that didn't put up enough points, especially me. There are plenty of things that we could have done better, decisions that we could have had back, throws, runs, all of this that we could have done so much better. I believe in this team and I believe in this coaching staff. I'm going to keep giving them everything I've got."
On being blown out in a game before:
"I can't remember."
On the mood in the locker room:
"Guys were obviously upset and disappointed. We knew we could have played better. This is one of those games that you'd love to have back. Guys didn't quit on each other. I know no one on this team is going to quit on each other. We're going to have another good week of practice. We have to learn from it and we have to get better."
On if the team has veteran leadership:
"I believe so. We have leaders in that room. Guys stepped up, they talked, and no one's going to quit on this team. We've got another week of opportunity and another week to play football."
On the Patriots defense:
"We just didn't execute. They have some great coaches and great players on that side of the ball. When we needed to on third downs, and second-and-long, we just didn't convert and didn't execute the way we wanted to. It's unlike us and I know that we could have been better."
On remaining poised:
"It's really important. It's important to be able to handle adversity. Adversity is going to happen and it happened today. Losing like that is never fun. You can't get too low because you can't let the Patriots beat you next week. We're moving on and you have to learn from it. This one's tough, this one hurts and it stings. No one wants to lose this way but you have to let it go and learn from it. We have to get better."
On talking with Lynn about coming out in the fourth quarter:
"Like I said I can't really remember. I just knew I was going to be out there. Whether or not there was some miscommunication like that, I knew that I was going to express that I wanted to be out there. I'm with that decision, 100 percent."
