Monday, September 10, 2018 | Hoag Performance Center | Costa Mesa, Calif.
LOS ANGELES CHARGERS HEAD COACH ANTHONY LYNN
Opening Statement:
"I've been watching the tape and evaluating it with the coaches. It's pretty much what I said last night. A lot of missed opportunities. We had some critical drops that could have been a difference. Third-and-one. If we make that third-and-one, we wouldn't a 91-yard punt return coming back down afterward. That team is well-coached. [Chiefs Head Coach] Andy Reid does a heck of a job [as do] Eric Bieniemy, their offensive coordinator, and Bob Sutton, their defensive coordinator. That team was prepared to play us. They didn't give us anything. They play good, smart football. We just have to play better. I won't say that we weren't prepared because we were ready to play this football game. We just didn't make the plays that we needed to make."
On the offensive performance:
"There were some positives. Any time you lose, you tend to focus more on the corrections, but there were a lot of positives. [We had nearly] 550 yards of offense. [The offense] did some good things execution-wise. It doesn't mean anything if you don't put points on the board. Normally, 28 points will get you a W, but we gave up 38. There were a lot of positives in that game, even in the kicking game. I liked the way [K] Caleb [Sturgis] kicked it out of the back of the end zone [on kickoffs] when we told him to. He placed it well on the squib kick, the sky kick that we had. He missed on field goal. He was pressing against the wind at the end, but he had a different swag about him yesterday. I feel like he could have made the 54-yarder that I decided to pooch punt. I thought he could have made that if I had called for him to kick it. There were some positives. The defense stopped them sometimes in critical situations and got the offense the ball back. When you don't win the game — we have a lot of corrections to make. There's a reason why didn't win the game."
On T Joe Barksdale:
"Right now, he's undergoing further evaluation. [I don't have an update] at this moment, no."
On T Sam Tevi:
"Sam came in off the bench cold. I thought he did some really good things. He got beat underneath on a couple moves by [Chiefs LB Dee] Ford. Other than that, he was pretty solid."
On the rushing attack:
"[RB] Austin [Ekeler] and [RB] Melvin [Gordon III] couldn't have done anything without the offensive line. I thought the offensive line blocked well. I thought they protected well. Kansas City has some good players up front. They got some pressure and had a couple sacks, but I thought, overall, that our o-line played pretty well. The [running] backs did a good job in the rotation. Those guys have two different skill sets. I like it when they can attack a defense with those skills out of the backfield receiving the ball or running on the perimeter or inside. That part really looked good. Like I said, we fell a little short."
On if Tevi would start at right tackle with Barksdale out:
"As of right now, Sam [Tevi] is the starting right tackle."
On potentially playing G/T Michael Schofield III at right tackle:
"No, Sam has been the swing tackle since day one of training camp. We knew that if someone went down that he would step in at left tackle or right tackle. That's what we're going to do. We are going to make one move instead of two moves."
On Buffalo not announcing a starting quarterback:
"After one game — I've seen [Bills QB Nathan] Peterman play for one game. We saw him a little bit last year. I don't think that will affect the game plan at all to be honest with you. We just know going into Buffalo, that's going to be a hard place to play. You don't just play that football team. You play 69,000 fans, too, because they have one of the best fan-bases in the National Football League. That's going to be a tough challenge for us."
On previous success against Bills QB Nathan Peterman:
"If we're facing Peterman, we will try to get after him again like we did last year. I think of those five interceptions that [DE] Joey Bosa was hitting him on four [of them]. We have to figure out how to apply some pressure to that young man and play our game."
On DE Isaac Rochell:
"Isaac has been solid. He has been really solid. I would like to see a little bit more from Isaac. I thought [DE] Melvin [Ingram III] had a good day rushing off the edge, applying some pressure. He didn't get there all the time, but he was pretty close. He is going to get more attention now that Joey isn't out there, so Isaac is going to have to step up and really play his role. Isaac was solid, but I think he can play better."
On LB Uchenna Nwosu's playtime on defense:
"It's just whenever they go big. Uchenna hasn't played the position. I hate to put a guy in a position that he hasn't played all year. He has been an outside linebacker and comes in sometimes to back up Melvin [Ingram] at the Leo spot, but as opposed to the big end, he hasn't played one down of that. That's part of why you didn't see him in there that much."
On Chiefs WR Tyreek Hill's punt return touchdown:
"[The film] did [match with what we thought yesterday]. The guy ran 47 yards sideways and then went 91 vertical. We had plenty of opportunities to make a play on him and we didn't get it done. Those same coverage guys ran down the field last year. I think [last year] we kicked it to him four times for seven [return] yards. We did a heck of a job [then], but didn't get it done yesterday. I don't think you could ask for a better kick from [P] Drew [Kaser]. We can kick it out of bounds, but then you have to start gauging where it goes out. [Is it] the 30, the 40? That's hard for a punter. He put it exactly where it should have been — between the numbers and the sideline — and pinned the guy in the corner. We just didn't make the play."
On the margin for error surrounding Hill:
"It's very slim. I think he's the best in the game and close is not good enough. We need go take the shot and make that play."
On TE Antonio Gates:
"He didn't play a whole lot, but I thought he was fine. He caught a two-pointer and caught another ball. He blocked better than I thought he would [at this point], since he's a guy who hasn't had pads on since January. He's a good addition to have right now and is going to help us. Although I know he's a Hall of Famer, there is still work that needs to get done. The more practice he can get in, the better shape he can get in and be that much better."
On dropped passes:
"It's very uncharacteristic [of our wide receiver group]. I have not seen that out of our group, at all. [Either from WR] Travis [Benjamin] or [WR] Tyrell [Williams], but it showed up yesterday. You can say [it was because of] the heat and all that, but everybody played in the same heat. I don't anticipate that happening again, but yesterday it did. Maybe they were pressing [themselves]. Maybe after you drop one ball, [the receivers felt] pressed to make the next catch. I'm not sure."
On correcting dropped passes:
"You don't flinch and keep playing. Those guys [Travis Benjamin and Tyrell Williams] — they're good receivers. They'll bounce back."
On addressing dropped passes:
"Well, you have to address it, but I don't dwell on it and don't try to beat a guy down because of it. I try to encourage these guys so they can make the next play. The most important thing is staying in the present — forget about that, we can't do anything about those now. Let's stay in the present and go make plays this week."
On the call made on WR Keenan Allen for stepping out of bounds prior to a catch:
"No, I saw it myself. I thought he stepped out of bounds. I wasn't surprised by the call at all."
On whether the referees properly signaled when WR Keenan Allen stepped out of bounds:
"They didn't call anything, but he was out of bounds before he caught the ball. I knew that and was getting ready for the next play."
On the performance of S Derwin James and LB Kyzir White in their first NFL regular-season game:
"I thought both of those young guys, they made some plays. [They also] gave up some plays. They're rookies, I think you can expect that. I thought DJ [James] made a nice play saving a touchdown in the endzone. He laid out for the ball and deflected it. He [also] had a sack. Kyzir — he made a couple of tackles. It wasn't out of the ordinary, but he was just solid."
On when in training camp he felt James and White could start:
"Well, you could see it all along. You wanted those guys out there against a team like this [Kansas City] with the speed in space. This is why we brought those guys here, but we also knew that early on there [would be] some mistakes. They're going to play a little slower because they are thinking and processing, but the only way to get better is to throw them at the fire and let them go."
On the future running workload split between Ekeler and Gordon:
"It could be [the same as yesterday]. Yesterday, Austin may have gotten more because of the weather. It was a little warm and we wanted to keep Melvin fresh, but it depends on the game."
On if G Forrest Lamp will be ready to play in Week 2:
"Just a little more confidence in what he's doing and [the need to] make sure that he's safe [to play]. He just needs reps, as he's a guy who has played football for a long time. He just needs reps and he'll be a really good [player]."
On whether Lamp needs confidence in team chemistry or his recovery:
"I think a little bit of both. He needs to have complete confidence in that knee, but also with the techniques that we teach and the rushes that he will get — he needs to be ready to perform."
On Lamp will eventually fit in on the offensive line:
"We'll work him in on right guard. Michael [Schofield III] played pretty decently yesterday at the right guard spot. If Michael continues to play well there, then Forrest will be a swing guy. We'll see and let those guys battle it out on the field."
On WR Mike Williams:
"I thought Mike Williams played fine. He made some plays."
On DE Joey Bosa's injury:
"It's still week-to-week. It's the same, as nothing has changed yet."
