2019 TRAINING CAMP MEDIA AVAILABILITY
Saturday, Aug. 3, 2019 | Crawford Field at UC Irvine | Irvine, Calif.
LOS ANGELES CHARGERS HEAD COACH ANTHONY LYNN
Opening statement:
"There were a lot of reps today, a lot of good work. We have a lot of tape to watch and corrections to make, but there was some good stuff that I saw today as well. I'm looking forward to getting back, watching that, making those corrections and getting better. The Rams, they have a great roster — obviously, they went to the Super Bowl last year. We can only help one another and make each other better. I feel like we did [that] again today."
On WR Keenan Allen:
"Keenan is fine, he's fine."
On TE Hunter Henry:
"Hunter wasn't feeling well before practice, but he made it through most of it. He's fine."
On QB Philip Rivers' play-time in the preseason:
"We're going to talk about who will play and who is not going to play, but right now we'll wait and see."
On having joint practices before the preseason games start:
"Any time you can practice against a team of this caliber in a controlled environment, I think it's good. I think you're getting live game-reps and saving players from injury as much as possible."
On WR Travis Benjamin:
"I was on both fields, so some things I just didn't see. I was told that everyone was going to be okay."
On the power outage at the hotel:
"We all went to bed earlier. We had a lot of good team bonding."
On what the team gets out of the joint practices:
"You get to put guys in game situations against a worthy opponent and see how they respond. Like I said, in somewhat of a controlled environment where you can protect them a little bit. I think that's priceless."
LOS ANGELES CHARGERS QUARTERBACK PHILIP RIVERS
On the offense in joint practices:
"We did alright. I think there are ups-and-downs. Shoot, there is a lot of good versus good out there. This team was in the Super Bowl last year. We played them in the regular season. It was a closer game than maybe the score showed, but [they have] a really good defense. It was a great challenge for us. Not only is the competition good, but I think it's great for us, too. You get some different looks defensively that you haven't gotten and you get to run some plays that maybe you haven't run this camp. You can, again, see some more things as you get closer to Week 1. It was good work, though. Man, it's a heck of a group over there. It's always a challenge going against them."
On the offensive line:
"Well, the first thing that you have to do is care a heck of a whole lot — and they all do. They're all fighting, scrapping like crazy. We have some young guys mixed in there. I think we had [T] Trent [Scott] over there at left tackle and right, and we have [T] Sam [Tevi] moving all over the place. [G] Forrest [Lamp] has not played a lot in the last two years and is mixing in there as well. It's a group, too, that we're excited about. Guys are shuffling around, which is what [Offensive Line Coach] Pat [Meyer] always does this time of year. Hopefully, we'll get [T] Russell [Okung] healthy. I think you're going against the best front probably in the league [in the Rams] — one of, for sure, and with the best player in the league. He gets the most attention, as he should, but the other guys that he's lining up beside are pretty dang good, too."
On WR Artavis Scott:
"He has shown some flashes. The wide receivers, to me it's the consistency. You may go a day or two and not get many balls thrown your way, but every route that you put on tape, coaches and everybody is watching. I think it's, again, just putting together those consistent days, day-in and day-out. He's an improving player. A young guy with a lot of talent. He still has some room to improve and he's trying to do that every day."
On facing Rams S Eric Weddle:
"It has been fun. It's probably not quite like it was a long time ago. It's not quite the same when you're not on the same team, but it was a lot of fun even just the little dialogue between series, 'What did you see there? Why did you throw it there?' Those kinds of things. By the time you get to when we would play these guys, I think we both would know each other pretty well. I don't think there are any secrets. There's not much that you can add to that group, [but] I think he can be a really nice piece added to this group. Just from what he brings from a knowledge standpoint. Not that they don't have knowledgeable guys or experienced guys, but the way that he communicates on the back-end is pretty special. He really has studied and learned to see the game from our perspective. That's when you go to a whole new level, to me, as a DB. You're not just playing your coverage — you're saying, 'What does it look like from back there?' Then, it's scary. He has two corners that are awesome and another safety, and the nickelback — all of those guys. It's a good group."
On joint practices:
"It's good. Shoot, we've been in it a week. We have had six or seven practices against ourselves, plus the walkthroughs. I think it was right on time for us. It's a good change-up. These guys are pros. There was nothing really even close to a skirmish today. Maybe there were a few things in punt and stuff. It was good work. A lot of guys got a lot of good work in. There were a lot of things to teach off of. It's not really about who won today. I don't know, but there is a lot that we can learn from — the bad too. There were plenty of mistakes that we made and you'd rather learn from it now with no consequence than when we get to September."
On the importance of reps before the regular season:
"I feel like [Hall of Fame RB LaDainian] LT [Tomlinson], he would practice in training camp. You just didn't see him in the preseason games. I don't think it's any different. I got more work from these last two days than I've gotten probably in the last 10 preseason games combined. I just didn't get touched today, which is nice. I mean, I've thrown 80 passes in two practices. That's like two games. It has been awesome. We didn't do this way back. We did it against the Cowboys a couple years with [former Head Coach] Norv [Turner], but we hadn't done a lot of this. Now, it's becoming more common. We're going to get to do this four times total — two against both teams [the Rams and Saints]. I think it's awesome."
On what joint practices accomplish:
"It's about executing against a defense. You get to see different covers, different looks. You go against your guys that you know, you've seen things. They know what's coming. They hear you, they know you — so it's a little more game-like when you get to do it like this. You just get to wear a red jersey."
On eliminating preseason games:
"I don't know if they'll ever eliminate them completely. I think it would be unfair for me to say that because I think there are a lot of players in this league that have made the team and really started their NFL career because they got some preseason looks and they played well. I think there is some value in the preseason. Speaking personally, it's not as valuable as maybe it was 10 years ago for me, but this is. This is super valuable. I feel like this is enough for me, but for other guys — shoot, you need to go out there and get a taste of it in [live-action]. Guys have kick-started their careers that otherwise may have never been known. It has been awesome to see guys emerge when it comes on. You never really know how guys are going to respond."
On his motivation to continue playing at a high level:
"Shoot, I love to play. I love to compete. I think that you want to be there for your teammates and chase an ultimate goal, which we have yet to accomplish. I think the pure competition of it and the love of the game thrown in there with it. It's a combination of those two things. You could bring anything out here and I'd love to compete and try to win at it. This just happens to be the one sport that I'm pretty good in, so it makes it that much better."
On the power outage at the hotel:
"It worked out for me. I was already en route when the power went out to run home really quickly. It worked out just fine for me. It was nice for me. At the house, we had power."
LOS ANGELES CHARGERS NOSE TACKLE BRANDON MEBANE
On the joint practices with the Rams:
"One thing that I get out of this is that you get to go against somebody different. The guy that I went against, the center — he's a rookie. I noticed that he was doing some things different this practice than he did last practice. He started to do more finesse moves and things like that. I've played against a lot of guys, now they don't give me a lot of finesse moves. They try to do power moves and things like that. It was good to have a mindset to make that adjustment. Like, 'Okay, this is what he's throwing at me now — finesse moves. Now, I have to use my hands and eyes, and make sure I separate so that I don't get too close so that he can't pull my jersey and pull me into him.' It's just things like that to get me thinking."
On how his performance:
"Ah, that isn't my call. He's a young guy. I'm considered an old man."
On the difference between joint practice and preseason games:
"A preseason game is a little bit different. Your adrenaline is rushing a little bit more in a preseason game. You have your socks on. Here, you have your practice jersey on. Those [game] jerseys are tighter. It's just the little things like that. The crowd is bigger, you're at the stadium and it's for a win and a loss. We also have the mindset of win and lose here too, but it's just a little bit different. It's [a practice] that's turned up a little bit more."
On DT Justin Jones:
"Justin Jones, he's [improved] a lot. From this year to last year, you can just tell — just look at his body. You can see how much progress he's made. To me, he's night-and-day. The one thing that I always mention and I'm telling him that he has to keep getting better on is film study. He's getting better and better and film study, recognizing run keys and pass keys. That's going to be the key for him this year, is recognizing run and pass on first and second down. I think once he starts recognizing that even more and even better, I think the sky is the limit for him. I told him that last year [and] when I talked to you guys last year. I think one day, he has the potential to be a Pro Bowl [player]. It has been really good to see the progress that he's making from last year to this year."
