Jerome Baker – September 29, 2019 (Postgame)
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Sunday, September 29, 2019
Postgame – L.A. Chargers
LB Jerome Baker (transcribed by Devin Davis)
(What did they do differently that you might have expected?) – “They didn’t. We just didn’t execute. That’s what it comes down to, we just didn’t execute.”
(Is it the most frustrating part now after four games? After four games, you say we just didn’t execute. It just seems like that every game.) – “Yeah It’s definitely frustrating especially after you play a good first half. We played well and we just didn’t finish them. At the end of the day, it comes down to execution.”
(Are you looking forward to the bye week to just re-charge a little bit?) – “Yeah. I’ve just got to reflect on the past four games, re-charge and finish the season strong.”
DeVante Parker – September 29, 2019 (Postgame)
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Sunday, September 29, 2019
Postgame – L.A. Chargers
WR DeVante Parker (transcribed by Anthony Gutierrez)
(Are you guys encouraged that you guys can do better and use this bye week to improve for the rest of the season?) – “Yeah, of course. We are going to use this week to improve and look at what we need to do better.”
(Can you take us through that first series when you got open down the sideline, what happened and what you saw when QB Josh Rosen connected with you?) – “They were playing the perfect coverage we needed, and it was a good throw he made, and I was wide open.”
(What has been going on with the execution on this team? It seems like every week the players point to it, you have a couple good series and then kind of gets away from everybody?) – “We had a good first half of executing what we need to do right, and then in the second half we have to just work on it.”
Reshad Jones – September 29, 2019 (Postgame)
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Sunday, September 29, 2019
Postgame – L.A. Chargers
S Reshad Jones (transcribed by Ken Mendonça)
(What is the frustration when you’re in contention in the first half and in the second half there are issues?) – “Yeah, there is a little frustration; but like Coach (Flores) said, we are one or two plays away. One block away, one tackle away. We just have to make those plays.”
(Did it feel good for you in that first series when you had that pass break up on third down just to kind of get involved again?) – “It just feels good to be back playing football, back out with my guys, playing the game I love. It definitely felt good.”
(What happened on that first touchdown when it looked like Chargers QB Philip Rivers was scrambling?) – “I thought he was out of the pocket. Rivers, he’s been running the ball a bit more lately, so I thought he was about to try to run it in, and I thought he had past the line of scrimmage, so I came off and tried to make a play.”
Josh Rosen – September 29, 2019 (Postgame)
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Sunday, September 29, 2019
Postgame – L.A. Chargers
QB Josh Rosen
(That first half that you guys had – was that the best half you think you’ve had in your career?) – “My career?”
(In your short career?) – “I don’t know. I would have to think a little bit on that. Maybe.”
(You guys had those four potential scoring drives. What were you guys able to do to make you successful early on?) – “I thought we had a pretty good game plan going in. It was nothing too crazy, just came down to execution. I think we’re a young team. The more snaps we have on the field, the better we’ll get. Hopefully this isn’t the last of those you’ll see, so hopefully we’ll get down there a lot more often and just continue to build on them.”
(It’s two weeks in a row it seems like things are a little bit more efficient in the first half as opposed to the second half. Can you put your finger on why that is?) – “No, not really. We’ve got to go back and look at tape. I definitely made a couple of pretty significant errors in the second half. I missed a couple – they started to heat up the pressure a little bit and I started to miss a couple – like not a couple, just like one or two sights in some kind of critical areas in situational football. I’ve just got to not almost get a safety on the 1-yard line and understand the bigger scope of the game, the field position and just make smart plays. Then, the quick little screen out to my left, I should have just thrown it in the dirt instead of trying to run like an idiot playing high school football. (It was) just a lot of little things here and there, but I think we’ll improve and be better (after the bye week).”
(What was the difference today in the second half as opposed to the first half?) – “I don’t know. We just didn’t really execute. I missed a couple of things as I was kind of saying earlier. It’s nothing very complicated. I think we’ve just got to continue to get snaps on the field and play better together and continue to improve.”
(With WR Preston Williams – you had the opportunity to get to him a little more – are you comfortable with him?) – “Yeah, absolutely. Like I said, ‘Fitz’ (Ryan Fitzpatrick) was taking most of the reps through training camp and the first couple of games. I’m just kind of getting my feet wet with this thing and getting chemistry with all these guys, and like I said, I think we’ll improve as the season goes. As I said, through training camp and OTAs since I got here, I’m just trying to make my next day better than the previous, and I think once we’re in-season, I think I can sort of hopefully try to expand that and say just trying and make the next week better than the previous and just kind of execute better and continue to just get in the red zone and try to put touchdowns on the board and not field goals.”
(Can you take us through your interception?) – “I just kind of hesitated a little bit. Just a couple of adjustments they made. I just made a real dumb decision. I was kind of in between two throws I was trying to make to Preston (Williams) and ended up picking the one in between, which was (to) him and the defender. I’m trying to eliminate those. I think our defense plays – our defense is playing pretty well. I think they’re getting better each week. I’ve just got to really try to eliminate turnovers and just try to stay with positive plays and not let it get out of hand.”
(You had a lot of turnover up front with the offensive line. Generally speaking, how did you think your pass protection was?) – “I thought they did really well – really well, actually – particularly early in the game. I think we did some good stuff schematically to help everyone out and get the ball out quick here and there and then try and mess with the d-line a little bit. Overall, I think they played pretty well. Like I said and keep going back to, we’re a young team and I think we’ll only improve as we keep rolling. I don’t think Isaiah Prince expected to be lining up there even just a couple of weeks ago. I think we’ve all got to step up to the plate, and I think they did a really good job today – all of them.”
(Regarding that second half, the last two weeks you guys have been winning the game at halftime and then come out in the second half and played a little more flat. Is it the other team making adjustments or has the energy just not been there in the second half?) – “I really don’t know. I mean you guys keep asking about the second half thing, and if I had an answer, we’d correctly adjust for it. I don’t know. We’re figuring that out, and hopefully we’ll give you guys a better second half the next time.”
(Is this a good time to go into a bye week for this team?) – “I don’t know. I haven’t really been playing in the NFL that long. I think we had it midseason – like a Week 8 or 9 bye last year. We’ll see how this one goes. I don’t really have any preference. I haven’t had much experience with byes.”
Brian Flores – September 29, 2019 (Postgame)
Sunday, September 29, 2019
Postgame – L.A. Chargers
Head Coach Brian Flores
(This is the closest you’ve come in the fourth game. Is that good news?) – “No. I thought we could have played a lot better in that game. I think I come up here and really say a lot of the same things. I think we’re a missed block, a missed tackle, a drop, a missed kick – every week it’s a handful of plays, it’s eight to 10 plays, that if you make them, the game is different. If you don’t make them, the outcome is what it was. And that’s my message to the team. We need to start making those plays. We’ve got to coach it better, we’ve got to play better, and that’s kind of where we’re at.”
(So in your mind you don’t even measure progress?) – “I mean there’s progress, but at the end of the day this is about wins and losses. We’re 0-4. Do I see progress? Yeah, I do. These guys, they work hard, they fight hard. The effort is there. The communication is there. They practice hard. They’re doing everything. But there are some opportunities there and plays that we should make, kicks that we should make, blocks that we should make, penalties that we can’t have. There’s a lot of things that we’re hurting ourselves in a lot of ways.”
(The last three games, you keep it tight in that first half. In the second half you’re outscored 81-0 in the second half. What’s happening between the first half and second half?) – “We’ve got to make better second-half adjustments. We’ve got to play better. We’ve got to coach it better. And that’s really what it boils down to. I think we go in, we talk as a staff and we make the adjustments. We started out okay offensively, and then we got stuffed on the minus play on a run, and we couldn’t move the chains on third down, punted it, and then they went down the field offensively. We’ve got to do a better job. That’s really what it boils down to.”
(Pressure, especially with QB Philip Rivers having the opportunity to pitch and catch out there. How do you develop and get some pressure? It’s been an issue over the last couple of weeks.) – “We can blitz more. We can – Look, we had what we felt like was a good plan going in and we didn’t execute it. We didn’t execute it at all. We really only executed it the one time when we actually got some pressure on the quarterback. There’s a few different things we could do. We could pressure more, but there’s issues with pressuring more. But we had a plan going in and they did a good job, Rivers does a good job getting the ball out. But we’ve got to do a better job.”
(On the positive side, T Isaiah Prince gets a start. You move T J’Marcus Webb over to the left side. It seemed like they held their own throughout most of the game.) – “I thought from that standpoint, the offensive line played well, especially in the first half. We had some runs. We had the quarterback protected, put some drives together and we just couldn’t sustain it. At the end of the day, that’s – One half isn’t – You’ve got to play two halves in this league.”
(You had three missed field goals by K Jason Sanders. Is that becoming an issue for you?) – “I have a lot of confidence in Jason. He’s a good kicker. He makes them all in practice. I have a lot of confidence in him. So, we’ll keep kicking them. He’ll make them.”
(They came out in the second half with 16 plays and ate up 10 minutes, 33 seconds on the clock. What were seeing on that drive and how important was that for what followed given you’re your defense had to be out there for so long?) – “We could have played that better defensively. They had a couple second-and-20 situations where they picked up chunk yards and got themselves into manageable third downs and then picked those up as well. (Philip) Rivers made some really good throws. We’ve just got to make a few more plays and we’re just not making them right now. I would say in the first half we had opportunities to just tackle. If we just tackled better, some of those drives wouldn’t have been extended. We’ve got a lot of work to do. We’ll come in tomorrow, make the corrections, like we do every week and get better.”
(QB Josh Rosen had the one bad pick today. How would you assess your quarterback today?) – “I thought he played well early. I thought he got the ball out quickly, got the ball in space, let the guys – our backs, our receivers – catch and run early. We had the one long play early. We had a couple of drops that didn’t help his cause. I think that would have sustained a couple drives. We had one that I think we may have scored. A couple of them may have extended some drives, and that’s something that we talked about week after week after week. Again, those eight to 10 plays could be the difference between winning and losing or a much tighter game.”
(You’re having trouble scoring in the second half, are you concerned maybe that’s becoming a trend?) – “We’re having a lot of trouble in a lot of areas in the second half. I don’t think it’s a conditioning issue. I think it’s an execution issue, a coaching issue. We’ve got to coach it better, put these guys in better positions, and we’ll do that.”
(What’s going to be your main focus during this bye week?) – “We’ll self-scout everything. We do that every week anyway; but we’ll look at player combinations. We’ll look at different groupings, any tendencies that we have – run pass, first half, second half. We’ll take a long look at the second half, obviously. That’ll be something we’ll spend a lot of time on and try to find a way to create some momentum in the second halves of games. There has been some progress over the first four games. The first quarter of the season is over, and we’ll move on to the second quarter of the season.”
Brian Flores – September 27, 2019
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Friday, September 27, 2019
Head Coach Brian Flores
(Where are you guys in the search for a right guard in terms of auditioning the possible candidates, and do you like what you see?) – “For this week?”
(Yeah.) – “I like what I see. We’ve got Shaq (Calhoun) – he finished the game last week. (Evan) Boehm, Chris Reed, Jesse (Davis) – we’ve got a list of candidates we could put out there. I like our group. We’ve got some injuries at that position, so we’re working through some things. Guys had a good week at practice, and I think I expect the guys who play – that unit that plays – to play well.”
(Are you comfortable with where G/T Jesse Davis is with the elbow and playing with the brace?) – “Jesse – he wants to play. He’s feeling a lot better. He’s been able to get out there a little bit, so we’ll see how that goes. Again, this is still a day-to-day thing. He’s dealing with the injury, but this is a tough kid who wants to be out there so we’ll see. We may have to work out before the game. We’ll just see. We’ll see how this goes.”
(Is there any consideration to T J’Marcus Webb moving possible to left tackle if G/T Jesse Davis has an injury or is right tackle really his spot right now?) – “We’ve considered all options. We’ve worked guys at all positions. We’ll continue – we’ll always do that. That’s just kind of how we have to really build versatility along the offensive line and really all positions. We worked (J’Marcus) Webb at left (tackle). We’ve worked him at guard. We’ve worked (Michael) Deiter out there obviously. Obviously, Jesse’s worked out there. We’ve worked a host of guys – (Andrew) Donnal. The guys we feel give us the best chance to win on Sunday, that’ll be the group that’s out there.”
(How much has all these injuries impacted that unit’s chemistry and the ability to develop chemistry?) – “I think when you’ve got five guys working together every week, that obviously builds continuity, chemistry and communication. The one good thing I’d say is they’ve all been hearing the same information and verbiage the last four weeks, so from a communication standpoint, that hasn’t been an issue. It’s just more a working in combination or in concert with one or two or three guys that you have to build into that. Going from right to left, left to right, center to guard – those are all different positions. At the end of the day, they’re professionals, and they really work hard at their craft. Hopefully we’ll put a group out there that works well together and communicates and will be productive on Sunday.”
(WR Albert Wilson – what is he going to bring back to this offense or what does he contribute to this offense that you think you’re going to see?) – “Well, he’s obviously (bringing) speed, athleticism, big-play ability, explosiveness, dependability. He brings all those things when he’s healthy. The big thing is getting him back out there, getting him back into a rhythm, back into the flow of things. When he’s out there, obviously he’s a very productive player so I’m looking forward to having him out there. Again, he’s another guy who’s working his way back, and hopefully we see him sooner than later.”
(Have you seen the explosion or the cutting ability since WR Albert Wilson been back?) – “He’s been working. He’s been working extremely hard. Again, you don’t go from zero to 100 or 50 to – he’s working his way back. Is he at optimum level? Really you only see that in the game, so that’s yet to be seen.”
(When I walked in the locker room yesterday, I saw QB Ryan Fitzpatrick sharing some of his long lifetime experiences with QB Josh Rosen – specific to the game plan. Like, “hey, this is what I see on this. This is what I’ve seen on this.” In the long run, do you think Josh will actually benefit more from the understanding of defenses and that sort of stuff from having experienced Ryan or more being a professional and understanding how to lead a team?) – “Hopefully it’s all of those things. That’s what you want out of your veterans on your team – to kind of show the young guys the ways from a preparation standpoint, from a ‘how to be a pro’ standpoint. That’s ‘hey, we’re watching film at this time on Tuesday, we’re doing this on Wednesday after practice, we’re doing this on Thursday after practice. I’ve seen this in games…’ I think that’s what you want out of your veteran leadership and your captains, so to me, that’s to be expected. That’s not a surprise to me at all that ‘Fitz’ (Ryan Fitzpatrick) is that way. We’ve got some of the older guys who are that way as well. That’s what you want for your younger players – to see that leadership, to see that kind of veteran presence, to understand how to be a professional in this league and get better and develop, and that’s how you do it.”
Albert Wilson – September 26, 2019
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Thursday, September 26, 2019
WR Albert Wilson
(On how he feels after missing the last two games.) – “Pretty good. I’m just working my way back into things. I feel pretty good.”
(Head Coach Brian Flores said there is a possibility that you can play on Sunday. Do you feel you are ready to go on Sunday?) – “Yeah, I feel really good. We’re just doing everything possible just to protect ourselves for the rest of the season and just making sure I’ll be able to go out there strong week after week. Whatever is best for me is pretty much going to happen on Sunday. But yeah, I feel good. I feel like I’m ready.”
(The whole process of dealing with the hip for several months and now a calf injury on top of it, how mentally trying and draining has it been to deal with all of that?) – “Not at all. I’m just super ready. I’m just ready to get back out there, ready to help this team out. I’m just ready to get back out there. There’s not any downfall mentally of me not behind out there. I’m just excited and I just can’t wait for it to happen.”
(Has any of this been precautionary? Could you played last week?) – “No. I don’t think I could have been out there 100 percent last week so I think that was a great decision. But yeah, I feel pretty good this week. I’ve been doing everything they ask me to do so we’ll see.”
(What was it like those first three games, you watching them on TV?) – “Just kind of heartbreaking, just not being able to help and being sidelined really sucks. But that’s why we get 16 weeks, I guess. We’re just moving on week after week and just try to try our best to figure it out.”
(Do you say anything to the other receivers? Seeing it from the TV, do you see different things or angles? Maybe encouraging them? What’s it like…) – “Definitely. I feel like we’re doing some good things. We just have to capitalize on other things and get better in the things we’re lacking in. I think the guys are doing a great job of just coming in every day and just trying to get better. This week we have another chance to prove that we got better, so that’s good.”
(Last week, a lot of balls were going downfield from QB Josh Rosen. Did you get excited now that you’re coming back and you see how that offense is with him, to maybe get a chance to be a little bit explosive there?) – “Yeah. I don’t really catch a lot of downfield balls. (laughter) It looks great though. I think he did a great job of just coming in and being prepared. I think we can help him out on our side and the receiver’s side a little more. When we get things figured out in our room and with him getting more comfortable back there, I think things will be exciting for the offense.”
(When was the last time you felt like yourself physically?) – “The Friday before the Patriots game. I was really good, ready to go, then the calf kind of happened. It kind of set me back a couple of weeks. Right now, besides back then, right now I feel really good. I feel like I’m moving smooth, moving fast, and just ready to get out there and just show the world.”
(You mean the Ravens week?) – “Ravens. My mistake, the Ravens week, yeah. So the Ravens week, that Friday the calf happened. But other than that, right now I feel really good. I got out there and moved yesterday and felt really, really good. They had to kind of hold me back from doing things. I feel good, just waiting for them to call my number so I can get in there.”
(What went into your decision to not have the hip surgery, and to let this heal naturally?) – “I didn’t need it. If we didn’t need to go in there and fix anything, and if it didn’t heal on it’s own surgery was always an option. But I think we made a good decision of not having it. It doesn’t bother me at all to this day. I think we did a good job of calling no surgery and just letting it heal naturally, and taking it’s time on its own.”
(This is all calf, not hip?) – “No, the hip feels great. The calf kind of set me back a couple of weeks, but when it’s my time, it’s going to be good, it’s definitely going to be good.”
Kenyan Drake – September 26, 2019
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Thursday, September 26, 2019
RB Kenyan Drake
(Is it encouraging despite the outcome of the last two games that at halftime, you guys were competitive? Does that encourage you for this offense?) – “This is a very results-driven league. The results are not computing with whatever encouragement that we may be trying to seek. We need to do a lot more executing before we can worry about encouraging because encouragement is not going to help this team win games. We have to go out there and play football – play meaningful football – and right now we’re focused on the Chargers to do that. We’re ready for this weekend.”
(Where is the confidence level of the team? Has it taken a little bit of a hit through three games?) – “We’re all here to do our jobs – me especially. That’s what we get paid to show up and do no matter what the results are. And every new week is a new opportunity to go out there, prove yourself, prove your worth, prove your ability to go out there and play this game to a high level. If you lack any type of confidence, then you shouldn’t be here.”
(What are some of the things that have led to your success in the last game?) – “Just taking what is there. The coaches put me in a great position to make plays. Everybody else around me was doing their job and me doing my job. If we continue to bring everything together – the culmination of everybody doing their job should equal to us having a lot more success from a numbers standpoint, and then that will equate to putting more points on the board and ultimately getting wins.”
(What does it mean to have S Reshad Jones and WR Albert Wilson back?) – “Obviously those are two playmakers on both sides of the ball, so having Reshad back will definitely bolster the defense. Having Albert ack will obviously do the same on offense. We’re encouraged by their continued growth and their rehab and hope to see them soon.”
