INTERIM HEAD COACH TONY SPARANO
On the game: "Another tough, hard-fought game, I thought. I thought the kids played with a lot of effort today out there and unfortunately we came up short again. For us right now, in order for us to start winning, we have to stop losing. We have to stop putting ourselves in some bad positions out there and we did that today. On our first series of the game, we put ourselves in a bad position, first play of the game. And then I think some other opportunities there from a penalty standpoint where they converted a couple of third downs off of some offside penalties. I thought our defense really played well today; I thought they played hard out there. And then we had some other special teams errors that knocked the ball back down there. We started four drives, I think, inside our 10-yard line today. You have to go a long way against a football team like that, and given the field position, eventually they'll find a way to get some points. Our defense really did a good job I thought of challenging them that way. We have to do a better job from an offensive standpoint on third down. We didn't do a good enough job staying on the field on third down, keeping our defense off and extending drives."
On Chargers punter: "It was huge. At one point in the game, honestly, I turned around and said, 'this guy is legitimately swinging the game single-handedly at times.' With the way he was kicking the ball, it was huge. The ball is knocking down in there inside the 5-yard line and you're starting drives down there. When your yards aren't coming easily, starting drives with your back against the wall like that makes it really difficult, specifically when you're on the road like this. We got a couple of them out of there, but we weren't able do much with it after that. We had a couple drives there that fell short, kind of stopped ourselves in some of those situations, but he was really making the game."
On the offense: "Just that honestly, I think watching us – and I'll have to watch the tape and that'll be fast here – but just our inefficiency to string drives together. We came out in the second half and we were able to run the football and we got going running the football that way. Latavius [Murray] had a couple of nice runs in there. We had, I don't know, I think we ran the ball 20 times, maybe 19 times. Maybe Derek [Carr] carried one of them out of there. We had probably nine or 10 efficient plays today that were good. We had a couple of bigger plays today. We didn't start the game well running the football. They had a lot of pressure early in the game, which is exactly what they did to us the last time. They started with a lot of pressure and we hit them with a big play and they did the same thing this game. There was a lot of pressure early. It was going to be one of those type of games. I thought that as we got settled down there, we had some opportunities to string some things together. We just couldn't put the drives together. We just couldn't put the drives together out there today."
On the defense: "I think the defense…listen, I think our defense did a heck of a job. I don't know the numbers, I just know at one point I looked up there and they had around 250 yards of offense and that's a heck of a job defensively. We held them to around 25 percent, I think, on third down, getting off the field. We had 13 or 14 possessions. We have to do a better job of taking advantage of some of those possessions. It doesn't matter where we start. There are times in the game where we could have flipped the field; we had a chance to flip the field and we just couldn't even flip the field there, thinking the defense is playing well enough that if you flip the field, we can catch the ball and be in some decent field position. I thought the defensive kids did a heck of a job. Listen, I thought they all played hard. Offensively, they played hard, special teams. I don't think that was the question today. It wasn't about effort, it wasn't any of those things. They played really hard. We're talking about another one-score game within our division on the road. It's just, in order for us to win, we have to stop doing the things that prevent you from winning and that's critical. I know the question is, well how do you do that. You just have to keep bringing yourself into that end of the pool right now. We've been able to do that in several games, put ourselves back in that position. We have to figure a way out of it. We have to figure out how to win. In some of those situations, somebody has to step up and make a great play for us and help ourselves out in those situations."
On if he considered pulling Carr: "No, never had that conversation on the sideline."
On if he's considered changing quarterbacks: "No, I don't see that happening."
On Murray: "Listen, I thought he ran the ball well. I'd have to watch the film and see, again, how he did there. On his opportunities, he ran the ball well. There were some things there for him I think that maybe weren't quite there early in the football game for Darren [McFadden]. Darren came in afterwards and I thought he had a couple of good runs in there that were tough, hard runs. But Latavius is a big back, strong kid. We're trying to get him more involved. Obviously he was more involved early in this ballgame that we've seen in the last couple ballgames. I'm not sure about play count, it's probably somewhere in the high 50s-60s, somewhere around there."
On the pass rush: "I thought, first, in the beginning of the game one of the things we needed to do is we needed to get pressure on him up the middle. I thought in the beginning of the game, our defensive line got some great push in there. I thought Jelly [Justin Ellis] had a couple of good rushes. Antonio [Smith] had a couple of big rushes and a big sack there early in the football game. I thought our push came from inside early and that eventually brought him to Khalil [Mack]. Khalil drew a hold out there in a big situation. He had a sack out there in a big situation. You felt Khalil out there today, but the key was to be able to push the pocket a little bit and get people in his face. I think that affected some of the throws. He's a great player. He made that one throw early in the game in the first series of the game there that he makes on the right side for the touchdown. That was something that I thought we executed and executed really well."
On the fumbled snap on the first offensive play: "We were trying to change…we had a play on. It was a play that had a second play with it. Coming out of there they lined up in a specific way and it was a communication deal there. I have to get to the bottom of it. At this point and time right now, it's a he-said, she-said. It just got snapped early. It wasn't snapped when Derek was ready and it was a potential cadence, communication thing. We'll see."
QB DEREK CARR
On Sunday's game:"It was a good, defensive game on both sides, but obviously not good enough. We didn't win and that's what this league is about, winning football games. It wasn't good enough."
On the first quarter fumble:"We had a certain play called, and if certain things happened we were going to change the play, so I just went up to the change the play and it just happened to be snapped at that time."
On the spark Latavius Murray provided:"Obviously I thought he did really well. Again, I'll look at the film and see how he ran obviously and see protection-wise, route-wise, but from what I remember I thought he did a great job. I'm happy for him. I'm happy that he was able to get in there and do some good things for us, but just without seeing the film, I thought he did a really good job."
On if the locker room is staying upbeat:"Absolutely. We know where we're at, but we know how we look at ourselves. We know our work ethic and that's why; obviously there's a lot of anger. Obviously there's a lot of disappointment, but no one is giving up. No one is going to give up. As you can tell, there's a little upbeat in us that'll always be there. I try to do my best to keep everybody upbeat, given I'm pretty angry myself, but my job is to lead and make sure we're ready to go for the next one, because we have a short week. We have to be ready."
On what was happening offensively on Sunday:"Again, it's going to be hard; I can't just always say without seeing the film. I don't know for sure an answer for you today, just for whatever reason, I felt at times we were moving the ball good, but maybe it was an assignment here or a thing there. Again, there's not just one answer for it."
On if he remembers a game where offense started that often inside their own 10-yard line:"No. No, I can't remember."
On the influence of Chargers P Mike Scifres:"He did a great job. They ask him to do that and I thought he did a fantastic job doing that. Is it hard? Yes, but in my mind we still have to go down and move the football." On if the passing game felt out of sync:"There were a couple of times where it was just like, it's frustrating because it's like little things here and there, and that's what's frustrating, is it's just those little things that we continue to work on, and then it shows up here on game day and that's hard. That's hard. That's frustrating, but again, like I keep saying, it sounds like a broken record, but all you can do is go back in your playbook; all you can do is go watch the film and learn from it. If we're not learning from it, we're doing this for nothing. I can promise you I'm learning from every situation I've been in."
On Latavius Murray's emotions during the game:"He was fired up. We were all fired up. We were excited to see him put a little spark in there. Obviously, you have to look at the holes. There were holes for him to run in, and that's a great thing. I thought he does a great job- all our running backs run hard, and so it just happened that when he was in there he found some good holes and he did a good job. He was very fired up, just like we all were."
On if there were any surprises playing the Chargers for the second time:"Yeah. It's funny things, like they try and show you kind of like the same look to make you make the same call. You play that chess game. They try and show you the same look, but you know they're not going to bring the same thing, but then again, when I see them again next year they probably will. It's just that whole, little chess game. What are they going to do? What are they going to bring? All those little things. It's nice to see that. It's nice to go through the experience and be like, 'OK, they'll show it and bring it, or they'll show it and not bring it or bring something else off of it.' It really makes you work during the week, and we put in a good work of being ready for those things."
On the frustration of losing after the defense played so well:"Yes. Yeah, it's frustrating. Losing is frustrating. I've never been a part of something like this, so this is new to me. It's new to a lot of people. We're used to winning. We're used to doing things like that, and the only way that we got to where we were, wherever we were at winning and stuff, is hard work. I know that tough times are going to happen in this league. Schauby [Matt Schaub] has been so helpful with me. Flip [Quarterbacks Coach John DeFilippo] and Oly [Offensive Coordinator Greg Olson] have been so helpful for me because they know I've never been through something like this. They continue to just teach me and make sure I'm learning, make sure I'm growing, and it's hard. It's hard thinking about how well the defense played. You want to play better for them, but it is a team game, and who knows? In my career maybe it'll be the other way. It's a team game. You have to stay together and you have to keep fighting."
RB LATAVIUS MURRAY
On the offense's play:"We weren't able to sustain drives. We have to help the defense out there on the field."
On making big plays:"It felt good to get in there and run the ball. It always does, so I was definitely pleased. I left some plays out* *there also. I had a drop on that slant. I was still was able to get better and I'm ready for work next week."
On back-to-back explosive plays:"I saw the hole and hit it. They don't want me back there dancing or anything. I try to be a downhill runner with* *my size. I just try to make sure I hit the hole hard."
On if he deserves more playing time:"I hope so. I don't make those decisions. I just make sure I'm ready when my number is called."
On waiting his turn to play:"It's tough for everybody. Everybody wants to play. I know I want to play. I just have be patient and when my* *number is called, go out there and execute."
On if he's asked his coaches when he gets his opportunity:"No. They've wanted to get me in the mix more and that's all I can ask. And when they do, I have to make* *sure I give them a reason to put me back in there."
DE JUSTIN TUCK
On today's game and upcoming game against the Kansas City Chiefs:"I think we played great all game. Our fight was there all game. The offense did not quit. It did not go their way today. You can tell by the way they played; guys were going fast and trying their best to make plays. It just didn't go our way today. We have three nights until we play one of the best teams in the country. As a man all you can do is prepare your body, prepare your mind and go out there and play your best."
DT ANTONIO SMITH
On the defense frustration that offense couldn't get anything going:"Losing is frustrating in itself. I don't think it has anything to do with offense and defense. My heart still says each and every person on this team fights (to win). It's been instilled in me ever since I've been playing this game, when you line up on the field, a man against a man, a grown man against another grown man, you have to (beat) that grown man. You aren't out there to play with him. You aren't out there to go toe-to-toe. You are out there to dominate him. I just think that I will play that way to my dying day. I don't know what's going on, but it needs to be contagious."
On the defensive success creating pressure:"I think that everybody on the team grabbed ahold to something Coach Sparano said this week. He used a quote this week and it was amongst us as a team and everybody hung on to it. And that's the fight you saw out there today. I believe that this is going to be the fight that we need to bring every day. I don't know what else we need to change to get a win. I'll leave that up to coaches. They need to figure out the master plan on how to use us as tools to get the win. But when Coach Sparano asks us to sacrifice and give what he needs us to give, I'm proud of my boys for giving it today. We are going to give it for the rest of these games."
FS CHARLES WOODSON
On any positives from today's game:"We lost. I don't want to get in to any positives on one side of the ball. We did not get the win. It's all bad."
On today's defense:"We played good. Besides that first sudden change situation where we gave up the touchdown, the rest of the game we were really solid. Somewhere along the lines we have to come up with a play that can change the game around. We are looking for those game-changing plays. Right now we are not getting them."
On preparing mentally and getting over the hump:"You don't have much choice. Just try to put it behind you and come to work tomorrow. It's a short week. It is what it is. We have to keep playing. We have another game on Thursday night against another tough team and division opponent. We just have to put it behind us. We have to win. We have to be better in certain situations throughout the game. We have to start fast. We had some adversity early in this game with a fumble. As a defense we have to get out there and hold them to three points or get the ball back. We have to find a way in sudden change situations for us defensively to get off the field. Throughout the game there are certain times that we do not get it done. It's tough. We played hard, but just not enough and it's hard."
On 16-game losing streak:"It's tough man. It's hard. It's been a long time since this team has felt a victory. We are all feeling it. You try to keep a positive attitude and keep a smile on your face to keep from crying. It's the nature of the business. We are not the first team to be going through this and we will find a way to get out of it somehow. We will try to make the most positive situation out of this as we can."
