Running Back Melvin Gordon
The Oakland Raiders sure know how to make things interesting.
Sunday, the Silver and Black got into a shootout with division rival San Diego, and battled late into the 4th quarter. With two minutes remaining in the game and the Bolts trailing the Raiders by three points, the Chargers approached the line of scrimmage to kick a field goal and tie the game. But things didn't go according to plan, as rookie punter Drew Kaser fumbled the snap while placing it for the kicker, leading to a turnover on downs. For the third time this season, San Diego dug themselves into a late-game hole they were unable to get out of.
The final score of the game was 34-31 Raiders, and after their disappointing loss, here's what the opponents had to say.
Head Coach Mike McCoy
The Chargers Head Coach gave a brief recap of how the game ended and what went wrong.
"Just when you think you've seen it all, something like that happens. Too many turnovers throughout the game and critical mistakes at critical times once again."
He discussed the play of San Diego's defense and how he'll evaluate their performance as a whole.
"I think there was the good and bad, but that's also something you look at the film and kind of evaluate it as we go, once I see it on the way home and look at it and look at every little detail of it. There were some good things. I think there were a lot of positive plays. We gave up a couple of big plays."
McCoy talked about the shifts in momentum and how the team needed to capitalize on mistakes.
"That's one thing we've talked about. It's sudden change. When you create a turnover, get the ball with a certain situation, I think we have to score a touchdown to get points off that at least. I know that's something we've talked about and addressed throughout the entire year when those guys get a turnover to really put a team away and make the big play off it because those are game-changing plays that change the momentum."
Quarterback Philip Rivers
Rivers shared his thoughts on the decision to kick the field goal instead of going for it on 4th and 1.
"It's easy now, right? I mean, you kick it. You kick it and you tie it up. If we go for it on fourth [down] – I mean, we may get it, and I believe we could have – but if we don't get it, then what in the world are we doing. We're down three with two minutes left and we just tried to go for it on fourth down on what's been a chip shot for [Chargers kicker Josh] Lambo the last year and a half. I think it's easy after the fact to say that."
The Chargers signal-caller readdressed the botched snap on the field goal attempt.
"Again, you can't make this stuff up. You think, 'Is there any other way we can find a way to do this?' Obviously that wasn't going to win us the game, but it was going to get us right there and who knows. I imagine, with Oakland and Derek [Carr] and those receivers, they've made some plays so I would imagine they were going to go try to win it, obviously, with a field goal – but you get a stop and you never know."
Running Back Melvin Gordon
Gordon shared how he'll try to move forward after fumbling at a crucial moment in the game.
"I don't know man, as far as the fumble? I don't know. You just try not to think about it. I try my hardest to go back out there and make up for it. Tried to do what I could. I know I put us in a bad position after that. Short field, after that turnover they scored right after. I tried my hardest to make up for it, do what I can. We got in a position, but just fell short again."
He also expressed how he feels about the way the team has played over the first five games of the season.
"It's very frustrating. It happened with us all last season—the close games. It's starting all over again, we have to change something. It's frustrating. We can't let it beat us coming in playing Denver."
**Punter Drew Kaser
**
Kaser opened up about how he feels after the fumble on the potential game-tying field goal.
"I just got to move on, and get ready for Denver this upcoming Thursday. Short week, so we have to prepare and get ready for a tough division opponent."
He talked about the final sequence of what happened on the Chargers last play.
"Yeah, felt great about it. That is something else I have to go back in film, and just see what happened. I can't sit here and tell you exactly what happened, but we have to go back in film, and review it. See what happened."
Defensive End Joey Bosa
The rookie defensive end also broke down what happened on the field goal.
"I wanted to go for it, I thought it was a good decision, a nice chip shot bring it into overtime but stuff happens. We could say whatever we want about the whole play but in reality, as a team, we shouldn't let it get to that point every single week for it to last. We could point fingers, blame this and that but we just got to look at ourselves."
