Below are three takeaways from podium sessions after a Chargers 27-24 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs:
'We competed as a team'
The Chargers ended Thursday night's game against the Kansas City Chiefs with their first loss of the season.
Dealing with injuries leading up to the game and throughout, the Bolts had a lot of players step up and give them a chance to stay in it. After the game, Chargers Head Coach Brandon Staley talked about the fight his team showed in the defeat. But added that in the end, he will leave Kansas City saying that they lost — not thinking about how they should've or could've won.
"We had a lot of guys rise to the occasion that were backup players today and give us a chance," Staley said. "And I'm proud of the way we competed as a team."
"I leave here saying that we lost. We lost, and I thought that we competed like I expect us to compete," Staley later added.
Tight end Gerald Everett (who hauled in six catches for 71 yards) added that the team put themselves in a position to win but the team was on the wrong end of the result against the Chiefs.
"The game was a difference of three points so that's how it comes down to, a kick," Everett said. "That's what you want ideally in this league. You don't want a blow out, you don't want to be skunked."
"We fought until the end and it didn't go our way tonight," he added.
Despite the loss, running back Austin Ekeler believes that the team's performance amidst the adversity is a sign of grander things.
"We're going to believe, we are going to battle, and we showed that tonight, we just didn't up making enough plays, too many mistakes and that's what football is right?" Ekeler said. "It's a team sport, but we showed the world tonight that we are going to battle all the way to the end.
"Even when we're banged up a little bit like you saw at the end, we are still going to put everything we can on the line to show that 'Hey, we're trying to contend'," he added.
Staley, Everett talk pick-6
With over 10 minutes remaining in the 4th quarter, the Chiefs returned an interception for six points, a play that would prove to be big in the grand scheme of things.
After the game, Staley talked about the sequence, adding that in the end, it just didn't work out.
"It's kind of unlucky, what happened," Staley said. "It's unfortunate. We felt like we can push the pace and it didn't work out."
After a long completion to Everett that set the Chargers up inside the 5-yard line, Herbert intended to go back to his tight end near the goal line. Staley gave his insight into what went wrong in the play.
"When [the tight end] is matched in the flat, the tight end has the option to come back in," Staley said. "And so, I think Justin was expecting him to come back in on that."
"But it's just one of those unlucky things that happens and obviously we'll learn a lot from it," he added.
Everett also gave his view of what happened on that play.
"I guess Justin thought that I was going to box the guy out, but DB played it pretty well," Everett said. "He just kind of sat on it, and I tried to stutter him and get to the pylon, but ball was in the air by the time we had realized we weren't on the same page."
Bolts move to 1-1 on the season
The Chargers opened the season with two hard-fought divisional games against the Raiders and the Chiefs. Games in the AFC West are always tough, and this year's games are no different — especially with all of the teams loading up in the offseason.
Despite splitting their two divisional games to start the year, Staley was firm in his answer on if he felt any satisfaction in that.
"No satisfaction. No satisfaction at all," he said.
A short turnaround for Thursday night games will always be a tough task for every NFL team. And still, the team is aware that they had their opportunities to take this game, and will need to build consistency to pull these games out in the future.
"We had opportunities where you got to take advantage of before that," Ekeler said. "That's the name of this game. Just consistency. Who can be the most consistent."
With an extra three days of rest to prepare to host the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sept. 25, wide receiver Mike Williams adds that regardless of how difficult it is to lose, it's time to flip the page to Week 3.
"It's always disappointing when you lose, we don't play this game to lose we play this game to come out here and get a W," Williams said. "I mean outside of things, we fought to the end.
"Watch the film make the corrections and move on to Jacksonville," he added.
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