Chargers head coach Anthony Lynn discusses evaluating his roster and coaching staff after a disappointing 5-11 season.
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00:00Uh, we have to be better. I'm talking about his coaches, put them in better
00:03positions and figuring out a way to win close football games.
00:10Well, it boils down to execution and like I said, and putting players in
00:14the right position and making adjustments.
00:17He said the process started last night. What did you do to get that process?
00:22Just just reflecting, looking back on the season, you know, after action
00:26report, you know, things we did well, things we didn't do so well, things we
00:29need to do better. It's just, you know, got to go through personnel, you got to
00:33go through coaching staff and and we're just looking at everything right now.
00:39To start that process because I can't rest until I start that process has no
00:44vacation for me. You know, I can't go to a golf course right now. Go lay on the
00:48beach and relax without solving this problem. So, uh, that's just the way I
00:54relax.
00:56Do you plan on making any changes to your coaching staff? Well, I mean, you
00:595 11. I mean, everything's on the table, so I'm looking at everything, starting
01:03with myself.
01:06You already made one change earlier this year when you bumped up change. Is
01:12there a chance you're going to stick with that structure or might you hire
01:15someone else or promote someone else into the quarterback? I'm just I'm just
01:18still looking at different combinations and things that I want to do. I thought
01:23Shane did a good job under the circumstances. I've been in his shoes
01:26before. It's hard to take over a team in the middle of the season. You just
01:30assume that is his office. But, you know, it's not his office. It's not his
01:34terminology. I thought he did a good job with what he had. So we improved in a
01:39lot of different categories under him. So I am pleased with Shane scenario
01:43where he would remain both office coordinator and quarterback. I doubt
01:48that
01:48mhm.
01:50Have you talked with Philip at all in terms of having an exit interview? And
01:54what was that conversation like? If you have? Well, I mean, my exit interviews
01:58and conversation with players, obviously, that's personal. But, uh, I
02:02just like I said, I just left those guys. Uh, some of those guys gonna come
02:05up after this press conference, but I will get a chance to speak with
02:08everyone.
02:10You have to kind of wait on those decisions. You know what to do with the
02:12rest of the team and contract and stuff like that.
02:15Do I have to do what?
02:20No, I don't. I don't have to wait on anything.
02:24Not at all.
02:30I mean, who wouldn't want a guy with those intangibles that production? I
02:35mean, I mean, sure. I mean, but I have a lot of guys to look at, not just
02:40Phil. And like I say, it's early right now in that process. But, uh, I mean, I
02:45love what he represents and what he stands for.
03:00I'm not sure how deep this quarterback class is because coaches hadn't focused
03:04on the draft yet. So as we get going in our scouting reports and looking at
03:08college kids, we'll figure out how deep this draft is. But there's no bearing
03:12on that decision making right now.
03:25You know, everything timing. I mean, I'm sure it's gonna happen sooner than
03:30later. But right now, I mean, there's no rush.
03:39Yeah.
03:43We're looking at ourselves right now, our coaching staff and what we're doing
03:47on both sides of the ball and special teams and about putting our players in
03:51different positions, learning how to win close games. I mean, it's not like we
03:55forgotten. We won a lot of close games last year, but we gotta look at and
03:59examine why we didn't get that done this year. But so that's where my primary
04:02focus is right now. I'm not. I'm not trying to make any emotional decisions
04:06right now. I want to just evaluate what we've done and just take a good look at
04:10this and along with my coaches and then make the right decisions.
04:19Well, I want to figure it out because we're always growing. We're always
04:23evolving. You never know how until you go through some of these tough years
04:27and reflect on this season. I'll have a better idea probably in a month or so.
04:36I have. I thought I've always been about winning. You know, I don't care.
04:40I don't care if you got to throw it the way in and run it to win. I just I just
04:43want to win. But I do know that when you're balanced, you know, you have a
04:47better chance of winning.
04:49With that, would you let Tom and John know that you do want Melvin Gordon back
04:55next season to keep that stable run game with him in Austin? Yeah, I love I
05:00love Melvin Gordon. I mean, he's fun to be around. He's a hard worker, high
05:05character young man. I mean, who wouldn't? Who wouldn't want Melvin
05:07Gordon on the team? But like I said, we have a lot of free agents look at right
05:10now.
05:15I think Bevan would tell you it affected his play early. We knew he
05:19would be a little rusty early, but we had to get him get him ready. So
05:23unfortunately, it was getting getting him ready in games. But, uh, uh, you
05:28know, if you have to do it all over again, I don't know if he'd do the same
05:30thing and I don't know. But he would tell you he started slow because of
05:34that. How frustrating is that? Because you have no control over it. No, it's
05:39a business thing. So, but it does affect what happens on the field.
05:45Is there anything that you would have done to try to resolve it?
05:49Not really. I mean, it's just part of the business. Guys hold out every year
05:53and you just have to figure out ways to deal with it. Yeah.
05:57Yeah.
06:01You know, I'm still in the contract last time I checked, so I'm not even
06:04worried about that. I mean, I never, you know, that contract would take care of
06:09itself. You know, once we get this thing turned around,
06:16I would be as long as I'm on the contract, I'm fine. And, you know,
06:20signing an extension that goes both ways. You know, whether the organization
06:23offer you one or whether the coach turn one down. But trust me, I have no
06:27problem betting on myself.
06:30This is your first time here as a head coach the last three years. How have you
06:33kind of learned and grown, do you feel like, in the last three years?
06:38You know,
06:40I love analytics. You know, I'm probably too analytical. My golf swing is too
06:45mechanical. But just using my instincts on when to do things in games, managing
06:52games, you know, there's a lot to go into that. And I know sometimes when
06:56you're at home and you're watching it and you think this and that, but it's a
07:00whole lot on that sideline is happening that goes into those thoughts. And I
07:03just think that anytime I can help put my team in position to do better and
07:07win, then I think that's a good thing. So I think I've gotten better in some
07:11of those situations.
07:16Yeah.
07:17You guys were
07:22how do you fix that?
07:25I mean, that can be fixed through play calling that can be fixed through,
07:30you know, just personnel.
07:33You know, so I'm as ways to deal with that. You can emphasize it all you want,
07:37but at the end of the day, coaches don't play. So you can change the
07:41personnel. You can change play calling to prevent some of those. I mean, it's
07:46things that we can do to fix it, but that's still an emphasis. And it's a
07:51huge emphasis. We got to take the ball away as well. You know, we didn't take
07:54the ball well enough this year and we turn it over way too much. That's
07:57uncharacteristic of this football team. Since I've been here, I don't expect to
08:01see that again.
08:12I don't know. I don't think that's luck. That's skill. I mean, we train to take
08:15the ball away. You know, there's plenty of opportunities throughout a game for
08:18a defense to take the ball away from the offense. So I don't think it's an
08:22advantage either way.
08:32It could be the offensive line, better protection. They could be running backs
08:35carrying the ball, but it'd be quarterbacks taking care of the ball.
08:38You know, it could be wide receivers not falling down. I mean, it could be a lot
08:42of things.
08:46Getting people to the ball, just getting people to the ball, playing fast,
08:50physical. And yes, you can. You can affect the quarterback more. Yes, you
08:55can.
09:08We didn't affect the quarterback enough in my opinion. So we got to do a better
09:14job of that. And there's certain things we can do personnel-wise to play tighter
09:18coverage.
09:24A lot of people know we have talented pass rushers, and so we get a lot of
09:27max protection, and the ball comes out quick.
09:37You know, if the quarterback's going to have that kind of time to throw, then
09:41someone's going to get open eventually. So, I mean, you can you can scheme
09:45things to break down people protections to get bring one more than they can
09:48block, you know, deception. You can do a lot of things like that, but
09:54you know, that's some of the things that we're going to visit and talk about.
10:03I think he's a team leader. I think he's one of the best strong safeties in the
10:06game. Not having him on the field
10:08definitely doesn't help you. You know, we missed him, but we had guys that were
10:13more than capable of getting the job done.
10:25You know, I just want to see him stay healthy next year. That's what, you know,
10:29he's I don't know if he can get any better than what he I know he can get
10:32better than what he is, but he's pretty dang good right now. You know, I mean,
10:35he plays fast and he hadn't played in 12 weeks. He comes back. He's
10:39communicating more than anybody on the field. He's an intelligent football
10:42player. I just love everything about the young man and we missed him.
10:53I think you would have seen him take more of a leadership role if he was
10:56healthy. You know, you saw it in training camp. You saw it coming. So,
11:01yeah, we did miss that.
11:06Cool.
11:08Well, you know, Russell and Mike, I mean, those are two, two of the better
11:11players at their position in the league. So, yeah, we love to have those guys,
11:15but I thought I thought Q went in and did a good job and I thought Trent and
11:20Trey, you know, thought they both did a decent job off the left tackle side. We
11:26try to give them some help at times, but they're young. Those young men had to
11:29go through some growing pains and it showed up at times.
11:36A lot of injuries this year. Some of your best players when you're when
11:40you're analyzing what went wrong this year and do you look at the injuries as
11:44a factor? Maybe, you know, look at your coaching staff and your team. I think
11:48yeah, you can look at that at the injuries as a factor and all that. But
11:51like I said, there's always a way to win a football game and it's my job to
11:55figure out a way to get that done.
11:58Regardless who's on the field.
12:00Two guys got hurt yesterday and finish Sam and Desmond. Is there, do you have
12:05any idea the severity of those? No, uh, Desmond was walking around in the
12:09building, so he's gonna be fine. His ankles ankles as high ankle spring and
12:14uh, same with Sam. Sam would be fine.
12:17Mike Pouncey told us that he's gonna see a doctor next week. He hopes to
12:21continue playing. If he can come back, what would that mean? How much of a
12:27boost would it be to have him? That'd be great. I mean, because Pouncey is one
12:29of the captains on this football team. He's a leader. He's a heck of a center.
12:33I mean, that would be a nice boost.
12:35How do you feel like Desmond played this season?
12:38To be honest, uh,
12:40he probably leveled off a little bit this year, you know, for whatever reason,
12:43uh, uh, Des could be better, but uh, he's a playmaker on our team. Uh, he's
12:49made plenty of plays, uh, rather than special teams or on the nickel. Uh, we
12:54like him. So, uh, but we all can be better. What do you feel like the issue
12:58was? Because he's obviously a very talented player.
13:02Uh, those are some of the things that we're looking at now, to be honest
13:05with you.
13:06Satisfying. Was it to see Mike Williams in Austin?
13:12It was very satisfying because that's what we brought those guys here for,
13:15especially Mike being seventh overall. Uh, I think he's getting better every
13:18single year. And the most impressive thing about Mike was he had a sore knee
13:22for the most of the season, and he played through it. And so, uh, that was
13:26some show some toughness there, you know, and that was that was impressive.
13:31But Austin, you know, he's just so inspiring to be a rookie try out, uh,
13:36to make this football team and to do the things that he's doing. Uh, he just
13:40he's a great example for everybody in their locker room.
13:43What words of wisdom did you have for Nasir Hadli as he approaches the off
13:47season based on what happened his rookie year?
13:50You know, he just he got down a little bit. Uh, I don't believe he's ever been
13:54hurt before. And sometimes, you know, kids don't know how to handle that. And
13:58so you just have to keep encouraging him and just let him know that, you
14:02know, he's not letting the team down by not being there. He's got to get
14:04himself right, get healthy, and we know he can make plays.
14:09All right.
14:28Yeah.