|
 The Chargers (4-6) lost their third straight game, 20-16 on
Sunday, thanks to a litany of blunders that included 10 penalties
for 76 yards, including one that negated a touchdown and another
that negated a takeaway.
Then there were, by rookie coach Mike McCoy's count, 12 missed
tackles that led to 92 "bonus" yards for the Dolphins.
Three missed tackles came on tight end Charles Clay's 39-yard
touchdown reception
Said McCoy: "That's a bad example of how we want to play football."
The loss dropped the Chargers into last place in the AFC West. Up
next is a game Sunday at division rival Kansas City, which is coming
off its first loss of the season, to Denver.
"We've got a lot of things to clean up," McCoy said Monday.
Among the miscues was when quarterback Philip Rivers didn't spike
the ball before the second-to-last play, costing the Chargers
precious seconds. Rivers threw an incompletion to tight end Antonio
Gates. On the game's last play, Rivers' desperation heave to Vincent
Brown in the end zone was knocked down by Brent Grimes.
"We need to spike that," McCoy said. "That's a mistake we made. No
excuses. We didn't get that done. It's on all of us."
[to top of second column] |
The Chargers' defense was whistled a number of times for being
offside. "No. 1, they've got to watch the football,"
McCoy said. "That can't happen. It's not like it happened once.
It happened numerous times. They've got to do a better job of
focusing. It wasn't only the guys on the edge. It was twice
inside where one of them wasn't called where they jumped."
It all boils down to doing little things right.
"That's the one thing I told our football team this morning:
It's the basic fundamentals that we executed poorly this past
weekend," McCoy said.
On the injury front, McCoy said cornerback Johnny Patrick has a
concussion and that rookie wide receiver Keenan Allen (knee)
will be fine.
The Chargers signed tackle Willie Smith and released tackle
Kenny Wiggins. Smith played in nine games with Oakland last
season, with seven starts, and in four games with Washington in
2011, with three starts. The Chargers signed tackle Nick Becton
to the practice squad after releasing him from the active roster
on Saturday. He replaces guard Andrew Tiller, who was released.
[Associated
Press; BERNIE WILSON, AP Sports Writer]
Follow Bernie Wilson on
Twitter at
http://twitter.com/berniewilson.
Copyright 2013 The Associated
Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
