Jacksonville Jaguars Media Conference

Sunday, January 15, 2023

Jacksonville, Florida, USA

Brandon Staley

Visitors Postgame Press Conference


Jacksonville Jaguars - 31, Los Angeles Chargers - 30

Q. Can you talk about what happened?

BRANDON STALEY: We just didn't play clean enough football in the second half in all three phases. We didn't score the ball or possess it well enough on defense. We had far too many penalties in the second half that really hurt us and didn't play well enough in the red area, didn't perform well there in the two minute at the end of the game. Just didn't play a good second half of football as a team.

Q. Anything you can put your finger on?

BRANDON STALEY: We have a PI. We had an offsides when it would have been a sack. We have a penalty that allows 'em to go for two. An unsportsmanlike penalty, it goes for two. So I thought penalties hurt us in the second half on defense.

On offense we just didn't sustain drives in the second half, and didn't run the football effectively enough, and then didn't do well enough on third down in the second half. We had some killer third and shorts that we didn't make today. And then obviously we missed a kick down the stretch that really hurt us.

Q. Was it just a loss of composure on Bosa's part?

BRANDON STALEY: I think he was frustrated. I think he felt like there were a bunch of things that kind of accumulated throughout the game and tried to talk through it with the officials. But we can't lose our composure like that. We need to make sure that we stay on the high side of things and we can't hurt the team that way.

Q. The two unsportsmanlike, did you get any word about why he wasn't ejected from the game?

BRANDON STALEY: No.

Q. Offensively, running the ball has been a struggle for you guys all season. How frustrating was it when you had that lead to not be able to possess it and take time off the clock.

BRANDON STALEY: Yeah, it was frustrating. Just didn't have enough success at the line of scrimmage and not enough yards after contact. Just didn't play a good second half of football in any phase.

Certainly, when you have that type of lead, if you can possess the ball effectively enough, then there won't be enough time, and we just didn't do that, and then didn't score the ball either.

Q. How disappointed are you? How surprised I guess maybe is a better word?

BRANDON STALEY: Anytime you're up 27-7 at halftime and you've got four takeaways and you end up winning the takeaway margin 4-0, it's going to be a killer. I'm hurting for everybody in that locker room. It's a special group of guys. This is the toughest way that you can lose in the playoffs.

Certainly with the way we started the game, that's the team that I know that we're capable of being and in the second half, we just didn't finish the game. We're going to learn a lot from this and, unfortunately, this is the tough side of things. Our season's over. But I love everyone in that locker room. This was a step for us and we're going to grow a lot from it.

Q. Is there anything that you think they did on offense that made the picture look a little bit cloudy for Lawrence in the second half?

BRANDON STALEY: No. They didn't do anything different than they did in the first half. We gave up a big explosion for a touchdown, which hurt us. I don't think we tackled as well in the second half. Like I said, there were a couple penalties that I think really hurt us.

Q. Do you think or do you worry that when they start coming back, your players might feel the weight of what's happened with this franchise in the past in the playoffs?

BRANDON STALEY: No, not at all.

Q. You talked all season about creating mentality to close to finish games. Why didn't that mentality materialize in this particular game?

BRANDON STALEY: I don't think we played clean enough football. I don't think we made enough winning plays in the second half where everyone's performing their assignment, doing it with the right technique, with the right type of energy. I just think there were a lot of little things in the second half that added up to a big result there. We got to learn how to come together and close a team out like that in the playoffs. Because it wasn't just one phase of the game it was all three phases that didn't play well enough in the second half and we had our opportunities. We had our opportunities all three phases to do it and we just fell short.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
128411-1-1044 2023-01-15 05:01:00 GMT

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