Jacksonville Jaguars - 31, Los Angeles Chargers - 30
Q. (No microphone.)
JUSTIN HERBERT: Obviously a tough go for us. As an offense, we need to do more in the second half. That falls on us, offensively, and as a quarterback, I need to perform better. You got to be able to put up more than three points in the second half.
So I feel horrible for the defense for the incredible effort they put out there today. But got to be better as a team.
Q. You were kind of sitting at your locker for a little while. Do you mind sharing just what was going through your mind while you were sitting there?
JUSTIN HERBERT: Just thinking about the game.
Q. The running game in the second half, obviously when you have a lead like that, you want to be able to run the football and take time off the clock. How much do you feel like that impacted the offensive performance in the second half?
JUSTIN HERBERT: Yeah, I think as an offense, we need to move the ball better, through the air, on the ground. We just have to be able to move the chains. We didn't do that enough. We didn't score in the red zone enough. Only put up three points in the second half. So as an offense, that's on us. Not executing, not converting on third down when we needed to, some penalties. But tough go today.
Q. Did they change what they were showing you in the second half compared to the first?
JUSTIN HERBERT: A little bit. We got a lot of respect for the Jaguars and their defense, and they're a really tough defense. It falls on us for not executing in the second half. We were able to put up some points in the first half, but you got to be able to play four quarters as a NFL team.
Q. For you, this is your first playoff appearance. Kind of how tough is the finality of just it ending like this, the end the season?
JUSTIN HERBERT: Yeah, it's really tough because we think really highly of our team and that's a special group of guys in that locker room. They deserve better and it didn't go our way and that's the unfortunate part.
Guys put everything they had into it this year, especially this game, and you hate to see it go that way. But I know that everyone in that locker room who comes back is going to use this one for fuel for the next year, and they're excited to get back to work. Definitely tough to process, but got to keep it going and use this one as fuel.
Q. I know you guys have been dealing with injuries all year, but when you're going out there without Mike, and then DeAndre Carter goes down and you lose your left tackle, at what point do those things become too tough to overcome?
JUSTIN HERBERT: We still have some pretty good weapons on the offensive side of the ball. To have a guy like Keenan and Donald Parham, Gerald Everett, you know, they had big days and super thankful for those guys being out there.
All our guys are battling. Injuries are a part of the game and that's the unfortunate part. They're doing everything they can to be out there. It's definitely tough when you lose a guy like Mike and DeAndre, and Jamaree. But you got to pick up the pieces and keep going.
Q. One of the big plays late in the first half in the red zone, it looked like you had Keenan open in the end zone. Is that one you just missed or maybe was there a defender in the way and you had to throw it higher?
JUSTIN HERBERT: Yeah, there was a couple defenders in the way. I could have thrown a better pass to him. That's one of those that you got to execute. But looking back, we'll have to watch the film and analyze that one.
Q. Another specific play to Bandy's jet sweep where you guys had a fumble exchange. Can you walk us through what happened on that play.
JUSTIN HERBERT: That's a play that we ran all week with DeAndre Carter. He goes down and Bandy has to step up into that role. It's on me for not communicating that more clearly in the huddle. I could have done a better job of saying, Hey, this is the play, this is what we're doing, this is the kill. So it's on all of us for miscommunication.
Q. So you checked out of the initial play?
JUSTIN HERBERT: Correct. That was the play. We were going to run it down the middle, depending upon a certain look. We got it, so we killed to a second play. But I could have done a better job of going to him and telling him exactly what we needed to do.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports