A day after the Chargers lost to the Dolphins in Miami -- their third straight loss since the bye -- head coach Mike McCoy said, simply, that his players lacked fundamentals, a fair statement after watching a defense stymied by missed tackles, blown coverage and costly penalties.
"It's the basic fundamentals," McCoy said. "We executed them poorly this weekend. It's the little things, jumping off sides, route techniques and tackling. That's inexcusable. We have to clean that up. There were 12 missed tackles. We gave up a difference. If we make the tackle itself, it's X number of yards, but because of the extra yards there were 92 bonus yards in the game. That's a lot of yardage that we gave up after the missed tackle."
No arguments, Mike. But how does a team fix that, with six games left, looking up from the basement of the AFC?
"We just have to keep plugging away," McCoy said. "You can't worry. It's about this next one. We have to keep fighting and it's one week at a time.
“We’re not making any excuses here. We all have to do our jobs better. Offense, defense and special teams. You’ve got to do your job better. It comes down to that. We’ve all got to play better, coach better and do whatever we can to win.”
Injuries have taken a toll on this team, especially at the linebacker position, and there is still thought that Melvin Ingram will return before the end of the season. Ingram, rehabbing from a torn anterior cruciate ligament, is on the PUP list, and the last possible date he can return is Wednesday.
“We’ll look at what’s in the best interest of Melvin and the health of his knee, and understand moving forward what we want to do with him," McCoy said. "We have a plan in place."
