Los Angeles Chargers head coach Brandon Staley is usually a reserved personality in press conferences, but on Friday he let the media in on one aspect of Justin Herbert’s game that he said helps him maintain his confidence. The third-year quarterback’s energy, Staley said, works wonders for his ability to feel secure in the job he and his players are doing on Sundays.
Though he wouldn’t speak for anyone else on the team, the coach made it clear that Herbert’s enthusiasm and charisma following the Chargers’ Week 14 win against the Miami Dolphins was a breath of fresh air for him.
“I’m not going to try and interpret our players’ feelings, I think you can ask them individually,” Staley explained to reporters. “I know, speaking for myself, there’s a big impact when your best player is having fun out there. You want your players to have fun playing the game. There’s so much at stake each and every game, especially when you go play a primetime game, when the whole world is watching.
“When you go play like that, you should be able to celebrate it because you’ve worked so hard to earn it. You’ve earned it. I want all of our players to be able to play like that, to compete like that. For him to do that, I think it makes myself, speaking for myself, it makes you know that much more confident.”
Staley will need to help Los Angeles bring some of that swagger and confidence into their matchup against the Tennessee Titans on Sunday as he and his team look to punch their ticket to the playoffs over the next few weeks. At 7-6 on the season, every game brings the Chargers closer to the end of their 2022 schedule, and the team may need to win out to earn a wildcard spot in January.
