POSTGAME TRANSCRIPTS
Los Angeles Chargers vs. New Orleans Saints
Sunday, August 10, 2025 SoFi Stadium Inglewood, Calif.
LOS ANGELES CHARGERS HEAD COACH JIM HARBAUGH
On the way the defense played:
“Yeah I just – the first thing that pops into my mind is just the whole team. They just played with a lot of ‘want-to’ – ‘want to’ and I’m thrilled with that. The guys that stood out, I mean, it’s got to start with [CB] Eric Rogers, those two interceptions and the one PBU on third down – but the pick-six he made, that was as good a play as I’d ever seen. That’s as good of a play as you could make. The break on the ball, the avoid of the receiver, the catch, completing the catch to the ground and then getting back up and he was rolling. Quite a day, quite a big day by him – really incredible. [LB] Caleb Murphy too. I don’t know what the stat sheet said – two sacks (or) three sacks, but I give him three sacks, but he had a heck of a game. Really liked [LB] Marlowe Wax – eight or nine tackles and played two positions, two of the linebacker positions, played a lot of the game really good. D-Camp [WR Dalevon Campbell] – he’s been doing that in practice. I don’t think any receiver has got that many go-balls than D-Camp, he’s done a nice job and that was a heck of a play he made on that ball. I thought [QB] Trey Lance did an outstanding job – just, you know, ‘want-to’ – want to pick the first down up, go use his legs and secure the ball and move the team. I thought he had a heck of a game. Yeah, I thought a lot of guys responded well – [S] Kendall Williamson, just a lot of ‘want-to’ by him – coverage, did a really nice job. I could go for – this is what brings a smile to my face. I love guys that play like they want to be on this team, they want to show that they belong and then that’s the way they practice and that’s the way they go out and play in the game, that warms the cockles of the heart.”
On CB Eric Rogers injury:
“He’s getting checked out.”
On the case LB Caleb Murphy is making in camp:
“Yeah, he’s making a good case, a really good case. He’s been making it in practice as well. I’m really happy for his success. I could see it coming. Humility prevents me from saying that I predicted that, but the facts are I did predict that he was going to have a big game.”
On the best thing about today’s game:
“First thing I said – the ‘want-to’ of the individual guys out there playing to show that they belong in the NFL and belong on this team, that’s a beautiful thing. I love it.”
On the prediction of LB Caleb Murphy’s big day:
“To the team. I made him a captain for the game.”
On the way RB Raheim Sanders ran the ball:
“I thought he did a really nice job too, ran hard, secured the ball and had some good, tough runs, so did [RB] Hassan [Haskins]. Whenever you need a big run, Hassan’s just right there waiting to give it to you. Love the way he plays and runs the ball. Really happy for ‘Rocket’ [Raheim Sanders]. He’s been working through stuff and then got out there today and showed what he can do and that’s just a great feeling.”
On the RB competition:
“I mean, there’s a lot of good players there and they’re showing that.”
On QB Trey Lance leading the team in rushing yards:
“Yeah, I thought he did, I thought he did. I mentioned that to somebody when I came into the locker room that [QB] Trey [Lance] had led us in rushing.”
On the added value of QB Trey Lance’s running ability:
“Big, huge. Some key third downs and that just allows you to move the chains (and) get a new set of downs. Again, I thought he played really good, good presence and poised and in control and you just make the right decisions – You make the right decisions, that’s really what it comes down to and not everybody can do it. The quarterback position is one of those – I mean, they could have the great arm, they could hit guys in one-on-one or seven-on-seven even, but when it goes to eleven-on-eleven, there’s a lot of bodies out there. There’s a lot of people and they’re moving, and some guys are good at it and some aren’t, you know? Some guys can play with that poise and that calm and that presence, and some are like, ‘They’re everywhere!’ Seems like there’s more than eleven, like there’s 15 out there – start seeing guys out there that aren’t out there. It’s just that quarterback position is one that really takes games, takes eleven-on-eleven. I’m glad he’s getting that experience, I’m glad he’s getting that game-time experience. I thought he would be good.”
On the second quarterback spot:
“Like I said last year (and) the year before that, next year I’ll say it again. I’ll talk about first string quarterback competition, but we’re not going to talk about second string quarterback competition.”
On cancelling the joint practice with the Rams:
“Truth.”
On cancelling because of injuries:
“Yeah, that’s the biggest reason and we’re playing four preseason games. We still have two more preseason games to go, but yeah, that’s the truth. I feel like we are, and we still have two more games.”
On OL Jamaree Sayler playing left tackle today:
“I thought good. We had the turnover early and (got) backed up, but from my view on the sideline it looked like he did well. I’m proud of the young linemen too. They’ve been good – good mistakes and they’re learning from those and there’s a lot of ‘want-to’ there in that group. We challenged them in that last drive to play like your lifestyle depends on it here and it was good to see that they answered the challenge putting themselves well. That bodes well for us. It’s just a tool. You make mistakes. That’s something that should be embraced. That is a tool to get better, but they showed they got the fight in them, and I love that. It makes me happy.”
On pregame at Thunder Alley:
“Amazing. Amazing. Chris Wise, a friend of mine back in Michigan came for a game last year and he told me that it’s the best anywhere. He said it’s the best tailgate experience he’s ever seen and he’s one of those guys that likes to go to all different venues and sporting venues and things, and he told me that. He said, ‘You ought to go down there some time,’ and I said, ‘Well, we don’t have any more home games this year, but next year I’m going to go out there.’ It was incredible. I could not believe it. Just the energy (and) the vibe just knocked my socks off. I don’t even have socks on right now; they got knocked off.”
LOS ANGELES CHARGERS QUARTERBACK TREY LANCE
“I felt good. I’m excited to watch it. Just like last week, for sure left a few out there but got a win. Shout out to the defense. It was a lot of fun to go out there and play with those guys again. Fun to be at home, at SoFi. It’s a cool feeling. Yeah, just taking it all in one day at a time, one step at a time and felt good about it.”
On added benefit of being able to run the ball today:
“It helps me out a lot getting out of sticky situations. I thought the O-line did a great job battling all night, run game, finishing the game like that. Just a ton of fun. It’s fun to work with new guys, and work with different guys. Those guys mixing and matching, moving around a little bit. I thought they did a great job and they battled all night.”
On stacking up strong performances:
“Yeah that’s the plan. Like you said, just keep stacking one day at a time. Just trying to have great practices and stack those on top of each other and then great games and continue to stack those. Like I said last week I thought it was a good starting point and this week another one, another big win. I’m excited for next week.”
On importance of getting reps:
“I love it. I think I said it last week or going into last week. When I heard we’re going to the Hall of Fame game, I was probably the most excited person that’s ever been in the Hall of Fame game. If they told me I could play four full preseason games, I’d be fired up about it so I was super excited.”
On self-evaluation for today’s game:
“I thought we put some drives together. A couple times we were three and out or off the field quick – that’s never good but shoutout to the defense once again. I’m excited to watch it, have a better idea tonight after watching it, of what I could have done better. I’m excited to build on this. This is a fun game to build on.”
On if he feels in a groove after two strong performances:
“Yes and no. My focus is truly one day at a time. I’m going to run from this, watch this game tonight, learn from it, be able to go in tomorrow and watch it with the coaches and see what they say – get their feedback and criticism. I’m excited for it. I want to hear it all. I want to be coached. This is a great place for me to be because of that. I want to be coached. I want to be coached hard. There’s no letting things slide, anything like that so it is a great situation for me in that way too.”
NEW ORLEANS SAINTS HEAD COACH KELLEN MOORE
“I’ll just start with the overview. Obviously the first opportunity for our group to come together for the 2025 season. I thought there’s obviously some good, some bad, some lessons along the way which is all to be expected for this group as we continue to build this thing each and every day. On the medical side, [C] Will Clap, [T/G] Trevor Penning obviously came out of the game. We’ll see how those guys go. [WR] Bub [Means] came out and then [TE] Mason Pine there. We’ll see how those guys go. We’ll get a report back as we go, but a great lesson for our guys. I think this will be an awesome first step and we’ll keep building.”
On the significance of injuries:
“We’ll just see how it goes. Obviously, some guys will go through some testing and get some clarity as we go.”
On quarterback performance:
“I think for all three, there’s going to be some good moments, there’s going to be some moments we want to have back. We get to learn from those, get better this week. I thought [QB] Spencer [Rattler] did some good stuff coming out of there, using his feet in some situations where he had some avoided zone areas. He was able to make some plays out of. Probably for us just playing some situational football, we were close on getting in the range for some points and we just weren’t able to get those things done.”
“[QB] Tyler [Shough] played a little bit more just between the second and third quarter. A great two minute drive right before the half. he did some really good things there. He felt under control if I managed the situations really, really well. You throw a pick, you got to respond. Obviously no one wants to throw an interception. The way he responded was really, really good for him to come back and handle that from an emotional standpoint really well, I thought that was awesome, and then he made a big play at the tip there.”
“[QB] Jake [Haener], just the way it played out, Jake only had those last two drives. He hopped in there obviously, unfortunately he had us moving and unfortunately picked again. A big lesson for us is just we got to protect the football.”
On Tyler Shough’s play and mentality:
“No doubt. We don’t want to create turnovers. We want to avoid those the best we can, but the way these guys respond is really, really critical to us. That’s what is going to happen in this league as you go through these seasons and so I thought he did a great job. We’ll learn from the interception, we’ll learn from that one, we’ll grow, but his response was really valuable.”
On Tyler Shough’s playtime:
“We’re going to be fairly close, but just the way the circumstances of the rotation and the series worked he ended up getting a little bit more. We had some flexibility within that schedule.”
On the Mason Tipton touchdown:
“Certainly, felt like he handled it really well. He hopped back out there, we were moving the ball again right after the interception, we got in a situation where we had a first and ten and had an opportunity to be a little bit aggressive. I think that’s the beauty of this sport, we can call it aggressive, take what they give you and they don’t give you those shots, you can find completions underneath it. That’s a great way to play.”
On the touchdown:
“I think you’re just always looking for winner double move opportunities presented for yourself and you’re always looking at the DB’s and they’re certainly making big time plays. They reached a point where you get them settled in a little bit, take the aggressive and those guys did a great job.”
On the two-minute drill:
“Not the script you paint and say, ‘Hey, your first drive is going to be a two minute drive before half’, but just the way the series worked, that’s what presented itself. I thought he did a really good job, found completions, handled it really well, understood the situations when we can use the sideline, when we can take completions, getting field position even at the end, understanding that situation where we have no timeouts and, ‘Hey, we want to get a shot in the end zone, but if it’s not there we got to protect the field goal opportunity.’ I thought he did a really good job there.”
On the pick six:
“That will be a great one for me to see on film. Obviously, you don’t get the perfect angle going into this. I thought the corner made a tremendous play. He played really flat and never really moved off his spot and so, certainly something to evaluate.”
On Tyler Shough installing plays:
“I would say, for all these guys, when you get to more and more of these college situations and the scrimmages that we’ll have moving forward with these preseason games, ultimately, that’s how we play the game. There’s an installation process that we went through when we were in Metairie. That’s all part of the education part of this thing. Ultimately, it’s about playing games, reacting to situations, and I think our guys are getting more comfortable with that.”
On the thought process behind the guys that warmed up but did not play:
“We just had a plan of action for those guys as far as they got a little extra work yesterday. They weren’t going to play in this game. We just wanted them to go through the routine of pregame with everyone else. Then obviously, once they got to the point where they weren’t going to play, dress down and support those guys.”
On first head coach experience on the field:
“Really, really good process. I think we focus on the process and make sure we’re operating at a really high level. Especially the coaching staff on the headsets, on the sideline, and all the communication that goes into this thing. I think there’s a lot of good stuff there. Certainly, there are things we are going to learn and grow from in every aspect of this organization.”
On not running the ball effectively:
“No doubt. We certainly feel like we need to run the football better than we did today. We missed some opportunities there, weren’t able to get any explosives really out of it and so that’s something that we have to focus on and play better in that aspect.”
On G Torriccelli Simpkins III playing center:
“Awesome. For him to hop in there that quickly and essentially play the whole game at center. I mean, your first game in the NFL preseason football, and you get thrown in there just like that. His response was phenomenal. I thought he did an incredible job.”
On a joint practice this week:
“We’re working through that process right now. We’ll see and probably get some clarity by the end of today. We’re just coming out of this game with the medical aspect and we’ll see where we are at.”
On Mason Tipton building off last year:
“Awesome play by him. Phenomenal play. I thought he played really well today as far as he played hard and he played aggressive. He’s a really good player and we’re excited about his future with us.”
On RB Velus Jones Jr.:
“He certainly made some impact plays in this game. The completions where you find him out in space and he’s able to make plays. That’s the beauty of what Velus presents. He did an excellent job out there and an excellent job in the return game. Certainly, he showed well today.”
NEW ORLEANS SAINTS QUARTERBACK SPENCER RATTLER
“Too much up and down. We started pretty well, kind of stalled out in a few drives, couple misreads, just not great execution. Not how you want it. I thought I left some plays out there. As a group, I thought we could have been better on third down, and then we got to finish in that red zone after the muffed punt on fourth and one. Had some good moments and bright moments but got to be more consistent throughout the game.”
On using his legs as part of the game plan:
“When the lane was there, I tried to take it. Then there was another one where I misread it and probably should have thrown it, but I tried to run. It’s finding that happy medium, that balance and just working through your progressions and running when you have to.”
On making the pass over the middle of the field:
“Just a little pop pass up the middle, off play action. The weak side safety came down and was playing in that hole. I wanted to kind of keep him skinny up the middle and I got total confidence in [TE] Jack Stoll. He’ll make that play every time. I’m going to keep going at him.”
On dealing with pressure amongst the quarterback competition:
“We all want to play well. We all had ups and downs. We all just want to play consistent, move the chains, move the ball and find ways to score points. We got to be better in that area.”
On playing time in today’s game:
“However long I was supposed to be out there, I was just ready to play. I won’t go too in depth with the reps and everything. You got to make the best out of all the reps you have as a group.”
On the strip sack play:
“I stepped up in the pocket and probably should have took off and run, but you can’t hold it too long in there. You got to get out of there and make your decision quick. I put that on me.”
On how to prevent a strip sack play moving forward:
“If I could have felt that I would have tried to get out of there quicker. But he made a good play, shut a block and got the hand right on the ball. I just got to hold it tighter or run and get out of there quicker.”
On WR Mason Tipton’s play this preseason:
“It was great to see. He didn’t get preseason last year, and he’s been having such a great camp and that play was a very nice play. He ran it perfectly, got the perfect call and the O-line did a great job of protection and [QB] Tyler Shough threw a great ball and typically he’ll run by you. He’s got great speed and a good feel for the game and he’ll be a weapon for sure.”
On WR Mason Tipton’s growth:
“His work ethic is the same. He’s a very determined, reliable guy. He knows his stuff. He’s just on top of everything. He’s a solid dude.”
On injuries during preseason:
“You don’t want to see any of your guys go down. That’s just part of the game though. It’s the game we play, and it’s going to happen, happened on both sides today. You try to minimize it, but you got to just play and you can’t half step because that’s when you do get hurt. But unfortunate to see that.”
On impact of starting center getting hurt early:
“Was looking forward to being out there with [C/G] Will Clapp. Obviously a great vet. But I thought [G] Torricelli Simpkins III stepped up to the plate and he played the whole game. I thought he did a good job. His communication was good, and obviously he recently switched over to center. For him to come in and play, that’s great reps for him. I thought he did a pretty good job.”
