BOLTS’ BOSA STILL IS KICKING HIMSELF
Disappointed in how frustrated he got vs. Jets; set wrong tone
He had a career high with five quarterback hits and a daily low with one trash can kick.
Chargers defensive end Joey Bosa acknowledged he was disappointed in how frustrated he allowed himself to become Sunday after narrowly missing a sack and forced fumble against the New York Jets.
“I need to be a better leader for these young guys,” he explained Thursday. “When they see me coming off kicking and screaming about a play I missed, they need to see me take a breath and be like, ‘OK, whatever. Next play.’ ”
Early in the second quarter, Bosa tracked down quarterback Joe Flacco on third-and-2 and knocked the ball loose. Teammate Michael Davis recovered at the Jets’ 27-yard line.
But a replay review changed the call to an incomplete pass, officials ruling that Flacco’s right arm was moving forward just enough to warrant a reversal.
On the sideline, Bosa reacted by kicking a trash can, a moment that CBS captured and then showed its television audience in slow motion.
Bosa said that when he was younger, he sometimes allowed such frustration to linger and disrupt his performance on subsequent plays. He said that wasn’t the case Sunday.
“I kind of centered that anger and used it as motivation to keep going and keep pushing,” he said. “You want to use that anger as drive. You don’t want to throw a tantrum and set a bad example for the young guys.”
Now in his fifth season, Bosa continues to cement
himself as a leader on this team and one of the top defensive ends in the NFL.
In August, he signed a five-year, $135 million extension that guaranteed him $102 million, a league record for a defensive player. The deal gave Bosa the sort of security few around the organization possess today, particularly with the Chargers sputtering through a 3-7 season.
Given his situation, the 25-year-old former f irstround pick indicated he feels the responsibly of setting the proper tone, especially for the defense.
“You’re mad,” Bosa said he told himself Sunday. “You need to take a breath and calm down or this is going to
drag on into the next play, next series. You’re never making good decisions when you’re furiously angry.”
The game against the Jets was an active one for Bosa. Along with his five quarterback hits, he had two tackles and a pair of roughing-the-passer penalties, both infractions coming during a 2½-minute stretch in the fourth quarter.
The first was for a hit officials deemed was late, Bosa admitting he made a “stupid mistake.”
The second was for hitting Flacco low. Bosa beat New York right tackle Chuma Edoga but lost his balance and fell in front of Flacco. He then reached out and wrapped up around Flacco’s knees to bring him down.
“I don’t know what to do about it,” Bosa said. “It’s the call. So I’m going to have to try to not tackle him. … It was literally the only thing I could do.”
Chargers coach Anthony Lynn said he disagreed with
the penalty and praised Bosa for bringing Flacco down without doing anything malicious or potentially harmful.
“He did a heck of a job of making an effort to get to the quarterback,” Lynn said. “And I don’t think it was vicious once he got to his legs … could have been worse.”
Bosa called the penalty “kind of ridiculous” but said he understood the importance of protecting quarterbacks who, in some case, can be almost defenseless in such situations.
Before Sunday, Bosa had been f lagged four times this season, twice for offsides and twice for neutral-zone infractions. His previous roughing-the-passer penalty came in Week 3 of last season.
“The rule is, I guess, if you hit him below the knee, you can’t do that,” Bosa said. “So you gotta somehow sweep his leg or something ridiculous.”