Chargers News: LA Stars Weigh In On Giff Smith's Head Coaching Debut Vs Bills

The LA interim head coach impressed his team in his debut

Your Los Angeles Chargers fell to 5-10 after losing to the Buffalo Bills on Saturday night. It was the Bolts' first game with their interim head coach Giff Smith at the helm. 

Smith was named the interim head coach following the firing of Brandon Staley, and it caught many people by surprise. Many figured LA would make the obvious choice and name offensive coordinator Kellen Moore the interim, but instead, they put the interim head coach tag on Smith. 

Although his debut came with a loss, he impressed many outsiders and insiders of the team, including his running back, Austin Ekeler. Ekeler spoke to the senior writer for the team, Eric Smith, and discussed what he liked about Giff. 

“It was great,” Ekeler said, per the

team’s official website

. “Giff’s done a great job keeping us together and making sure that he’s implemented his message which is the family aspect of bringing everyone together, play for each other … make sure you leave everything out there.

“When you do that, you’re going to be excited to go play again,” Ekeler added. “That’s what we saw there and looking forward to playing for him again next week.”

(per Gavino Borquez of Chargers Wire)

The Chargers looked much better from Week 15 Thursday to Week 16 Saturday. It was like night and day as the Bolts forced three turnovers, had 18 first downs, and controlled the time of possession by more than seven minutes. 

Chargers QB1 (for now) Easton Stick was also impressed with Smith and how well he prepared his team for the upcoming week. 

“He was awesome all week,” Stick said of Smith. “He told us that was the plan going into it, let’s get this thing to the fourth quarter and find a way to win it. Obviously, came up a little bit short.

But, the way that he rallied the guys this week, and you saw how hard we played, that’s a credit to Giff and that’s a credit to the guys in the locker room. He did an unbelievable job this week.”

(per Gavino Borquez of Chargers Wire)

Smith may have a long way to go to earn the permanent head coach tag, but he has started on a great note.