Chargers coach Anthony Lynn doesn’t get a kick out of Desmond King’s unsportsmanlike penalty
On a day when Caleb Sturgis made his only field-goal try, the most notable kick for the Chargers came from defensive back Desmond King.
And he promised to never do it again.
In the final two minutes of the first quarter, King was called for unsportsmanlike conduct after pretending to boot Buffalo Bills receiver Zay Jones off the field.
The penalty allowed the Bills to retain possession when it would have been fourth and 20 and led to Buffalo’s first points.
“Stupid,” coach Anthony Lynn said. “Very stupid.”
King and Jones had been engaged in some spirited back-and-forth talk for a few plays, with King mimicking a chattering mouth with his hands in Jones’ direction.
After a third-down pass fell incomplete, King made the same motion repeatedly and, this time, added an exaggerated kick toward Jones.
“I didn’t think it was that bad,” King said. “[But] if my coach thinks it’s bad, it definitely won’t happen again. It was a mistake, just a reaction.”
Lynn most certainly thought it was bad. He was spotted on the sideline emphatically informing King of his disapproval, Lynn later joking that he could not repeat his message because television cameras were rolling.
“Very frustrated,” he said. “That’s what championship teams don’t do. They don’t make those types of mistakes.”
For his part, King said he understood but also noted that he did not agree with the ruling.
“It was a BS call to me, honestly,” he said. “I mean, you gotta let us play football. It’s gonna happen. We [playing) away. They’re looking for the small things to call, and that was the one they got on me.”
Helmetless hit
The game featured a scary moment in the third quarter when a strange sequence on a punt return resulted in Chargers rookie Uchenna Nwosu hitting Taiwan Jones after his helmet had come off.
Nwosu was called for unnecessary roughness and Jones left with blood dripping from his forehead.
“The ref is supposed to whistle the play dead once he lost his helmet,” Nwosu said. “I never realized he lost his helmet, and when the ref didn’t blow the whistle to end the play, I continued playing.”
The situation happened after the Chargers’ Michael Davis hit Buffalo’s Marcus Murphy just as the ball was arriving, causing a fumble into the end zone.
Jones picked up the ball and, during the scramble that followed, lost his helmet. After he turned in an effort to escape, Nwosu hit him.
“You don’t wish a hit like that on anybody,” Nwosu said. “You try to play as safe as possible. But it’s football, and we all signed up to play this game, so you have to face things that come with it.”
Travis Benjamin sits
Receiver Travis Benjamin (foot) was inactive after sitting out most of the week of practice. He tested his sore Achilles during warmups but was unable to play. Geremy Davis was activated in Benjamin’s place.
Offensive lineman Forrest Lamp also wasn’t active for the second consecutive game. A second-round pick in 2017, Lamp sat out last season because of a knee injury and has yet to make his NFL debut.
Etc.
Running back Melvin Gordon left late because of what he called an upper-body injury, but he did not seem to be overly concerned. … Fullback Derek Watt suffered a thumb injury. … Rookie linebacker Kyzir White had his first career interception. … Austin Ekeler’s 77 yards rushing marked a career high. … Lynn, who coached for two years in Buffalo before being hired by the Chargers, on being victorious in his return: “This was our first win of the season. That’s all my satisfaction right there. That’s all I needed.”
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