Mike McCoy has said that a mistake by Ryan Mathews could have cost the San Diego Chargers a win over the Indianapolis Colts earlier this week.
The running back ran out of bounds when the AFC West side were trying to run down the clock while six points ahead in the fourth quarter on Monday night.
The head coach told reporters: "I can't repeat what I said on the sideline [on Monday]. It comes down to, that could have cost us the game.
"When you look at the big picture of things, of running out of bounds, and letting them not have to call a timeout or letting the clock run down, whatever their strategy was going to be there, well, that's a critical mistake.
"We won a game in Denver against Chicago when a guy ran out of bounds, and it gave us an opportunity to get the ball back and have more time to win a game. The player's got to learn from it. It's something you don't want to have happen, and they're going to make mistakes."
The result has left the Chargers third in their division.
Sian Cowper
