Shaun Phillips: Raiders played hard but we wanted it more

Shaun Phillips is a linebacker with the San Diego Chargers and will be posting every week.

Going into the Oakland Raiders game, my mind-set was that this could be a trap game.  Meaning, everyone expected us to win because of the Raiders' bad record, but the fact is that they are a good team with some great players.

So I knew that I had to spread positive vibes so that my teammates could feed off my energy and know the importance of this win. I talk to everyone one on one and make sure to be upbeat and positive even when things don’t seem to be going our way.

I think if you are a leader, you have to act like a leader and being positive is the most important quality to have. To be completely honest, even when we were down 15-0 at the half, my teammates (myself included) never blinked twice.

There was no doubt in our minds that we would win the game. The Raiders are a good team, but at the end of the day we wanted it more. With the firing of Lane Kiffin today, you would have never thought that was coming by the way they played.

They played hard.

That's what football comes down to, but we wanted it more. Not talent, not coaches, but which team wants it the most, and who's willing to do whatever it takes to win.

There is not a lot that I can promise, but the one thing that I can promise is that myself and the San Diego Chargers, will give our all every single game and every single play no matter what.

-- Shaun Phillips www.spf95.com

Photo: Shaun Phillips en route to sacking Oakland quarterback JaMarcus Russell in Sunday's game. Credit: Ben Margot / AP