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Chargers Head Coach Norv Turner spent three seasons as the Cowboys’ offensive coordinator, and the team’s current offensive coordinator, Jason Garrett, played quarterback for Dallas in Turner’s final season there. Although Garrett has put his twist on it, the scheme Dallas operates out of is very similar to the one Turner runs with the Chargers and ran in Dallas.

Cowboys Head Coach Wade Phillips spent three seasons as San Diego’s defensive coordinator and brought the 3-4 defense to the Chargers. Although it has evolved since Phillips left three years ago, many of the basics remain.

“There are a lot of similarities, I think both defense and offensive schemes,” Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers said Wednesday.

As the Chargers prepare to meet the Cowboys Sunday afternoon in Dallas, they see a lot of themselves in Phillips’ team. Both teams attack defensively and have had similar success doing so. The Chargers are tied for seventh in the NFL with 30 sacks this season; Dallas is tied for ninth with 29.

“It is like we’re looking at our defense,” running back LaDainian Tomlinson said. “The same things that we do scheme wise and pressure wise, they do them. It’s like playing our own defense.”

Offensively, Turner uses a lot of pre-snap movement and likes to complement a strong running game by pushing the ball up the field. Chargers players say Garrett does the same, and again the numbers are eerily similar. San Diego is sixth in the NFL in passing offense, averaging 266.8 yards per game; Dallas is seventh with 264.5.

“With all the shifts and movements and with all the playmakers they have, it’s a lot like us,” linebacker Shaun Phillips said. “They have a good tight end, good running backs, big receivers, a big offensive line. It’s very similar to us. They pose the same threats as far as their looks and what they like to do.”

Wade Phillips complemented Turner and Ron Rivera for the way they’ve continued to grow the defense and joked that he sees his handprint on the unit “when they do good.” As far as the offensive similarities, Phillips said he see’s Turner’s mark throughout the league because of the success of the offense and the things Turner has done.

“A lot of stuff that people are doing in the league came from Norv Turner,” Phillips said. “He’s certainly a guy that everybody sets a pattern after because he’s done so many good things. I don’t know if they have a name for the offense overall, because a lot of the things that he’s done have gone through the league. We do a lot of things similar to what they do.”

Injury update

Defensive end Luis Castillo (calf) returned to practice for the first time in two weeks and linebacker Shawne Merriman (foot) was limited after not working at all last week. Seven Chargers missed Wednesday’s practice, including defensive end Alfonso Boone (knee), center Nick Hardwick (ankle), defensive end Travis Johnson (groin), wide receiver Legedu Naanee (foot), linebacker Shaun Phillips (ankle) and safety Eric Weddle (knee).

Guard Kris Dielman’s absence wasn’t injury related. He was excused from practice to welcome the arrival of his first child.

Notables on Dallas’ injury report include safety Ken Hamlin (ankle) and tight end Marcellus Bennett (concussion). Neither player practiced Wednesday, and Hamlin has missed the last three weeks.

Garay added

Chargers defensive end Ogemdi Nwagbuo has battled a high ankle sprain for several weeks now, and the injury landed him on “Reserve-Injured” Wednesday.

The team signed fourth-year pro Antonio Garay from the Jets practice squad to take Nwagbuo’s place. Garay played under Rivera and defensive line coach Don Johnson in Chicago.

Special trip

Turner has coached in Dallas several times since leaving the Cowboys in 1994 to become the head coach of the rival Redskins, but every trip back is an enjoyable one filled with great memories.

“I was fortunate to be there with some awfully talented people from the standpoint of ownership, management, coaches and players,” Turner said. “When you accomplish the things that that group did, that we did, it’s always going to be special.”

Dallas won two Super Bowls during Turner’s time there, one that provided him the opportunity to coach Hall of Famers like Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith and Michael Irvin. Turner and Aikman are so close that Turner presented Aikman when the quarterback was inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Century mark

Rivers enters Sunday’s game with 99 career touchdown passes. He’s thrown at least one scoring strike in each of his last nine games, and should he toss one Sunday, he’ll tie Dave Krieg and Jim Everett as the eighth-fastest quarterbacks in NFL history to reach the century mark.