Battle of 7-2's straight ahead

Wednesday, Nov 15, 2006
By Josh Lewin, Chargers.com

Did that really happen?  35 points in eleven minutes?  Ocho Cinco gets a franchise-record 260-yards receiving; Carson Palmer gets 440-yards throwing, the Bengals lead 28-7 in the third quarter, and they still lost the game?  Really? 

Last Sunday’s game was essentially the dream about the five-pound marshmallow, where you dreamt that you ate it and when you woke up, your pillow was gone.  Yes, that comeback-for-the-ages really did happen, complete with a joyous post-game Charger locker room loudly answering the Bengals-themed question “Who Dey?”  Well, “dey” are the 2006 San Diego Chargers, authors of the franchise’s biggest comeback since before Shawne Merriman was born.

In a game crying out for Merriman’s ferocious pass rush, it was Chad Johnson’s mocking of Merriman’s famous “Lights Out” dance that seemed to turn the tide on Sunday.  Whether strictly coincidence or the much-needed flashpoint, the Bolts outscored Cincy 21-3 from that moment in time and surged out of Cincy with a 7-2 record. 

It happened despite the defense struggling to keep players named Johnson out of the tiger-striped end zone.  Three different Johnsons scored touchdowns in the first quarter alone, the most lopsided first quarter the Chargers had allowed in 170 games.  Rudi Johnson ran well, Jeremi Johnson blocked well and Chad Johnson was at his theatrical best as was TJ Houshmandzadeh. 

(Point of order – Houshmandzadeh is named after his biological father, a native of Iran.  Mr. H went back to Iran just after T.J. was born, and T.J. was raised by his mom, whose last name is Johnson.   Mom and dad met as undergrads at, of all places, San Diego State.  Anyway, had number 84 taken his mom’s name instead of his dad’s, there would have been yet another Johnson to contend with.  Instead, it was the more difficult-to-pronounce Houshmandzadeh running amok.)

Okay.  Deep breath.  Fun game.  Ninety points.  Nearly a thousand yards of total offense.  Now it’s on to Denver, where the Bolts have won just two of their last 18.  This will not be easy, but In Philip We Trust.  The 24-year-old is rightfully the toast of town, having now thrown 13 touchdowns against just three interceptions.  Does anyone remember the arched eyebrows and nervous stomachs in the preseason when in Chicago, Rivers fired a pass right into Brian Urlacher’s chest?  When against Seattle he fumbled the first two times he touched the ball?  That stuff is looking like the ultimate false alarm, as the gosh-and-golly Alabama country boy has proven to be even better than advertised.

What I like best about number 17 (and there’s a long list of possibilities) … well, I’ll defer to musician Thelonious Monk.  I know Philip Rivers wouldn’t know Thelonious Monk from Art Monk, but indulge me, because I read this in a men’s health magazine on the flight home from Cincy:

Supposedly, at the end of the first song saxophonist Steve Lacy recorded with the jazz legend, Monk approached Lacy with high praise for his work, but asked him to please play the next number while thinking “does this make the drummer sound good?”  In other words, subdue your solo brilliance on behalf of the ensemble, as the magazine author put it.  (Said author later urged me to “toss the tortilla in favor of romaine lettuce for a lower-carb lunch,” but that’s neither here nor there.)

Anyway, Philip Rivers has channeled the wisdom of Thelonious Monk.  He makes sure that everyone on the field gets his due and gets his chance, and never points at himself when things go well; only when they don’t.  After the Bengals game, he singled out members of the offensive line.  He singled out Cam Cameron’s brilliant second-half play calling. He singled out Malcom Floyd’s career afternoon.  He singled out Brandon Manumaleuna, who caught two touchdown passes, which is two more than terrific wide receivers Eric Parker and Keenan McCardell have right now combined.  Of course, he also singled out LT, but you’d have to be nine kinds of stupid not to notice that Tomlinson is a pretty good football player. 

We may as well drop a little Thelonius Monk on LT while we’re at it.  One of his very first albums, recorded way back in the 1940s, featured an amazing be-bop version of “I Got Rhythm.”  Well, so now goes Tomlinson, coming up with an NFL-record 15 touchdowns in a five-game stretch.  Who, indeed, could ask for anything more?

Tomlinson and Rivers are rolling … humbly, as is their wont, but they are rolling.  That dynamic needs to continue under the Sunday Night lights at Invesco Field – the Broncos are every bit of 7-2, having earned that record just like the Bolts.  These two great rivals will now square off twice in the next three weeks.  No one’s predicting a seven- touchdown explosion against that top-notch Denver defense.  One of those every twenty-odd years is fine. 

Half of those 49 points against the Bengals would be terrific.  I know, half of 49 is 24 ½ and quite impossible to achieve, but roll with it if you will.  A couple of LT touchdowns, a Rivers TD pass and a Nate Kaeding field goal sounds like a realistic request for the star-studded Charger offense.  Defense, it’s on you to clamp down on a talented Denver team that runs well whether it’s Mike Bell, Tatum Bell or Liberty Bell. 

With the Bells out of the backfield and the terrific Javon Walker at wideout, we’ll invoke one final, tortured reference to T-Monk (as he assuredly would be referred to had he played football): One of the man’s finest-ever recordings was a little album cut right around the time this Chargers franchise was created.  Its name was “Brilliant Corners.”  That’s you guys, Drayton Florence, Quentin Jammer and Antonio Cromartie.  Let’s make sure Walker doesn’t go Ocho Cinco on us Sunday night and let the Rivers/Tomlinson duo keep making that beautiful music.

E-mail Josh Lewin at joshrock105@gmail.com.