Bolts' backups take on active roles

Sunday, Nov 26, 2006
By Tom Shanahan, Chargers.com

On a good day in the NFL, the list of inactive players announced before kickoff includes a starter and a bunch of backups who rarely play anyway.

But a bad day in in the NFL is what Head Coach Marty Schottenheimer faced when he submitted the Bolts’ inactive players before Sunday’s game against the Oakland Raiders at Qualcomm Stadium.

The injured players listed as inactive included starting wide receiver Keenan McCardell (calf), starting left guard Kris Dielman (ankle), backup running back and kick returner Michael Turner (hamstring), starting free safety Marlon McCree (calf) and starting defensive end Luis Castillo (ankle). And that doesn’t include starting outside linebacker Shawne Merriman, who sat out the fourth and final contest of his four-game suspension.

In the NFL’s era of parity, teams don’t often win games with five starters and a key backup such as Turner out of the lineup, but the Chargers beat the Raiders 21-14 to improve to 9-2 and preserve a two-game lead in the AFC West standings.

“That means the young guys are getting in the meeting room, studying and doing what they have to do to be ready to step in and play,” said linebacker Randall Godfrey. “We always stress you can be in there on any play. That’s what’s been happening this year -- young guys have been stepping up on both offense and defense. If you want to be a great team in this league, your young guys have got to be ready to play when the older guys go down.”

After the Raiders game, you could go around the locker room and find “young guys” who helped minimize the loss of injured starters.

In one corner sat second-year guard Scott Mruczkowski. It was not only the seventh-round draft pick’s first career start, but his first significant playing time.

“Kris was a game-time decision, but I had been preparing all week,” Mruczkowski said. “You’ve got to prepare every week like you’re a starter, but it was especially true this week. I would be facing a guy like Warren Sapp. I thought I did an alright job on him.“

Chargers center Nick Hardwick, sitting next to Mruczkowski’s locker, overhead the comment and interjected his own evaluation.

“How many times did you hear Warren Sapp’s name called?” he asked, referring to Sapp‘s lack of a sack to go with three tackles. “He had to work out some jitters early, but once he did I think he did a really nice job.”

In the secondary, the Chargers were without McCree, the free agent acquisition who has been credited with getting the defensive backs to play better as a unit. Bhawoh Jue started in place of McCree at free safety, Clinton Hart saw plenty of snaps and Terrence Kiel played one of his better games with some big hits at strong safety.

The Chargers’ secondary had two interceptions, with cornerbacks Quentin Jammer and Drayton Florence both picking off tipped balls.

“We had other guys step up,” Jammer said. “Bhawoh did a great job on deep balls to (Randy) Moss and No. 85 (John), Madsen. I think we’ve got a lot of guys we can count on when guys get hurt.“

In the defensive line, Jacques Cesaire started in place of Castillo for the third straight week after earlier in the season starting in place of Igor Olshansky on the other side. That means he’s having to be spelled by backups Ryon Bingham and Derrick Robinson.

Bingham has worked at nose tackle since the Chargers drafted in the seventh round in 2004, but he said he benefited from some playing defensive end in the preseason.

“If they put me in at defensive end, I’ll play there to help the team,” Bingham said. “We were short some guys in preseason, and that’s helped me. I’ve been working more at defensive end and I know the plays.”

At outside linebacker, Carlos Polk and Marques Harris also are seeing more snaps, with Polk making four tackles against the Raiders and Harris adding two tackles and a sack.

Vincent Jackson earned the start in place of McCardell and caught three passes for 32 yards. One catch was for a first down on fourth down, although he was fortunate the referees ruled his celebration with the ball was an illegal forward pass instead of a fumble recovered by the Raiders.

Although the Chargers have MVP candidate LaDainian Tomlinson in the backfied, the Bolts still miss Turner on the field. They use him to spell LT, to provide a different look as a power runner and as one of the league‘s top kick returners.

Turner’s injury provided first-round draft pick Antonio Cromartie his first chance to return kicks. His 91-yard return to the 12-yard line set up the Chargers’ first touchdown to tie the game at 7-7 early in the second quarter.

“Everybody has got to step up, if you’re a starter or a young guy,” Kiel said. “That’s what we’re being paid for.”