Chargers battle back, beat ‘Hawks

Sunday, Aug 27, 2006
By Casey Pearce, Chargers.com

Before the Chargers had 14 yards of total offense in Saturday night’s preseason contest against the Seahawks, the defending NFC Champs had 14 points.  But fortunately for the Bolts, it’s not how you start; it’s how you finish.

A pair of Philip Rivers mishandles in the first two minutes of the game allowed Seattle to mount a two-touchdown lead early, but Rivers’ heart, Michael Turner’s legs and the nastiness that Chargers fans have come to expect from Wade Phillips’ defense allowed the Bolts to even the score before the opening frame expired and eventually break away for a 31-20 victory.

“I was very proud of the way we hung together,” Chargers Head Coach Marty Schottenheimer said.  “We played hard.  They came back from what had early on looked like a steep mountain to climb. To the credit of our football team, they went out and kept scraping and fighting and made some plays.” 

After quickly falling behind, Rivers turned to Turner on his first pass attempt of the evening, a screen that went 24 yards and preceded a 38-yard touchdown run by the third-year back. 

Seattle’s ensuing drive saw Shaun Alexander get stuffed for gains of one yard on consecutive plays before Shaun Phillips sacked Matt Hasselbeck for a six-yard loss.  Later in the quarter, Shawne Merriman got to show off the athleticism that helped him become the NFL’s Defensive Rookie of the Year last fall.  Hasselbeck stepped up in the pocket and delivered a bullet down the middle of the field, but Merriman tipped the pass to himself and dove to secure it for the interception. 

“I think our whole defense has played well for three weeks in a row,” Schottenheimer said.  “Seattle is a good football team.  You don’t’ have to give it to them in the end zone for them to let them score points because they know how to move the football.  Our guys did a nice job tonight of disrupting plays and creating some havoc.”

On the opening play of the drive that followed Merriman’s interception, Rivers lofted a deep ball in the back of the end zone to Malcom Floyd for what would have been a 38-yard touchdown pass had Seattle safety Ken Hamlin not interfered on the play.  Hamlin’s penalty gave the Bolts the ball on the Seattle one, allowing Turner to score his second touchdown of the night to even the score at 14-14.

Like they have throughout the preseason, the Bolts’ defense turned in big play after big play.  Seattle finished the night just 1-for-13 on third down and gained only 197 yards of total offense.

“We’ve just tried to play with a little swagger,” Merriman said.  “We want to hit people in the mouth and make it a long night for them.  We were able to do that tonight.”

The Chargers took their first lead of the contest midway through the third quarter when a 29-yard pass from Rivers to tight end Ryan Krause set up a 27-yard Nate Kaeding field goal. 
 
Rivers left after two quarters of play, having completed 6-of-11 passes for 89 yards.  The Bolts’ signal caller suffered a minor shoulder bruise but came back to lead a final drive before leaving when he was scheduled to.

“It was an interesting night,” Rivers said.  “It started off with two horrible plays but we got it going.  We were able to move the ball on the ground which helped us create some offense. The first two plays were inexcusable and can't happen.  The first one, I don't even have an explanation for it. You'd love to at least see a mistake and know why something happened. It blows my mind, but we bounced back and made some plays.  That was nice to see.”

The Chargers’ second-team defense proved to be just as stingy as the first, allowing just two second-half field goals while sacking Seattle quarterbacks twice and continually harassing them.

With Turner done after one half of play, Ray Perkins received the most significant work of his professional career.  Perkins rushed 20 times for 83 yards including a 12-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter that gave the Bolts a 24-20 lead.

Quarterback A.J. Feeley entered the ball game in the fourth quarter and was a perfect 4-for-4 passing for 54 yards.  He also threw a 33-yard touchdown pass to tight end Ryan Krause to round out the scoring. 

“They faced the adversity tonight and prevailed,” Schottenheimer said.  “We’ve got some work to do to get where we want to be, but you have to be happy about the way that they fought back to win tonight.”