Chargers have more weapons at disposal

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Monday, Sep 10, 2007
By Casey Pearce, Chargers.com

The Chargers were pleased with much of what they accomplished offensively in Sunday’s win over Chicago, but as the Bolts move forward, they hope to get more of their weapons involved.

“We’ve got a lot of guys on this team who can make plays,” tight end Antonio Gates said Sunday. “I got some opportunities to take advantage of man coverage (Sunday), but there are going to be times when we’ll spread it out more.”

Against the Bears, quarterback Philip Rivers completed 22 passes, and 16 went to either Gates or running back LaDainian Tomlinson. LT had his number called - either on the ground or in the passing game - on each of the team’s first six plays.

Head Coach Norv Turner said Monday that the team’s inability to sustain a long drive early contributed to the fact that they didn’t get as many players involved as they’d like. The Chargers gained just five first downs in the opening half.

“When you’re not converting first downs, it’s hard to get in a rhythm,” Turner said. “When you start making first downs on first and second downs, I think you get in a rhythm that it’s easier to get everyone involved. I expect all of our guys to be involved in the offense.”

While Gates always has a prominent role in the offense, the Chargers used him even more often Sunday because of how the Bears defended the Pro Bowler.

“We saw them play a lot of Cover One,” Gates said. “Obviously we wanted to take advantage of any opportunities in man coverage.”

Gates turned in his ninth-career 100-yard game as he caught nine passes for 109 yards and a touchdown. Vincent Jackson finished Sunday’s game with three catches for 28 yards, and Buster Davis added two catches for 15 yards. Malcom Floyd did not record a reception.

When asked if he expects teams to continue to play him the way Chicago did, Gates smiled and said, “I hope so.” In reality, the Chargers know they’ll likely have to find ways to spread the ball around.

Perfect timing

During Fox’s broadcast of Sunday’s game, analyst Troy Aikman commented that he thought Bears defensive tackle Tommie Harris might have picked up on something that was tipping him on the Chargers’ snap count. Harris disrupted a handful of plays Sunday when he got off the ball before the Chargers’ offensive linemen were able to pick him up.

Defensive linemen have been known to pick up tendencies from quarterbacks that allows a defender to get off the ball quickly, but Rivers didn’t believe that was the case Sunday.

“I don’t think so,” Rivers said. “I talked to Tommie after the game and he didn’t hint to it.”

The Bolts did everything they could to hold Harris and company back, but the Pro Bowler still guessed right on a couple of occasions.

“We changed the cadence up I would say 10 to 15 times I went on a hard count to slow them down a little bit,” Rivers said. “He jumped the count once or twice and timed it. That’s going to happen.”

Feeling good

Despite playing an extremely physical game Sunday, the Chargers came out with only three injuries, none of which appear to have major consequences.

Running back Darren Sproles suffered a concussion on the game’s opening kickoff, but according to Turner, he could have gone back in the game in the fourth quarter if the team had chosen to use him. Fullback Andrew Pinnock (hamstring) and safety Clinton Hart (quad contusion) are day-to-day with minor injuries.

Turner would not say if he plans to use Sproles on kick returns this weekend.

“I just see how he is and where he’s at,” Turner said. “I obviously like Michael Turner back there, too. We’ll have the option and some of that will depend on the type of return we have up.”

More commercial appeal

Last week, LaDainian Tomlinson’s Nike commercial featuring him running through the Bears defense was a hot topic. This week, another Chargers star is in an advertisement that features a piece of the Bolts’ Week 2 opponent.

Linebacker Shawne Merriman’s Nike commercial that shows him against several teams began airing over the weekend. One segment includes him hitting a Patriots quarterback.

“It was a nice lick, but it was only a commercial,” Merriman said.

Tomlinson said Monday that the producers who worked on his commercial initially wanted to use New England but changed the opponent before filming.

Nice improv

While it appeared like a genius call, Turner admitted Sunday that Rivers did some improvisation on his three-yard run for a first down in the opening quarter.

Turner opted to leave his offense on the field for a 4^th-and-1 play at the Chicago 15 and called for a handoff to Tomlinson. When the timing of the play was thrown off, Rivers tucked the ball and scrambled for the first down.

“I was hoping that someone thought I really lost my mind and that we had a ‘quarterback follow’ play in,” Turner said. “The ball came up a little late and he just didn’t feel comfortable getting the ball handed off.”

Quick hits

- Turner called Mike Scifres' afternoon “as good a punting performance as you’re going to see.”

- He also praised defensive tackle Jamal Williams, who was credited with four tackles but played a huge role in the Bolts holding Chicago to just 80 rushing yards.

- Linebacker Stephen Cooper and defensive end Jacques Cesaire both grew up in the Boston area. Cooper joked Monday that they two will be fighting over tickets. The Bolts leading tackler already has roughly 50 requests to fill.

- The Chargers generally travel on Friday when they play on the East Coast, but since Sunday’s game doesn’t start until after 8 pm Eastern Time, the team will fly to Boston on Saturday.

- Including the playoffs, Tomlinson has played against New England four times. Those games have produced 548 rushing yards (5.5 per carry) and seven touchdowns.

Denis Poroy, AP

The Chargers scored enough points to win Sunday, but as they move forward, they’d like to get more of their playmakers involved on offense.

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