Rivalry aside, LT longs for victory

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Tuesday, Dec 02, 2008
By Casey Pearce , Chargers.com

In 15 career games against the Raiders, Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson has had 15 pretty good outings.

He’s rushed for 1,815 yards and 18 touchdowns against one of the Bolts’ arch rivals. He’s posted nine 100-yard games versus the Silver & Black, including a season-high 106 yards and two touchdowns in Oakland earlier this season.

He has been a key reason why the Chargers have won 11 straight against the Raiders heading into Thursday night’s contest versus JaMarcus Russell and company.

But this week, the league’s two-time defending rushing champion isn’t very interested in talking about the past. He was more focused on the task at hand.

“It’s still the Raiders and a Thursday night game and we still need a win,” Tomlinson said. “We really can’t worry about anything else but trying to win a game. All the other scenarios, we can’t pay attention to that. We’ve got to try to find a way to just get one win, and hopefully that win creates a rhythm for us and hopefully gets a couple more wins.”

While Raider Week sometimes brings light-hearted jabs from Tomlinson and a little extra flavor to the days leading up, LT feels the team’s current position has them more focused on preparing during a short week than the fact that their Week 13 opponent generally brings a little extra emotion.

“In this situation, we’re both two struggling teams,” Tomlinson said. “It’s not even fair to talk about a rivalry just because we’re both struggling.”

Tomlinson has freely expressed himself throughout what has been a tough season for the Bolts. After last week’s loss that dropped the Chargers to 4-8 on the season, LT stood up in the locker room and challenged his teammates to look within themselves and refocus as they prepare for the final quarter of the season.

“I just felt like at that point, four games to go and you’re looking at being 4-8 and that’s the time when a lot of guys not only on this team but all over the league feel like the season is over, ‘I just can’t wait to get this thing over’ and really don’t care about winning games any more or being prepared to win games,” Tomlinson said. “We’ve got to make sure we finish in the right way, meaning we continue to stay disciplined, come out here and work hard at practice and being prepared to win a game.”

Tomlinson said that his statements were proactive, that he didn’t sense his club was letting up but wanted to make sure that particularly his younger teammates understood that anything less than full effort wouldn’t be accepted. The message we well received.

“When a guy like LT speaks, you listen,” offensive tackle Marcus McNeill said. “He got fired up and spoke the truth. We’re not going quit. We want to finish this season strong. We had a good practice today and we’re going to be ready to play Thursday night.”

LT pointed out that many of the Chargers’ young players have never been through a season like the one the Bolts are experiencing in 2008. Tomlinson seems anxious to see how his team responds during the season’s final four weeks.

“You learn a lot about the guys that you play with and people in general when you’re up against adversity and people are counting you out,” Tomlinson said. “That’s when you learn who you are.”

Injury update

Guard Kris Dielman, who missed Sunday’s game against Atlanta while battling the flu, was back at Chargers Park Tuesday and fully participated in practice. Those who didn’t work include safety Clinton Hart (shoulder), fullback Mike Tolbert (shoulder), linebacker Marques Harris (hamstring) and defensive tackle Jamal Williams (rest).

Power Blues

The Chargers will break out their “Power Blue” alternate jerseys for Thursday night’s game. The Bolts have won their last six games in the popular color, a streak that dates back to the 2005 season. They wore the Powder Blues earlier this season in a win over New England and beat the Raiders in October of ’07 in the alternate jerseys.

Thursday Night Fever

This week marks the first time the Chargers have played on Thursday night since the Bolts lost at Kansas City on October 16, 1997. The Chargers have played on Thursday night five times prior to this week, and three of those contests have been against the Raiders.

Change the calendar

December’s arrival has meant good news to the Chargers the last two years. The Bolts have won 10-straight in the year’s final month, a streak that consists of perfect 5-0 Decembers in each of the past two seasons.

Lend a hand

Fans attending Thursday night’s game can bring joy to local youngsters this holiday season by giving a new, unwrapped toy to the Chargers Wives 19^th Annual “Toys for Tots” Toy Drive presented by Cymer, at the Chargers-Raiders game at Qualcomm Stadium.

Toys and cash donations will be collected as fans enter the stadium by the San Diego Chargers players’ and coaches’ wives, along with servicemen and women from the United States Marine Corps. The toys will be distributed to deserving children throughout San Diego in time for the holidays through various charitable organizations.

Eating well

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, better known as PETA, recently listed the top five vegetarian friendly NFL stadiums, and Qualcomm Stadium ranked at the top of their list. The organization was pleased with the accessibility to vegetarian items and the wide variety offered.

“With bean burritos, veggie sushi rolls, vegetable wraps, veggie hot dogs, and Gardenburgers, the avid sports fan can pile his or her lap high with mouth-watering goodies. Heck, you can buy enough in one trip to last the whole game,” the survey read.

Mike Nowak, Chargers.com

LaDainian Tomlinson has had plenty of success against the Raiders in the past, but his only concern now is with the immediate future.

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