K.C. ALFRED / UnionTribune
LaDainian Tomlinson breaks away from Rams safety Oshiomogho Atogwe on a 38-yard touchdown run for a 14-0 lead in the first quarter.
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A vibe, difficult to grasp yet palpable, hovered in the air in the midst of large and angry men readying to play a game yesterday afternoon.
In the moments before the Chargers took the field, center Nick Hardwick looked around the locker room and wondered.
“You could feel, kind of, y'know, 'Do we still got it?' ” Hardwick would recall afterward.
Quarterback Philip Rivers knew.
“We didn't say it, but I thought it was a must-win,” he said. “It wasn't a nervousness at all. But we came back home after a tough loss . . . 'What are we going to do? Which way are we going to go?' ”
What the Chargers did yesterday may well help decide where they go.
At the least, a 38-24 victory over the St. Louis Rams moved them into a tie with the Denver Broncos atop the AFC West.
At the most, a game in which they set the tone at the outset and did enough throughout shook loose some clinging doubt and cleared the way for a less-stressful foray into November.
“When you're good, much is required of you,” fullback Lorenzo Neal said. “It's easy to say, 'Hey what's wrong with this team?' Because, let's face it, we go to Baltimore, we're winning with four or five minutes left in the game, if the offense can get a first down, the game is over; defense gets a stop, the game is over. Kansas City, we tie the game, we can go down and score, the game is over. The biggest thing is games we could have won – and possibly should have won – we didn't win. That's what makes it frustrating – we expect to win.”
SEAN M. HAFFEY / Union-Tribune
Shawne Merriman's sacks turned "lights out" three times.
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Yesterday, on the feet of LaDainian Tomlinson, behind the blocks of a battered offensive line and a Pro Bowl fullback, with a defense that tackled a tad better and made a big play, the Chargers won big.
Essentially, many of the things that had ailed this team, that had allowed uncertainty to creep in, vanished on the final Sunday of October. And vanished quickly.
The Chargers gained 5 yards on each of their first two plays, Tomlinson running right up the middle for the first 10 of his 183 yards.
“Those are our pound-it plays,” Hardwick said. “That's our play where we're, 'Hey. We're coming out. Y'all better load up today.' ”
The Chargers passed just three times on a 12-play scoring drive to open the game. That possession ended with Tomlinson jumping/rolling over left tackle Marcus McNeill for a 2-yard score. The next possession ended similarly, as Tomlinson burst through a big hole, stiff-armed safety Oshiomogho Atogwe and ran untouched for 38 yards to the end zone.
Rivers ended up 15-for-23 for 206 yards and a touchdown.
But yesterday was mostly about Tomlinson and the guys blocking for him.
Some Kansas City defenders said after the Chargers lost to the Chiefs last week they did not think the Chargers were physical, that they were a “finesse” team.
Yesterday, an offensive line that features a right guard who had surgery last week to repair a tendon in his left hand, a left tackle who has a plate and screws in both hands and a center who hurt his knee early in the game and will have tests this morning, pushed around the Rams for 216 rushing yards.
“You don't see nonphysical teams dominate in a run game,” said right guard Mike Goff, who had surgery on Monday and wore a cast this week that made it appear he was constantly making an obscene gesture. “It was important to go out there and finish, go out and try to be physical, move the ball and finish blocks.”
Call it a statement.
“You can never give them enough credit,” tight end Antonio Gates said of the line. “Every time we win, every time you see us having success, it ultimately starts with the offensive line.”
Tomlinson ran 25 times. His 183 yards were the eighth-most of his career and vaulted him past 8,000 career yards in his 86th game, among the fastest ever to reach the milestone. He also scored three times – on the two runs and a 25-yard pass – to reach 91 touchdowns in his 86th career game. Only Jim Brown (81) did it faster. Only Emmitt Smith did it as fast.
“He makes the thing go,” Rams defensive end Leonard Little said. “When he goes, the whole team goes.”
For all the history made by Tomlinson and the big holes the offensive line opened, yesterday's outcome might have been different if not for the deliverance of Jacques Cesaire and Marlon McCree.
McCree picked up a football that Cesaire had knocked from running back Stephen Davis' hand. Then he ran 79 yards to the end zone, perhaps saving a game, perhaps more.
“That fumble was big,” said coach Marty Schottenheimer, who had a better grasp of the obvious than Davis had of the ball.
At the time, the Rams (4-3), behind 14-7 in the third quarter, were moving. The Chargers (5-2) had not stopped them on a drive that got within 25 yards of a tying touchdown.
“If they tied the game up it would have been a very close battle,” McCree said. “For us to score another touchdown at the time was huge for us. The crowd got behind us, and the momentum was just huge.”
The Chargers had heard how they could not tackle. They heard how they were in trouble because they kept losing players and were facing distraction after distraction.
“Everybody was saying it was over here,” Rivers said with a smile. “We needed to get it back going.”
Kevin Acee: (619) 293-1857; kevin.acee@uniontrib.com
