Charger Notebook : Offensive Basking in the Afterglow

Charlie Joiner has a long memory and a keen eye for detail, but he can’t recall the Chargers playing a better all-round game than Sunday’s 50-28 victory over Miami.

“The combination of running, passing, defense and special teams was something,” Joiner said. “Thinking back, I can’t top it. But there’s always room for improvement, and I’m sure we will (get better).”

Joiner has been a Charger since 1976, the same year center Don Macek joined the team.

“This was as close as we’ve come in a long time to a perfect game,” Macek said.

He compared Sunday’s 500-yard performance, in which the Chargers controlled the ball for nearly 39 minutes without a turnover, to a 34-13 victory over Seattle six years ago. In that game, the Chargers had a 24-3 halftime lead en route to outgaining the Seahawks, 421-249. Dan Fouts threw for four touchdowns and the Chargers gained 197 yards rushing (compared to 224 rushing yards Sunday, the team’s high since 1979).

Comparisons aside, Macek said the game confirmed a feeling he has had all summer. “This is a good team,” he said, “and an opener like we had breeds confidence. It’s a good feeling.”

Offensive tackle Jim Lachey is in only his second year with the Chargers, but he realizes that Sunday was something special.

“You work all year for a day like this,” Lachey said. “It’s a game we can use as a standard all year. It’s the way we need to play every week if we’re going to reach the playoffs.

“The defense was putting a lot of pressure on (Dan) Marino and making plays, and that was getting the crowd going and making us want to go out there and score again. That’s the way we want it.”

The Leap by Gary Anderson was still drawing rave reviews from teammates and coaches Monday.

Anderson’s takeoff from the 5-yard line that carried him over Miami safety Bud Brown and into the end zone was a move no Charger had seen in practice.

Lachey was about 20 yards away and he wasn’t certain what his eyes had witnessed.

“I said to myself, ‘Hey, wait a minute, can this be?’ ” Lachey said. “I immediately looked up at the scoreboard to see the televised replay. It was shocking. Gary made it look like something he might do every day in practice, but of course, he hasn’t.

“I told my girlfriend she could go to football games for 20 or 30 years and not see a play like that.”

Coach Don Coryell on Anderson: “He’s very gifted. He has tremendous acceleration and body control. He can do everything--and we’re going to ask him to in the future.”

Charger Notes

Coach Don Coryell said the San Diego special teams played very well against Miami, causing two fumbles. Derrie Nelson was credited with 12 hits and a recovery, and Gary Plummer had 11 hits and a recovery. Although the Charger secondary permitted two scoring passes from Dan Marino to Mark Clayton, “That was to be expected,” Coryell said. The Chargers realistically couldn’t expect to shut out an offense with the potency of Miami’s. . . . Coryell said backup quarterback Mark Herrmann will miss several weeks with a bruised knee, meaning Tom Flick becomes the stand-in should starter Dan Fouts get injured. . . . The defense will be without rookie lineman Terry Unrein for at least two games, Coryell said. Unrein underwent arthroscopic surgery for torn cartilage in his knee. The Chargers haven’t decided whether to place him on the injured reserve list. They will audition several free agents as possible replacements, Coryell said. . . . Tickets for the Sept. 21 game against the Washington Redskins were selling briskly Monday, a Charger spokesman said. Approximately 5,000 tickets remain. There is a smaller number of tickets for upcoming games against the Raiders, Denver Broncos and Dallas Cowboys.