PRO FOOTBALL : Charger Win Swings on a Roughing Call, James’ Score, 24-23

San Diego Chargers Coach Al Saunders stood in front of his team after the game, hoisted a bucket of Gatorade and dumped its contents over his head.

This was not a surprise.

The Chargers, 24-23 come-from-behind winners over the Kansas City Chiefs Sunday afternoon, had just climbed into a tie for first place with Seattle in the AFC West.

This was a surprise.

The primary reason the Chargers raised their record to 2-2 at Arrowhead Stadium was the 9-yard touchdown swing pass a woozy Babe Laufenberg flipped to Lionel James with 52 seconds remaining.

The Chiefs unwisely tried to cover James one-on-one with linebacker Tim Cofield on the play. Laufenberg and James both read the error immediately after the snap.

The Chiefs double-covered Charger wide receiver Anthony Miller with two defensive backs, so Miller cleared out. That left room for James to make an outside break to a spot where Cofield had no help.

James, after catching the pass, dived the final 3 yards to the end zone. The Charger defense then prevented Chief quarterback Steve DeBerg from maneuvering Kansas City into field goal position. And the Chiefs were 1-3.

It was almost as exciting as watching the crowd control at the Olympic boxing venue.

“Today’s feeling was even better than last year when we were 8-1,” Charger free safety Vencie Glenn said. “There is a bond on this team.”

And there was a locker room full of other reasons why the Chargers were able to overcome a 23-14 deficit after three periods in a game they led, 14-0, after the first quarter.

There was the controversial roughing-the-passer call on Cofield, two plays prior to the winning touchdown, that nullified an interception by Dino Hackett.

“Unbelievable,” Kansas City General Manager Jim Schaaf said.

“They said the tackle was too hard,” Chief nose tackle Bill Maas said. “How can you tackle someone too hard?”

“It wasn’t a late hit,” explained referee Pat Haggerty. “There was extra activity at the end of the tackle.”

Vince Abbott kicked a 47-yard field goal midway through the final period to cut the Kansas City lead to 23-17.

But perhaps the biggest Charger play in a game full of them was the interception by linebacker Chuck Faucette at the Charger 2 on the second-to-last play of the third period.

Even if the Chiefs had to settle for a field goal, their lead would have been 12.

“They would have been out of range,” said Charger defensive end Lee Williams.

“We could have folded our tents a lot of times,” Faucette said.

Same for the Chiefs.

Laufenberg (13 for 25, 167 yards) found Quinn Early single-covered on a post pattern late in the first quarter for a 38-yard touchdown and a 7-0 lead.

That margin grew to 14-0 with 1:08 left in the period when running back Gary Anderson bounced outside, picked up a downfield block from left tackle Ken Dallafior and dashed 30 yards for a touchdown.

Anderson finished with 131 yards in 23 carries. It marked the first time a Charger has had successive 100-yard rushing games since Chuck Muncie in 1982.