Chargers Win, Get Optimistic : After Beating Phoenix, They Look Forward to Playing Denver

The Chargers will play for a share of first place next Sunday in Denver. That’s improbable enough. But all of a sudden they are blocking, tackling, talking and thinking like a team that can beat the Broncos.

This is the same Charger team that gave up 77 points and allowed 785 yards in losing its first two games. But its people insist it is not the same Charger team that lost two and won two last year before lurching to a 6-10 record.

“This is just a much better football team,” said Steve Ortmayer, the Chargers director of football operations, after it came from behind to beat the Phoenix Cardinals, 24-13, Sunday at Sun Devil Stadium. “This team can move the football and not turn it over.”

“The difference between this year and last?” said Charger cornerback Gill Byrd. “This team has Jim McMahon and a winning attitude. He’s a leader. And it shows.”

It was McMahon who figured out how to solve the overstacked Cardinal defense that limited the Chargers to 80 yards of offense in the first half. It was McMahon who beat the blitz with a 16-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Anthony Miller in the third period that gave the Chargers their first lead, 7-6.

It was McMahon who completed 15 of 23 passes for 188 yards. And it was McMahon who threw no interceptions.

Asked to assess McMahon’s performance, Charger Coach Dan Henning said: “He won.”

So much for football being a 45-man game.

McMahon’s zero-defect quarterbacking enabled the Chargers to enjoy a 4-0 edge in turnovers. Defensive backs Roy Bennett and Byrd each intercepted quarterback Gary Hogeboom. Linebacker Billy Ray Smith recovered two fumbles.

Smith returned the first one 15 yards for a touchdown after a Byrd hit separated fullback Earl Ferrell from the ball. According to Smith, it was the first touchdown he has scored since “I was 8 years old and caught a pass from my brother in Dicky Winder’s driveway. It was right on the asphalt. I skinned my elbow. It was wicked.”

Sunday’s Smith touchdown gave the Chargers a 21-13 lead with 12:50 to play. And, said Henning, “it gave us the cushion to play the way we wanted to.”

When Chris Bahr added a 37-yard field goal--his first three-point attempt of the year--with four minutes and 17 seconds remaining, the Chargers’ cushion grew to 11.

In its last two games, the Charger defense has taken the ball away nine times. The Charger offense hasn’t turned it over once. The Charger defense limited Phoenix to 69 yards rushing and underscored how much the Cardinals miss injured Stump Mitchell, their best back.

Hogeboom finished with 22 completions in 43 tries for 261 yards, including a 59-yard scoring play to Roy Green 9:50 into the third period. But the Chargers sacked him four times and constantly hurried his throws.

Charger line coach Larry Beightol said McMahon didn’t have trouble figuring out an antidote to the Cardinal defense that was shifting an extra linebacker to the strong formation side of the field in the first half. During that span the Chargers, who entered the game ranked third in the league in average gain per rush, ran for only 30 yards. Six of the Chargers’ first seven possessions ended in punts.

So McMahon started checking off to the other side. And the ground game began to flow. It produced 73 yards in the second half and helped set up the pass.

Prior to Miller’s touchdown, Phoenix had built a 6-0 lead on field goals of 36 and 33 yards by Al Del Greco. But when Cardinal cornerback Carl Carter slipped and fell midway through the third period, McMahon and Miller hooked up on a 47-yard completion and a first down at the Phoenix 19.

Three plays later Carter stumbled over teammate Marcus Turner, leaving Miller all alone in the end zone.

The Cardinals (2-2) knew they would have problems without Mitchell and defensive end Freddie Joe Nunn, suspended last week for violations of the NFL’s substance abuse policies.

But, said fullback Ron Wolfley before the game, “we’ve pretty much just got to believe we’ve got dandruff and brush it off.”

Maybe the Cardinals should change shampoos. Right now the Chargers are head and shoulders better than they are. But the Chargers will have to be even better than that if they hope to beat the Broncos (3-1) at Mile High Stadium.

“We’re 2-2 and I don’t know how good that is,” said a cautious Henning. “We’re still, in my opinion, a ways away from where we want to be.”