Chargers Relish a Rare Chance to Dish It Out : Pro football: N.Y. Jets provide the opportunities, and Chargers seize them for a shocking, 39-3 victory.
Why of course, it’s just what everyone expected: Another convincing loss for a terrible football team.
But smelling salts, please, for those who didn’t see it and now won’t believe it.
The Chargers won. The Chargers won. 39-3. 39-3 . . . and you can get off the floor now--there is a team that can play worse than the Chargers.
“We just played awful,” Jets Coach Bruce Coslet said. “It was a whole team effort.”
The Jets (2-4) were five-point favorites and playing in front of 63,311 fans in Giants Stadium. They had the No. 1 offense in the AFC and were playing a lifeless team that had been embarrassed by Pittsburgh, 36-14, a week earlier.
“Go figure it,” Steve Gutman, president of the Jets, told a security guard as Sunday’s game came to a close.
And if you do, explain this:
--The Chargers (2-4) recorded their largest margin of victory since beating the Giants, 44-7, on Oct. 19, 1980.
--They scored the most points since defeating Kansas City, 42-21, on Oct. 25, 1987.
--Running back Ronnie Harmon had not touched the ball in the previous two games, but he had it eight times against the Jets and on five occasions picked up a first down.
--After allowing Houston and Pittsburgh to be successful on 19 of 28 third-down conversions, they limited the Jets to one for 10.
--The Chargers never were forced to punt.
“I think there’s relief for me, and I imagine there’s relief for the players,” Coach Dan Henning said. “We did some soul-searching this week and discussed it with the players, and we determined there wasn’t to be a great deal of change.
“If you believe in what you’re doing, and you study it, and you feel like what you’re doing is right, then you have to go out and prove it’s right. That’s what we intended to do.”
The Chargers compiled a season-high 22 first downs, gaining 412 yards, and limited the Jets’ high-powered attack to 148.
“I would say that’s as good as we have played all year,” Henning said.
On defense, defensive end Burt Grossman sacked quarterback Ken O’Brien for the Chargers’ first safety since 1987. On offense, running back Marion Butts ripped off 121 yards on 26 carries, including touchdown runs of five and six yards. On special teams, the Chargers destroyed the Jets’ punting game.
“The players were determined to play a game as a team, and they did that,” Henning said. “We were a determined team today because of what has happened to us the last couple of weeks.”
The Chargers were left short at the goal line on their first possession after failing on four downs to bully their way into the end zone.
The Jets took possession at their own one, and on third and four from the seven, the Charger pass rush fell on top of O’Brien for a safety.
On the ensuing free kick, Charger running back Darrin Nelson slipped, and Jet cornerback Michael Mayes recovered the ball at the San Diego 14.
Along the sideline, the Charger defense began slapping each other on the back as if disaster was just what they wanted. “Gill Byrd and those guys were high-fiving each other before they went onto the field,” defensive coordinator Ron Lynn said.
“You never want something bad to happen, but that’s the situation we wanted. We talked about that, that’s something in past years we’ve been able to do. Not to just survive, but come out of bad situations without giving up points. We’re disappointed they got the field goal.”
The Jets settled for one by Pat Leahy from 22 yards, and the rout was on.
“We talked about it,” Byrd said. “As a defense, we took the field like we were there to stop people. It was an attitude.”
The defense eventually forced O’Brien from the game with an ankle injury, and the Charger offense marched forward unchallenged.
On the third play of the second quarter, quarterback Billy Joe Tolliver found coverage he liked on wide receiver Anthony Miller and dropped a 29-yard touchdown pass into Miller’s hands for a 9-3 lead. It was Miller’s fourth touchdown catch of the season.
“We were going to throw a screen to Butts or a post to Miller, but they had him pressed at the line in man-to-man coverage,” said Tolliver, who completed 12 of 18 for 169 yards without an interception. “We needed a win, that’s for sure. And I needed a game like this. I felt like I played a smart game, and I didn’t do anything stupid for a change.”
The Charger defense continued its assault on the Jets and pinned them back to the New York 11. On fourth down, punter Joe Prokop retreated in his own end zone.
“We just thought we’d tried to block it because we haven’t done a lot on punt returns,” said Larry Pasquale, the special teams coordinator who was fired by the Jets after last season. “Craig McEwen was in there because Vencie Glenn had been hurt, and he was right in the right spot.”
McEwen came in untouched on Prokop. Prokop, the Charger punter during the 1987 strike, opted to not kick the ball into McEwen’s chest and took off running, only to be dropped at the five.
On the next play, Butts swept right for the touchdown and a 16-3 lead. The Chargers added field goals of 34 and 42 yards by John Carney and went to the locker room with a 22-3 halftime lead.
In the third quarter, they took 7:34 off the clock on their opening possession and scored on Butts’ six-yard burst up the middle. After Byrd intercepted a Tony Eason pass, Carney was successful from 37 yards, and it was time for the locals to head for the New Jersey Turnpike.
“The bottom line is we didn’t stop the run,” Jet linebacker Jeff Lageman said. “To hell with the pass, they could run the ball all day on us.”
With a 32-3 third-quarter lead, Tolliver and Butts were given the afternoon off. But the Chargers lost nothing in the transition.
Quarterback Mark Vlasic, two of three for 31 yards, handed off to running back Rod Bernstine, and Bernstine beat his way through a New York subway crowd to score on a 40-yard run.
“If you are given the opportunity, you always try to make something happen,” said Bernstine, who is averaging 5.6 yards a carry. “And so far, I’ve been answering the bell.”
As for the schizophrenic Chargers, who have been at their worst and their best in a span of seven days, there is now an upcoming date with the AFC West Division-leading Raiders.
“This victory is a step forward,” linebacker Gary Plummer said. “We’re still 2-4, but there’s a feeling now we’re moving in the right direction.”
CHARGER REPORT
* Charger special teams coach Larry Pasquale jubilated with his successful squad but empathized with the Jets. C17A
* Combining things that plagued them last season added up to an embarrassment for the Jets. C17A
* Charger Notebook, Report Card C17A