CHARGER REVIEW : NOTEBOOK : It All Adds Up to a Big Victory for the Chargers, Coach Henning
Dan Henning could smile, and hasn’t that been a rare occurrence?
The Chargers coach was criticized for not knowing that John Carney was attempting a 56-yard field goal in the Kingdome two weeks ago. After Carney hit from 54 yards Sunday to beat the Seahawks, Henning was asked if he knew it was a 54-yarder.
He smiled, and whispered, “I thought it was 56 yards.”
Gary Plummer didn’t have much basis for his feeling, but he sensed that John Carney was going to get a 54-yard field goal to win the game.
“Going out there, Billy Ray (Smith) and I were just screaming, ‘Hey John, this is our chance. Let’s go show these SOB’s.’ I just felt really good about it. I have no idea why. It was just a great feeling going out there, knowing that John’s in a situation where he can redeem himself.”
The attendance of 43,597 was the Chargers’ lowest of the season, but you could have fooled Chargers linebacker Leslie O’Neal.
“The fan support was phenomenal today,” he said. “This was the first time in a long time that we felt like the fans were behind us late in the game. The emotional rush of it really made a difference in the last (Seattle) drive.”
Less than an hour after the Chargers won their second game of the season, defensive end Burt Grossman tried to put the game into perspective.
“I don’t know if it means anything besides that we’re 2-8,” he said. “In the big picture, it’s only one week. If we go out the following week and lose next week, everybody will forget about it.”
He doesn’t look pretty, doesn’t run fast and will never be mistaken for a football player when out on the town, but tell that to the battered Seahawks who tried to tackle Steve Hendrickson.
Hendrickson, who began his career in the NFL as a linebacker, lined up at H-back and caught a short pass from John Friesz in first-quarter action. Hendrickson brushed off the tackle attempts of Patrick Hunter and Terry Wooden like an elephant brushing aside fleas and finally came to a stop 20 yards down the field.
“I played running back in high school, so maybe some of it came back to me there,” Hendrickson said. “I got great blocking and anybody could have run behind that. As great proof, look what I did.”
Mark Rodenhauser, the Chargers’ deep snapper, was carted off the field with a sprained knee in the first quarter.
“It might be just a sprain, or it might be some ligament,” said Rodenhauser, who had his leg in a brace. “They’ll check on the swelling (today).”
Rodenhauser had been troubled by a sore back this week, and it had afforded Frank Cornish the opportunity to practice his deep snapping. When Rodenhauser left the field, Cornish came on and performed flawlessly.
“I was just glad Frank stepped up and he did a great job,” Rodenhauser said. “He did almost too good of a job for me.”
Cornish said he was nervous on the final snap for Carney’s game-winning field goal, but he took advantage of the timeout called by the Seahawks and went to the sideline for a few additional practice snaps.
“Thank God it worked out,” Cornish said.
Eric Bieniemy continued to be a spectator, while 12th-round pick Chris Samuels worked fulltime with the Chargers’ starting offensive unit.
Samuels carried once for four yards and caught one pass for four yards.
Bieniemy has yet to run or catch the ball this season.
Not so fast, Bob. In the second quarter Friesz went down in a pile and was slow to climb to his feet. On the sideline backup quarterback Bob Gagliano grabbed his helmet and was preparing to buckle up.
However, Friesz signalled to the sideline that he was OK, and Gagliano resumed his place alongside Coach Dan Henning.
“We’ve got five guys (offensive linemen) for the world,” guard David Richards said, “and we didn’t do that before. There’s a lot of pressure on us, and we’ve managed to give him time. But a lot of it is Friesz standing in there, throwing the ball and taking the hits. That’s not easy for a young quarterback to do. (Indianapolis’) Jeff George won’t do it; he’d just duck.”
Cornerback Gill Byrd continued to lobby for his first invite to the Pro Bowl by posting his sixth interception of the season.
“Everybody jumped for the ball,” said Byrd in describing Dave Krieg’s final pass of the game. “I don’t know how the ball got through everybody, but it landed in my hands. I’ll take the cheap interception.”
Quarterback Dave Krieg became the 31st quarterback in NFL history to surpass 25,000 passing yards. . . . Anthony Miller caught five passes for 124 yards and has gone over the 100-yard mark nine times in his career. . . . The four sacks for the Chargers were the most since they piled up four against Seattle last Nov. 25. . . . The Chargers are now 5-19 in games decided by seven or fewer points in Henning’s three-year tenure.
