Plummer is Critical of Effort on Chargers

Linebacker Gary Plummer can handle defeats. He’s experienced enough of them in seven seasons with the Chargers. But Plummer can’t stand it when his teammates aren’t giving their all. Plummer said he saw that Sunday in the special teams, who allowed their second long punt return in three games and were 27th in punt coverage after two games.

“We had some breakdowns today on special teams,” he said. “I’m a part of that. That’s extremely frustrating and it’s something that needs to be answered. I think that part of it is effort on special teams.

“That’s the most frustrating part, because coaches should expect and should know that they’re going to get 100% effort from everyone out there, especially on special teams. That is basically what that phase of the game boils down to.”

Steve Hendrickson, the second-leading tackler on special teams with three, said the effort is there.

“What I think Gary means is, there needs to be some guys that need to step forward,” Hendrickson said. “We’re going to be damn good on special teams. We have some really good athletes out there. We’ll come together.”

Hendrickson said part of the problem might be that too many players read the newspaper.

“As long as we keep the media and everybody else from tearing us apart, we’ll be all right,” Hendrickson said. “There are some guys on the fence right now. If they read in the paper that, we suck on special teams, they’re going to start believing that. And they can’t believe that, they have to believe in themselves. They have to believe in the guy next to them.”

Hendrickson said he was partly to blame for Rod Woodson’s 46-yard punt return in the fourth quarter, which set up a Steeler field goal.

“I broke down once,” he said. “I went down the field and lost my feet. “But you can’t say Steve, ‘Get better cleats, or keep your feet.’ It’s something that happens.”